PC Restore.. some questions

[T Jay]

Okay computer folks, as I like to acknowledge that I know quite a bit about technology and computers... I definitely do not know enough!

My buddy acquired an older Dell Dimension 1100 desktop computer with XP for free. When he set it up it was slower then molasses and he could barely do anything with it, so he used the PC Restore feature to restore it back to when it would first have been started by whoever bought it. It worked great for a few months, but now it's starting to be slow again. I guess once he gets it up and running for a while it works pretty well.

He hasn't added a lot of programs or software to it either. He also doesn't need a lot on their, basics like Internet Explorer and/or Firefox, Thunderbird, Windows Media Player, AIM, Roxio Burning Software, and his download program. Other than that he's pretty set on the stuff he needs aside from the other basics, Word, Notepad so on and so forth.

He wanted to remove programs he doesn't need but he has no clue what he's doing in that department. He said when he goes to Add/Remove programs there are a quite a few on the list and most of them say rarely used but he's afraid to just start removing stuff and screw up the computer. He asked me if there was anyway to find out what he needs to definitely keep and what he can get rid of and I told him I wasn't sure but I'd ask around.

So that's what I'm doing here is asking around?

He also asked about the best way to clean up the computer and keep it running fast, or at least semi-fast. Any information I can pass on to him would be greatly appreciated folks.

[T Jay]

Oh... forgot to mention he didn't have a Virus program after he restored the comp. so he downloaded AVG and has been using that. Any opinions on AVG? He's looking for something else, possibly free!

[Judge]

Avast antivirus www.avast.com

Honestly I can't tell you what to keep and what can go, seeing as every computer is different.  If he had a way to send all his add remove programs screen (take screenshots or something) then we could work from there.

[T Jay]

Alright, I'll pass that info on about Avast and see about getting a screenshot of his add/remove programs. He should be back online in a bit.

[T Jay]

Okay I got the screenshots of the Add/Remove programs. He said there are two at the bottom not in the second picture and they are:

Windows XP Service Pack 3
WordPerfect Office 12

[Judge]

Search Assist and URL Assist need to fucking be destroyed.

Nothing else really stands out that could be removed.

[Rebel Child]

He has Macromedia Flash and the Adobe flash player those two can actually cause conflicts between one another

[Rebel Child]

EBWOP

He also needs to remove LiveUpdate 2.6 as that's part of Nortons and he has AVG right now.
He needs to uninstall Viewpoint Media Player as that's nothing but some bundled garbage right there to be honest.
His java is not up to date.

He needs to uninstall java and then go to java.com and get the latest update this is due to the fact that he can pick up the Vundo virus very easily as they have open codes in earlier versions of java that can infect a computer.

[Rebel Child]

EBWOP AGAIN!

He should do a full uninstall of flash that he has on his computer.  He cannot however do this through the regular remove programs, he has to go to adobe.com and go to  http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157&sliceId=1&promoID=DRNTE

that link to do so.  Otherwise it won't completely and cleanly remove the plug ins (Not entirely too certain about Macromedia)

[T Jay]

Thanks friends!

I'll pass all that info on to him tonight and I'm positive he'll greatly appreciate the help.

As usual ya'll are life savers! And yes, I mean the candy!!! 

[Judge]

Darn Cindy is showing me up! 

I would honestly find a clean version of Windows and not install the shitware that comes with restore discs.

[Rebel Child]

I just noticed something else - his Adobe reader is out of date as well.  He needs to uninstall that and go to adobe.com to download the newest version.  As all old versions of Adobe can become backdoors for nastiness =)

And nah I'm not showing you up hehe, just these are things I learned down the road of my many reformats. 

But I agree with Mark a clean version of Windows would be best if he can find it.  Unfortunately XP is not sold in stores anymore.

[Judge]

You can get OEM copies from Tiger Direct.

Also, look at Foxit reader instead of the Adobe one.  If you just need to read them, then Foxit is miles faster.