HD format and OS reinstall

[GoldenClick]

I have a client who has a slow computer, which I know can be sped up by a fresh windows reinstall. I am wondering:

1) How can I back up his drivers in order to save time later?
2) What other files should be backed up? Obviosuly documents and stuff but any system files I can save in order to make the reinstall as close to the old settings as possible?

Thanks in advance.

[iisjman07]

Double Driver can backup drivers and it's free http://www.boozet.org/dd.htm

As for settings and shizzle, I use the File and Settings Transfer Wizard on an XP cd.

[GoldenClick]

Double Driver can backup drivers and it's free http://www.boozet.org/dd.htm

As for settings and shizzle, I use the File and Settings Transfer Wizard on an XP cd.

Very cool tool, thank you.

[Tweak]

Fab's AutoBackup has to be one of my fav tools as it lets you backup and restore with a few clicks. Driver Detective I think is the way to go with driver backups...can't be for sure that is the name though after having looked through so many different apps with similar names and all. :)

[MM PC Solutions]

I have a client who has a slow computer, which I know can be sped up by a fresh windows reinstall.

Seriously?!

I mean, all them times I optimised, removed crud, organised the startups & defragged etc was wasted as all I needed was to reinstall. Now you tell me!

[GoldenClick]

Seriously?!

I mean, all them times I optimised, removed crud, organised the startups & defragged etc was wasted as all I needed was to reinstall. Now you tell me!

Hi MM, I really like your website. It's very professional and appealing to the eye.

You know, this computer is so slow that to optimize/clean/etc. Would take a long time. I figure in this case it would be faster, thus saving them money, to just reformat and reinstall.

How do you handle slow computers? I understand that from a business point of view I could spend a good amount of time trying to speed things up and make more $$, but is it ethical if there is an alternate solution that would take less time to solve the problem?

I worked at Geek Squad and was disgusted with how they ripped off their customers so I keep that in mind when recommending the next action to clients.

I'd love to hear what you think about this dilemma.

[NickCat11]

How long is a long time to you? I think your best option is to come up with a checklist of things to do for optimizing the machine. A thorough optimization on a sluggish computer could take a couple of hours or so depending on how bad off it is (viruses, errors, etc.). A nuke/pave should really always be a last resort option unless otherwise specified by the client.

[GoldenClick]

How long is a long time to you? I think your best option is to come up with a checklist of things to do for optimizing the machine. A thorough optimization on a sluggish computer could take a couple of hours or so depending on how bad off it is (viruses, errors, etc.). A nuke/pave should really always be a last resort option unless otherwise specified by the client.

I would say 3 - 4 hours. In that time I could reformat and reinstall.

I will search for such a list on here as I am sure someone has already created one.

[MM PC Solutions]

I go by what the customer requires.

It doesn't bother me if I am working on the pc for several hours as my time is not dedicated to just that machine but rather 3 or 4 on my bench at any given time. I also charge a fixed rate when back at base so hanging out any job does not benefit me.

I give several options for the customer to choose from but point out that a nuke & pave is the last resort as amongst all else the customer would spend time setting their computer back up to how they liked it before hand which a lot prefer not to.

[acs]

My first attempted would be file clean up, remove old programs,check for malware and a defrag. I always tell my customers that this will take an hour. If I do not seem to be getting anywhere I would look at format / reinstall or memory upgrade and advise the client of the extra costs which might be involved.

[bagellad]

Of course the flaws in your logic is that you assume the slow down is software related, as well as you forget the time it takes the customer to reinstall any programs etc. and you also assume the customer wont just reinfect themselves or put the same slow causing programs back on and end up in the same problem since it was never identified.

[GoldenClick]

Of course the flaws in your logic is that you assume the slow down is software related, as well as you forget the time it takes the customer to reinstall any programs etc. and you also assume the customer wont just reinfect themselves or put the same slow causing programs back on and end up in the same problem since it was never identified.

True, good point. From that perspective I guess an optimization would indeed be better in that case.

[JosephLeo]

I never reccomend a nuke & pave simply because it's all too time consuming and considered a different service all together. It's like going to a car shop to get your engine rebuilt, but then instead they put a new engine. It's a different thing all together.

My "Quick Run" checklist goes as follows (Note: I might forget some things to put here since I have to run soon)

Remove any slow AV & AM software and install something better (Customers option)
Check how much memory is available
Check Pagefile and adjust according to OS and available memory. i.e. Windows XP with 512MB of memory gets a 512MB pagefile, but Vista & 7 with 512MB gets a 1GB Pagefile followed by a memory upgrade recommendation.
Clean out junk files
Check startup list and remove all un-needed startup software.
If memory is extremely low (according to OS) install an invisible memory scrubber.

That's just my quick run- my full optimization is MUCH longer but the stuff here takes me about 20 to 30 minutes depending on how slow the PC is going. AND the results are almost as good as a nuke & pave in most cases.

[MM PC Solutions]

Check Page file and adjust according to OS and available memory. i.e. Windows XP with 512MB of memory gets a 512MB page file, but Vista & 7 with 512MB gets a 1GB Page file followed by a memory upgrade recommendation.


With XP I usually adjust the swap file to 2.5x the amount of ram installed. I leave Vista & 7 page file alone.

On another note, I can't believe some company's installed Vista with only 512bm ram even though I have seen it myself. I have yet to see 7 with oly 512mb though.

[ComputerClinic]

On another note, I can't believe some company's installed Vista with only 512bm ram even though I have seen it myself. I have yet to see 7 with oly 512mb though.

Yeah its pretty ridiculous considering how cheap RAM is these days...

[JosephLeo]

With XP I usually adjust the swap file to 2.5x the amount of ram installed. I leave Vista & 7 page file alone.

On another note, I can't believe some company's installed Vista with only 512bm ram even though I have seen it myself. I have yet to see 7 with oly 512mb though.

My cousin just bought a Windows 7 computer and asked me if the specs are good for $500. He said...

"Yeah Joe, it's got Windows Vista 7 on it and a CD Burner. I think they said something about 24 gigahurts of speed and 500-something megahurts of ram. Is this PC cool for Call of Duty?"

I went to his house- turned out that he bought a Dell from craigslist with the Windows 7 Beta installed, a Celeron E1600 processor, 512MB of ram and the onboard video was nVidia 6150. I told him he got scammed and gave him a spare 1GB memory module I had in my laptop bag and I knew he needed a video card so I gave him my old ATi Radeon HD 4870 (512MB) since I just got my HD 5770 in the mail :D and he was pleased- still he needs a better processor....

[ComputerRepairStpete]

Acronic can help you do all this.

[Tweak]

Acronic can help you do all this.

And carry with it the viruses and spyware and junk files as well potentially.
As for the mention of the pagefile...it is 1.5 total memory installed according to Microsoft as opposed to 2.5 times, settings for the pagefile in almost all cases are to set it to system managed or enter a fixed size, how large can differ for each pc due to the physical memory but if you wanted to be same use the 1.5 times the installed to be on the safe side.


"the normal recommendation of 1.5 times the amount of RAM in the computer is a good place to start"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555223

Personally I run 6GB (6144MB) tri-channel and I set my pagefile to a fixed size of size of 9211, I played around with some things but it seems great at double the physically installed memory so I have left it that way since the RTM was released. Set it too small and you'll be hating life though. :)