Problems with Windows XP

This page looks at a broad brush approach for fixing common problems with Windows XP.  Having said, that most of the advice given here applies to other versions of Windows including 2000, 98 and Vista.

Problems with Windows XP manifest themselves in a variety of ways and include incorrectly operating applications (especially browser software), bizarre and random pop messages, stubborn settings that don’t change no matter what you do and generally poor performance.  The majority of problems with Windows XP are caused by a few problems and I would advise trying to fix these first before paying an hourly rate for your PC to be repaired or by reinstalling the operating system yourself.

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Here are the six steps that I recommended as a broad brush strategy to fixing your problems with Windows XP.

1. Make sure that you have Windows Update regularly updating your PC

Windows Update often gets a bad press for installing software that can cause problems and reduces performance.  Far and away it solves many more problems than it causes and I consider it vital to keep your PC running smoothly and securely.  If it’s not configured, or if you’re not sure it’s configured correctly, see my article on how to configure Windows Update.

2. Remove any malware, spyware or adware

As we surf the web and download various bits of software onto our computers we will, over time, inevitably be infected by some malware.  Malware, short for “malicious software”, is spyware or adware that monitors and tracks our online activity.  Malware on your PC can cause all sorts of problems with Windows XP and should be removed with a suitable tool that can scan and remove any offending malware.  I’ve used a few and I find that Spyware Cease is an excellent choice.  Not least of all because they offer a 100% removal guarantee.

3. Clean up your hard disk

Having your PC clogged up with files and software that you don’t need can cause problems with Windows XP.  Make sure that you have removed any files from your recycle bin and you’ve removed any temporary Internet files.  If you don’t know how to do this, you can use the disk cleanup tool built into Windows or any registry cleaning software that I recommend on this site is very effective at doing this for you.

Go through your files and documents and remove anything that you don’t need.  Critically make sure that you have at least 15% of your hard drive free so that you can defragment your hard drive.  This is the minimum that Windows recommends if you use the built in defragmentation tool.

4. Remove any unwanted applications

We often put applications on our PC that we hardly use.  Adding applications is one of the key causes of problems with Windows XP, due to the way that applications are installed and can interfere with one another.  Removing unwanted applications reduces the risk of this happening, although they often leave a residue behind (particularly in the registry), which is where a good registry cleaner can help (see below).

5. Defrag your hard drive

Over time as you add more applications, create more files and surf the net, your hard disk will start to fill.  As it does, to use your hard disk more efficiently, Windows will physically split many of these files and put them in different parts of your hard disk.  This is known as fragmentation and, if lots of your files are fragmented which happens particularly on disk that are close to capacity, it can affect the performance of your PC.  At this point you should defragment your hard disk.

To do this in Windows XP:

  1. Open ‘Control Panel’ (Start -> Control Panel)
  2. Open ‘Administrative Tools’ and select ‘Computer Management’
  3. In the tree in the left hand panel under ‘Storage’, select ‘Disk Defragmenter’
  4. Click on the drive that you would like to defragment and click either ‘Analyze’ to determine if your disk needs defragmenting or click ‘Defragment’ to start the process.

Performance problems with Windows XP are frequently contributed to by a highly fragmented disk.

6. Clean the registry

This site talks a lot about Windows registry and the problems with Windows XP, and other flavors of Windows, it can cause.  The registry is a great improvement on the configuration files that were used prior to the registry being introduced, but the size and complexity of it means that inevitably issues arise that can cause all sorts of problems with Windows XP.  To resolve these issues, unless you are an expert, I would always use a registry cleaner to sort these problems out.  Most registry cleaners come with a variety of other tools to improve PC performance and are really worth the money.  One I recommend is Registry Easy which is a great all round registry fixing and PC performance tuning product.

Have a go at these six steps and see what a difference it can make to the problems with Windows XP that you are experiencing…good luck!

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