Thread: System restore equal a clean slate???

Still running an old POS Compaq with win. XP. It was getting slow and clunky. Backed everything over to an outboard hard drive and ran a full system restore.

Does this clean all the spyware and potential virus's accumulated over the years?

I don't think so. I have always just reinstalled the operating system with the Install Disk. That wipes the hard drive for sure and makes a huge difference in performance, but it takes all day to upload all the service paks and program updates. Last time I did it, I called Dell and bought the most current Disk they had to go from Service pak 1 to Service pak 2 to speed up some of the uploading.

first, no i don't think it does. you'll probably want to format the disk and reinstall windows.

second, getting slow and clunky???? well it is almost 20 yrs old. you know you could get a new computer that runs nice and smooth for like $100 right?

get a new computer.

Ya know, at some point I will but the system restore seemed to fix a shitload of issues.

It was snowing all weekend and this was a cheap and relatively easy fix.

You do know that Windows 95 is no longer even on the radar for Microsoft to do any security updates? As for your question on the system restore- if you just have junk on the system and not a bootkit or rootkit that hides from Windows and sometimes can't even be removed by a system reload, then running the recovery should take you back to the original factory configuration. Then you of course have to do all the updates, and you still have an old ready for a museum slower than heck computer system that can't run many of the newer browsers, software, and offerings. Not sure why you are hanging onto a system that old, especially if it is a desktop as there are plenty of cheap used systems out there on Craigslist and other sources.

While I understand not wanting to get a new machine, the reality is that the new internet sites are being written for machines that have a much greater capacity than machines made ten years ago.

Look at it this way, the internet requires Headwaters level capacity, and your operating system was made for the Pony Express.

Running an almost 2 decade old OS, you are just begging for some serious security issues. Hope you don't mind having all of your personal information poached. Seriously, get a newer computer. It's bad enough that some people are still using XP, but 95? Are you for serious?

Like it's been said already above, you can buy used computers for next to nothing. A quick search on ebay resulted in computers with Windows 7 as cheap as $49. Not high end pc's or anything, but even a $49 computer will absolutely smoke yours. If you go with XP or Vista, you can probably find computers as cheap as free. Nobody wants old electronics, so I've had a tough time GIVING away old computers. It's time to chunk yours, and find another one.

My bad, that should have read Win. XP

Machine is from 2004

Depends on what you mean by system restore.

If you're talking about the Windows feature, no - it just takes you 'back in time' to when the restore point was made. Any problems that were present at the time of the restore point creation will still be there

Or there is a factory restore option, that wipes the partition and reloads the operating system, drivers, etc to factory settings. That would cclear any software related problems as it will have restored the PC to the condition it was in when it left the factory.

XP instead of Win 95 makes a bit of difference, but as jgb points out there is a factory system restore (usually from a CD disk or a hidden partition on the drive) or a roll back to previous date. The factory restore as you may know many times deletes all your data and programs. The roll back to a previous restore point will not delete My Documents etc. XP is not as secure as a new Windows 7 computer and Windows 8 will be coming and Microsoft would love to get all XP users to upgrade or get new computers. It still will be a 8 year old system that will maybe run 10 to 15 percent better by doing a complete reload. If the time and effort to do that is worth it (a couple of hours usually- maybe more to reinstall all the software and restore the backups) compared to doing a transfer of the info to a newer computer running Win 7. Before you do go to Win 7 make sure any peripherals you have will work with Win 7 and if they will not- figure that into the cost of the new system.

This was the Factory Restore from a hidden Partition. It cleared all docs. and program files.

I am waiting a bit until Win. 8 is released and then plan on buying a new system, most likely a Laptop rather than a desktop though.

Originally Posted by Bunion

My bad, that should have read Win. XP

Machine is from 2004

Ohhhh! That makes way more sense. I was almost wondering how your computer could even hang with the this website if you were still on 95 somehow. Lol

XP is fine, as long as you have a decent antivirus/antispyware, and enough memory to deal with the interface of modern websites.

My machine is the same age as yours Bunion. When I got it I made a point of getting twice the memory of the basic models, which had only 256Mb! Times sure have changed, and I have added 2Gb to the memory to be able to process at a reasonable speed. Now days, basic rock bottom computers come with 2Gb of memory.

I've been planning on adding another 2Gb to keep ahead of the advancement, but eventually that will be too little also.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

XP is fine, as long as you have a decent antivirus/antispyware, and enough memory to deal with the interface of modern websites.

My machine is the same age as yours Bunion. When I got it I made a point of getting twice the memory of the basic models, which had only 256Mb! Times sure have changed, and I have added 2Gb to the memory to be able to process at a reasonable speed. Now days, basic rock bottom computers come with 2Gb of memory.

I've been planning on adding another 2Gb to keep ahead of the advancement, but eventually that will be too little also.

Rasputin,

You realize that 99% of the Win XP computers are running the 32 bit version of XP, not the 64 bit. So because it is 32 bit it can only handle a maximum of 4 gig of memory- including the bios, video ram, etc. So many systems can only address 3 gig or maybe slightly more as the maximum in system memory. Stick 4 gig in a 32 bit machine and you see 3 or 3.2 gig available to Windows. So if you have 2 gig now, you are probably fine- but if you really want to add more, I'd try another 1 Gig and not the 2 gig additional you mentioned.

Originally Posted by RShea

Rasputin,

You realize that 99% of the Win XP computers are running the 32 bit version of XP, not the 64 bit. So because it is 32 bit it can only handle a maximum of 4 gig of memory- including the bios, video ram, etc. So many systems can only address 3 gig or maybe slightly more as the maximum in system memory. Stick 4 gig in a 32 bit machine and you see 3 or 3.2 gig available to Windows. So if you have 2 gig now, you are probably fine- but if you really want to add more, I'd try another 1 Gig and not the 2 gig additional you mentioned.

True. OR just get yourself a more modern computer before putting another dime into that old beast. I'm running 16 gb these days since ram is so dirt cheap. Newegg has ram from $40-60 per 8 gb. Sometimes compatible components for old computers cost so much more than their modern counterparts, that it's just not worth it anymore.

Since you're using the hidden partition to reformat, that will create a clean slate. It should be just like the day you bought it.

The key with old computers like that is to watch out for other friends PCs that have died/they are throwing away. Just snag some RAM out of their computers and put it in yours. There's going to be either DDR1 or DDR2 memory in yours (depending on the processor). If you got it in 2004, that's right during the DDR change over point, so I'm not sure which you'd have.

Unless you're doing some serious gaming, encoding, databases, etc, you won't notice much difference above 2GBs in Windows XP honestly, so I wouldn't worry too much. If it's still working, might as well keep it!