Thanks windows sp3 for borking up my computer

[Judge Dredd Lox]

I have come to the conclusion that I have to completly reload XP because of windows updates. I dl'ed the last updates and now I have constant crashes and UT plays like crap. I tried system restore which has always worked well before and it still crashes. I have a 60's ping and it feels like I've got 5 other programs running. UT hasn't been playing that well since before this dl but now it just sux. I have never reloaded the whole thing before and this puter is 4 yrs old now. So I have a few questions for you guys.

Have any of you done a complete reload and had UT run better than before the reload?
Are there any programs out there that I can EASILY move my favorite websites to and then reload them?
Is my mail saved on the gmail and hotmail websites or will I lose all of it?
What would you guys do in terms of updates after I reinstall?
I would think on a new install of everything that the newest updates wouldn't make it crash but should I?
Anything else I should be concerned about?

Thanks for your help!

[CTC-JimRimya]

That sucks! Yeah, I have never loaded SP3 on my XP boxes. When you use MS update, you can opt to skip it, so I'd suggest that when you do your reinstall. I've heard it creates all sorts of problems, and makes updating your hardware a pain in the ass (like it does with Vista).

I'll try to answer your questions below. I didn't realize how long this had become!

Have any of you done a complete reload and had UT run better than before the reload?

Yes and no. I've never had to reload because something was borked beyond all help. I've only reloaded XP when I've built a new computer or just thought it was time to clean the slate

Are there any programs out there that I can EASILY move my favorite websites to and then reload them?

Yes. If you use Fire Fox, you can use MozBackup: it works like a charm:
http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/
If you use IE, I'm sure there is something, but I haven't used IE for a few years now so I couldn't tell you.

Is my mail saved on the gmail and hotmail websites or will I lose all of it?

Yes, if you use gmail and hotmail, all of your mail will remain on their servers. You may have opted to download your mail at one point, in which case you'd just have to move those files over to your new system when you've reinstalled. But otherwise, you should be fine.

What would you guys do in terms of updates after I reinstall?

Everything BUT service pack 3

I would think on a new install of everything that the newest updates wouldn't make it crash but should I?

See previous answer.

Anything else I should be concerned about?

You'll probably find that while your current install has a lot of programs installed on it, you actually don't use them all. Make a list of the ones you use, get the most recent versions from the vendor's sites (if they're free, etc), and collect up your CDs and DVDs for the software that you've purchased. A complete reinstall of XP and then your apps shouldn't take more than an afternoon. If you can, buy a new harddrive to install on. Take your old one out and set it aside. After you've finished the new install, you can put it back in (both drives in the computer) and move your files (your word docs, pr0n, etc) to your new harddrive. And if you need to, you can boot off the old one if you forgot something or just have to get into your old install.

Thanks for your help!

Good luck!

[-T2-]

IE Favorites are normally stored in the following folder --> C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Favorites
You can copy that folder to a thumb drive or even zip it and email it one of your online email accounts (gmail, yahoo, etc).

Not sure if you are a hardware person or not Judge, but depending on how old your Hard Drive is, it may be a good time to pop a new one in the machine and leave all your data on the old one as a backup. Sometimes this is easier if you are not sure what you need or not.

What brand of computer are we talking about? Like Jim mentioned, if you do a full re-install, you may need drivers for your specific hardware. You don't want to blow away your system, format and install XP to find out your Network device is not recognized leaving you incapable of hitting the vendors website for the driver.

Let me know if you have any more questions....would be glad to help out.

[WeedVulture]

i suggest uninstalling UT and do NOT reinstall, because we DONT like playing with YOU!

[McShagger]

That sucks JDL. Sorry for your misfortune. Jim gave you great advice. Not sure about sp3. Its not causing any problems for me. But I did run into problems a while back with my UT crashing. It might have been related to sp3 (might have been around the time I got sp3). I completely uninstalled UT and reloaded completely fresh without saving any of the UT files. Im running UT just fine.

[x-GAMBIT-x]

Yeah I had some issue's on my PC recently I have a External HardDrive were I put All my
Important stuff on Then did a complete wipe on my pc and reinstalled everything and now
I'm good But now I tried to update one of my driver's and now I get the Blue screen of death
every so often. Good Luck with getting it back up and running smooth I know how much of
a pain in the @ss it is.

[v0idNull]

It pays to stay in touch with the times and read reviews before installing any service pack. Don't go downloading stuff just because it's the latest. Make sure it supports your hardware.