Best way to clean a PC

[John]

I agree with a reinstall being the best method. Sometimes viruses or spyware programs download and install all sorts of hidden junk on your computer.

Better than reinstalling, though, would be to make a backup image of your hard drive after you have everything reinstalled and updated. Then if anything happens that requires a reinstall all you need to do is restore your hard drive from the backup image, which saves a great deal of time. Basically the same as reinstalling but a lot more convenient.

[biophase]

Originally Posted by John

I agree with a reinstall being the best method. Sometimes viruses or spyware programs download and install all sorts of hidden junk on your computer.

Better than reinstalling, though, would be to make a backup image of your hard drive after you have everything reinstalled and updated. Then if anything happens that requires a reinstall all you need to do is restore your hard drive from the backup image, which saves a great deal of time. Basically the same as reinstalling but a lot more convenient.

Definitely make a backup. I just don't want to go Vista so I'm trying real hard so I've been doing this alot with my XP computers to keep them going.

[Steven Perry]

I had a virus attack to my PC and I reinstalled my OS and now it is so slow that I can't get the work done.