And I want to reformat the HDD and install only WINXP with service pack 3.
Can I do this, or do I have to stick with some sort of setup disk strictly made for a Dell computer? I am just tired of all the BS that comes preloaded with Dell computers and I only want the OS and whatever software that I want on there…nothing else.
If this is OK to do does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to go about doing this?
I thank you for your expertise in advance.
Nothing special about Dells other than the sticker on the case.
You can boot off the XP cd and wipe the drive clean in the installation process. You might have to muck about in the BIOS to get the computer to boot off the CD before the HDD, but it should be pretty clear how to do that once you’re in there.
XP should have every driver you’re going to need, and if it doesn’t you can add them after the fact. Would be wise to make sure you’ve got drivers for essential stuff (like your NIC, which is probably just a linksys or netgear part, but could be different) on a cd somewhere before you wipe the drive.
Well, nothing affecting what the OP wants to do. Unless they’ve changed something recently, Dell wires their motherboards differently so that if you replace a Dell power supply with a standard power supply, you’ll fry the motherboard.
Friendly.
It’s a hell of a lot less work to uninstall their advertising ware than it is to reinstall the OS and all the drivers and the apps you do want to keep.
But no, there’s nothing magic or weird about Dells that would preclude installing a properly licensed retail copy of Windows. You *do *have a properly licensed retail copy, right?
Yeah, i think i’d do this, and use something like CCleaner to get rid of al the leftover registry entries that sometimes hang around when you uninstall programs.
My Dell is about 4 years old now, and the XP install disk that came with it actually had basically no crapware at all on it. I I recently swapped out hard drives and reinstalled XP, and there was nothing on it apart from the OS and main drivers. The extra drivers and software were on different discs, and i just left off anything i didn’t want.
Ya I have a properly licensed copy of XP…it came with the DELL.
Reason I want to wipe the HDD is because the computer just runs like crap, and I don’t have the time to mess around trying to find out what it is that is mucking it up.
I want the OS with the latest SP, a good antivirus with the latest definition, and a good firewall and that’s it nothing else. I figure if I start from scratch it will save alot of frustration…
Thanks all for your replies…
Unless you paid extra for the genuine stand-alone XP disks, what you got with the Dell is probably a reinstall kit which will restore the machine to its pristine factory goodness. In other words, with all the advertisingware already installed.
Crap.
You are of course right. What a pain in the ass…not you. The fact that all I have are the reinstall kit.
That was the case at one time (they used the same 20 pin connector, but the pin layout was different), but they have since switched to the standard. I have replaced the power supplies on a Dimension 4500 and a 4700 with non-Dell units and have not had any issue.
Are you sure about this? The Reinstallation CD (contains the complete Windows install) is different from the Recovery CD (allows you to recover to a factory default state by using the hidden drive partition).
The crap that comes preloaded with many name brand computers will no doubt slow things down…a little bit. However, I think’s it’s possible that you may be blaming a lot of the slowness on Dell’s crapware when it’s not fully to blame (especially if you haven’t reinstalled your operating system in a while). If your computer’s operating system has not been reinstalled in a while, it will begin to become host to all kinds of crud - obsolete registry entries, fragmented hard drive sectors, hidden spyware / viruses, etc. I usually reinstall my operating system about once a year. CCleaner, a good virus scan, and defragmenting your disk can do wonders, but you’ll never get it back to full speed unless you just wipe everything.
If you don’t want to completely redo everything, download CCleaner as per mhendo’s suggestion at http://www.ccleaner.com/download. Also, download a good spyware/virus application and run it. I recommend Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, though there are many other great freeware antivirus/antimalware programs out there. Also, click on the start button at the bottom left of your screen and go to All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter and run that program on your hard drive. This will reorganize the contents of your hard drive to a place where they are more quickly and efficiently accessed.
If you want to completely wipe the mess and start over, remember to BACK UP your important files, because they’re probably going bye-bye. This means photos, documents, music, bookmarked sites, saved games, and something you probably haven’t thought of yet. After you’ve backed everything up, don’t do another thing and GO TO SLEEP. When you wake up in the morning, you’ll remember something you forgot to back up and you’ll be really thankful you didn’t reformat your hard drive the night before. This sounds silly, but I always do this now because I always remember something I forgot the next day.
As for your original question, yes you can reinstall everything with the disk your Dell came with. For that matter, you can reinstall everything with a retail WinXP disk of any variety. Depending on how old the disk is, though, it may not come prepackaged with SP3. If this is the case, it should download automatically if you have automatic updates enabled (I believe that is the default). If for whatever reason it doesn’t download automatically, download from here.
As far as removing the crapware that Dell comes with, try clicking on the Start button in the bottom left hand corner of your screen, then going to Control Panel. Next, click on “Add or Remove Programs”. Look for those pesky programs and uninstall them. Problem solved!
Okay, I’m rambling (I’ve had a few beers), but here’s the meat of my post. Yes, you can reinstall Windows. If you use your Dell disk, the stupid “helpful” programs will still be there, but you can remove them. If you use a retail disk (like you’d find at Wal-Mart, etc.) the programs won’t be there, but don’t shell out $100 if you don’t have one. If you don’t want to reintall Windows, use my tips above. Let us know if you have any further questions and we’ll help you out!
Two months ago I reinstalled Vista using the Dell Reinstallation dvd and there was no bloatware, it was a clean install. I believe all the bloatware is on a seperate dvd titled “Drivers and Utilities”.
Even so, it will be a lot easier to clean that stuff once the system is fresh and new.
Does your computer have SATA disks? Because you will need drivers for them, and they are not included on the XP Setup CD.
Nuke the drive from orbit.
Back in the Win98 days, I would probably reformat and reinstall about once every two months.
Win2000 - a bit better. Once every three months.
WinXP was pretty good. Once every six months.
Vista - despite the baffling negative reaction - is really good. I’m just doing my first wipe and reinstall after about a year.
My recommendation - DBAN.
Reinstall a clean version of Windows.
If you don’t have a clean version, disregard. But consider getting one.
And never buy a Dell again. Dell isn’t bad, as mass-market computer builders go. But if you have two hours to spend reading up, you can assemble a much better and cheaper computer from components bought from Newegg or another reputable supplier that will let you skip all the nonsense and build a nice compy from the ground up.
Are you sure? I built an new pc a month ago (I’m posting from it right now) with a SATA drive, and had no problem installing the XP Home cd that I bought a few years back.
It is a Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0Gb/s 250-GB Hard Drive. The Device Manager says that the Driver Provider is Microsoft, with a Driver Date of 7/1/2001, Driver Version 5.1.2535.0
(It now occurs to me that I should go to Seagate’s website and see if newer drivers are available. Thanks. Don’t bother to point it out. I’ve been using this for a month with no problems, but I suppose Preventive Maintenance is always a good idea.)
I just used the reinstall disc for my Tosh laptop. Two years old, almost.
Vista had become annoyingly slow and would kill browsers after only a couple of days.
Regular use of CCleaner and Spybot S&D’s Secure Shredder wasn’t having much effect, as with other housekeeping procedures.
Reinstall was quick and easy but not the same as the original, which had two partitions, the reinstall has only one.
There wasn’t much shovelware and that took only a few clicks to remove.
It is much faster now.
Just ask around and borrow a clean install CD. So long as you have your Product ID number it is perfectly legal. Note that you must get the same version; if you have XP Home you must use that, or XP Pro if that is what you have. Doesn’t matter what Service Packs are included on the CD, you can download all the updates after you install.
I hate my 9 month old Dell. Not the computer, but the OS. Vista is the biggest piece of crap I have ever seen. I worked with the MicroSoft tech support for a couple of months with no joy, and now they are seeming to ignore my emails (I actually suspect they were laid off - I was surprised at how good they were, knowledgable, friendly, prompt, etc… It was a very nice surprise. Now nothing, no response, it’s strange), Anyway, I have been considering buying a full version of XP proffesional for $250 and wiping it. Would this be difficult? From the responses so far, it sounds like not…
I was always under the impression that an OEM version of Windows and a retail version of Windows were not, in fact, the same thing, and that an OEM license key will not work with a retail version of the software.
OEM is sold cheaper, and is licensed to be installed with a particular computer build. It is harder to transfer the license, and too many modifications to your computer hardware can also cause problems. A retail version is not attached to any particular hardware, and the license can be transferred easily from one computer to another, and is not affected by hardware upgrades.
At least, that has been my understanding of how Windows licensing works.