Reinstalling Windows

[Booldawg]

I have a laptop that has gradually got slower and slower (I think) due to the amount of add-ons, downloads, new software that has been added over the years.

I'd like to do a fresh install with just the software. I'm a bit old school and the last time I did this it was probably format C: and be armed with all the
CDs you need. Probably Win98!

Times have moved on and I have no O/S on CD but would like remove everything and have a 'clean' o/s load.

Would be nice to keep MS Office. I bought it on the HUP (home user program) via work, but again have no CDs or an idea of the reg key.
Not the end of the world if I can't retreive it as I can get it for $10 (about £7.50) via my employer.

How would I acheive this?

[Mosaic]

Firstly, ask your employer if they also have a windows install disk you can use. The worst they can say is No, but they might have one, which will save you much trouble. Then the version of Office that you can get will run nicely.

If you are using an older laptop, you may not be able to run Windows 10 which is the latest OS. This is downloaded, not shipped on disk. Ditto the current versions of office.

However, support for OS versions older than windows 8 is being dropped so you might find yourself on your own again
And you won't like Windows 8 if you're offered it as it sucks like a sucky thing.

[Booldawg]

should mention I use Win 10

[Mosaic]

Oh that's different then.
I expect from what you describe the slow responses of your laptop will be due to your own sinfulness in not scrubbing its hard drive cleaner than a clean whistle every day, and slower processor speeds that were wizzo in its heyday.
You could try deleting everything but the essentials and reinstalling W10, what's to lose.

[pinkyboyid]

If as you are currently using Win 10 on your Laptop and are having problems you can carry out a Win 10 Reset operation that will perform the equivalent of a fresh installation.

For info on how to perform this, see: http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/reset-windows-10-pc

During the Reset operation you have the option to keep your personal files, but will remove all installed Apps most likely including Office, or an alternative option to remove all files.

[VHG]

What version of Windows came with the laptop?

How old is the laptop?

You say you think it is slow because of all the add ons over the years, but if you are on Windows 10 then that must be a new install (upgrade?) so the upgrade would have got rid of a quite a lot of the rubbish that has been collected over the years so I doubt that is the problem.

How large is your hard disk and is there plenty of room on it (a full hard disk can cause Windows to run slowly).

Is it your broadband that is slow and not your laptop? If you do laptop based activities (open a program for example) is that slow or only when you are on the internet?

Note you can do a Windows refresh or reinstall without having to install from a CD as all the Windows 10 code is hidden away on your hard disk..

See this web page, where it mentions "Refresh your PC" which reinstall Windows 10 but keeps all your programs and settings etc.

DONT do Reset Your PC or you will lose all your programs etc.

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair-install-windows-10-place-upgrade.html

[VHG]

Actually my link above is not the best one. It mentions Refresh your PC but then goes on to explain how to do a Windows 10 install from the CD.

This link explains in detail how to do a Refresh Your PC where you don't need the Windows 10 CD

This will reinstall Windows 10 but keep all your programs and settings

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4090-refresh-windows-10-a.html

[Booldawg]

From a hardware spec the Laptop is a Packard Bell EasyNote TK with Pentium P6200 CPU, 500GB HDD and 4GB DDR3 RAM

[Togo]

1.6GHZ Processor or faster
1GB of RAM
16GB hard drive space
For a 64bit device you will need 2GB of RAM
You will need a DirectX 9 or later graphics card with a WDDM 1.0 driver and a 800 x 600 display or better.
These are the minimum specs you will req. to run w10

[Booldawg]

thanks all. I plumbed for running one of those free pc clean up tools (Ccleaner) Not sure if its a case of 'the emporers new clothes' but it seems marginally quicker.

It was more the time it took to boot up. Also notice it runs fairly hot and sounds like the fan is working overtime so not sure if there is a hardware issue.

Also deleted a lot off the HDD and unistalled some unused programs.

[pinkyboyid]

The 'running hot' and continual noisy fan usually indicates that the internal FAN vents are clogged with dust and/or the heat sink has failed where the heat is not being dissipated adequately. Requires some fiddly opening up of the computer casing to access and removal of the fan for cleaning and Heat sink paste replacement. For example video of a TK85 model: http://www.laptopinventory.com/LaptopInventory.php/Packard%20Bell/EasyNote/TK85/Fan

You should note that if the heat becomes excessive the computer will eventually shut down automatically for CPU protection. You can get an idea of what temperature is being generated by downloading and installing the following package called SpeedFan: http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php