"Lobster" wrote in message
...
Was just wondering... my PC is running increasingly badly and crashing
more often, to the extent that I reckon I need to reformat the HD and do a
clean re-install of XP, which no doubt will cure the problem.

However, as a no-risk option I thought it might first be worth trying to
'repair' the existing installation, which is one of the options on my XP
bootable CD.

How would that work, given that my XP disks are (IIRC) SP1, and I'm
currently running SP3? Does that matter or will I screw everything up if
I try?

I assume you are not short of memory? When first installed, a low
memory system apparently works fine. Then you add more and more
software until it has to swap like mad. At his stage you can get a
"swapping storm" leading to a blue screen of death as something
overflows.

I've recently given a new lease of life to some old PCs for others by
simply installing extra memory from Crucial. (So I could return it if it
didn't work, but haven't had to do that yet...)

--
John W
To mail me replace the obvious with co.uk twice