Rod wrote:
Lobster wrote:
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?

Thanks
David

I don't think that repair option does as you wish.

How high a spec. is your machine?

I ask because in considering similar, I would be tempted to try a
virtual machine if my machine were suitable. (Not enough memory or disc
space on this laptop I use.) This comes partly from partner's very
positive experience of running XP within a virtual machine on her Mac
(using VMWare Fusion). And partly from using VMWare way back (to run 98
within W2K).

My thought is that you could build a new environment, test it, transfer
stuff, etc. When happy with that, rebuild a basic environment,
re-install the virtual machine software and run what you created
earlier. With sufficient disc space you can keep several copies of your
virtual machine.

However, I do not know the current costs, supported configurations,
licensing issues, etc.

Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like the answer to my original
question is "no" then!

I've already done most of the tricks and tests people have suggested
(but not all, and I'll follow those up).

I'm intrigued by the idea of running a virtual machine though.
Currently I have several networked machines running XP Home for family
use; they are all fairly old and low-spec ones, and the idea of buying
one new decent one to use as a server for the others sounds attractive.
I've also had positive experience of using VMs from an employer, both
working from home over the internet and working in the office. It had
never occurred to me to be able to reproduce that at home - I thought it
was pretty high-level, and expensive business software etc. Is it a
realistic proposition for an only averagely competent Windows home user
to get involved with? Anyone got any useful links to share?

Thanks
David