Reinstalling XP

[Anaxion]

My pc is slow to respond. There is a lag and general slowness and my plan is to reinstall XP.
Start up is fast and I have cleaned up all tmp files etc, general housekeeping is good I think. Spyware, virus is up-to-date.

The hard drive is partitioned C, D & E
C:/ Operating system and MS office
D:/ All other installed software
E:/ Saved files, work, photos etc.

Now to the questions ->
1. If I reinstall XP to C:/ does it overwrite and repair files and everything will be as is, but anything broken is repaired?

2. If I format C:/ and install XP (my preferred option) does the installed software on D:/ still run?

Other info:
System Model: P5K
          BIOS: BIOS Date: 07/03/07 10:01:10 Ver: 08.00.12
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU    Q6600  @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs)
          Memory: 2048MB RAM
          Page File: 795MB used, 3144MB available

Any comments welcome. Thanks in advance
Bob

[gizmo71]

2. If I format C:/ and install XP (my preferred option) does the installed software on D:/ still run?

Some things will, but for the most part you'll need to install them back over the current installations to make sure that all required libraries are installed into the Windows directories and registry entries are recreated. You'll most likely lose most of your application preferences too.

[Ray]

As I understand it, Bob, question 1 if you do a repair reinstall of Windows to your C:\ drive it does overwrite and repair the operating system and your programmes should still work, but it may not get rid of your problems.

Question 2 a re format and reinstall to the C:\ drive will mean you will have to reinstall all your applications as you will lose their registry information etc. Personally having had similar problems in the past I would go for option 2 a complete reinstall making sure that you save all and any data you wish to keep before you start.I find it's a good thing to do a re install of everything periodically anyway. A repair install sometimes works but quite often doesn't and you still have your problems afterwards.  

Also   and

[Anaxion]

Thanks for replies 

Ray - yes, you just confirmed what I should know really, just didn't want the extra work, but it makes sense....now to find all the cd's /sigh

Cheers guys, bob

[Sebby]

If you do a repair install, all installed applications will remain intact. However, a repair install will not resolves your speed issues.

You'll need to format and reinstall, in which case all applications will need to be reinstalled - though the files will remain on the D: drive, they won't work as all the registry entries will be missing.

[Simon]

  Bob - you've been a long time coming!   

[David]

    Hi Bob