Rebuilding a Windows XP Installation – Part 3

After downloading all of your optional updates, there are going to be several more updates and reboots. Windows Media Player 11 needs them, as does all the .NET stuff. Each time you reboot, run right to the Windows Update manager again and keep on doing it over and over per each reboot.

There will be some instances where it appears XP is going to crash, particularly with the .NET updates. It won’t. Just let it sit and do its thing. You’ll see something like this:

..and it will appear that “Installing” will never end. It eventually will. Be patient. Very patient.

The ultimate goal here is to keep on heading back to Windows Update, choosing a “Custom” install, checking updates and download everything you can until there is almost nothing left.

As mentioned in the last installment, Windows Search 4.0 is one to avoid because it will slow XP down significantly.

Others to avoid are updates that serve no real advantage, such as sound card updates. If your sound card is working fine and it does everything you want it to do, don’t update. The same usually applies to the video card.

At the end of it all, Windows Update should look like this:

High Priority should be zero. Software should be 1 (the Windows Search 4.0 that you skip installing) and for hardware you may have one or two you want to skip. In my screen shot above I’m purposely avoiding a sound card update because it’s not necessary.

After this, perform another reboot.

Now it’s time for CCleaner. Download and install that software.

Updating XP as much as you did leaves a lot behind in the system registry. The fastest way to clean it out is to use CCleaner.

When running CCleaner, use the large Cleaner button on the left first. It’s the one that looks like a brush. Then click (at the bottom of the program) the Analyze button. Wait for it to complete, then click the Run Cleaner button to the right of Analyze.

After that, click that large Registry button of the left (has a blue cube look). At bottom, click Scan for Issues. You’ll see results similar to this:

This is normal after performing a large XP update.

On the bottom right, click the Fix Selected Issues button. You will be prompted to make a backup of the registry. This is not necessary since the installation is brand new, so click No. Then click Fix All Selected Issues. Then click Close.

Reboot one more time so the registry is reloaded.

After that, you’re done.