Hi, I just uninstalled and reinstalled Windows on my computer because the system was running very slow and there were certain programs keeping the system slow that I wasn't able to uninstall. Now, since I've reinstalled Windows it's even slower than before! Web pages will freeze up and it's pretty annoying. A virus scan took 7 hours the other day!!! Was reinstalling it a bad idea and how can I make it run faster now? Any and all help would be appreciated! Thanks.

How much memory do you have in the computer? Also, did you reformat the hard drive before reinstalling? "If at first you don't succeed, skydiving may not be for you." -Our tour guide at Fenway Park in Boston, MA.

Were the motherboard drivers reinstalled?

On the hard drive there is about 40 gb of space but only 7 available. For a reinstallation, that seems low to me. Also, I didn't reformat that hard drive - always thought that was a big no no. Lastly, I used all of the original Driver and Application disks to reinstall the drivers and also used Microsoft.com for help, but I don't know that much it so I could have missed something. What do I do now?

How much memory do you have?? Low hard drive space won't help speed, but, unless you don't want to lose all of your data, reformatting might help. Also, do you ever run Disk Cleanup or Disk Defragmenter? "If at first you don't succeed, skydiving may not be for you." -Our tour guide at Fenway Park in Boston, MA.

Sounds like you didn't format the drive and start from scratch. Save any data to external media (cd or thumb drive, etc.) Go to Dell's website, and enter the ST of the machine. You can then download the necessary drivers for each device saving them as well. Then, after you reinstall (reformatting first) install only the necessary drivers starting with the chipset. Install your anti-virus, then connect to the Internet and download MS updates. "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown

I guess I always assumed that reformatting meant losing everything and that in this case that's actually what I wanted. So, I'll save all documents and photos, etc. onto an external harddrive and then I'll follow the suggestions/directions you've given me. If I have any more questions, I'll get back on here, but hopefully it'll go smoothly. Thanks a lot and happy holidays!