Dear experts,
I recently used my HP Pavilion recover disk that came with my computer. It is 5 years old. I thought this was doing a reformat but evidently not. It restored my computer to the way it was the day I got it. What I need to know is should I use a registry cleaner such as jv16 or ashampoo before I install my programs and saved files back on here or should I install everything first and then use one? The reason I'm asking this is because I did install jv16 and had a look around. I did the clean reg scan and it tells me I have over 400 entries that are useless. Since I haven't put anything back on my computer except the system files from the HP cd I was wondering if this is why I'm getting the message that I have all these useless files. I don't want to delete them if it means I won't be able to reinstall my software and saved items. So should I reinstall the things I want first and then do the jv16 scan or do the scan first, clean out the useless items in green and then reinstall the things I want? Sorry but this is very confusing.

Kat.

Be sure you install all windows updates. Here's the site below
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp


Major stuff to install is the crucial updates. The other updates you make the decision if you want it or not.

Also download Eplorer 6 service pack

After you are done install all programs that you have at home

I would recommend that you install ( spybot s&d, adware, and bazooka scanner. Once you are finish with all of this, now its time to run each program, one at a time. When you are finished running all these programs, I would also recommend that you do  diskcleanup, scandisk, and defrag. In this same order.
     

Thank you once again for your advice. I've already gotten all my critical updates and had to get IE6 before I could get reconnected with my ISP. I have both adaware and spybot but haven't reinstalled them yet. I've never heard of bazooka. Thanks very much for the help.

Kat.

Just to let you know bazooka scanner does not removal anything for you. However it shows you how to remove the spyware, adware, and viruses manually. This is a great tool to learn your registry.

Thanks and have a great night

Thank you very much for the info. Have a wonderful day.
:)