I've got a 2nd computer that's been pretty trusty for about 3 years. I use it primarily now to host iTunes for my AppleTV and to store videos for my other computers. It's slowed to a crawl now and just seems like it needs a good "physical checkup" like at the doctor's office.

I've installed a ton of programs on it over the past few years but have recently uninstalled most of them. Things like DVD burner software, printer drivers, adobe software, etc. Stuff I don't need anymore but were pretty intrusive.

My question is should I re-install XP to give it a clean new registry? Or do I download one of those free registry cleaners? I don't want to completely wipe it and start from scratch, so I'm wondering what would be the best way to give it a nice spring cleaning?

Any help or opinions would be great.

Hi. I don't know about reinstalling XP. And you don't need to pay for a Registry cleaner - there is CCleaner and Auslogics Registry Cleaner. Both free. Also both Piriform and Auslogics have a free defragging utility.Sorry can't post links - just Google.

Hi,

Some things I do on regularly on PC's which just come a bit sluggish over time, are running a full defrag on your hard drive. Also try remove any temporary files which are not needed, running the Disk CleanUp utility in Windows will do this for you, but I use CCleaner (as mentioned) it's free and cleans both the registry and tempory files on your computer. If your computer is slow when it starts, try removing some of the programs that automatically start up from the Startup Folder on the Start Menu, All Programs (NB some these might actually be useful though).

Hope this helps