I don't give up

[niccotnt]

Hello,

I'm a project manager and developer and I work with my notebook and my home PC.

I have a really big problem on my home PC. It' s about 3 years I have Windows XP and now it's full of updates of all sorts (SP1 to SP2 included). These updates slow down the system very very much (it takes about 15 minutes for the system to start). It is an hardware problem, too.

So, I decided to buy a new Windows XP SP2, and a new and fast PC.

The critical issue is that i CAN'T loose my programs and applications. When I formatted my PC and prepared it for the system (3 years ago) I separated everything, so I have 6 partitions.

C: The system

P: The programs

T: Temp

S: Swap (with windows swap file)

E: Entertainment files (Multimedia)

D: My projects and Personal files

The hard disk is very large so I have tons of programs with millions of registry settings and I can't loose them! All the programs I need are stored in P: partition.

If I format C: and reinstall the new Windows on C:, I still have the program files, but not the registry settings and I'd loose settings for all my programs. I'd like to find a way of keeping the registry settings related to the program files.

If I backup the registry, install the new Windows and restore the old Windows' registry, I'm quite sure it will crash, beacuse I have tons of settings inside the old registry I don't need anymore (system settings), that may cause conflicts.

How can I backup programs along with their registry settings?

Is there a commercial/free tool for doing this? Does exist a tool for saving all the registry settings (programs settings, registered dlls, user preferences) except the system settings (replaced by the new Windows intallation)?

Let me know, please. I just CAN'T reinstall tons of programs loosing all the settings. i just CAN'T give up.

Thanks

Nic

[trackrat]

Is this of any help to you.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechn...y/usermigr.mspx

[Belatucadrus]

How can I backup programs along with their registry settings?

Unfortunately pretty near impossible, there used to be some software uninstallers that claimed to be able to archive a program and its registry settings, but I always found them completely useless.

Clearly you could just use Regedit and export a copy of the existing registry, but as you rightly point out, this is liable to carry a load of problems with it and be rather counter productive.

Have you tried running a registry cleaner ?

Regseeker , Tweak Now and RegscrubXP are pretty good and all free.

You can also use CCleaner or G lock temp cleaner to tidy up the drive.

Another free utility that's supposed to speed things up is Advanced WindowsCare.

Not exactly the answer you wanted, but it should optimise the registry if you are forced down the export path.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

I know, your question is about migrating to a new computer, but...

My current system is 3+ years old, with WinXP & all updates installed, hundreds of applications & their updates, but my system isn't any slower than the day when I have set it up first.

So... have you tried to tune up your current system? I know, some day you will have to migrate anyway, but perhaps it can wait until you get a new PC with Vista...?

A few tuning tips

• Make sure that all your partitions are regularly defragmented. A commercial product such as Diskeeper will do a much better job than Windows' own defragmenter.
  
• Make sure your partitions have optimal cluster size, e.g. your page file partition should probably have 64K clusters.
  
• Remove anything that is non-essential from your startup. Startup Inspector is one tool that can help you, or if you are highly technical, Autoruns is the specialist's tool.
  
• Uninstall all hidden drivers (except those for detachable devices).
  

Of course I need not mention to make sure that no malware in any form is on your system.

[-pops-]

Similar to Pat, I built this machine ready for the launch of Windows XP and its been going well since then. It hasn't been slowed down by Windows updates - its speed is pretty much the same as it was when I built it.

I do try and keep it in good condition, though. I do regular scans for malware and remove anything that is found. I keep the files systems in order by throwing out all unnecessary/unused items and tidying up those that are left.

I keep startup progams to an absolute minimum with Startup Inspector (as Pat Willener) so I don't have dozens of programs buzzing away unnecessarily in the background using up memory. Having something like MS Office in the startup sequence can vastly increase Windows loading time and to have multiple programs like that all battling for space and slow things down enormously.

I know this doesn't answer your question but it may go some way to helping to clean up your machine to improve its performance.