XP Question About Users, Drivers, etc.

Buzz Foster · 11-05-2006, 03:36 PM

I have some sort of regisry issue, and XP continues to run, but occasionally bogs down. I need to either do a rebuild or reinstall.

I am aware of the different users one can set up in XP, and I wonder if I can use that function to use different drivers, so as to avoid conflicts, or run certain programs under optimized conditions.

Is this possible? Please feel free to say so if it is a totally stupid question. I am guessing that this is how it works, but I don't really know. I would like to have a user config for video capture/editing, one for internet, etc. Each one would be optimized for its task.

Thanks!

Rommel_L · 11-06-2006, 06:16 PM

What problems/issues are you actually seeing in this particular PC?

Buzz Foster · 11-07-2006, 08:44 AM

Well, I knew there was a likely problem already. Sometimes when the PC has been sitting for a day or two, it inexplicably slows to a crawl, and when i try to shut it down, it might take twenty minutes to do so, and I will keep getting boxes telling me that certain programs, like explorer, will not shut down. I downloaded a .msi file that would not install. Microsoft's likely explanation: registry damage.

In addition, I get conflicts between video codecs. I downloaded the Xvid codec to compress videos to put on my Treo. Sudden;y, many codecs in Windows and especially in Premiere would no longer work. It has been four or more years since a clean install, and I don't doubt that I've collected a lot of stuff I no longer use.

And yes, I keep a hardware and software firewall, as well as virus/spyware/malware software with current profiles. Nothing is found, and I have always been careful about attachments, etc. (I don't use Outlook, either.)

As far as the video drivers, I have read complaints from Premiere users who say that once the Xvid codec is installed (and Premiere cannot use it), they have problems with Premiere, which is exactly what I have. The only solution they find that works is removing Xvid cmpletely, as well as all references to it from the registry.

I am wondering if instead of a non-destructive rebuild, I should archive all my necessary data, wipe the C drive, and reinstall XP Pro, but make several new user accounts that have different jobs...one for Premiere, one for internet, etc. But I don't know if this will work. Perhaps installing Xvid under a different user will cause me the same problems that it does under all users. I really don't know how that works. I don't want to go to all the trouble if it will not gain me anything.

Paul Padilla · 11-07-2006, 09:17 AM

First rule of troubleshooting...what was the last thing that you changed? Remove the Xvid and see what happens.

Different user accounts won't help you, but different hardware profiles might. I've never tried what you're proposing, but it's a possibility. Better still, set it up to dual boot...preferably two separate hard drives.

Personally, I'd backup everything (which you're doing on a regular basis anyway, right?

) and wipe. If you're comfortable doing this kind of thing it can be more efficient than troubleshooting until your head explodes. 4 years is getting up there in age for a Windows install.

Buzz Foster · 11-07-2006, 11:08 AM

Hardware profiles have different registries? If that is a slution, I'm all for it. I still have my Pinnacle DV-500+ hardware attached and software instaled, though I do virtually no analog capture any more. I do DV capture, editing, and DVD authoring/burning, though. Stuff has simply changed.

And hell, I can't remember the last thing I changed. Moving backward would be hopeless for me. Occasionally, I find a piece of software that I haven't used in ages is no longer working correctly. WHat caused it? There's no telling. I installed lots of things between the last time I used it and the present, when it isn't working.

I do have some worrisome issues, like my Norton Password Manager, and freaking ut at the possibility of losing all of my passwords (especially the ones for banking sites and stuff that are 99 random characters long...that I saved in NPM, but may not be able to find in hard copy).

In other words, I am not happy about the full reinstall, but if I could set it up better than I did before, with hardware configurations that do not conflict, that would make it worthwhile.

**HTF Ads**

Paul Padilla · 11-07-2006, 11:44 AM

You're really better off having a dedicated machine for those kinds of high horsepower operations with a barebones XP install and as few applications as you can possibly manage. If that's not an option, the next best thing would be to install a second hard drive in your existing machine and dual boot. That would keep each OS completely isolated. Needless to say, that will solve the password problem too. Then, you could remove all of the video editing software from the primary OS to trim it down a bit. And excuse the harping...but backup before you do anything.

I've never dealt with NPM, but I've heard of it. Is there no way to export that information? Of course, the export function would have to have it's own master password of some kind, but it would suck if you couldn't get to it somehow.

All of that being said, general slowness can be attributed to the hard drive itself. It may not be developing flaws, exactly, but hard drives are as much mechanical as they are electronic. 4 years of spinning between 5 and 7K (or more) RPMs takes it's toll. Run a full checkdisk and see if there are any issues.

Patrick Sun · 11-07-2006, 02:16 PM

If you have a lot of RAM, you might want to look into running Virtual Machines (VirtualWare is one vendor that does this application).

http://www.vmware.com/download/

VM Ware Workstation is probably the product you'd want.

Buzz Foster · 11-08-2006, 06:32 PM

Thanks for the help, guys. NPM does not seem to let me see the actual password data. Hmm.

I will look into these options.