uh? what just happened?

My computer, as usual froze (I'm in deperate need of a format). But this was nothing un-usual, so i just restarted my computer like nothing had ever happened.

When I restart, on the login screen I get the error message saying that windows has recovered from a serious error and has used a recent registry backup..again this is nothing un-usual so I login normally.

When I login EVERYTHING changed, and I get that baloon popup on the bottom of the screen when you first boot up that says "Welcome to Windows XP!", my theme changed and everything (Since I still have the windows xp background..that didn't change [yes lol im too lazy to change it])

My question is what just happened? Mind you, I'm not complaining, my computer seems to be running much faster now than before lol so i'm happy about that. But I'm a very very curious person and like to know what happened :)

My initial thought is that it used a really old backup but does it even store backups that far back (I'd say about 2-3 months back). Also, I have more recent back ups so why'd it use that one??

At first guees and going off what you have said, I would say that the registry back up it used had the settings in it that you are seeing now.

Did you select an option to "use last known good configuration" bu any chance?
Or a change of profile?

Sounds like you have major probs with your PC though!

Quote:

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Originally posted here by Nokia
At first guees and going off what you have said, I would say that the registry back up it used had the settings in it that you are seeing now.

Did you select an option to "use last known good configuration" bu any chance?
Or a change of profile?

Sounds like you have major probs with your PC though!

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Nope, my computer booted normally, I didn't get that screen that asks for "use last known good config.." and I haven't changed my profile in ages.

My computer is 5 years old of course I'm having problems lol 567MHz, USB 1.1, miniATX INTEL mobo :-/ I wanna throw it out the window, gonna get my new computer as soon as I start working..

Hi Raion

The first thing to do is look in the system logs and see if they give you any clues.

I must admit that I am not sure about this in XP, but certainly in Win ME the restore function stores stuff like forever. I have seen an ME box with a 30Gb drive, of which about 10Gb had been taken up by restore data.

I would guess that it went to the last one that it liked the look of?

Win 2000 (NT5) and XP are pretty good at managing the registry (unlike earlier versions) but I would say that this is the area where your problems stem from.

Please take a look at "WinASO RegDefrag" http://winaso.com

This compacts and restructures the registry hives (no, you don't need a beekeeper's suit :D ) which is a major performance and stability boost. That said, it should analyse your box and find nothing to do. If it does find something, then that is probably where your major problem is.

MESSAGE TO ALL: PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU BACK UP ESSENTIAL DATA, HAVE A RECOVERY DISK, AND BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY FIRST

People with Win 9x and ME will probably get most benefit from this tool

Raion Please get Crap Cleaner and run it in safe mode. Also go into your profile and clean out the cached data, Java and whatever. Look in your temporary files (although Crap Cleaner should do most of the work) and get rid of the junk out of there.

Clean out old stuff from your log files

Empty the recycle bin

Update all your AV and anti- malware applications and run them in safe mode

Defragment your system ( in safe mode )

Then please let us know how you got on :) and what you actually ran.

Incidentally, how much RAM has your system got?

Hey, this may take some time but it is a "spring cleaning" exercise, and in your case "spring" only happens once every 5 years :p

nihil, thanks I'll try everything you suggested :)
My computer has a measly 192MB of RAM

Raion to be honest with you mate, I would not like to run XP (or ME for that matter) below 256Mb of RAM. Hey, 512Mb is about the entry level for XP, and I generally build 1024 as standard.

I must admit that I am not a massive XP fan, I actually prefer Win 2000.................and that would run really sweet on your current box. When you get a new one, think about dual booting Win 2000 and a Linux distro on that puppy?

You might also look for a bit more memory, whilst it is still reasonably priced?

:)