second-hand laptop

I'm using this old laptop given to me by a friend, i think it's about 8 years old and I'm trying to clear out all the old rubbish and stuff i'm not going to use. I removed kodak camera software via add/remove program in control panel, but when i search "kodak" i get about 40 results (empty file folder, jpeg image, application extension, setup info, icc profile). Is it safe to delete them and what is the easiest way to do it? Also removed hp image zone and have no hp hardware, but when i searched "hp" i got over a thousand results, and still have hp processes showing in task manager. Seems something's not quite right here.

Any help appreciated but not too technical please cos i'm new to all this computer malarkey.

 

It's probably time you updated. I have an old laptop like yours which I keep for running Windows specific hardware (Canon printer, film scanner etc.) with XP. All other purposes I use a desktop and laptop with Ubuntu/Linux OS, the desktop was new in January and really flies under the Linux OS. Start up 35 secs. close down 11secs.

 

Your'e right about that Larkshall, it would make life easier but finances won't allow at the moment so i'm stuck with this one for a while.

Woo - sorry, I should have said at the start - Windows xp with sp3.
I think my first question probably should have been is it safe for a complete novice to mess about deleting things? Am I likely to make things worse rather than better? Although it's slow at times, at least it's useable.

 

Second time of trying to reply:(

charly, going to abridge what I said earlier now, hope you understand:thumb: I am still a novice after quite a few years!!

Don't start deleting things that start with 'windows' 'microsoft' etc. I believe that although we delete things as far as we're concernced, they stay on pc's for ever!

One thing I can suggest, although listen to others on here please!, is to...

When your pc boots up (the black screens, haha), you will notice something that says either 'F5' or F???' Basically back to factory. If you hit this button (F5??) it will allow you to reset the pc. Try this. It should say on there somewhere to reset everything and therefore delete everything. If as you say your pc comes with windows XP it's not too old and should do all you want it to.

Please don't take my word for it, just don't want you to think what you have is rubbish. Other mates on here will help you more than me but you don't need to dump it.

I'm putting on my helmet now to avoid getting hit:flag:
cheers

 

Charly

Try using CCleaner (www.ccleaner.com). Its free and can be used for removing all the tempoary files, but unter the tools tab is an uninstaller which will remove unwanted programs.

good luck

 

I would caution against using 'cleaners' if you're not sure what you're doing. My sister ran one, and bricked her laptop. It took me 3 days to get it working again for her. The one I have used in the past, which I think is quite good, is Tune Up Utilities. Although you still need to check what it advises can be removed, rather than just trust what it says. Cleaner utilities will usually find lots of registry entries that it thinks are no longer needed. But the registry is the 'guts' of Windows, so if you mess around with it too much you can break Windows.

If you've removed programs using add/remove programs, and folders are left behind, then it's 'usually' safe to just delete those folders, most likely from the Program Files folder. They usually end up getting left behind if some files have been added or modified by the user. The uninstaller only removes files that were installed by the program in the first place.

However, if the program did not fully remove all files, then when you start up Windows, there may be some startup processes that are looking for files. In which case, you might get errors on startup if you delete the folders.

The best thing I would do, is to go to Start, then select Run...

In the window that comes up, type msconfig and press enter.

You'll then see the System Configuration Utility. Click on the Startup tab, then check to see if there is anything there that is referring to any programs that you think you've removed. If there are, then un-tick them. You can use the Command and Location columns to help you see what's running.

Click on Services and do the same, using the Manufacturer column this time. When you've done that, select Ok and you'll be prompted to restart.

Once you've done that, you can then delete the left behind folders, or run a cleaner and use it to remove any old registry entries. But check that what's being removed is *really* not needed first.

 

Thanks everyone for your help. I'll have a look in prog files & msconfig and see what i can find. If (or more likely when) I get too trigger-happy with deleting things there's always the F9 "wipe it all off and start again" to fall back on.

So with scans generally (CCleaner, Tune-up Utilities, spyware/malware removal) how do you know what's safe to use and what isn't? I've only used Liveonecare scan cos it's a microsoft thing, been reluctant to use anything else. Is there any kind of register of "safe" websites to use for scanning, or is it a case of recommendations, or try it for yourself and see?

 

If you have a Windows XP installation disc and the driver discs for any peripherals you are going to use (e.g. printer), you could reformat your HDD which will wipe out everything and then do a clean re-installation of Windows.

 

personally, I always looked at the date last accessed before I deleted.

If in doubt about deleting a program ask a specific question here.

 

if using ccleaner. in options settings change it to secure deletion 7 passes. much better , a bit slower but more secure. also tick the mft wipe free space.

 

Oops, messed about for a while, made things worse. Have now reinstalled windows from the cd. Everything working quicker now, connection more reliable.

Thanks for all the help, many more questions sure to follow!

 

a good uninstaller is revo uninstaller it removes leftovers that windows leaves behind