Win XP updates

[#1]

Is there anyone on these forums that uses Win XP (with sp2) without downloading the constant stream of security patches.
Every few months my setup seems to get slower and slower and i get to a point where I reformat the C partition and carry out a clean re-installation of XP. I always run up to date anti-virus and firewall software and wondered whether its all the security patches that causes the slowdown.
How do these patches work? Does each patch modify the original operating system file and then resave that modified file or at every boot-up does the original file load up followed by all the patches.
Paul

[#2]

Hi there,
AFAIK the patches replace certain operating system files with new versions and may also add files too. I don't think it'll be updates that are causing slowdowns, I find that if I can't be bothered to do a reinstall that uninstalling any programs I don't use any more then cleaning out any temporary files and registry entries improves things.
I don't do the cleanup manually - there's a very handy tool called ccleaner that does it all very nicely.
Another couple of things you could try are:
1) Move your pagefile to a separate hard drive partition from your operating system. As the pagefile is essentially temporary memory it's accessed often and that can mean that the OS partition will become fragmented quite quickly (and therefore run a lot slower). Pagefile settings are in:
Control panel -> system properties -> advanced tab -> performance settings button -> advanced tab -> virtual memory 'change' button. From here, specify a custom pagefile of the same size as the existing one but on a separate partition, then go back ot the original partition and select 'no paging file'. You then need to OK all windows and reboot.
2) Add a hosts file. You can find instructions (and a ready made hosts file) here - basically this stops most ads from appearing in your browser and therefore stops a lot of tracking cookies and the like, all of which can cause slowdowns.
Hope that helps,

[#3]

Hello,  I am running windows xp sp2, and have "automatic" downloads for updates...... I do not think I have any issue with slowness being caused by the updates..... I ALWAYS run ccleaner (originally called crapcleaner) EVERYNIGHT When I shut down the computer..... Its a Dell inspiron 2200 laptop, and it always clears out all the usual temp files,cookies, etc that have been put on by the various sites I visit during the day..... It also clears out the recycle bin which can contain a lot of useless files I have dumped during the day.... You can also use it to clear out the unused records in the registry as a "registry cleaner", and you have the facility to back it all up if you want to before you do the actual clean out.... Well worth the effort to do this at the end of every week.
 

[#4]

I don't even bother with the updates. I know some might say it's stupid to ignore them, but in the past I had so many complications caused by updates that I decided the effort was a waste of time for the consequences that followed.
For some reason, the patches always seem to throw up even more bugs which M$ have not found and this seems to require yet another patch to fix. It seems to be a vicious cycle.

[#5]

First and foremost, I find a decent version of XP sp2 like professional (not home) is normally stable enough after an install and (mostly) doesn't require the downloads. The one thing I have noticed is for some reason the 'recent' programs ran in start menu disappear after a full update. CCleaner will clean out temp files etc, but be warned, there is a version out there that has spyware built into it, and I have had a few callouts that I have tried to remove it and it knackers windows completely. The main reason I'd guess why you're getting slowdown is the obvious fragmentation. I regular run defrag on customers PCs and you'd be amazed at how slow they can get. I personally use diskeeper, which takes over the windows defrag and is 10 times better.

[#6]

Thanks for the various replies, I have now installed and run Ccleaner and it removed quiet a large amount of rubbish. I already run diskeeper on a regular basis so I know my hd is in a reasonable state. If I decide to re-install XP then I think I will give the updates a miss and see how it goes from from there.

[#7]

    UPDATE ON CCLEANER....  
I just did a run of my old version of CCLEANER  v2.02 (I think) and it did a nice job.... anyway, before I did that, I got a message box saying a new version was available ..... so after the run, I got the new version, and then after install, I ran it.... It found a load more cookies than the first run..... so go and get the latest version now....

[#8]

Quote from: Rikaitch

First and foremost, I find a decent version of XP sp2 like professional (not home) is normally stable enough after an install and (mostly) doesn't require the downloads. The one thing I have noticed is for some reason the 'recent' programs ran in start menu disappear after a full update. CCleaner will clean out temp files etc, but be warned, there is a version out there that has spyware built into it, and I have had a few callouts that I have tried to remove it and it knackers windows completely. The main reason I'd guess why you're getting slowdown is the obvious fragmentation. I regular run defrag on customers PCs and you'd be amazed at how slow they can get. I personally use diskeeper, which takes over the windows defrag and is 10 times better.

You know I've not done a defrag for a good 1.5 yrs and my machine is still in tip top condition!