BleepingComputer.com: how to find what is on my hard drive?

Its a full version of xp, its my old computer. (i havent found any info on the laptop yet) and im not totally for sure if i want to wipe everything yet.

since i dont have any of the original disks it will be very hard to do. (i would think anyways)

what do ya think?

Linda


Intel Pentium processor 447 mhz, 128 mb ram

microsoft windows xp, home ed, version 2 service pak 3

didnt know if you needed this or not.

Perhaps you could explain precisely WHY you might want to wipe your hard-drive, especially if you cannot (apparently) reinstall the Operating System?

For a discussion about how to find out what files are on your hard drive, this thread seems important:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic221865.html
Regards,
John

Hi Linda,

Thanks for the info. I figured this was the computer you were talking about and if you look back where you previously posted a HijackThis log, you will see what programs you have on that computer as they were listed there under installed programs. Here is a link to that post...

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic200500.html

Whatever programs that are listed there that you do not use should be able to be removed from the add/remove list in Control Panel. If they are not listed in the Control Panel, look in that programs folder on your disk for an uninstall.exe file and use that to uninstall the program. Do not remove anything related to Microsoft Updates, including security updates or hotfixes.

What programs do you have on that computer that you actually use?

As for reformatting the drive and starting over, you can do that since you do have a full version of XP. However, you will lose everything that is on that computer and since you do not have any disks for the programs that you might want to use that are on that computer, I would not reformat it unless that operating system becomes unusable. Doing that would be the last resort for me, especially if I could not buy the programs that I like to use.

BTW, how much disk space do you have on that computer and how much is free? You can find that by opening "My Computer" and looking where it lists the disk, it probably says something like "Local Disk C" and to the side of that there should be a column that shows "Total Size" and one that shows "Free Space".

not very much at all. 3.40 gb with 12.6 total.

thanks

ok next stupid question, im sorry ya.

here is a list:
1113 Tutorial
3dfx Tools
ABBYY FineReader 6.0 Sprint
Adobe AIR
Adobe Flash Player 10 ActiveX
Adobe Media Player
Adobe Shockwave Player
Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus
Bookshelf 2000
Creative PCI Audio Drivers
Gateway Drivers and Applications Recovery
Gateway Multi-function Keyboard
GearDrvs
Hotfix for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (KB953595)
Hotfix for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (KB958484)
Hotfix for Windows Media Format 11 SDK (KB929399)
Hotfix for Windows Media Player 11 (KB939683)
Hotfix for Windows XP (KB915800-v4)
Hotfix for Windows XP (KB952287)
Hotfix for Windows XP (KB954550-v5)
Java™ 6 Update 11
Lexmark 3600-4600 Series
Lexmark Toolbar
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1
Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Hotfix (KB928366)
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 2
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 Service Pack 2
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
Microsoft Application Error Reporting
Microsoft Compression Client Pack 1.0 for Windows XP
Microsoft Easy Assist v2
Microsoft Greetings
Microsoft IntelliPoint
Microsoft Internationalized Domain Names Mitigation APIs
Microsoft Money 99
Microsoft National Language Support Downlevel APIs
Microsoft Picture It! Express 2.0
Microsoft User-Mode Driver Framework Feature Pack 1.0
Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable

Microsoft Works Calendar 1.0
Microsoft Works Setup Launcher
Microsoft XML Parser and SDK
Mozilla Firefox (3.0.5)
MSXML 4.0 SP2 (KB936181)
Netscape Communicator 4.06
overland
QuickTime for Windows (32-bit)
RealPlayer
SafeCast Shared Components
SBPCI DOS Drivers
Security Update for CAPICOM (KB931906)
Security Update for Windows Internet Explorer 7 (KB938127-v2)
Security Update for Windows Internet Explorer 7 (KB938127)
Security Update for Windows Internet Explorer 7 (KB953838)
Security Update for Windows Internet Explorer 7 (KB956390)
Security Update for Windows Internet Explorer 7 (KB958215)
Security Update for Windows Internet Explorer 7 (KB960714)
Security Update for Windows Media Player (KB911564)
Security Update for Windows Media Player (KB952069)
Security Update for Windows Media Player 11 (KB936782)
Security Update for Windows Media Player 11 (KB954154)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB938464)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB941569)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB946648)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB950762)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB950974)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB951066)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB951376-v2)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB951698)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB951748)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB952954)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB954211)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB954459)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB954600)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB955069)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB956390)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB956391)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB956802)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB956803)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB956841)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB957095)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB957097)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB958644)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB958687)
Siemens Subscriber Networks SpeedStream DSL
SOHOware SFA110
Update for Windows XP (KB951072-v2)
Update for Windows XP (KB951978)
Update for Windows XP (KB955839)
VC 9.0 Runtime
WebFldrs XP
WexTech AnswerWorks
Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool (KB892130)
Windows Internet Explorer 7
Windows Media Format 11 runtime
Windows Media Player 11
Windows Search 4.0
Windows XP Service Pack 3
Wink
Yahoo! Messenger
Yahoo! Search Protection

do I really need all these adope air and real player? i dont nkow what to keep.

Unless you are designing web pages and such, you do not need Adobe AIR.

RealPlayer plays video files and you really do not need it either but removing it is only going to give you about 7 megs of disk space. I have it installed on my system but have never used it.

As to what should you keep, what programs do you use?

Im going to go through them one by one and check them out. i will let you know soon.

what is "wink" and overland" "msxml" "geardrvs"

thanks,
Linda

Wink
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wink_(tutorial_software)

Overland
overland is developed by Hewlett-Packard . Data backup I believe

msxml
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms763742(VS.85).aspx Leave it alone

geardrvs
http://www.appdeploy.com/software/detail.asp?id=109926

so i ok to delete wink and overland since i dont have a hewlett- packard printer anymore?

i really dont want to mess it all up which im really good at.

thanks for all of ya's help,

Linda

Hello Linda


Go here if you like and download Belarc Advisor which is a small(1.7Mb) clean and better yet free download of Personal computer audit software. I have been using it on all of my confusers since 2002.

It will give you a rundown of the hardware in your computer and all of the software programs which have been downloaded/installed on to your system and even where they are located on your hard drive.


In addition to that it will show you all of the microsoft hotfixes you have on your system.

It is an excellent program for begginers and experts alike. It will take a half hour of reading and poking around (once installed) for you give you a much better understanding of what is on your system and what you might like to uninstall to recover hard drive space.


Go here: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html



he Belarc Advisor builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, missing Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status, CIS (Center for Internet Security) benchmarks, and displays the results in your Web browser. All of your PC profile information is kept private on your PC and is not sent to any web server.

* Operating Systems: Runs on Windows Vista, 2003, XP, 2000, NT 4, Me, 98, and 95.
* Browsers: Requires IE 3 or Netscape 3, and higher versions. Also runs on Opera, Mozilla, and Firefox.
* File size: 1754 KB.
* License: The license associated with this product allows for free personal use only. Use on multiple PCs in a corporate, educational, military or government installation is prohibited. See the license agreement for details.
* Wish to run the Belarc Advisor on your corporate network, see FAQs below.



Good luck; you will like it!

ranger72