I have encountered some problems with the Microsoft Office. Some Excel functions will not work, Word scrolling and printing is painfully slow, and other Office programs also run very slowly. The version of Office I have is the Student and Teacher Edition, which can be loaded onto three computers. The software works perfectly on the other computers, so I am guessing the problem is something with Windows XP on this computer. However, can this be corrected without losing my configuration and other settings? I am particularly wary of reinstalling Windows only to find my network configuration has been lost, as this is quite difficult to setup.

Before reinstalling Windows entirely there are some procedures we can try to fix Office. Many people are unaware Office actually has a ‘detect and repair’ feature, which will attempt to find problems with Office and repair. Open any Office application (e.g. Word or Excel) then go to the ‘Help’ menu > ‘Detect and Repair’. Follow the prompts to run this utility. Be aware, you may be prompted for the Office 2003 CD during this process, in case any files need to be extracted from the CD. Should this not resolve the issue, it is likely Windows has become corrupted or simply built-up with files and registry entries over the years, causing the computer to slow down. Before trying any repair or reinstallations, try running the Windows XP System File Checker to locate any corrupt Windows files and replace these corrupt files with good copies. To complete this procedure, go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Run’ and type:
sfc /scannow
and click the OK button. The System File Checker utility will commence operations. You may be prompted for the Windows XP CD during this process, should files need to be copied from the CD onto your hard drive.

Should attempting a repair installation on Office and running the System File Checker on Windows not resolve the issue, the next step you could try is a Repair installation on Windows XP. This is completed by booting off the Windows XP CD. There are good instructions for this procedure available at: www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm . However, you must backup all your data before attempting this procedure. While unlikely, there is a possibility things might go wrong and all data on your hard drive may be lost. So make sure you backup all data before starting any such procedures! Also, make sure you read the instructions carefully, as sometimes getting into the Repair installation in the Windows setup can be a tricky process.

That said, I am unsure whether a Repair installation will be able to resolve the problem. Without seeing your computer, my best guess is the computer has just become overrun with programs and such over the years, causing a massive slow down. This is just a by-product of using computers over a period of years, as data from various programs start clogging-up the system. In this case, a Repair installation will not fix this issue because all this does is replace the Windows system files with good copies, rather than clean out the system. In your situation, the most sensible course of action would be to completely reinstall Windows from scratch. Of course, this will result in all data being lost and all configuration also being lost. However, in the long run this will be the best solution. Make sure you backup all your data, and also write down any configuration details you need to keep, since all this will be lost during the reinstallation!