Old Program Files after doing fresh install

I performed a fresh installation of XP over Windows ME and even converted the 
hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS. 

Old program folders and files still exists from Windows ME. Why are they 
still there?
None of these old programs display in Add/Remove Programs list.

I expected a fresh installation to completely clean the hard drive and load 
it as pristine with no remnants of previous installation.

You did not perform a "clean install" correctly.

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive.  Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE:  It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
              devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

NOTE:  If you have an internal Zip Drive installed, physically disconnect the
              EIDE and power cable to it before proceeding, otherwise your main
              hard drive may not be assigned the customary C: drive letter.  
              After installing Windows XP, you may then reconnect it.

1.    Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

       ===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
       ===>  http://www.**--****.com/ 

2.    Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3.    You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4.    The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete all the existing
       Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
       partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5.    Clean Install Windows XP
         http://www.**--****.com/ 

        [Courtesy of  Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6.    ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn on XP's Firewall.
       ==>  http://www.**--****.com/ 

7.    After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
        and download the available "Critical Updates".

8.    After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
       of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
       available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
       and audio drivers.

9.    If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the following resources:

       How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
        http://www.**--****.com/ ;EN-US;310064

       Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
        http://www.**--****.com/ 

       [Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]

-- 
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart!  Protect Your PC!
 http://www.**--****.com/ 

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| I performed a fresh installation of XP over Windows ME and even converted the 
| hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS. 
| 
| Old program folders and files still exists from Windows ME. Why are they 
| still there?
| None of these old programs display in Add/Remove Programs list.
| 
| I expected a fresh installation to completely clean the hard drive and load 
| it as pristine with no remnants of previous installation.

Carey,

I ran New Installation option from CD and decided to continue with install 
on C:\ partition where it found ME  residing. It reached a point where I was 
given the option to remove ME by pressing L key which I did.

On first restart, XP performed disk check and converted file system from 
FAT32 to NTFS based on my selection during setup.

The  start here guide for upgrade indicates that a new installation deletes 
all program or system files from a previous installation... this do not occur 
as I explained earlier.

Any additional insight  and/or suggestions would be appreciated. 

thanks, cb

What ever happened to good old fashioned DOS?
If you have a boot disk that can take you to a dos prompt. Just ru
fdisk and remove secondry, logical then primary partitions. Then creat
a primary partition. Reboot your pc, making sure you have the cd driv
as primary boot source. XP will do the rest.
Another handy tip, if you're upgrading entire floors with xp, and fin
this issue on multiple pc's, just create yourself a bootable "cleane
disk". What I mean by that is create a bootable disk with a
autoexec.bat which calls the fdisk executable. You can configure you
disk requirementes within the autoexec.bat procedure


-
n1m8u
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Cool...thanks for the info...sounds like fdisk is the way to go to ensure 
that hard dirve is completed cleaned before installing xp.

cb