I changed my mother board and processor (from Intel Pentium 4 to Intel Quad Core) bacause the older mother board (from 2003) had become defective. Wndows did not start and I ran a "repair" process (using the original CD). Now Windows works properly but the computer is rather slow (compared to what I anticipated from the move from a Pentium 4 to a Quad Core). It seems as if Windows was using the new processor with the configuration of the older one. I know that I could (should have) reinstall(ed) Windows afresh on a formatted disk, but this would have meant reinstalling all my programs and entering again all my passwords, identifications and so on (more than a full day work). Is there any way to instruct Windows to more efficiently using the new hardware (thus, changing its HAL) without having to make a fresh install ? 1 person needs an answerI do too

Hello bornival,Thank you for posting to the Microsoft Answers Forum.After changing out your motherboard to new hardware, did you verify that you have the correct drivers for the motherboard, video card, etc?Do you have the most current Bios?Check in Device manager and make to see if you have any Ghosted (hidden or non-present) devices? If so, then delete them and reboot your computer.KB 3415539 - Device Manager does not display devices that are not connected to the Windows XP-based computerhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/315539 Please let us know if this helps to resolve your issue or if you need further assistance, we will be glad to help.Sincerely, Marilyn Microsoft Answers Support Engineer Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think

Thank you. I'll give a try but it will be in a few days because I'm traveling right now. Paul.

Dear Marylin, After a long silence, I contact you again for providing you with a follow-up of my problem. I tried what you suggested (checking the Device Manager, updating the BIOS) and many other things but to no avail. Eventually, I started having a minor but annoying problem with a Toolbar in Word (needed to insert references from Reference Manager into my texts; Reference Manager is a programme that interacts with WORD and places a specific toolbar in the Toolbar menu). I, therefore, decided to make a full reinstallation of Windows (clean install). This has solved all problems and the computer now works fine and is alert. I guess that, even though my previous repair of Windows, allowed it to work, it did not take advantage of the Core Duo capabilities and probably was working with only one of the two processors or something similar. Now, it is also possible that my clean install allowed me to get rid of programs or services that were slowing the computer ... (it was not due to disk fragmentation, as I checked this and the disk was not fragmented becasue I regularly defragment with Diskeeper). Kind regards,