How do I download a free version of "Paintbrush" software program?

"Paintbrush" is a MAC application.  Are you sure that you don't mean "Paint"?

In any case, you probably just deleted the shortcuts.

• Right-click on the Start button and select "Open All Users"
• Double click on the "Programs" folder
• Double click on the "Accessories" folder
• Right click in an empty area of the Accessories folder and select New > Shortcut
• Copy the following line and paste it into the box under "Type the location of the item"

          %SystemRoot%\System32\mspaint.exe

• Click Next
• Type Paint in the box under "Type a name for this shortcut"
• Click Finish
• Right click in an empty area of the Accessories folder and select New > Shortcut
• Copy the following line and paste it into the box under "Type the location of the item"

          %SystemRoot%\System32\calc.exe

• Click Next
• Type Calculator in the box under "Type a name for this shortcut"
• Click Finish

Close the Window Explorer window.
Confirm that the new shortcuts in Start > All Programs > Accessories work correctly.

Thanks so much for your response. Yes, I did mean Paint. I followed the steps you listed and got stuck  at the shortcut. I did paste the link in the box and clicked on Next. The error message I got read "The file %SystemRoot%\System32\mspaint.exe could not be found". I am certain I deleted the program from my computer. I no longer have Paint or Calculator in my accessories. Thanks for your thorough reply though.

DaVida

I guess you really did delete the files.  That took some considerable effort on your part, considering that both calc.exe and mspaint.exe are protected from deletion by Windows File Protection.  How did you go about "cleaning" your computer?

Normally, both calc.exe and mspaint.exe are located in the following two directories:

C:\Windows\system32
C:\Windows\system32\dllcache

I assume that you somehow have managed to delete the files from both locations.

First, let's see if you can install Calculator and Paint the normal way.

• Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > Add/Remove Windows Components
• Select Accessories and Utilities and click Details
• Select Accessories and click Details
• If Calculator and Paint are unchecked, check them and click OK
• When you click Next, you probably will be prompted for your Windows XP install CD. 
• It's been so long since I've done this, I don't recall if you are given the opportunity to select "install from a different location"  If you don't have an XP CD and you can "install from a different location", browse to C:\i386.

If for some reason the above doesn't work, you can expand the files manually as follows:

Open a Command Prompt window (Start > Run > cmd > OK)
Type the following 4 lines and press Enter after each one.

        expand -r c:\i386\calc.ex_ c:\windows\system32
        expand -r c:\i386\calc.ex_ c:\windows\system32\dllcache
        expand -r c:\i386\mspaint.ex_ c:\windows\system32
        expand -r c:\i386\mspaint.ex_ c:\windows\system32\dllcache

Close the Command Prompt window.  To confirm that things worked, click Start, then Run, then type calc (or mspaint) in the Run box and click OK.  Assuming that the program starts, you can now create the shortcuts.

Yes, it did take effort. I went to the add/delete programs you just sent me to. I deleted programs the system said I hadn't used in over 6 months thinking if I'm not using it, I must not need it. It wasn't until I went to email a screen shot  that I noticed Paint was gone. The procedures you just listed worked like a charm and the system didn't ask for a CD. It installed it all by itself. Awesome! Thanks so much.

 

Can I ash another question? My computer is running so slow, the reason I attempted to clean it in the first place. It is 6 years old. How should I clean it? I need to increase my speed. Thanks again!

I'm glad to hear that your "accessories" are back.

The "Last Used" and "How often used" data in Add or Remove Programs is notoriously unreliable.  You shouldn't rely on that to decide whether or not to uninstall something (which you now know from experience).

"My computer runs slow" is a very common complaint.  Unfortunately, there is no simple one-size-fits-all answer.  One thing that probably will NOT make your computer run perceptibly faster is uninstalling applications--unless your hard drive is almost full.  You can see how much of your hard drive is being used by clicking My Computer, right-clicking on Local Drive (C:), and selecting Properties.

Although this article was written in 2008, the advice is still relevant:  http://miekiemoes.blogspot.com/2008/02/help-my-computer-is-slow.html

To over-generalize, there are 2 common reasons why a Windows XP computer may run more slowly than it used to:

• You have installed too many applications that want to run continuously and collectively (or sometimes individually) they are hogging your computer's resources.  A good way to check on this is to open Task Manager (CTRL+ALT+DEL) and click on the Processes tab.  Also check the box to "Show processes from all users."  Then click twice on the heading "CPU."  This will sort the running processes in order of how much CPU resources they use.

• Sometimes, the process that is using your computer's resources is malware.  Malware is a major factor in slow-running computers.

Assuming that you have a good antivirus application and you have kept your subscription up to date, and ALSO assuming that you have kept Windows up to date by using Automatic Updates (you should long ago have installed service pack 3), then you should download, install, update, and run a full scan with each of the following free malware detectors:

MalwareBytes AntiMalware
SUPERAntiSpyware.

Don't run the scans at the same time.  Each scan will take a long time, so start one up and then go do a non-computer chore.

Something that can speed up your computer far more effectively than uninstalling applications is adding more RAM.  If you right click on My Computer and select Properties, you'll see what kind of CPU you have and how much RAM you have.  If you have 512 MB of RAM or less, you probably would benefit from adding more.  The maximum amount of RAM is determined by your particular model of computer.  Unfortunately, although RAM has come down significantly in cost, RAM for certain laptops may be not so inexpensive.

If you go to http://www.crucial.com/index.aspx you can either download a scanner or just look up your make and model and find out the maximum amount of RAM your computer can use.

The one thing you should NOT do is use any tool that offers to clean, repair, optimize, or otherwise "fix" your Registry.  This will not help and may well hurt.  Read http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099 and draw your own conclusions. Also see http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2005/10/02/registry-junk-a-windows-fact-of-life.aspx

When I purchased my laptop, I had the "paintbrush" program. After trying to "clean" up my computer, I noticed that I deleted several programs I need, Paintbrush and Calculator in particular. I would like to get these back. Assistance greatly appreciated.