I have some music folders that I would like to save, otherwise I want to start completley from scratch. I have the windows cd's that came with the computer. I just don't want to delete everything and end up with a computer that doesn't work anymore.
2006-07-26 20:57:57 · 11 answers · asked by e_scott45 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
download ccleaner.com for starters that will help you and if ud like i can perhaps help you just clean the system up a bit rather than starting over or i can help you through the process of reformatting send me an IM
2006-07-26 20:59:42 · answer #1 · answered by meowbaby7 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Use the windows XP back up for your music folders. Go to start, programs, accessories, system tools and click... BACKUP, you can specify whether you want a floppy back up or a cd back up ...After that reboot your system with the cd in the drive. press any key to boot from the cd will be the first thing you see. Do that and if it doesn´t boot from the cd you will need to change it in your bios settings so that it will. Let's hope it does boot from the cd cos i don´t wan´t to write an essay here explaining what your bios is......Read this page first if you like. http://www.bholcomb.com/formatwinxp.html.
Nothing drastic will happen as long as there isn't a power cut in the middle of the installation or your pet dog or cat chews your power lead or manages to somehow take out your cd while you´re making coffee in the back kitchen.
All going well and instructions followed you should have a fresh copy of windows installed. Make sure you delete the older version before you reinstall again. Otherwise you're just installing over the old one again which slows your machine down.
Good luck and take a look a few links before you do it. The one i gave you is just what I feel is the most descriptive
2006-07-26 21:26:00 · answer #2 · answered by Dr. Zook 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well is that a windows cd? or a system restore disk.. If you have like a compaq hp dell, emachine or something, they generally come with a system restore disk.. This disk puts everything back to how the comptuer was when you first bought it.. I would back your files up on cd and use that.. If not and you just have a windows cd.. Well then you backup and format.. pop the windows disk in boot off your cd rom and follow the instructions...
OR OR OR... if you have no system restore disk and dont want to format yet... If you have xp then you should have system restore on your computer... Back up your files.. and go to
Start
Programs
Accesories
System tools
System restore
Run this and put it back to a date like when you first got it, or whatever is farthest back that you can.... Good luck
2006-07-26 21:04:22 · answer #3 · answered by dukejasonduke 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can burn the contents of the music folders onto a blank CD (or DVD if you have a DVD drive), and then put that aside. Then put in your Windows CD and start from scratch. Chances are if you're loading Windows XP, though, you'll also want to go to the Windows Update site and download and install the updates to bring your operating system up to date.
2006-07-26 21:02:33 · answer #4 · answered by Jolly 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
nothing's better than a newly formatted pc :D
if you want a clean slate, all you need is a bootable windows cd/dvd installer AND your device drivers (these should be included in the original packaging of your computer). Back up all your files by burning them into DVD-Rs, CD-Rs or another hard disk.
to reinstall windows, put in your cd/dvd in our cd/dvd drive, restart your computer, then use your cd/dvd drive as your boot device (change this by pressing the 'del' key while the pc is booting up). Once there, the installation procedure can reformat all your hard disks for you.
in your fresh windows, just copy all your files back.
don't worry, i've done this tens of times before. i'm even using a freshly reformatted computer right now. enjoy!
2006-07-26 21:02:18 · answer #5 · answered by smokejami 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's your habits, or lack thereof, that causes the problems you're talking about. Starting from scratch will mean just that... you'll eventually end up right where you are now unless you start paying close attention to what is in your system startup (there are several places to look) and what is running in the background on your system. Also, it doesn't hurt to check out those icons in your TaskBar's system tray and see if you can't change some options around in those programs so they aren't constantly re-adding themselves to your startup.
A good program for managing what's in your startup (among other uses) is X-Setup... here's a link: http://www.x-setup.net/
2006-07-26 21:11:00 · answer #6 · answered by fauxquixote 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if you have a full copy of windows like 95,98 ,Me make a boot disk. boot the computer off floppy ..fdisk it then reformat it ..then boot up from cd rom and install windows
2006-07-27 01:54:12 · answer #7 · answered by hooarr 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If your asking this question on Yahoo Answers, don't do anything. But seriously backup your hardrive before you do anything, and make friends with a computer geek or two.
2006-07-26 21:01:35 · answer #8 · answered by ppena1977 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is a better spyware remover to use. http://www.spybot.com/ It's been recommended by Microsoft and even Shepard Smith of www.foxnews.com.
2006-07-26 21:03:49 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
a formatted drive will give your pc a new lease of life.
if you disk is partitioned, move all your files from drive c:\
format drive c:\ and re-insatall afresh.
2006-07-26 21:42:32 · answer #10 · answered by Chaka 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋