How do you reformat your computer?

Question

I need to reformat my computer but I need to keep my files, pictures and itunes...please help!

Answer 1

Hello,
Use a cd or dvd writer to back up all of your data that you would like to keep, then you will need the operating system cd that came with your machine (windows xp etc.) be sure to find the driver disk for the devices on your machine as well. (I would point you in the right direction if you don't have a disk but I don't know which machine you have). don't reformat with out the drivers as some of your devices will not work properly, Ie sound network card etc.
Put the cd in your cdrom drive and restart your computer, when the computer restarts press F2 or DEL, (depends on your machine) you should get into the Basic Input Basic Output System (BIOS) this is keyboard only operating system (OS) and looks very basic, but it is the most fundamental OS and can make or break your machine. look for something thats called boot menu or boot order. This basically tells the system to use your cd to start the computer with and not your hard drive. set cdrom as 1st boot device. then press F10 and usually enter to exit from the bios. (NOTE: while you are in the bios don't mess with the settings or you may experience undesired effects.)
The machine should restart, it may ask you to press a key to boot from cd. In which case comply. If all goes well you should see a blue screen with white writting (Thats for windows xp and 2000)
Accept the terms and conditions and choose to install windows fresh. Then you will see a list of disks drives available to install windows on. choose c: and you will asked if you would like to repair an existing ontallation, choose to instal a new copy.
Now at this juncture you may dlete or creat extra partitions on
your hard disks.
then choose to install windows on your primary partition usually called C: drive. when windows finishes installing itself the first time the machine starts it will find lots of "new devices" this is where you have install the device drivers. Which you should have on a disk or downloaded from the manufacturers site.
This process is not for the faint hearted but is not too difficult if you are willing to learn. Further more this only one of the ways to achieve the stated objective, but as you did not provide the details of your harddisk setup I have shown you the most common way.
Good luck and if you run into difficulties email me and I will do my best to help you.

Answer 2

Formatting completely erases your entire hard drive, so you would lose everything if you did that. If you really want to format, be sure to back up EVERYTHING you want/need. Once you have backed up, boot to a boot disk and type format c: (or whichever drive you want).