My PC has tons of bugs and I can't get into certain programs without the PC freezing up. I want to re-install windows xp. Can I do this without erasing all of my pictures and documents under "my pictures" and "my documents". Not to mention, will I lose my songs in itunes? Thanks for any advise!
2006-12-15 12:34:56 · 16 answers · asked by Brian A 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Software
You will lose everything. That's why you need to back up first. Make a few DVD-R's full of your data or transfer it to an external hard drive.
2006-12-15 12:37:16 · answer #1 · answered by Che jrw 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you have the original disc, you put the CD in the drive and simply reboot. Watch closely as the system reboots from the beginning. You should get a message on the screen when it first boots saying something like "Press any key to boot from CD" which you would do of course. From here, you walk through the setup wizard to reformat the drive and reinstall windows. Don't forget to any save any important files from you computer befor eyou do this because absolutely everything you see right now will be GONE. Only some of your operating system will be there when the reinstall completes. No documents, no newly installed programs. Just an FYI.....
2016-05-22 22:18:16 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you re-intall winxp over your current copy, it won't remove any of your files ... and it also will not remove the bugs that you have.
First of all, you don't need to format or reinstall to remove bugs from your machine, providing you're doing proper maintanance on it.
Follow these steps to keep your machine clean. If you're a frequent internet user, they should be run about once a week .... once every two weeks is fine if need be, but no more than that.
Before doing any of the following, check your add/remove programs list in the control panel to make sure you have unintalled any unwanted programs or self intalling software from 3rd parties.
1. Empty your cache .. history, temporary internet files, etc.
2. Run your virus program. I strongly recommend AVG free home edition (from grisoft .. free download online) Make sure it's database is updated before scanning. Do NOT use McAfee or Norton, they let so many infections through it's ridiculous.
3. Run Adaware SE personal home edition to get rid of adware infections. Free download from Lavasoft online ... make sure the database is up to date.
4. Run Spybot Search & Destroy to remove spyware infections. Free download online, make sure the database is up to date.
5. Run RegClean from Microsoft. Free download online, fixes and removes any registry errors, which can have serious performance issues with your machine.
6. Defrag your system once every two weeks to keep it running smoothly and as efficiently as possible.
If for some reason you're still having problems after this, you can download a program called Hijack This. It detects and can remove any improper or harmful programs running in the background.
Now, after all this .. if you're still having problems, and by all rights you shouldn't be, you can format your machine. You will lose all your files, so be sure to back them up on disc before hand.
2006-12-15 12:42:16 · answer #3 · answered by Jaded 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You could try a repair install...but sometimes it dosen't work. Better to save your documents, pictures and itunes to CD-R's and then reinstall everything. BTW any software that you have installed since you bought your computer will have to be re-installed so make sure you have all the discs.
2006-12-15 12:46:01 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are installing XP over the existing one just to replace missing program data then you will lose Nothing. If you uninstall it and reinstall it then you do rick the chance of losing almost everything. I recomend the first option and see how it goes before starting from scratch. Losing all your stuff is so tragic, it happened to me recently. Be very careful.
2006-12-15 12:38:51 · answer #5 · answered by Sarah 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If I'm not mistaken, you can do a system recovery with Windows XP, but it does erase programs, etc. If you want to keep any of that stuff, burn it to a disc. Follow these steps to get to the system recovery.
- Start
- All Programs
- Hewlett-Packard
- HP Pavilion pc tools
- HP pc system recovery
2006-12-15 12:38:26 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Backup your files on a rewritable disk then Re-install windows.
Or try to System restore, restore to an earlier time. You will not lose info, but you will need to reinstall programs that you installed after that time period.
Try windows repair rather than reinstalling. I would still backup info.
Run a good virus software, ad-ware remover, ect. see if that helps.
Run defrag
Run disk cleaner
Run disk scan and choose to auto fix errors. May require a restart.
2006-12-15 12:37:04 · answer #7 · answered by -------- 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, do a repair from the XP disc.
Or, DO NOT FORMAT DRIVE, reinstall Windows into its original directory,
move ALL the progs / pics in your "My Documents" folder, before you reinstall.
I would back up your favourites folder as well, or lose them!
2006-12-15 12:37:57 · answer #8 · answered by tattie_herbert 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if you want to get rid of the 'ton of bugs' the yes you would format your PC and lose everything... i would suggest to make a back up of everything you want onto something like a CD or flash drive or external hard drive
2006-12-15 12:36:44 · answer #9 · answered by willy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i would suggest backing up all the files you have currently and saving them to a portiable data storabe device and get a new hard drive and partition it and your ready to go
(i backed up all my files to a cd before and it worked out fine except for all the music that was ripped from a cd your going to have to re copie it, it is saying that it is copy right protected so that is the only flaw)
2006-12-15 12:46:28 · answer #10 · answered by macgyver 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋