can you give me a step by step guide in reformatting my PC?

Question

I wanted to reformat my PC in its original settings when I first purchased it. Please help!

Answer 1

u will lose all ur data and programs to so keep that in mind ... if ur using xp u need to enter bios settup using the DEL or F1 key at bootup and make sure cdrom is first boot device .. then u boot from the xp cd and follow the prompts ... u also need to keep in mind that u need to reinstall all the drivers for ur hardware and it really depends on what came with the pc to restore it ... u may want to go to the manufacturers support site and download all the latest drivers ... then u need to go to windows update ... then u will install all ur applications you use ..

Answer 2

Well, first of all, you need your Recovery CD's. Not all PC's are the same, some you can just put the CD in and you will get the information to guid you trough, try that. If nothing, keep the main CD in the drive and restart your PC (leave CD inside) and probubly the recovery optin shou start up. Basicly, you will need to answer 3 questions befor the computer can proseed. Just follow it trough. I can give you step by step, but I don't know your manufacture or the model.

I hope I was a bhelp.

Answer 3

Warning: Reformatting the hard drive will delete any music, pictures, videos, e-mails, etc. you have saved on it. So be sure you want to do that before starting.

Your computer should have come with either a Windows install CD or a Recovery CD. Simple boot up with the CD in the CD drive and it should walk you through formatting and reinstalling Windows.

Answer 4

Reformating your pc you only do, because you want to install or reinstall Winxp or Vista. The reform part is very easy, but do you know how to reinstall xp or vista, because when you reformat your pc, you loose everything on your pc and therefore you have to reinstall not only winxp or vista, but all drivers like sound card, video card, printer, scanner etc etc. Then you have to install all your software again, lie antivirs, anti spyware and all the other programs you need to run a computer. It will take at least 4 to 5 hours to do this and then it is done by somebody who knows what he is doing. I did it more than 100 times with pc of friends and neighbours. So be careful before you format your pc. One thing you should not forget, to make backups of all the important programs you do not want to loose when you have installed them on you c drive.. Such as pictures, music, video's documents etc. All those programs should be on your second partition ( d drive ).

Answer 5

There is no single step by step guide. When you purchased your computer, did it come with a series of discs? Most likely, those discs contain the original software your computer had when you took it out of the box. You should be able to just pop one of those discs (CD or DVD) into your drive, then reboot your computer so it boots off the disc instead of your hard drive. There's usually an option in there that will allow you to reinitialize your computer to the starting configuration.

Be advised that you will lose all your data though, so back up any files you want to keep to a CD-R or DVD-R.

Answer 6

First of all if you reformat it is the same as formatting. That is erase the hard drive,this you don't want. You will have to have a recovery disk, or a recovery sector on your hardrive. You can try to use restore in system tools. If it goes back that far.

Answer 7

You'll delete every thing you have on your computer if you do format not only that if you've never done it you'll hit all sorts of problems it's not an easy thing for novice to do
ask some of you friends if they know how to do it and if they could help you
remember to back up every thing before you start
just DON'T DO IT YOURSELF you'll end up in trouble

Answer 8

Reformat and install. (Cleans drive loses all data)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/winxp/install.mspx
http://www.whitecanyon.com/reformat-the-hard-drive-in-windows-xp.php
http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/archive/l0910/32l10/32l10.asp


Find all your drivers and software and software keys now and develop a plan on how you will reinstall them.
http://www.thefuhrmans.com/reformat_hd.htm
http://blog.angrypets.com/2006/01/ultimate_prefla.html
http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/archive/l0910/32l10/32l10.asp

Answer 9

Run a command prompt.
type - format c:\