Re: Format hard disk and reinstall XP Home???

Arne

A repair install does more or less re-install the entire OS, the only
difference being that it tries to preserve non-OS stuff..ok, so a repair
install doesn't always work, but it is worth the hour taken and can save
hours of re-installing and re-organising one's system..

--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User


"Arne" <Arne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9EBF4933-32AC-4C0A-8A0A-B99525735715@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>I would simply reinstall XP. It will save you hours of time, since it is
>not
> entirely clear exactly what the repair option actually can repair.
>
> The most efficient route is to buy software such as Norton Partition Magic
> (Symantec) and partition your hard drive so that the boot partition
> contains
> only the operating system and program files. Move all of your documents to
> an
> extended partition.
>
> When you reinstall XP, erase and reformat the boot partition. The extended
> partitions and all the documents will not be affected. Save all of the
> programs you want to reinstall in a folder, on the extended partition, so
> they can be quickly reinstalled. I also save a "My documents clone"
> folder
> that has all of the subfolders from the original My Documents folder.
> After
> you rebuild the system copy the cotents over to the new My Documents
> folder.
>
> Also, back up your DRM files from Media Player. Back up your e-mail
> program.
> Check Documents and Settings folder. You can't just copy over this folder
> to
> the reinstalled WinXP, but some data from your installed base of programs
> may
> be usefull.
>
> By the time you reinstall all the updates and reinstall your programs - my
> experience has been that you a looking at one day's effort.
>
> Arne
>
> "Steve" wrote:
>
>> Hi guys,
>> My PC is acting very weird and after trying loads of things to try to
>> fix it that didn't work, I'm thinking of trying a complete wipe of the
>> hard drive and starting over with a fresh install of XP Home. But
>> how?... (see the thread about my mouse problems)
>> Can I just slot the XP CD in the drive and go from there or will that
>> still leave old files on the drive that may have been the problem in
>> the first place?
>> Is it possible to remove every trace of old files so that the PC is
>> sort of returned to the state it was in when it left the factory?
>> Cheers,
>> Steve
>>
>>


.

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