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hoodrat Veteran user Southern California 388 Posts |
I have a question related to re-installing my computer's operating system (Windows XP Home Edition). Does reinstalling the operating system totally fix any minor glitches or bugs that my computer may have developed in certain drivers (such as drivers for the video or sound cards, etc.). Basically, does a total re-install of the operating system "wipe the slate clean" (and hard-drive) thus restoring my computer to its original state that it was in when I first bought it six months ago? I do know that reinstalling the operating system will delete EVERYTHING on my computer's hard-drive that I've downloaded or installed that was NOT original programs, etc.
Any information on this subject would be appreciated. Thanks! |
Mary B. Café Tech Advisor Howard City, Michigan 626 Posts |
If you reformat and then reinstall your OS, everything will be wiped from your hard drive, and (presumably) your computer will be restored to the state it was in when you got it. If you simply "reinstall" the OS, it will not neccessarily fix any glitches in the system, and it will not remove programs, etc. that have been put on since you bought the computer. If you're ok with losing whatever you have added to the system (programs, files created, downloads, etc.) and you are experiencing major glitches in the OS, I'd go for the reformat and restore option. You may want to save some of those files or downloads to disk before you reformat, then you can just put them back on later.
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hoodrat Veteran user Southern California 388 Posts |
Hi, Mary!
Thanks for the information! How do I "re-format" my hard-drive before "re-installing" the operating system? Can this be done without removing the hard-drive?? Thanks for your expertise! |
dr chutney Special user United Kingdom 518 Posts |
You may wish to peruse a site like this one:
http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/how-tos/......wintools Go to Google and type in "reformat hard drive reinstall xp" and you'll find a lot of techie help. With due respect to the technical knowledge of Café members, you'll get more info from a site dedicated to the problem.
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Partizan Inner circle London UK 1682 Posts |
Issues with XP drivers. You may need to backup to CD/DVD any drivers (there is a program for this, do a google)
"You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus."
- Mark Twain |
hoodrat Veteran user Southern California 388 Posts |
Thanks, dr chutney, for the link -- that is a great website! I added it to my Favorites for now, and I hope to do the reformatting/reinstalling shortly as soon as I read the steps involved and print them out. Thanks again!
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dr chutney Special user United Kingdom 518 Posts |
You're welcome, although it's Google that did all the work. If ever I have a technical problem, programming, software or hardware, I can usually find a site 'out there' that can provide the solution. If not I use a forum like experts-exchange.com, where you post a question and within a very short space of time someone usually can give you an answer.
As a footnote to that, the site used to be expertsexchange.com, until someone realised how it read!
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