Need help cleaning system.

[Guest]

Hello,

due to a number of problems that have arisen lately with my PC, I decided to
clean it out to get rid of all of the useless bits and pieces that have
amassed through the years. I reinstalled XP from the disc with a "clean
install", which has cleared my desktop and reset my drivers, etc back to
standard. However, I am looking for a way to cleanse my hard drive of all but
the essentials. There are lots of files and folders from games, utilities,
etc that I just want wiped but I don't really want to be scouring every
directory for those to delete.

Is there an EASY way to cleanse the HDD back to a "fresh" slate? I found
this kind of thing easy in ancient versions of Windows, but XP has me stumped
at the moment. I have all the discs, etc so please advise me of any methods
there are.

Thankyou in advance. D.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Boot your computer from the XP CD and run setup from there. During the install process you'll be asked what partition you want to install to, and you'll be given the opportunity to format it. I do not recommend deleteing, recreating the partition, then formatting it (this can cause you to get something other than C for a boot drive letter). Just format it, you can even Quick format and continue on your way.

 

[Guest]

Thankyou for the quick advice. I've reformatted the drive (had to delete the
partition though, but I did keep C: as the drive name), and reinstated XP on
it. Hopefully there will be no more problems, but I shall post here if there
are.

Thankyou again, D.