Can I uninstall and reinstall Vista?

[Guest]

Can I uninstall and re-install vista (clean install)? If not how can I do a
clean up of vista which is unstable and unreliable.

 

[Richard in AZ]

Can I uninstall and re-install vista (clean install)? If not how can I do a
clean up of vista which is unstable and unreliable.

You can do a clean installation, which will automatically remove the old installation.
Make sure you have backed up all of your personal files, have the driver files for the hardware, and if you did not get OS disks with your computer, see about have copies of the "restore disks". HP, Compaq, and may other name brands require that you make these disks for software they installed on your hard drive.

You might post your problems and see if you can get them fixed without all of the effort required to do a clean install.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Can I uninstall and re-install vista (clean install)?

Sure.


If not how can I do a
clean up of vista which is unstable and unreliable.

If that's your experience, almost certainly you have a problem
external to Vista itself. You most likely either have a hardware
problem, or are infected with malware.

 

[Guest]

I went into "Help and Support" on my computer and it said you can't
uninstall vista. hhhmmm.

 

[awec]

I went into "Help and Support" on my computer and it said you can't
uninstall vista. hhhmmm.

If that's your experience, almost certainly you have a problem
external to Vista itself. You most likely either have a hardware
problem, or are infected with malware.

You don't "uninstall" per se, you just reinstall over the top.

Awec.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I went into "Help and Support" on my computer and it said you can't
uninstall vista. hhhmmm.

You can't uninstall the operating system you are running from within
the operating system itself. That's true, not just of Vista, but of
all operating systems. Trying to do that is like sitting on a limb of
a tree while you're sawing off that limb.

The way you uninstall Vista is to format the drive. If you want to
uninstall and reinstall, boot from the DVD, then choose format, and
then reinstall.

Note that that means the loss of all your programs, data, etc. Be sure
you have a backup of your data before beginning, and be sure you have
the installation media for all your programs, which will have to be
reinstalled.