Reformatting XP

[Alexandra]

Okay, everything I've read said that if you reinstalled
WinXP Pro, everything would be deleted. That's not true.
What ended up happening was that all of the spyware and
crap that was on the computer is still on there. Now,
there's another problem. I have a WinME boot disk and when
I use it to try to reformat the drive, it's not working. It
says that it can't reformat the drive.

Any ideas on what to do? There's so much junk on this
computer that I'm not sure I'd be able to get rid of it by
uninstalling stuff. If you could, e-mail me at
(e-mail address removed). Thanks.

Zan

 

[Gary Tsang]

Hi,

Insert your Windows XP Pro cd, and make your computer boot off the cd.
You may have to go into your BIOS and select the option to make it boot of
your cd.

Then follow the instructions in the Windows XP Setup, and when you get to
the point where it asks you about partitions and which hard drive. Delete
all your partitions and format the HD. This IS assuming that you want to
wipe everything on the HD.

Ensure that you back up all the data you need before doing this, or you will
lose your documents and any other files that you deem to be important. Then
follow the installation process and you will have a fresh copy of WinXP Pro
installed on your computer.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Okay, everything I've read said that if you reinstalled
WinXP Pro, everything would be deleted. That's not true.

If you reinstalled cleanly (reformatted and reinstalled) it *is*
true.

What ended up happening was that all of the spyware and
crap that was on the computer is still on there.

Then one of two things happened:

1. Despite what you may have thought you did, your reinstallation
was done incorrectly and it wasn't clean.

2. The "spyware and crap" isn't *still* there, but you got it
again.

Now,
there's another problem. I have a WinME boot disk and when
I use it to try to reformat the drive, it's not working. It
says that it can't reformat the drive.

If the drive is NTFS, no DOS diskette can reformat it. You have
to first use FDISK to delete the NTFS partition, then use it to
create a FAT32 partition, and *then* format it.

Or better, if your intent is to reinstall Windows XP, don't use
your boot diskette at all, but just boot from the XP CD and
follow the prompts.

Any ideas on what to do? There's so much junk on this
computer that I'm not sure I'd be able to get rid of it by
uninstalling stuff. If you could, e-mail me at
(e-mail address removed). Thanks.

Sorry, no. No E-mail support.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Okay, everything I've read said that if you reinstalled
WinXP Pro, everything would be deleted. That's not true.
What ended up happening was that all of the spyware and
crap that was on the computer is still on there.

Then you did *not* reformat. Just doing a 'New Install', which is what
I suspect you did, does not format; it just makes a new installation
into the same partition (and probably the same folder) as before.
leaving everything else still there.

When you do the New Install, at the point where it asks you to confirm
Where, hit ESC. You then get options - select the partition currently
in use, and *delete* it. NOw make a new RAW one in its place and select
that, to be formatted at the next stage