Newbie said:
this question is so basic, I'm almost embarrassed to ask it.
Not unusual, especially if you haven't done it a few times to get used
to it.
I've got a computer that is about 5 years old and Windows XP home
edition. It's gotten so loaded up with junk that i've culled off all
the data, and want to reload XP and start from scratch.
Reasonable thing to do at this point.
But, when I
try to reload it, it says there's already an operating system on the
computer. I need to completely wipe the hard drive clean, but am not
sure how to do that.
For everything below, UNPLUG or power down your modem! You do NOT want
any internet connections until the right provisions have been made.
First, back up ALL of your important data: pictures, letters, email
address, favorites, whatever you do not want to lose. Put them on DVDs
or at least another physical disk drive. Do not allow the backup to
reside on the same physical disk drive as drive C even if it has a
different letter. If you do not have two physically separate disk
drives, then you need to make the DVDs.
This is a step that should be done anytime anything is done to the
operating sysem.
There IS something called a "repair install" which will simply copy many
of the XP system files over the ones currently there, but ... it will
not result in the decluttering you wish to achieve. Should it work
things might be a little faster but all the junk & clutter will still be
there.
You want to REstore the computer so it's completely fresh and start
over, based on your description. To do that, use one of two methods:
1. If the Restore information is kept on-disk, find the command to
start that process and start it. Often it's something like CTRL-F12 or
the like; check your original documentation.
Turn OFF your anti-virus application for that step. Turn OFF your
modem until the reconstruction is completed.
Before you reconnect to the net for the first time, install your
antivirus and if you have one, a firewall, at least IE's firewall.
2. IF you have a separate disk with XP on it and it is not an "MCE"
machine, then follow the suggestions below. If it is an MCE machine,
you'll know it because the boot screen will say so. For an MCE machine,
you just about have to go to the computer manufacturer's web site to get
instructions for it because there are other things to do prior to these
steps and each company seems to do it differently. A form of all these
suggestions should also be found on your computer manufacturer's
website.
Anyway:
-- Put the XP disk inthe drive and Restart. Watch for "Press a Key to
Boot from CD..." and press a key while it's on the screen.
If you don't get that message and it doesn't boot from the CD, you
will have to go into your System (BIOS) Settings and set the CD drive to
be first in the boot order. Make that change and finish booting, Restart
and it will offer to boot from the CD as just described.
-- Wait for it to boot; it may take a minute or two.
-- Read the screen. Always fully read each screen:
Press D to delete the partition. Repeat for any other partition on
the same disk drive you wish to declutter.
-- Press C. Always read the whole screen. Create the size partition/s
you wish to create.
Usually people are happy with only one partition so let it use the
whole disk in that case. If you create more than one partition, use 30
to 40 Gig for the first boot partition for the operating system.
If you've been reading the screens you'll have the boot partition
properly set up and ready for use.
-- Continue to the next screen and just follow the onscreen
instructions. The full process will probably take you a little over an
hour.
also, can I add SP2 right after that?
Yes, and most definitely do so, right away.
Note that when you finally reconnect to the internet, there will be
several u pdates waiting for you. All your updates will have been
deleted and need replacing. Autoupdate will do it for you.
How important is it to make a
slipstream disk? I tried, based on info I found online, but that
disk didn't work.
It is not that important to create a slipstream disk? In fact I
personally at least recommend against them. If you plan and incorporate
a good backup and archival strategy you'll never need such a thing and
will never lose more than a few hours work in the future even if the
drive flies to pieces..
The problem with slipstreams is testing them afterwards. Many fail,
so testing them on your production machine is not a good place to test.
But that's another subject so I'll stop here with it. They sound simple
but they aren't, especially for the neophyte.
So, I've got SP2 downloaded and saved to a flash
disk. to install when XP is done installing.
Once SP2 is installed, the firewall turned on and your anti-virus is
installed, it's safe to connect to the internet.
DO NOT CONNECT TO THE INTERNET until you have installed your antivirus
at least! If you're not behind a NAT router, also be sure to turn on
IE's firewall or install one of your own. The XP firewall is part of
SP2.
You will of course have to reinstall all of your applications and
programs and email accounts unless you backed up with legitimate backup
software like XP's native ntbackup.exe of any of several other
possibilities up to and including the favored image file backups.
And, of course, copy back all of your data that you had backed up to
DVDs or whatever/wherever.
A minimalistic backup strategy can be cleanly implemented using XP's
ntbackup.exe. Most agree that imaging software is best for backups, the
most popular being Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image, and BootItNG for
the more techie minded. Those are all pay-fors. There are also some
freebies around but I ahve never tried any of them so have no personal
recommendation about any of them. Personally I use Nortoh Ghost and most
on this group seem to use Acronis True Image. I've noticed a few using
the freebies, too.
Imaging your disk will turn the few hours of effort you just went
though into a process that's very likely to take less than a half hour
and will leave you with the macnhine setup exactly as it was when you
last backed up. I do a full backup each month, an incremental every
night or whenever more than 500k of data is added to any of the 5 drives
I have abailable. So in theory at least, the most data I could ever
lose is 24 hours worth, maybe less. The last time I re-imaged my C
drive took 23 minutes. Just a blatant plug for imaging software<g>.
HTH,
Twayne
