Reformating my computer.....should I?

JennyP

I want to speed up my clogged up old laptop.

Have read the sticky thread with 12 steps of things to do - it sounds very complicated.

Forgive me for asking what is possibly a daft question (I'm not very technical) or something that is answered elsewhere (it can take hours to read through every little thread until you find the answer you're looking for) ...

Can I just put in the disk that came with my computer and restore it to its factory settings? Is that better than doing the 12 step thing? Are there advantages or disadvantages?

I am backing everything up (double backing up - have been doing it all day!) so hopefully I'll be ready to go with this soon!

S0litaire

The disk that came with the PC will basically format the drive and reinstall the OS and the programs it came with.
(So make sure you have done your backup to an *EXTERNAL USB* drive!).
Everything currently on the machine will be wiped, gone for good!...

Doing it your way is quicker and you can't go far wrong just sticking in the DVD and rebooting! ^_^
Just be prepared to spend the rest of the day installing Windows Updates! lol!! they tend to take ages!!

Tyler_Du

Don't forget to backup your browser bookmarks / passwords / cookies as well

JennyP

Tyler_Durden_UK wrote: »

Don't forget to backup your browser bookmarks / passwords / cookies as well

How? Other than manually writing everything down?

closed

If you post a hijackthis log, and if xp the ram/commit charge, we may be able to tell you why it's slow.

bookmarks can be backed up in the browser

If you have a factory restore partition, that's a faster way of doing a reinstall

S0litaire

if you use Firefox
Then in "bookmarks" "Show all bookmarks" their is an "import/Backup" menu
In the menu select "Backup..." and point it to a USB stick or the external drive. it will save the file with today's date and time.
And for passwords i use the "Password Exporter" add on for Firefox. you can save your login/passwords to a file (passwords can be encrypted if you think you might loose it) which you can then import once everything is installed...

boxst

If you are not very technical, I really wouldn't recommend re-installing everything.

If you must, then as above back-up every single thing you can think of (Favourites, Documents, Pictures, Music, Mail (if you use Outlook) and almost everything else under your username) and make sure you have all the installation media for the programs that you have currently working.

If you are paranoid (and don't have access to another computer) you may also want to download the drivers for the network and wireless card and save them off with your back-up. That way if the drivers don't install properly you can get on the internet to search for things.

Steve

Visiondvd

JennyP wrote: »

Can I just put in the disk that came with my computer and restore it to its factory settings?

Its been a while from most top brands ship rcovery disk with computers.
If you post the make model windows version etc, it is possible that there may be a recovery program built into a partition on your hard drive.
Most of these recovery programs give you options to backup/retain user data, but reinstall windows etc etc.

santer_2

It may be that after you check the back ups work, and you then delete the originals from the hard drive, run disc clean up and disc defrag the laptop is faster. Also, if you post the HJT Log, any unneeded programmes will show in that.

This will say if any start up programmes are unnecessary

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/startuplite

There is this, though I wouldn't hurry to check the disc every week

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/maintenance.aspx

heathcote123

You may find you can avoid all the hassle by doing start>run>msconfig

Hit the startup tab - if there's lots there disable the lot and reboot. Takes no time at all.

See if it's much quicker.

You can alway go back in and turn on individual stuff if you find you need it running at startup.

Of course it may not be load of autoruns, but it's very common for people to accumulate loads of junk without realising it.