If you have a drive imaging software, you can literally take snapshots of your hard drive, and if something screws up, you can roll back the state of your hard drive to an earlier time. Reformatting is a pain in the but isn't it. Then go to the appropriate hardware vendor's website and download the correct drivers. IF you need help finding what drivers you need, go to start->run->msinfo32.exe and that will tell you what hardware you have.
Drivers allow Windows to use your hardware in the most effective manner. The latest drivers for your computer (optional).There are many good ones out there, If you don't know of a good one to get, I personally suggest either Zone Alarms or Sygate Firewall The downside is that it will take awhile for the CD to get there. If you are on dialup and this download is unbearably large, you can get a free copy from Microsoft here. Save them on a CD or something, we will need them immediately after reformatting. You may want to make sure that you can open the files on another computer BEFORE reformatting. I would personally suggest a cd-rom backup or a flash drive. Then, backup your important files to another media. If all is well you should get something that looks like this: Then open the folder and double click on xpinfo.exe Then right click on the file and select extract all. You can also use this tool to ensure validity. If it is NOT legit, do NOT reformat, contact Microsoft to see if a mistake has been made, and if not, tell your helper. Make sure that your license key is legit. Enter your product key then click continue You will be prompted to install - click YES. Read the instructions on this page while it's loading. Be patient while the ActiveX loads, do not click on any links. Please go HERE (Microsoft website) using Internet Explorer (NOTE: Do not use Firefox or any other browser as they won't work) Otherwise you might not be able to install windows. We need to make sure that your product key is still valid. There is a small chance you will need a floppy drive.ġ. You might use another hard drive, some cd roms, or anything that holds data to backup your files.ģ. Don't backup everything, the more you backup, the more chance there is that malware will get on your newly formatted computer. A means of backing up your most important data. There are many circumstances which may change the success of your reformat.īefore you can reformat, you will need to have the following:Ģ. Only use this guide if you are reformatting using the XP cd (not using a 'recovery partition' that some computer manufacturers use) Do not use this guide if you are not reinstalling windows XP. This guide shows how to reformat your computer in case of a severe corruption or a severe malware infection where helpers cannot guarantee the security of your computer. Acknowledgements: Thanks to DKnoppix and Crow for most the images and dgosling for helping get this setup.
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