Hi

I've a laptop, about 6 months old, and have filled it up with all
kinds of free software rubbish. I basically need to clean it out and
start again. What is the best way to do this. Can I format the
harddrive and if so how? I can shove everything I need on a DVD disc
first. Do I need the Windows CD if I format? I'm not sure if i've
still got it!!

Any help gratefully received,

Cheers!!!

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Request for Question Clarification by feilong-ga on 22 Aug 2004 07:18 PDT

Hi Mark,

Do copy your files to another disc before proceeding to reformat your
drive. What OS is your Windows CD?

-Feilong

Yes, you do need the Windows CD.

Ah. Ok, and if I have that what do I do then?

Cheers!!

Hi, Markyboy

I shall leave the details to one of the Researchers.

Happy Reformatting!

Depends on the manufacturer/model, but many computers don't have
'full' operating system CD-ROMs. They have a customised version and
quite often there is an installation option on this to
'repair'/reinstall the software to factory-fresh settings.

Once you are *sure* you have backed up your data try inserting the
CD-ROM in the drive and then rebooting; the PC may then boot from the
CD rather than the hard disk and start whatever installation procedure
the mfr provided.

Owain