Starting Fresh

[Otislord]

Hi, I am a begginer who was told the best way to refresh your system is to reinstall windows and clear your Hard drive.

I could use some advice as to the steps in doing this. I have a windows system install disc. So that wont be a problem.

I mostly need some advice on what all I should backup, and how I do that efficiantly.

Thanks for listening to my question,
Otis

P.S - If anyone has any broader advice about system refresh plz share.

[UNDIESRULES]

The best place to start backing up is to burn off all your personal documents, pictures etc. Remember once you install an operating system you will ideally need to reinstall your drivers for motherboard, graphics card and so on so get your cd's handy if you dont have them you will need to download the most up to date ones for your components and have them handy on a disc too.
Anyone on here can help you install windows if you get stuck. Good luck!

[Rakija]

And after your sistem is up and runing you shoud regulary defragment the hard drive, clean and defragment the registry, run anti:virus,spyvear,advear scans, clean your temporari folder and you can tweak windows for better performance. That´s all I can think of now.

[*The.Doctor]

Backup anything you don't want to lose or don't want to have to download again. Get the latest versions for all your hardware drivers (video card, sound card, modem if you need them etc..) and its a good idea to have a anti-virus and firewall installed before going online once its reformatted.

[Otislord]

Is the reformat option somewhere in bios?

or is it something with windows when u put the install disc in?

[cokefizz3000]

Go to your bios, find your boot priority *boot sequence*, whatever its called, and make sure you are booting your disc drive primarily, then exit the bios and save. Now open your disc drive and place the window's CD/DVD ,or whatever operating system you use, and close the drive. Restart your computer and do whatever it tells you to do! You should be set!

[*The.Doctor]

Depending on your computer it might ask you to push a key to boot from a CD when you restart.