Quote:
1. Is a reformat and total reinstall the best approach?
Always.
Quote:
If so, what things should I make sure not to forget?
Device drivers for your hardware, including things like the motherboard chipset and IDE controoler.
I am currently going through a reformat myself. My thing is, I always do two disk drives. The fresh new (usually bigger) disk drive is where Windows goes fresh, as drive C. The old version of Windows sits on the old drive, which I put on the secondary IDE spot.
Then, if I ever need to briefly reboot on the old system, I can swap controllers. But the whole time I'm setting up the new windows, I've got the old one sitting on the secondary controller to grab files from.
I make it all easier on myself in that every single thing I install: Device drivers, downloaded files and such, I always save in a folder. So when I set up the new OS, that old drive has got a folder full of installs. You probably don't do that, so that's not much help...
I also take advantage of this time to upgrade a lot of my downloaded installs. You know, getting the latest quicktime, getting the latest PaintShop Pro, etc...
Previous Topic
Index
