Reformatting

[Head]

Yeah, so I just have way too much crap on my computer, and everything is all fucked up and running slow, so I figure it's time for me to reformat. I burned all my files and everything I want to CDs, so I should be all ready to go.

I just have never done this before, and I've heard some horror stories in the past about reformatting. I have my Windows XP backup disk, and everything, but I'd just like to ask people on here if there's anything about reformatting I probably should know before it's too late. Could never be too careful.

Thanks in advance.

[Matchbox]

An Alternative; run spybot and get rid of all the spyware. Delete useless stuff and defrag the Hdd. It takes a couple of hours but beats strating all over.

[Ninti Ishkur]

He already burned his stuff into CD.

Might as well reformat.

[Kapoutman]

If you got everything saved on cds, then don't worry. The worst that could happen is your HD that fucks up, and that would only happen if it had a defectuosity. Otherwise, it should install back without problems.

[DS]

Make sure if you have an XP upgrade CD that you have at least a Install CD for any other OS (95, 98, 2000, ME). If you have the regular Install XP CD then you should be just fine.

[JiM PolPot v.W.o.]

The best way to go would be to do a fresh install of XP. Just boot from the CD, delete all of the partitions on your computer, reformat a partition inside XP setup, and then install like normal. That will probably be the easiest way to go.