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Reformat List
TychoCelchuuu
PIGEONRegistered User regular
PIGEONRegistered User regular
I am home for the holidays and my family's computer is moving slower than a slug on a Segway made out of honey and molasses, and the Segway is also frozen and it's in bizarro-land where everything moves at half speed, plus the slug is an old lady so she drives slowly.
So I want to reformat!
Beyond the obvious "My Documents" personal data, I'll back up the emails and the browser bookmarks. I'm searching my brain to think of anything else that would need backing up but I can't really think of any. Just for the sake of my sanity, can anyone think of anythin important I'm forgetting? Obviously I don't want to wipe the thing and THEN remember something important, but honestly aside from the obvious data and what I mentioned earlier I can't think of anything.
So I want to reformat!
Beyond the obvious "My Documents" personal data, I'll back up the emails and the browser bookmarks. I'm searching my brain to think of anything else that would need backing up but I can't really think of any. Just for the sake of my sanity, can anyone think of anythin important I'm forgetting? Obviously I don't want to wipe the thing and THEN remember something important, but honestly aside from the obvious data and what I mentioned earlier I can't think of anything.
TychoCelchuuu on
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Make absolutely sure you have hard copies (CD, DVD, or thumb drive) of ALL of the systems' drivers:
* Video
* Ethernet
* Wireless NIC card (If applicable)
* Sound
* Motherboard (if applicable)
That is usually the most important thing people forget. Especially without ethernet drivers, you're up a creek because you have to get online somehow to snag them at that point... but you can't.
Next, make sure that you have a legal copy of the operating system available and that the disc for it is there. It sucks to format and then find out your little brother lost the Windows XP CD (believe me from personal experience.
Next, go through your computer and determine what all of the installed software is, and then ask yourself:
1) Is it a program that saves data or settings that aren't easy to restore?
2) Did it save it under my Documents? (in which case you already archived it)
If the answer to (1) is yes, and (2) is no (for example, if it's some legacy software... I know for a long time, software like Quicken and TurboTax saved its data in the Program Files folder), look in the Program Files subdirectories and try to find its data and save them.
Next, make sure no one in your house has been saving data to unexpected spots. Sometimes people will make their own foldering structure outside of My Documents to save things. Make sure those have been saved if anyone does.
Lastly, if anyone's downloaded an installer/files for something that would be hard to find on the internet again or are so large that it'd be a pain to get again (for instance, a large MP3 collection or old versions of freeware that you can't find on the internet anymore) grab them too and save them somewhere.
Then you should be set!
You probably want to save any playlists/ratings/etc from any music players you use (I've got 2000 songs rated in iTunes and would not want to have to rerate them again).
As far as drivers go, it's nice to have a hard copy, but you probably don't need it. Stuff like sound and networking works just fine with the default Windows driver. The drivers from the manufacturer often don't add any functionality or reliability, they just install useless programs. If you play games, you'll definitely want to grab the newest driver from nvidia or ati, rather than using the one that comes on the windows disc. Of course, you can download all this stuff and throw it with your backups before you reformat.
Also, you don't want to plug the computer online until you need to. Once you do, immediately update whatever antivirus/firewall/antispyware you use and patch Windows. Unpatched, unfirewalled Windows systems can be compromised pretty quickly once you put them online.