Is it really necessary to reformat?

“We need to reformat your PC.” - the dreaded words that many a Windows user does not want to hear. Just when you get used to your system a certain way and have everything nice and up-to-date, along comes a problem that makes reformatting necessary.

Reasons to consider formatting

Whilst I still think that you need to reformat your PC once in a while, it is not the best solution for every problem. Most professionals & enthusiasts will reformat when performance is slowing to an unreasonable level or as a last resort. So what actually affects your PC’s performance? Here are a few reasons:

Not enough memory – To run your operating systems, especially Microsoft’s “flavours” of Windows – XP, Vista & 7, and get any type of decent performance you need at least 512 megabytes (MB) of RAM for XP based systems or 1 gigabyte (GB) for Vista or 7 based systems.

Spyware is present on your system – Spyware is EVIL. Besides being poorly designed with regards to resource usage, they can corrupt several key files causing performance issues and crashes

Poorly maintained system – Over time, your system becomes cluttered with unnecessary registry entries & system files. If you are a person that tries lots of different programs, this problem will occur more regularly. This will result in an unbearably slow PC, random crashes, hanging system, etc.

Try this first

Now that we have established a few of the main reasons, the question is, do you NEED to reformat? Half the time, you do not need to reformat.
There are a few things to try before going through the headache that is reformatting.

System Restore – The system restore tool is a very simple one. Windows will scan your system at set times or before some software installations and take a “snapshot” of the main system before changes are made. If a problem comes up, most times restoring the system to a previous date will solve them. Do not use this option on spyware infected systems as spyware will infect your “snapshots”

Backup – Installing some sort of backup software will ensure that if a problem does occur, you only need to restore the system from backup to ensure things go smoothly again. If you don’t have a backup system in place, research it a bit or ask for advice online or at your local reputable computer store.

Ask for assistance – Sometimes the problem is not that serious or is a common problem that others have experienced and have figured out how to fix it. TSF is a perfect example of the type of assistance and advice that others can offer. Note that not everyone does know what they are doing and will give the wrong advice. Try and establish who the right people are. At TSF, those are the ones that are part of teams.

Repair installations – Windows Xp & Vista have a wonderful feature called a repair installation. This will basically reinstall the windows portion of your system. If you have corrupted system files, try this option before reformatting. Do not use this option for cluttered, slow and old systems.

If you have tried all of the above or feel that they are not working, only then must you consider reformatting. For those of you with brand name PC’s, most of them will have a recovery disc or similar which work very well as well.

However keep in mind, that there are several factors that must be considered before even getting you install disc out of its cover.

Checklist before reformatting.

1. Make sure you have your XP product key.
   This is a 25 character key (eg: A1B2C-3D4E5-F6G7H-8I9J0K-1L2M3) that is usually on your jewel case or your PC (brand name PCs). Use Belarc Advisor if you have misplaced it.
2. Make sure you have all your latest hardware drivers
   Up-to-date drivers solve most hardware related problems. By ensuring you have the latest drivers, you are ensuring your system is running at its best!. Do a search in google as follows: “(make) (model) (type) drivers”
   Use Belarc Advisor if you are not sure of model numbers and names.
3. Make sure you have all your software installation files.
   Make sure you download or have the latest versions of your favourite software somewhere. Do not just copy the folder from your C:\Program Files – THEY WILL NOT WORK. You need the setup files.
4. BACK UP!!
   This is one of the most important things for anyone to do. If this is done properly you do not even need to reformat as you would just restore these backups.
   What do you need to backup? Documents, personal files that you do not want to lose (photos, MP3’s, etc), Email files (for those who use Outlook, etc)
   If you keep these in you’re My Documents folder, Windows own File & Settings transfer wizard makes this very easy. If you want you can also backup your programs config files so all your settings are kept.
   

Once all this is considered & done, then and only then, put your XP disc in the tray and do your thing.

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