Welcome to InstallOS
What's the worst part of reinstalling your computer? For me, it's trying to find all the programs, drivers, software updates and information scattered around the web that I need to return my PC back to the functional state it was in.
The aim of InstallOS is to provide an informative site that will allow anyone to install an operating system (OS) on their PC, even with very limited knowledge. As well to provide all the necessary files and links on a single site to quickly get back up and running.
*Thinking of upgrading to Windows Vista? Make sure you read this before buying your copy. Clean install with Vista Upgrade. Upgrade without a previous version even installed. Thanks Microsoft.
When is it time to reinstall?
In a perfect world, when you bring home your computer it would be pre-loaded with Windows (or other), and would never fail you, but... If your spending more time restarting after freezes or you've had virus/spyware woes that you just can't seem to fix, then spend an hour of your time reinstalling the OS.
Deciding when enough is enough, and a reinstall is the only solution, may seem troubling, but the end product will be a computer that is faster, glitch free and most importantly useable.
Before you install
If you've experienced a sudden system failure and there are files that need to be removed from the hard drive DO NOT reinstall over them. Even if the computer won't boot, your files are probably still fine and can be recovered with a software retrieval tool such as PCI File Recovery (freeware).
Now, if all your important documents are backed up then it's time to begin.... but just in case here's a check list anyway:
- Pictures / Movies
- Music
- Word documents
- Income tax files
- Favorites and Bookmarks
- Game saves
- Address book / Contacts
- Application data - Check the program files for items you might not realize you need. For example files downloaded with a P2P program.
A word on Linux
If all you've ever used is Windows then you should consider giving Linux
a try. There are several reasons why a non "geek" like yourself might want
to use a completely free operating system (ok...that was the first one) but
here is the best one..... You don't even have to install it!
The most popular distributions of Linux are
available on what's called "live CD's" that can
be run on a Windows system without making any changes to that system, simply
by booting to the CD. Read a little more about it then give
Ubuntu a try, you probably won't hand
Microsoft back their install disks after trying it, but it is amazing to me
what Free will buy you these days.
More About Linux