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     Volume 7 Issue 41 | October 17, 2008 |


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Sci-tech

How to Reinstall Windows

Syed Nadim Noah

Busted your PC with viruses from CDs or the Internet? Windows failing to load? Don't know what to do? Well this guide should teach you how to get your PC up and running in no time. I know for some of us this is a very easy thing to do, but believe me the majority of the people would rather go to the PC shop to fix it for a hefty amount than try to do it themselves. Now this maybe easy, but be very careful to conform to all the steps and avoid modifications, unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing.

Step 1: Turn on your PC and in the bios loading screen, as shown in figure 1, press delete to enter the bios.

Step 2: Once you are in the bàios, figure 2, enter advanced bios features and then select first boot device as CD-ROM.

Step 3: Press Esc and then select save and exit.

Step 4: Your computer will restart and this is when you will put your bootable Windows XP CD or Windows Vista DVD into your CD/DVD-ROM drive.

Step 5: Now after your PC restarts and the bios loading screen goes away, check below and you'll notice this sentence “Press any key to boot from CD,” and thus you press any key you want and wait, till your PC boots from your CD/DVD.

Step 6: Your PC will now be booting from the CD/DVD and thus you'll see various drivers getting loaded. After this it's easy, where you'll just be following instructions and agreeing to their terms and conditions.

Step 7: Remember to always install a fresh copy of Windows, instead of repairing the previous one, as that sometimes doesn't get rid of the deadly viruses like the Trojan. Also make sure that you have only one type of Windows installed that is either Xp or Vista. It's not advisable to keep both, as it tends to create problems.

Step 8: After sometime you'll be asked to select the drive where you want to install the Windows. This must always be the first drive, which is the Drive-C. You must know that installing Windows will erase all the data you have on the drive you are installing it on, and so it is essential to back up your important data on flash drives or other PC's before performing this.

Step 9: After selecting the drive, delete that partition, which means the Drive-C and then select create new partition. For creating a new partition, just follow the instructions and remember not to change any values apart from the partition size. For Windows XP, the size must be between 10GB to 15GB, and for Windows Vista, the size must be 40GB to 100GB. If there are space constrictions, try to delete all of the partitions and create new partitions. (1GB=1024MB, 1MB=1024KB, 1KB=1024bytes).

Step 10: You must format the partition in the NTFS format and then just relax and let your PC take care of everything else. Oh, don't give quick format as it is not safe.

Step 11: Your computer will after 15-30 minutes, depending on your PC speed, restart. This time you don't press anything to boot from CD, instead you wait and you'll notice the Windows getting installed. The process will occasionally ask about language settings, time, network etc and you just fill in the necessary details here and there. For example: Select (Almaty, Dhaka) for time and regional settings. Administrator password is the password of the main user of the PC. It's good not to forget this password as then you may have to reinstall Windows, provided you set password protection.

Step 12: Hurrah! You've just successfully installed your first copy of Windows. Now you will have to install the necessary drivers that came in a CD or DVD with your PC and other purchases like the monitor. Remember that you have to install everything from software's to games again in your new Windows as all has been erased. Lastly go back to your bios and like in step 2, select “Hard Disk” as the first boot device. Save and exit and you're done.

Some necessary precautions:

1. It is mandatory to back-up all of your data before performing a reinstallation.

2. Necessary CDs and DVDs like the bootable CD of Windows XP or DVD of Vista, your drivers and software's of cell phones, monitors, other PC parts, must be present while performing. For Laptop's, make sure you have the CD/DVD that came with it.

3. This is an advanced guide and must be performed only by the people who have some knowledge of the PC. Novice users are advisable to go to the PC shops.

4. Make sure that the electricity is available for a minimum of two hours, as it is crucial that the PC gets uninterrupted power through the whole operation. Thus, it is good if it is done during the night when there is no load-shedding.

5. No interruptions of any kind must occur during the operation.

That's it people. Hope you enjoyed reading it and that the information provided here can be useful to you all. Things are supposed to work out fine as long as you stick to the steps.

Disclaimer: Perform at your own risk. The writer does not take any responsibility for any malfunctions that may occur.

 

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