Formatting my fuckin computer

I'm guessing you already have a bootdisk that you can use to format and an XP/Vista install disk? Its really not a complicated process..you'll get through it fine.

Yes, burn the drivers to a CD (though a jumpdrive would be nicer)...if you bought a factory model though you should have a cd full of drivers or your OS disc should include them in the install. Whatever the case its always a good idea to update all your drivers after formatting.

 

the 2 things i forget when i reformat, is to save my bookmarks for firefox and my favorites and maps for counterstrike. whether those apply to u or not, i love a nice fresh pc.

 

If you use firefox get foxmarks...its an amazingly nifty extension.

 

yeah you should put them on a jumpdrive or another computer along with anything else you want to keep like music, documents etc

 

If you just want to reinstall windows, there's an option from the XP CD where you can just reinstall over the windows directory and thus not lose any of your files. You'll have to clear out a bunch of shit manually and it's not the cleanest install but it will be much faster than your old windows. I don't recommend it personally but it is easy.

Best thing to do IMO is to grab a jumpdrive or external harddrive or even DVDRs and back up your documents... easy way to to do this is to go to C:/Documents and Settings/*yourname*/ and back up all the useful folders in there... Favorites, Desktop, Documents, etc. That usually does it. Make sure to export your firefox stuff if you're big into that and you should be gold.

So just boot from the XP cd, have it do a QUICK format. Reason for this is because a quick format only erases the MBR and all the links to the files on your hard drive - it basically thinks from then on that all sectors are overwritable, and even those there are still 1s written all over that drive, it's practically the same thing as a real format. A full format actually physically wipes the entire drive with 0s, and can take upwards of 2 or 3 hours, without producing any practical effect. The only reason I could see for doing that is if you know your hard drive is going to get shipped to a government lab so they can catch you on some shit. Otherwise it's functionally the same either way.

Microsoft is good about it... it shouldn't be difficult.

Consider Ubuntu, too.

 

Hmm, the only difference I'm aware of between a quick format and a regular is that the quick doesnt check the harddrive for bad sectors afterwards. And, unless you have one of the new 1.5tb drives a 2-3 hour format is completely ridiculous.

I think are talking about the fifth option when formatting (see here:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302686"

I've always thought it was kind of gross and if you are at the point where you need to format your system a full format is always best.


Ubuntu is wonderful but unless you have decent skills with a computer I wouldnt switch to Linux. You will be confused and wondering what in the hell repos are and then when you find out how to install stuff you'll want something thats not in the repositories which is absolute hell to install even for someone extremely experienced with compys.

Plus you cant play good games...f that. Stick with XP (or Vista if you must).

Edit: oh and if you want to fill the harddrive with zeroes so that no data can be recovered there is a nifty program called zero-fill which will do this. It is generally recommended that you run it around nine times to be absolutely sure.