Speed Up Computer

The way to a faster PC is sometimes as simple as doing a little bit of cleaning up on your disk and registry. However, if you have some serious lagging problems due to embedded viruses that just will not go away, or applications that keep crashing for mysterious reasons that you just cannot figure out, you may want to consider starting off fresh by reformatting your Hard Drive.

The Last Resort

Deciding to reformat your drive is considered to be a last resort option for desperate people who want to relive those days when they first pulled their computer out of its box and booted it up. Remember how fast your brand spanking new PC booted up and how quickly it zipped through the Internet?  Reformatting your hard drive can get your PC back to that state, but at a cost. Reformatting your computer pretty much involves erasing all the data off of your Hard Drive and then reinstalling the Operating System that came with your computer along with all the device drivers. Unless you save all of the contents on your hard drive on a back up disk, this process is irreversible and should only be done when no other options seem available. (Unless you happen to be one of those geeks who likes to keep your Hard Drive in pristine condition.)

First: back everything up

Before you  reformat it is important to save everything that you want to keep onto backup files. All your MP3′s and video files, that novel you have been working on for the past two or three years, programs and applications that you have accrued over the years, and even sytem updates should all be saved to a back up disk. While you want to be sure to save all of your precious information, it also important to remember that some of the stuff you might want to keep, might be the stuff responsible for your lagging PC, so use a bit of discretion when reinstalling.

Boot from CD

Before you start, it is important to switch to the “boot from CD” option on your Bios system. Entering your Bios system can be tricky and usually incolve hitting a command  button of some type during your PC’s initial boot up. Once you are in the BIOS system, go to the boot order menu and choose the CD first option. Now all you have to do is unplug your Internet connection, insert your the Windows CD that was shipped with your computer and then restart. If you did things correctly, something like this should appear.

Now  you are ready to begin.

Deleting Partitions

After installing some set up files, Windows will then display the partitions on your drive. You can Delete these partions by using D and confirming with L.  Now you should have nothing but unpartitioned space on your hard drive. 

Now Format

Now Windows will ask you how you want to format the drive. Choose “Format using NTSF file system.” AFter the formatting is done your computer should reboot and began installing the OS system. While this is being done, do not touch anything until promted to do so. Be sure to have the product key handy (either on the box the software came in, or on your computer) because you will be asked for it. You may also have to reinstall drivers and devices so make sure that you have all those CD’s the computer shipped on hand also.