hey, I just realized this section was on the forum so I decided to post a 7 page document I typed up for a process essay in English class a few weeks ago..anyway here it is
People get angry when their computer gets full of viruses, or gets to be as slow as a snail. One of the most efficient ways to clean up your computer and get rid of viruses, clutter and other things you may not need. You must be warned this is a fairly dangerous process and may cause your computer to not work the same as it did before, but most of the time it will work better than before. One item you must be warned about is that this process guides you on installing Windows 9X which includes Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium Edition. Installing Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows NT, will slightly vary the first portion of this guide. DO NOT continue with the process without reading the essay completely through first, otherwise there is a potential that you may have to start over because youÂ’re not being prepared for a certain step.
The easiest way to prepare for this procedure is to make sure you have all your important documents and data saved. You must then back up your important data either on a blank CD with a CD burner, on a floppy disk, or upload it to an internet web server which can be obtained freely from www.freewebs.com or www.250free.com. You may not want to use the web servers if you have a lot of data to back up or a slow internet connection. Floppy disks are also very small and do not hold much data, therefore a CD will be the best choice to back up your data and files. If you do not have a CD burner, then your next best bet would be a web server if you have over 4 or 5 megabytes of data to back up. If it isnÂ’t more than that, you may be better off to use a floppy disk. Secondary hard drives are also very useful when needing back up space for your data. After youÂ’ve backed up your files, check to make sure you have them all backed up, then double check your files to make sure you have them all backed up and check again, or you will not be happy when the process is over because your files will be gone!
After your data is backed up, you must make sure you have all the CD-ROMS, floppy disks and software that came with your computer, most importantly your system restoration or system resource CD-ROM and your Windows Operating System CD-ROM .If you do not have these discs you should not continue or your computer will go into an unusable state and you will have to wait until you can buy a new operating system from stores like Circuit City or Best Buy. Hardware driver CDs are also needed when the setup process is completed. They will install your expansion cards like your sound card or modem. Most of these are also packed on your System Restoration CD.
When you have those CDs and disks, put your System restoration CD in your top CD-ROM drive. Click on the Start button, point and click on Shut Down. Select Restart in the shut down menu. When your computer restarts, watch the screen for instructions that say to push a certain keystroke or button to access SETUP or BIOS most common are as follows:
Dell Computer Corp. Delete key
Gateway Computer Corp. F1 key
Compaq or HP Computer Corp. F10 key
When you have found your BIOS or SETUP key, press it repeatedly until you have accessed the BIOS menu. Then use the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to access the boot section in the BIOS main menu. Then use your down arrow until you have highlighted 1st Boot Device press enter and use your arrow keys to highlight ATAPI CDROM. If your computer does not come up with a menu, use the plus and minus keys (+, -) on the keyboard until ATAPI CDROM is in the first device space on your screen. Press F10 (or other key to save changes and Exit). Your computer will now restart.
When your computer recognizes that there is a CD in the CD-ROM drive, it will ask if you want to boot from the CD or from the Hard Drive: choose to boot from the CD ROM. Some restoration CDs bring you to a black screen with a prompt (a:\) when you are at the prompt, type FDISK. Your computer will then give you some warnings and ask if you want to use large disk support. Type Y and press enter. Some people say that FDISK stands for format disk. This is not correct it stands for fixed disk. This program does not format your disk, but You will be formatting your hard drive later. This program writes information to your hard drive to tell your computer system how to use each hard drive, and where to go when you boot from your hard drive. Once you are in the FDISK program, select number 3 or the number on the menu that allows you to delete your disk partitions. When you are in the submenu, press one or the number that allows you to delete your primary disk partition., select your primary partition and press enter to delete it, press escape until you are back at the main menu, then press 1 and enter to create a new primary partition, when it asks if you want to use all the space available press Y and hit enter. Then wait for your computer to check for the partition, then press escape to exit the FDISK program, then your computer will bring you back to the A: Prompt. Once your computer is back to the A: prompt type c:\ and press enter. Next type format c: and press enter. Next your computer will ask if you really want to format your hard drive and warning you that you will lose all your data. Press Y again and press enter. Depending on the size of your hard drive this can take anywhere from a few minutes to 10 or 15 minutes. During this time you donÂ’t have to worry about your computer blowing up or shutting off without you knowing, so you can take a bathroom break or get something to eat or drink.
Finally, after your computer's hard drive is formatted and something suddenly came up, this is the ideal place to pause the operation if you need to. You will not lose anything you have not already lost, and you will not have to start the whole process over again. Once you're ready to continue, you can take your System Restoration CD out of your CD ROM drive, replace it with your Computer's Operating System CD and press the buttons: CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart the computer.
Your computer will still notice that there is a CD in the drive and will notice that it is a new one from before; it will then ask if you want to boot from your Hard Disk or from the CD ROM drive. You must select your CD ROM drive so your computer knows to look for a boot process on the CD drive. Press enter when you have selected CD ROM drive. Then your computer will ask if you want to start setup from CD ROM, or start computer with or without CD ROM support. You must select start setup from CD ROM. Then your computer will ask if you want to continue with the setup process, to continue press the enter key. Press enter again and your computer will do some hard drive checks to make sure it is in proper working order.
Next your computer will tell you to press any key to continue. Your computer will now continue with the Windows installation process, follow the on screen instructions. This part of the process is just like installing a regular software program, mainly just common sense and preference. Your computer will check for the available disk space, and will then ask what package option you want to install, whether you want typical options that your computer probably came set to (which is highly recommended) or if you are an advanced user you may want to check custom and specify which programs you want to install. Then your computer should ask about the date and time and what time zone you are located in. Using your mouse, click on the up and down arrows next to each box or use the number pad on the keyboard to set the date and time. Click next. Your computer will now start the installation for your computer, after about ten to 20 minutes your computer will be almost done with your installation process. It will ask you for some information such as your name and a serial number that came with your computer or Operating System. For windows 98 or 95, this should be located on the user manual that came with your computer or Operating System CD. For Windows Millennium your serial will either be located on your computer case, on the CD envelope, or the booklet that came with your Operating System. The serial number is very important and if you don't have it you're SOL. You will not be able to use your computer until you find it. I warn you! DO NOT have a friend or neighbor go on the internet and find a serial number to use, this is highly illegal and you may be fined or put in jail for using an illegal serial number. After you have entered your serial number, click next and setup will continue to install your Windows Operating System. This portion of setup will only take about five to ten minutes; it is now installing your hardware drivers to allow the computer to communicate with devices such as your modem, or sound card.
After a few minutes your computer will restart again and probably ask if you want to boot from Hard Disk or CD ROM this time make sure to select Hard Disk or wait 10 seconds for the computer to do it itself. Your computer is now going to put together system information such as your control panel, and start menu. After just a few minutes your computer will restart one last time and your Installation process will be 99% completed. You may now take out Your Operating System CDROM and store it and your System restoration CD in a safe place. Once your computer has booted into windows, you will notice that your computer desktop may not look anything like it did the last time you were in windows. THIS IS COMPLETELY NORMAL! What you have just done is erase your entire hard drive and install a fresh version of your Windows Operating System so that it removed most if not all viruses from your computer, it removed all spyware, and along with that it removed all your files and software, which is the reason you backed up all your data before we began the process.
Now you must locate your backed up files. If you put them on a floppy disk, put the floppy disk in the floppy drive and go into the My Computer program which is on the desktop. Double click the 3 1/2 floppy A: drive, press CTRL+A to select all the files, then press CTRL+C to copy the files to the memory. Then go back to the desktop and open the My Documents folder and press CTRL+V to copy the files from your floppy disk to the computer's hard drive, continue this process until all your floppy disks are copied. If you used CD ROMS to back up your data, do the exact same process except instead of accessing the floppy drive you will have to access your CD-ROM drive (usually the D drive). If you used a web server, then you will need to get your access back to the internet like the first time you turned your computer on. I can not tell you how to do this because all connections are different. You will have to call your internet service provider for assistance. Once you get online you must access your web server and download all your files to your computer.
After all your files are copied your computer should be basically back to how it was before except for the software that you have installed. If you need extended support call your computer manufacturer to help you.
If your computer does not seem to be working properly, you may have to ask a neighbor who is an advanced computer user, or a friend for help, or get online assistance. There are many tutorials online that guide users through this process. All are very similar but some may have different ways of performing this task.
well there it is...sorry for the suck-uppy-ness it was for english and of course anything i write for english will sound stupid...hope it works...and yea im not respoonsible for any damage done to your system blah blah this is how i do it, this is how most people do it so it should work.
People get angry when their computer gets full of viruses, or gets to be as slow as a snail. One of the most efficient ways to clean up your computer and get rid of viruses, clutter and other things you may not need. You must be warned this is a fairly dangerous process and may cause your computer to not work the same as it did before, but most of the time it will work better than before. One item you must be warned about is that this process guides you on installing Windows 9X which includes Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium Edition. Installing Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows NT, will slightly vary the first portion of this guide. DO NOT continue with the process without reading the essay completely through first, otherwise there is a potential that you may have to start over because youÂ’re not being prepared for a certain step.
The easiest way to prepare for this procedure is to make sure you have all your important documents and data saved. You must then back up your important data either on a blank CD with a CD burner, on a floppy disk, or upload it to an internet web server which can be obtained freely from www.freewebs.com or www.250free.com. You may not want to use the web servers if you have a lot of data to back up or a slow internet connection. Floppy disks are also very small and do not hold much data, therefore a CD will be the best choice to back up your data and files. If you do not have a CD burner, then your next best bet would be a web server if you have over 4 or 5 megabytes of data to back up. If it isnÂ’t more than that, you may be better off to use a floppy disk. Secondary hard drives are also very useful when needing back up space for your data. After youÂ’ve backed up your files, check to make sure you have them all backed up, then double check your files to make sure you have them all backed up and check again, or you will not be happy when the process is over because your files will be gone!
After your data is backed up, you must make sure you have all the CD-ROMS, floppy disks and software that came with your computer, most importantly your system restoration or system resource CD-ROM and your Windows Operating System CD-ROM .If you do not have these discs you should not continue or your computer will go into an unusable state and you will have to wait until you can buy a new operating system from stores like Circuit City or Best Buy. Hardware driver CDs are also needed when the setup process is completed. They will install your expansion cards like your sound card or modem. Most of these are also packed on your System Restoration CD.
When you have those CDs and disks, put your System restoration CD in your top CD-ROM drive. Click on the Start button, point and click on Shut Down. Select Restart in the shut down menu. When your computer restarts, watch the screen for instructions that say to push a certain keystroke or button to access SETUP or BIOS most common are as follows:
Dell Computer Corp. Delete key
Gateway Computer Corp. F1 key
Compaq or HP Computer Corp. F10 key
When you have found your BIOS or SETUP key, press it repeatedly until you have accessed the BIOS menu. Then use the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to access the boot section in the BIOS main menu. Then use your down arrow until you have highlighted 1st Boot Device press enter and use your arrow keys to highlight ATAPI CDROM. If your computer does not come up with a menu, use the plus and minus keys (+, -) on the keyboard until ATAPI CDROM is in the first device space on your screen. Press F10 (or other key to save changes and Exit). Your computer will now restart.
When your computer recognizes that there is a CD in the CD-ROM drive, it will ask if you want to boot from the CD or from the Hard Drive: choose to boot from the CD ROM. Some restoration CDs bring you to a black screen with a prompt (a:\) when you are at the prompt, type FDISK. Your computer will then give you some warnings and ask if you want to use large disk support. Type Y and press enter. Some people say that FDISK stands for format disk. This is not correct it stands for fixed disk. This program does not format your disk, but You will be formatting your hard drive later. This program writes information to your hard drive to tell your computer system how to use each hard drive, and where to go when you boot from your hard drive. Once you are in the FDISK program, select number 3 or the number on the menu that allows you to delete your disk partitions. When you are in the submenu, press one or the number that allows you to delete your primary disk partition., select your primary partition and press enter to delete it, press escape until you are back at the main menu, then press 1 and enter to create a new primary partition, when it asks if you want to use all the space available press Y and hit enter. Then wait for your computer to check for the partition, then press escape to exit the FDISK program, then your computer will bring you back to the A: Prompt. Once your computer is back to the A: prompt type c:\ and press enter. Next type format c: and press enter. Next your computer will ask if you really want to format your hard drive and warning you that you will lose all your data. Press Y again and press enter. Depending on the size of your hard drive this can take anywhere from a few minutes to 10 or 15 minutes. During this time you donÂ’t have to worry about your computer blowing up or shutting off without you knowing, so you can take a bathroom break or get something to eat or drink.
Finally, after your computer's hard drive is formatted and something suddenly came up, this is the ideal place to pause the operation if you need to. You will not lose anything you have not already lost, and you will not have to start the whole process over again. Once you're ready to continue, you can take your System Restoration CD out of your CD ROM drive, replace it with your Computer's Operating System CD and press the buttons: CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart the computer.
Your computer will still notice that there is a CD in the drive and will notice that it is a new one from before; it will then ask if you want to boot from your Hard Disk or from the CD ROM drive. You must select your CD ROM drive so your computer knows to look for a boot process on the CD drive. Press enter when you have selected CD ROM drive. Then your computer will ask if you want to start setup from CD ROM, or start computer with or without CD ROM support. You must select start setup from CD ROM. Then your computer will ask if you want to continue with the setup process, to continue press the enter key. Press enter again and your computer will do some hard drive checks to make sure it is in proper working order.
Next your computer will tell you to press any key to continue. Your computer will now continue with the Windows installation process, follow the on screen instructions. This part of the process is just like installing a regular software program, mainly just common sense and preference. Your computer will check for the available disk space, and will then ask what package option you want to install, whether you want typical options that your computer probably came set to (which is highly recommended) or if you are an advanced user you may want to check custom and specify which programs you want to install. Then your computer should ask about the date and time and what time zone you are located in. Using your mouse, click on the up and down arrows next to each box or use the number pad on the keyboard to set the date and time. Click next. Your computer will now start the installation for your computer, after about ten to 20 minutes your computer will be almost done with your installation process. It will ask you for some information such as your name and a serial number that came with your computer or Operating System. For windows 98 or 95, this should be located on the user manual that came with your computer or Operating System CD. For Windows Millennium your serial will either be located on your computer case, on the CD envelope, or the booklet that came with your Operating System. The serial number is very important and if you don't have it you're SOL. You will not be able to use your computer until you find it. I warn you! DO NOT have a friend or neighbor go on the internet and find a serial number to use, this is highly illegal and you may be fined or put in jail for using an illegal serial number. After you have entered your serial number, click next and setup will continue to install your Windows Operating System. This portion of setup will only take about five to ten minutes; it is now installing your hardware drivers to allow the computer to communicate with devices such as your modem, or sound card.
After a few minutes your computer will restart again and probably ask if you want to boot from Hard Disk or CD ROM this time make sure to select Hard Disk or wait 10 seconds for the computer to do it itself. Your computer is now going to put together system information such as your control panel, and start menu. After just a few minutes your computer will restart one last time and your Installation process will be 99% completed. You may now take out Your Operating System CDROM and store it and your System restoration CD in a safe place. Once your computer has booted into windows, you will notice that your computer desktop may not look anything like it did the last time you were in windows. THIS IS COMPLETELY NORMAL! What you have just done is erase your entire hard drive and install a fresh version of your Windows Operating System so that it removed most if not all viruses from your computer, it removed all spyware, and along with that it removed all your files and software, which is the reason you backed up all your data before we began the process.
Now you must locate your backed up files. If you put them on a floppy disk, put the floppy disk in the floppy drive and go into the My Computer program which is on the desktop. Double click the 3 1/2 floppy A: drive, press CTRL+A to select all the files, then press CTRL+C to copy the files to the memory. Then go back to the desktop and open the My Documents folder and press CTRL+V to copy the files from your floppy disk to the computer's hard drive, continue this process until all your floppy disks are copied. If you used CD ROMS to back up your data, do the exact same process except instead of accessing the floppy drive you will have to access your CD-ROM drive (usually the D drive). If you used a web server, then you will need to get your access back to the internet like the first time you turned your computer on. I can not tell you how to do this because all connections are different. You will have to call your internet service provider for assistance. Once you get online you must access your web server and download all your files to your computer.
After all your files are copied your computer should be basically back to how it was before except for the software that you have installed. If you need extended support call your computer manufacturer to help you.
If your computer does not seem to be working properly, you may have to ask a neighbor who is an advanced computer user, or a friend for help, or get online assistance. There are many tutorials online that guide users through this process. All are very similar but some may have different ways of performing this task.
well there it is...sorry for the suck-uppy-ness it was for english and of course anything i write for english will sound stupid...hope it works...and yea im not respoonsible for any damage done to your system blah blah this is how i do it, this is how most people do it so it should work.
