Start 2005 with a refreshed old PC<\/p>\n
Zatni Arbi, Contributor\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Now that Christmas is over and work pressure must be a bit
\nlighter, it is perhaps the best -- and the last -- opportunity to
\nrestore your PC to its level of performance when the operating
\nsystem was first set up and before all those downloaded trial
\nsoftware programs were installed and uninstalled.<\/p>\n
Some people may choose to tweak the system to recoup the lost
\nsnappiness. Sure, it must give them a lot of fun, but I prefer
\nthe much easier way: I simply use brute force and reformat the
\nhard disk and reinstall everything. I do not usually have the
\ntime to decipher and clean up the Windows Registry.<\/p>\n
But, first and foremost, if you have been doing it on a
\nregular basis, you must back up all your data. This should
\ninclude backing up all the contents of your My Document folder,
\nyour Favorite links and all the e-mail messages that you want to
\nkeep.<\/p>\n
And, oh, forget those files, such as winzip.exe, which took
\nyou hours to download.<\/p>\n
If you use Outlook, you will have to clean up each of the
\nfolders and then archive all of them. In Outlook, click on File
\nand then on Archive. You can specify the location of the archive
\nfile by clicking on the Browse button in the dialog box that
\nappears. By default, the name of the archive file is outlook.pst;
\nit's best to leave it like that.<\/p>\n
Then choose the option "Archive this folder and all
\nsubfolders" and select "Personal Folders. This will back up all
\nyour Outlook folders and all their content, including the
\nextremely indispensable contact data.<\/p>\n
If you are an Outlook Express (OE) user, you will have to
\nfirst find the Store Folder, which is the location where this
\nprogram keeps all its data. We went through this process in one
\nof my past articles, but we can do it again.<\/p>\n
In OE, click on Tools, Options and then on the Maintenance
\ntab. Click on Store Folder to find out the path. Usually the path
\nis very long (C:WINDOWSApplication DataIdentifier . . . ),
\nand therefore you may not be able to write it down correctly.<\/p>\n
The best way to copy the entire path is to first place the I-
\nbeam somewhere in the middle of the long path, hit Home, press
\nand hold Shift and hit End. When the entire path is already
\nhighlighted, you just have to copy it (Ctrl-C, or Ctrl-Insert).<\/p>\n
Then start Windows Explorer, paste the path in the Address
\nbox, and then click on Go. You will see a list of files with the
\nextension .dbx. These are OE's data file. Press Ctrl-A to select
\nall of them, and Ctrl-C to copy them. Paste them in a separate
\nfolder in your backup media.<\/p>\n
Now, if you run Windows XP as I do, remember that you may have
\nto check out the CD-Key. It is the string of characters that you
\nmust enter each time you install Windows XP from its setup CD-
\nROM. It will be necessary especially if you have misplaced the
\nbox with the CD-Key label. The easiest way is to download Magical
\nJelly Bean Keyfinder from www.magicaljellybean.com. The utility
\nwill even get the CD-Key for your Microsoft Office suite.<\/p>\n
Once all the important data is backed up, you are ready to
\nclean up the entire hard disk. Be 100 percent sure that you have
\na backup copy of everything that you need, though, because once
\nyour hard disk is formatted, it will take a rocket scientist to
\nretrieve it -- if you're that lucky.<\/p>\n
How do you reformat a hard disk that already has Windows XP on
\nit? Windows XP does not have a boot disk, but you can use the
\nboot disk of Windows 98 or Windows ME, if you have it. Otherwise,
\nyou can download the boot disk from websites such as
\nwww.bootdisk.com or www.support.microsoft.com. In fact, you can
\nalso use PartitionMagic's boot disk if you happen to have it.<\/p>\n
Do not panic if you cannot boot from the floppy diskette.
\nChances are that your PC's BIOS is not configured to boot from
\nthe floppy drive. You will need to reboot the PC and hit Delete
\nbefore Windows starts to get to the BIOS configuration menu.<\/p>\n
Go to the Boot menu and make the Floppy Drive the first
\nchoice. Keep in mind that Microsoft is not going to support
\nsetting up from floppies in its future operating system products.<\/p>\n
By the way, if you really want to start with a truly clean
\nslate, you can low-level-format the hard disk. This will turn
\nevery bit on the platters to "0". All traces of viruses will be
\ngone, for sure.<\/p>\n
Again, before you place your Windows XP setup CD-ROM in the
\ndrive, don't forget to configure the BIOS so that the system will
\nboot from the CD-ROM drive instead of the floppy disk. Remember
\nto choose NTFS as the file system, as it is the most efficient
\nway to use the space on the hard disk. The rest of the
\nreinstalling process should be smooth sailing.<\/p>\n
Here are a few things to remember while you are reinstalling
\nall the applications: First, make use of the System Restore tool
\n(click on Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools and then
\nSystem Restore). Right after the Windows XP is fully installed
\nand running, you can proceed by installing your antivirus
\nsoftware and then the Office applications.<\/p>\n
Create a restore point after you make sure your latest
\ninstalled application works smoothly. This will allow you to roll
\nback to the previous working state in case you encounter problems
\nafter installing a piece of software.<\/p>\n
And, of course the job is not done yet until you download and
\ninstall all the latest Service Pack and updates from
\nwww.support.microsoft.com. Get the latest version of Internet
\nExplorer and OE, if you use them.<\/p>\n
By the way, my PC has been acting funny for some time. I guess
\nI must also do all of the above right away before saying goodbye
\nto 2004.<\/p>",
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