1. Backup data.

{mosgoogle}There are two methods of the process of reloading your operating system. The first is to just delete the system files and the second is to backup the files to CD or DVD and then format the hard drive completely, my preference is to delete the system folders and work from there as the actual formatting is not needed as much now as it was in the past.

It is very important to be sure to get a backup of all of your data. My current practice is to create a folder in the Root of the C: drive called "backup for reload" and copy all of my files in there. The first few times that I reloaded my machine I either saved all of the data to another hard drive so I could format my main drive or I would just create a folder to save my data in that was in the root of the C: drive and just deleted the Windows directory. One thing to be aware of is that a new install of Windows is going to delete your current profile where your data is kept, you will be warned in the install and I am warning you here as well!

First of all Windows likes to keep all of your documents in your "My Documents" folder and even though the icon is on the desktop the folder is actually in the following location: c:documents and settings . The documents and settings folder is quite important as it does have all of the files that are associated with you as a user. Other folders in documents and settings are "Favorites" "Application Data" and "Local Settings".

If you use Outlook Express for your mail you will want to back up its folders. Open up Outlook Express and go to tools to options to maintenance and there is a button called "Store Folder" this will tell you where the folder is that holds all of your mail, usually located in c:documents and settingslocal settings Application DataIdentitiesMicrosoftOutlook Express., hard to find but important.

If you are using Outlook for your mail and contacts my policy has always been to search for all .pst files on your PC this will give you your main as well as archive folders and maybe even some long lost mail from before.

I also do a search and put the following in the search box *.doc;*.xls;*.ppt;*. mdb;*.pub this will search for all office documents on the PC, when I get the result I only backup the files that are not in my documents and settings for my name or in the my documents folder.

How big is your “Backup and Reload” folder now that you have all of your data in it? Can you back it up to a CD? Or two, or a DVD? This would be a nice time to do that save to a CD so that in the event of a catastrophic failure of your hard drive you can go back and reload your data later.