2. Document your current system drivers and software

{mosgoogle}So often when I am working on a computer I find that after a format and reload of Windows that I am missing a network card driver or a video driver. Before you turn off the computer to format it or delete the system files make sure that you have a copy of all of the drivers, realistically the only drivers that seem to change are the video drivers.

What other drivers might you need? Well If you have the CD that came with the motherboard then you will probably only need to download the sound card, video, monitor, modem drivers and you can find the type of hardware by right clicking on the my computer and going to properties and then depending on your version of Windows look for the device manager.

I do not tend to format my drive I only delete the Windows directory and the Documents and settings directory when I do a reload so I can then find the files later still sitting on the hard drive. My preference is to create a folder called mydrivers in the root of the C: drive so that after you reload Windows you will have a central place to go to find the drivers. Now just go out and download the drivers that you need.