Reformatting a hard disk and reinstalling Windows XP Home Edition

[bhapi148]

Hi
I am in the process of cleaning my hard drive so I can reformat and reinstall programs . My hard drive hasn't been defrag for a while. So much stuff has been put on and removed and never defraged. I have managed to clean a lot of stuff off and when I try to defrag it alway stalls half way. Also, the kids have installed and uninstalled programs and there are still programs I can get rid of. I just think that it would be for the best to reformat and start again. I am backing all my data files, saving office xp settings and backing up outlook items eg. inbox, sent items etc.
Does anyone know of a guide/tutorial that will take me through the steps of reformatting a hard disk and reinstalling Windows XP Home Edition. What information do I need to backup before reformatting? How I start reinstalling the software? About downloading SP2, windows updates etc and whatever else I may need to know. Every little bit of help would be greatful.

[fritzi93]

Installing XP is fairly simple if you pay attention to the prompts and respond accordingly.

First you need to set the correct boot order so you can boot from the install disc. On my machine, holding down F1 gets me into the BIOS, where I can set an optical drive as first boot device. Then put in the disc and reboot.

I'd strongly advise you to download SP2 and have it ready, rather than trying to update. During that time you'd be more vulnerable than necessary. If you get the network install version, you could create your own "slipstreamed" or fully up-to-date and customised install disc. Here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en

In addition, you can get all the security updates in one package, here:

http://www.autopatcher.com/

If you have any other questions, fire away.

[bhapi148]

thanks for your reply, will have a look at this hopefully tomorrow.