Formatting pc

[joshua_smith]

hey
i want to format my pc but dont know how to go about it, is there any programs you need to do it besides the windows xp setup disk, i botted from that cd and could not find a format option, thanks

[fdjc4]

hey
i want to format my pc but dont know how to go about it, is there any programs you need to do it besides the windows xp setup disk, i botted from that cd and could not find a format option, thanks
in some circumstances you need to set your comp to boot from CD, i know i had to go into the bios and change it to CD from floppy when i formatted. I dont think you will need any other discs no. unless you installed new hardware like a graphics card since windows was first installed.

I do suggest you purchase an external Hard drive y backup any music/photos/created documents and even game seaves. A DVD could do this as well but you may need a few of them >.<

You see you format you will lose everything on your comuter currently so backing it up will mean you only need to reinstall a few apps and games. then you cna copy the backedup data across to where it was previous like my documents and so forth.

If you havent formatted before id recommend it as you will notice a significant performance increase after. Once you have formatted and reinstalled windows i advise immedialty installing an anti-virus and updating it totally. Then updating windows to the latest as well

Hope thats some help >.<

[STi FlyBy]

hey
i want to format my pc but dont know how to go about it, is there any programs you need to do it besides the windows xp setup disk, i botted from that cd and could not find a format option, thanks

Before you do so, make sure you have any file you need backed up (no need to backup programs, you'll have to reinstall them anyway)

When you get to the install menu, you'll have to hit "R" for console or "Enter" for installation. Hit "Enter" and it'll search for previous installs. You don't want to repair install ("F3" I believe), so choose the other option (probably "Enter" again). It will then go to the partition section. I believe the "L" command will delete partitions, so do that and it'll all turn into "Unallocated space" or something. Then when you hit "Enter" to start the installation, you'll have two options - "Format" or "Quick Format". I'd select the "Format" because when I did "Quick Format" it gave me a boot menu with two options to run WinXP, which was just annoying.

Anyway, I hope that helped ... if you have more trouble, post again or send me a PM and I'll see what I can do ;)

[joshua_smith]

thankyou for the hasty responses, im sick of paying 80 $ per format so im doin it miself, to many darn viruses and spyware, i will tell you how it goes, thanks alot

[romUdog]

80 damn!!!! wtf dude i mean..thats a ripoff all you gotta do is boot from cd and follow the newbie guide that it has lol!!!

[STi FlyBy]

thankyou for the hasty responses, im sick of paying 80 $ per format so im doin it miself, to many darn viruses and spyware, i will tell you how it goes, thanks alot

Items to download

AVG Free Anti-Virus
Zone-Alarm Personal Firewall
Spybot: Search & Destroy
Ad-aware SE
Microsoft Anti-Spyware
Spyware Blaster


Run AV and SB:S&D/Ad-aware scans once/week. MS Antispyware runs in your system tray and will scan every night (default 2am) if the computer is on and running. Spyware Blaster has a database that prevents spyware from even being installed. Anyway, those 6 items are all free of charge and will reduce your problems ten-fold ;)

[GODLIKE_noob]

Well explained IDip, I couldnt think if any other programs to add to that list.

[joshua_smith]

i think the format went fine except for my hitman blood money game wont run anymore, i keep receiving a message saying
"this application has failed to start because MSVCR71.DLL was not found, re-installing the application may fix this problem."
is there any possibility that i may not have installed something when i was reinstalling drivers etc that would bring up that message, i have reinstalled hitman 3 times now and get the same result.

[joshua_smith]

have fixed the problem thanks to eidos support
thankyou heaps to everyone who assisted much appreciated

[STi FlyBy]

have fixed the problem thanks to eidos support
thankyou heaps to everyone who assisted much appreciated

How about you post the solution so other people can fix it in the future ;)

[echo prime]

im sick of paying 80 $ per format
Boy, I can be rich!! 80 $ 4 half an hour of lazing around :grin:

How about you post the solution so other people can fix it in the future
Me thinks he just formatted C: and game was in D: or something....
But I agree... Next time, do post the sol mate.. :nod:

[mammu]

Haha lets start a bussiness echo and dip will help in making its website. :grin:

[Labyrnth]

80.00 is a standard price charged for refortmating.

Also a rip off some of the pc techs just restore the damaged sys files and charge to the money and when you get it back all the old files are still in the drives.

If you want to fix system files and not format your pc put the windows xp cd in and goto run and type sfc.exe /scannow

This will repair any system files that need it.

[joshua_smith]

ok all that happened was i was missing a file out of the system 32 folder... (possibly because of format??) but it was a known issue through eidos support and all i had to do was download it from their website and place into the system folder, thanks again

[born2phrag]

Nah, if it was missing then it wasnt because of the format. It was likely a mis-install of the game. Especially since they had the file on their website.