Reinstall Windows and all your programs in less than 5 minutes.
This guide explains how you can reinstall
the Windows operating system and all your programs, in just a few minutes, without losing
your data files (docs, mp3, xls, emails etc.)
How?
Have two drives, a drive for your operating system and a drive for your data.
(A single drive partitioned as C and D will suffice )
Windows and all your programs are
installed to drive C
(Word, Office etc)
and all your data files are stored on drive D.
(Photos, Spreadsheets, Docs, Game Saves, eMails etc…)
When you have set up your PC as above, you use Norton Ghost (or similar software) to make
an image of Drive C, save it to a file and store it on Drive D, or for increased security,
save it to a recordable DVD.
When trouble occurs, you simply run Norton Ghost and 3-4 minutes later you're up and
running again with a clean installation, (See Procedure below for full details).
Procedure:-
1) Split your primary
drive into two partitions, allocate approximately 20GB to Drive C the remainder to Drive
D.
2) Install your Windows
software to Drive C.
3) Install all the other
software you normally require on the machine.
Important: Any file saving by these programs must be done to your data drive. e.g Excel's
default directory must point to a folder on your data drive not to a folder on drive
C.
4) If you use Outlook
Express(OE) you need to store your emails on Drive D.
To do this:-
Create a folder on Drive D for your email store. E.G 'My Emails'
From the OE toolbar select Tools/Options/ Maintenance and click on the Store
Folder button and change the location to your newly created folder.
5) Install Norton Ghost and backup Windows drive or partition, Drive C.
6) Save the hard drive
backup to a file on Drive D or to a DVD(s)
That’s it!
If you subsequently install
more software or have Microsoft upgrades then simply make another Windows backup.
Using the above procedure, I have not
had to reinstall Windows XP from scratch for over 4 years, yet my operating system is as
bug free as the day I first installed it. Webmaster
Norton Ghost may be obtained
from Symantec.com |
