If you are planning to rebuild a ’slow’ computer by reinstalling Windows (XP or Vista) from scratch, here’s a pre-installation checklist + some time saving tips. You existing data on the Windows PC will not be affected even if you do a clean install instead of repair or upgrade.
Fix Problems by Reinstalling Windows
As a tech blogger, part of my job involves reviewing software which is so interesting but frequent installation (followed by un-installation) of software programs also tend to slow down the computer.
To deal with this problem, I did a clean installation of Windows last weekend and re-installed all the important software programs from scratch. As expected, the boot-up time has reduced and the computer’s performance has improved significantly. Luckily, this task is not as complex as it may sound but here are a few things you should remember before taking the plunge:
Pre-Installation Checklist
1. Get Magical Jelly to retrieve a list of product keys that were used to install Windows and Microsoft Office on your computer. Print this information. (Also see: Determining Windows version)
2. Get Belarc Advisor to create a detailed report of all software programs, hotfixes and hardware devices available in your system. Print this report as well.
3. Uninstall all software programs that had to be activated at the time of installation (e.g. Adobe Creative Suite, Dragon Naturally Speaking or Microsoft Office). It’s important that you do a proper un-installation of these programs through Add/Remove Programs because simply deleting the folder from Program Files directory will not free up the license on the manufacturer’s activation server.
4. Install Driver Max to create a backup of all device drivers currently installed on your system. This will come handy after reinstallation incase you are not able to locate the driver installers on the vendor’s website.
5. Create a backup folder on c: (say c:\old_files) and add the following files to this folder
i. Your Outlook pst file that has all the mails, contacts, tasks and other Outlook items.
ii. If you have purchased any custom fonts, copy the relevant ttf files from the c:\windows\fonts folder. c. All documents, Live Writer drafts, pictures, music and videos from your My Document folder.
iii. Backup your custom dictionaries from Firefox, Microsoft Word, Live Writer, etc.
iv. Export all browser bookmarks and copy them to the backup folder.
v. Open your Firefox add-ons window, take a screenshot and paste that image in the backup folder. This is a good way to remember your favorite Firefox extensions.
vi. Export your podcast subscriptions in iTunes as as OPML (XML) file.
vii. Product keys (serial numbers) of all licensed software.
6. If you have a partitioned hard drive (say C: and D:), just copy* the backup folder created in step 5 to the D: drive. If you don’t have a partitioned hard disk or if the size of partition is small, install Live Mesh, add c:\old_files folder to your Live Mesh account and wait until all the files are uploaded on to the web. Mesh offers 5 GB of space and it may therefore be a good idea to burn all the heavy files (like videos, music, etc) onto a DVD instead of transferring them online.
*You can copy large folders across drives through Windows Explorer or the xcopy utility.
Re-Install Windows from Scratch
Now is the time to do a clean installation of Windows. This is probably the easiest part. You can either boot your computer from the original Windows installation CD** or, while you are running Windows, pop-in the installation CD and run the setup.exe program just like you would install any other Windows app. Always choose “Fresh Installation” instead of “Repair”.
**If you installation media doesn’t include the latest service packs, try creating one yourself. Windows XP with SP3 is available as a downloadable ISO while you can slipstream SP1 into Vista fairly easily.
Post-Installation Tips
It can take around 30 minutes (or more) for the whole installation to finish. Now jump to the Windows Update website and let your browser download all the hotfixes, security updates, driver updates, etc. If your computer is unable to connect to the Internet, chances are that your computer doesn’t have the proper network drivers. No problem as you can easily get the drivers from the dump that you created using DriverMax utility.
If your display is acting funny or there’s no audio, just install the right drivers from the vendor’s website (preferred approach) or use your backup media. Once all the patches are installed, Windows Vista users can free up few gigabytes of disk space by making SP1 permanent. Windows XP users may skip this step.
Now turn on the Firewall and install all the other software programs and associated updates in any order. The next important step is to clone your disk image via DriveImage XML (free software), Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost. Windows Vista Ultimate also comes with a “Backup & Restore Center” that you may use to create a complete backup image of your entire computer to another drive, external disk or a DVD.
These disk images will come very handy after few months when your Windows PC get slow again. You won’t have to repeat the rebuilding exercise as the PC can be easily restored to the original state through these disk images.
Don’t experiment on your main PC
If you are tech enthusiast who loves to try new software / browser add-ons, I would strongly recommend that you don’t install these software on your main system – instead get Virtual PC (it’s free), create a Windows XP / Windows Vista virtual machine and use that environment as your new playground.
Another recommendation – do get a cane of compressed air to remove all the dirt from components inside the computer case. Sometimes software may not be the reason behind your slow and slugging PC – the culprit could be the dust sticking on the CPU heat sink.
Related: Convert Pirated Windows into a Legal Copy
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/software/rebuild-computer-and-reinstall-windows/6130/
Tags: Archives, checklist, Most Popular, rebuilding, windows, Software
Reader Comments
I’ll just like to make an addition to this list.
You can use a Firefox extension like Firefox environment backup extension, to get a backup of your firefox customizations
Written by dev on 12.18.08
Very informative Amit,as always.You can also add Password Exporter Firefox add-on to export and import Firefox passwords.
Written by Windows Guy on 12.19.08
Where can I buy compressed air cans in India? I have searched high and low for them in Chennai.
Written by Sunil on 12.19.08
Hey,
for backing up Firefox I suggest MozBackup: a handy little piece of freeware that backups your whole Firefox profile, so when you reinstall and restore the profile Firefox is back to exactly as it was.
Cheers
Written by Regac on 12.19.08
After Years of Battling with Windows, re installing, recovering, patching and scanning for viruses, I’ve concluded Ubuntu 8.10 is a the solution, There is a learning curve but it is definitely worth it.
Written by Praveen on 12.19.08
This is a reinstall without headaches? I’ll admit, it’s a handy checklist, but anything with Windows seems to be a headache to me these days.
I agree with Regac, Linux turned out to be my solution five years ago (oh can you imagine!?) and Debian has been great to me.
Written by lefty.crupps on 12.19.08
Why bother!
Do the install/updates once then take a bare-metal backup using either Acronis Trueimage or Macrium Reflect (Free). The backup image can be re-applied to your partition (or even a re-sized partition) at any time putting you back where you started complete with Drivers, Windows updates, programs, keys etc.
Alternatively, where possible, do your testing on a virtual machine using either VMware or VirtualBox.
Written by Robert on 12.19.08
dust sticking on the CPU heat sink?
In what way could this possibly slow down a PC? It might cause it to overheat, and crash… but really it’s never going to slow a machine down.
This article started OK with the Magical Jelly and Belarc Advisor tips and then goes rapidly downhill from there. There are better articles out there that tell you how to make an ISO image with all the Windows Updates applied already. Search in delicios.com for windows iso.
You can also make a cut down version of windows if you are running on older hardware.
Written by Steve Button on 12.19.08
I would make a suggestion as well. If you are doing a restore from a disc provided by a manufacturer, you are going to get all of the bloat ware that comes out of the box back on your pc. When I do fresh installs, the very first thing I do is run pcdecrapifer on the machine to remove any unwanted programs, THEN I get windows updates, antivirus/security programs and finally add back the programs I wish to keep on the pc.
Written by Channing on 12.19.08
Unless there is some program that only runs on windows that you necessarily must have, there is really no good reason to stick with windows any longer. Trying out Ubuntu, or even better, Kubuntu on a live-cd should be enough convince anyone that it’s time to say goodbye to that steaming pile known as Windows.
Written by alec on 12.19.08
Very useful post, but I have a quick question. You suggested a few drive backup options. I have used Ghost in the past. It would be wonderful, if you could have a follow up post to detail the process n backing up and creating a bootable restore DVD using the other software.
Written by Alok on 12.19.08
With Linux, you just slip the CD in, wait a few minutes for the re-installation process, and get to work!
Written by eagledrc on 12.19.08
If you have trouble with your windows install, it may be because you have a buggy driver or app. You should download the latest version of the driver and software before starting the reinstall.
And you might want to turn on that firewall and anti-virus before connecting to the network/internet. Some performance problem are caused by unwanted program hijacking cpu-cylce on you box.
As for linux (ubuntu, debian or other), I agreed that you might have less reinstall to do, but you gain a lot reinstalling them also, as your needs change with time and you software collection change!
Have a nice “reinstall holiday” everyone!
Martin!
Written by Martin on 12.19.08
why not just use Norton Ghost, make you a new fresh in few minutes!!
Written by figolim85 on 12.19.08
Thanks Amit for the great advice, Just needed this info. I will try Driver Max and Virtual PC.
I also recommend to backup all your Firefox and Thunderbird profiles (including add-ons, plugins and e-mails) by using MozBackup link it´s very simple to do and saves time.
Written by Jomag on 12.19.08
You should mention that VMware Converter can virtualize your main PC, letting you experiment on a copy of your computer.
Written by mycall on 12.19.08
Instead of installing all updates everytime manually from Windows Update i would recommend the CT Update. link
Written by rswrc on 12.19.08
Reinstall holyday? I don’t want to spend christmas or new year reinstalling everything, looking for serials or activation keys. Just switch to Ubuntu 8.10, and you will be up and running in one hour, everything included. OpenOffice can read the %$%&#$ .docx files now!
Written by Paul on 12.19.08
With Acronis TrueImage 11 you can create a back-up of a system state which allows you to restore system files, folders, drivers and so on but excluding your working files and folders.
Is it possible just to use this to do a fresh installation of Windows XP Pro with all updates already included? You could then reinstall your files (which you had backed up separately) and software at your leisure.
Written by Terry on 12.19.08
I was just about to say what Robert has suggested. Creating a clone of your operating system and your entire harddisk is the best way to restore and prevent loss of your precious data. Harddisks are very cheap and it will save a lot of your time.
Written by Rajan on 12.19.08
Deauthorize iTunes.
Written by Murphy Mac on 12.19.08
There are a number of ways to accomplish what you suggest here and all of them are far less of a hassle.
Most (if not all of them) have been stated previously in comments here.
The smartest thing you can do right after you do a fresh install, update all of your drivers and install of your patches and updates for Windows and other programs (e.g. Microsoft Office) is to make a disk image. That way if you decide to reinstall Windows later you won’t have to.
Just restore the above mentioned image and your back in business in no time.
There are several programs out there that can accomplish this. Two of the most popular are Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image. I personally love Acronis.
If you’ve got Windows Vista Ultimate is also has a built in backup program that can make a full image to restore as well.
But of course you will have had to restore everything like you’ve already described before you can make the disk image. But once you do, you won’t ever have to mess with a lengthy reinstall of Windows and all of your software.
In the meantime, I recommend a Firefox extension called “FEBE” which will back up as litte or as much of your Firefox profile(s) as you desire and quicly restore them to any other Firefox installation *anywhere* that you choose.
Just my $.02.
On teh Internets:
Acronis True Image:
link
Norton Ghost
link
FEBE
link
And then you might also just dump Windows entirely…
link :D
Written by Scott on 12.20.08
All should follow what amit’s said and after installing your applications ,backup your fresh partition with Acronis True Image,that’s it want to test some softwares use Vmware workstation or virtual PC .
Written by venkat on 12.21.08
Just read Scott’s suggestions and will probably follow that procedure but need a little advice. I have Acronis 11 but not sure whether to use ‘Create image of entire disk’ under ‘Back-up & Restore’ or whether to use ‘Clone hard disk drive’ under ‘Utilities’.
I would be storing the above on a portable hard disk which I keep plugged in all the time to store music, etc. If I then wanted to reinstal again in the future would it just be a simple matter of actioning Acronis to do a Restore without any other preparation – except backing-up files, etc. I’m using an ancient Toshiba Satpro 6000 laptop with XP Pro with 20 gb disk.
On another point if I bought a used laptop with Vista could I instal XP Pro using above method.
Thanks for any help.
Written by Terry on 12.24.08
Thanks for this information! It has helped heaps, and I was able to reinstall windows on my daughter’s laptop. It is running so well that I decided to do it to my laptop. However, I’ve found a hitch.
When I first bought my computer, I was instructed to copy the Acer Factory Disks onto writable CDs. I did that, and I have them here. One problem, my CD/DVD broke sometime ago and won’t read writable CD/DVDs, so it won’t read my installation CDs.
I found some instructions about reinstalling without the CDs.
Re-install bundled software without CD: Acer eRecovery stores pre-loaded software internally for easy driver and application re-installation.
1 Boot to Windows XP.
2 Press Alt + F10 to open the Acer eRecovery utility.
3 Enter the password to proceed. The default password Is six zeros.
4 In the Acer eRecovery window, select Recovery actions and click Next.
5 In the Recovery settings window, select Reinstall applications/drivers and click Next.
6 Select the desired driver/application and follow the instructions on screen to re-install.
At first launch, Acer eRecovery prepares all the needed software and may take few seconds to bring up the software content window.
Well, I’ve booted to XP and pressed the + but nothing happened. Windows proceeded to open as normal… ??? I’ve tried the process a few times, thinking I may have pressed at the wrong time. But still nothing!
What do I do now?? The computer is an Acer Aspire 1640. Thanks for your help!!
Written by Jeanette on 01.08.09
Jeanette – make sure you press both Alt and F10 key at the time of boot up. Also did you reformat the hard drive or install another OS – that may be the reason why ALT-F10 is not working as reformatting may have erased the software that was used for reinstallation.
Written by labnol on 01.08.09
I tried again, but still didn’t work.
I haven’t reformated or installed another OS, but perhaps my tech guy did. Obviously something has happened at some stage.
What is the best thing to do from here?
Written by Jeanette on 01.08.09
MoZBackup saves all mozilla program settings, bookmarks, contacts, add-ons, etc…!!!
Written by Mike F on 01.18.09
Amit,
Good write-up. A thorough report. You have gone deep into the subject and lots of useful information.
I have a query. My hard disc failed recently and all my important data was lost. I did not take back-up of files.
Is it possible to have two hard discs: one master and the other slave and load the operating system on both the master and slave. In case the master hard disc fails, the slave hard disc can be used.
The slave hard disc will have all the back-up files loaded.
I have an USB connected external hard disc and backing files to this hard disc.
Waiting for your reply
A. S. Bhasker Raj
Written by A. S. Bhasker Raj on 02.04.09
You could go for an external hard drive like the Seagate FreeAgent and create a clone of your existing system on this external drive using software like Acronis. If your main hard drive fails, you can easily restore everything from this clone.
Written by Amit on 02.04.09
Thanks for a great how to… while I end up doing this a couple of times a year on at least one machine, I always forget at least some important step (usually exporting my Office custom dictionary). This time I actually got around to buying Acronis which will make my life much simpler.
What I can’t figure out is all the chatter about “dump windows for Linux”… why are those people even reading this page? Is it because they actually need a windows box for something and they had to figure out how to fix it?
Written by Mike on 03.16.09