How to Format a Computer

Spending hundreds or thousands of dollars just to get your PC formatted? STOP! Read this simple step by step guide to format your PC and save the cash. It isn’t that hard after all. Anyone should be able to do it after reading this guide:

• First of all, you’ll have to do a few tasks before formatting your computer.

• Take a backup of all the data you need on an external storage. These could be files or even bookmarks in your web browser if you have millions of them.

• Re-check to see if you’ve left anything without backup.

• Now restart your computer.

• Hit the ‘del’ button when the booting procedure indicates ‘hit del…’

• Go to ‘advanced CMOS setup’ or ‘Boot priority’ or another similar wording in the resulting screen.

• Make sure first boot device is set to CD ROM (whether you have a CD or DVD ROM drive).
• Use a laptop? Scroll down for laptop specific info at this point.

• Insert your OS installation disc into your drive

• Select the key for ‘save and exit’ from the commands provided at the bottom of the screen(probably F10)

• Your computer should restart again and half way through the boot up, it would check to ‘boot from CD/DVD ROM’ and it should then say ‘press any key to boot from CD/DVD
• Press any key

• The windows setup should start now.
• If you have been given a third party SCSI or RAID driver with your computer hit the key as instructed at the bottom of the setup initialization to install it and insert the floppy drive provided for installation of the driver.

• Select ‘Setup windows now’

• Select the drive (Preferably the drive used before for the system files [probably ‘C’]

• (Want to repartition your disc scroll down to the bottom and read how to partition your disc and return to the following step)
• The installation would detect another copy of windows(if you used the same drive as before)
• Ignore this message and select install a fresh copy of windows
• The installation would then request you to format that partition. This step is recommended though not compulsory
• If you decide to format the drive(recommended) select which file system you wish to use(NTFS quick would be )
• Once formatting is completed your computer should restart and installation should continue.
  
• From here on I guess it’s a walk in the park so I’ll leave you to it.

 

Using a laptop

Selecting the boot device in a laptop most probably cannot be done by hitting DEL, instead one of the function keys from F5 – F12 would trigger the ‘boot preference’ screen. If you have the manual, the manual should have which key would open the ‘boot preference’ screen else you’ll have to keep restarting your laptop trying each Function key until you get lucky. Once you select CD ROM as the boot device return to the ‘insert your OS installation…’ step.

 

Repartition your disk

Want to repartition your disks and start from scratch? First delete all partitions and now you can create your new partitions from the unpartitioned space. Once you are done return to the ‘the installation would…’ step.

• Selecting one or too many partitions is not advisable. 2 to 3 partitions would be best. The capacity may vary but reserve at least 20% or 5GB of disk space for the system drive.

• WARNING: Formatting your PC too many times in short intervals may produce undesirable outcomes, don’t format your computer too often.

 

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