Reinstall and Restore Your Windows PC in Eight Easy Steps. Step 3: Create an Image Backup of Your Hard Drive In the unlikely event that something goes wrong (for instance, you forget to save a copy of an important presentation that you need for work on Monday), an image backup of your hard drive in its current state will let you quickly and easily restore everything to where it was before you started. Resist the temptation to skip this step, as it's your most reliable safety net. What should you back up to? An external hard drive- -they're fast, cheap, and easy to work with. For best results, pick one that's at least twice the size of all the data you have. If your 1. 60. GB hard drive has 9. GB of data on it, a 2. GB external drive will make a good choice. With 5. 00. GB and 1. TB drives now readily available and reasonably priced, though, I suggest you go as big as you can afford; that way you can save more than one copy of your files to the drive, or even use it to back up multiple PCs. And what software should you use? Ghost and True. Image are the two best- known image- backup programs, but they aren't the only ones. Check your regular backup program (you do back up regularly, don't you?) for an image- backup feature, quite likely labeled Disaster Recovery. The backup software that came with your external drive might have something similar, too. Drive. Image XML is a great free option for creating disk- image backups in Windows. Vista Business and Ultimate have built- in image backup. Click Start, type backup, select Backup Status and Configuration, and press Enter. Click Complete PC Backup, and then choose Create a backup now. And, as usual, you have free options. I recommend Runtime Software's Drive. Image XML. Ultimate Boot CD for Windows comes with backup tools and a variety of other handy system- recovery features. Remember, though, that an image backup is useless if you can't boot from a CD or DVD to restore it. Both Ghost and True. Image come with tools for creating just such a disc. Reinstalling Windows is one of the easiest ways to fix software problems on your computer, whether it’s running slow or infected by viruses. You should also reinstall Windows before you get rid of an old PC.If you opt to use Vista's Backup tool, make sure you have either a true Windows Vista DVD or the Vista Recovery Disc available for recovery purposes. You can recover a Drive. In Windows 8, you actually have three main options for recovering the operating system: refresh, reinstall and restore. While all of these options can be u. Free backup software programs are available online at Ghacks.net. Choose the best free windows backup software programs online among a wide list of backup systems. Image XML backup via the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows. Step 4: Make a Data Backup Yes, I just had you create a backup of everything on your hard drive, including your data. But the purpose of that first backup was to add an extra layer of security. This second, data- only backup will make restoring your data, once you reinstall Windows, easier. But don't worry about the software I recommend in that article- -all you need to do right now is drag and copy those folders to a safe location. As for what location, once again, an external hard drive does well. If you're really paranoid (as I am), you'll use a different external drive than you used for your image backup; it's safer than putting all your backups onto one hard drive. If you have only a few gigabytes of data files, burning them to DVD is a good, cheap solution. Step 5: Reformat, Restore, and Recover Now comes the main event. I can't really give you specific instructions for using your recovery tool, because I don't know what recovery tool you have. Just boot into it and follow the prompts. They're all designed to be as simple as possible.
Can I Reinstall Windows On My Computer Without the Bloatware? Dear Lifehacker,I recently got a new laptop that came with Windows pre- installed, but it came with a lot of extra bloatware I'd rather not have. Can I do a clean install of Windows over it, or will my product key not work with a vanilla install? Sincerely,Bad Bloatware. Dear Bad,The short answer is yes. But first, we should mention that there is a simpler solution. Bloatware is always kind of a pain, but before you start running for the nuclear option, you might want to try uninstalling that bloatware yourself from the Add/Remove Programs menu. If you find bloatware that isn't listed in that menu, Revo Uninstaller might be able to help you. There are also programs like Decrap that will automatically uninstall all that bloatware for you. In that case, yes, it should be possible on most PCs. Here's the general process (though note that your mileage may vary, every PC may have its own little quirks). Step One: Find Your License Key. If your computer came with Windows pre- installed, you have a legit Windows license that you'll need to reinstall. First, check the bottom of your laptop or the back of your computer tower. There should be a sticker that has your Windows version and license key listed. Write both of those down before continuing. If you can't find a sticker, try running a utility like Magical Jelly Bean Key. Finder. It will scan your computer and find your license key for you. Windows/OS X: Ever had to reinstall a program, but couldn't find your product key? We haven't tried to reinstall Windows on one of these PCs, but a quick search reveals that they should automatically apply your product key when you reinstall with an ISO. Your mileage may vary, of course, and you may want to do a cursory search on your particular model to see if this works before you continue. Reader The. Addison. J also has a method for obtaining your product key which may work. You can use a program called RWeverything to obtain your BIOS stored product keys from windows 8. Magical Jelly Bean Key. Finder may also be able to find other product keys for you. Step Two: Grab a Windows Disc. If your laptop came with a recovery disc or partition, don't use. You'll need a vanilla installation disc, which is easy to get. You can either borrow one from a friend or download an ISO file straight from Digital River, Microsoft's official source for distributing installation discs. From there you can burn it to a DVD or USB drive. Good news for Windows users looking to burn a quick ISO disk image to a CD or DVD: Windows 7. For now, the best method is to borrow a CD from a friend or find it elsewhere. Sorry about the confusion. If you're using Windows 8, you can download an ISO using Microsoft's tool. Microsoft has made upgrading to Windows 8 really easy with their upgrade tool, but if you have. That means when you get your. Windows as your license. If your laptop comes with Windows 7 Home Premium, you'll need a. Windows 7 Home Premium disc, and so on. If you borrow a disc from a friend that doesn't match. Then, when you go to install Windows, it'll let you choose which edition you install. Remember, you have to install the version you have a key for, otherwise it won't activate (for obvious reasons). Windows: Windows 7 install discs are edition- specific. That way, if you don't have internet connectivity after you reinstall, you can at least install the network drivers without much hassle. Head to your computer manufacturer's web site. Dell, Asus, or HP) and go to their Support section. You should be. able to find your model of laptop or desktop, and find a list of. You'll almost certainly need drivers for the. LAN, Wi- Fi, graphics, and audio. If you have a laptop, you may. Bluetooth drivers, USB. This varies from. Put it on a flash drive and set it aside for now. Alternatively, you can use a tool like Double Driver to backup the drivers you currently have installed. Thanks to those of you that reminded us about Double Driver! Step Four: Reinstall Windows. Finally, it's time to reinstall! You're probably familiar with this process, but just in case you aren't: insert your disc or drive and boot from it. If you're prompted to . You may see a few different partitions on your disk, including one labeled . You can easily delete the recovery partition and install Windows from scratch, but I recommend keeping this recovery partition just in case. That way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore it to factory state. When you're prompted to activate Windows, type in your product key. Make sure you type in the correct key. You may have to click . You should also head to Windows Update and download the necessary updates. You may have to restart and check for updates again a number of times to get them all. After that, you're all set to start using your computer! Check out our Lifehacker Pack to download other essential apps (like web browsers, antivirus software, and productivity tools) all in one package. Enjoy! Sincerely,Lifehacker. Disc photo by Julien GONG Min.
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