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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

The basics of reinstalling Windows, Part 1: Make backups


Oct. 10, 1999

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©1999, Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©1999, The Syracuse Newspapers

   You should reinstall Windows every 6 to 12 months if you want to keep your PC in good form. It's not hard, but you need to take it step by step or you'll end up with a non-working PC.
   Over the next few weeks, I'll tell you how. I'll keep it plain and simple. Be sure to save these articles.
   To reinstall Windows, you need to do four things:
   -- Back up stuff you can't afford to lose.
   -- Make sure you can access your CD-ROM drive after booting up from a floppy disk.
   -- Write down (on paper!) all your logon and password information.
   -- Reinstall Windows and then reinstall your own software.
   Let's go over each step.
   -- Back up stuff you can't afford to lose. Pay close attention here, because most Windows users have no idea how to make backups or why they should even try. And they don't know the real secret of backups. But you'll know it in less than a minute.
   You need to make backups because it your computer's storage device (the hard drive) crashes big time, you're sunk. You're a dumbo without data. A clown in a sad suit. Right? You know that, right? (Yet we all know almost nobody makes backups. Are we crazy or what?)
   Backing up important items is not a gigantic job. Most people think they have to make backups of everything, but that's not true. Backups are pointless if they include all your programs. Don't back them up. Do not back up your programs.
   Windows won't know what to do with program folders that you back up and then copy back over to a new installation. Programs only work when they are installed through their own installation software. Read this part over again if it's not completely clear. Don't back up program folders and programs.
   What are backups for, then? Backups are for stuff you create and items that are too important to lose. They're for the digital pictures you took of the kids, the e-mail your son-in-law sent, the homework assignments your teacher mailed you. They're for your own documents and data.
   Is there an easy way to do backups? Sure.
   The easiest way by far is to use a second hard drive to hold the backup copies of things you want to save. Installing a second drive is easy, and huge drives are cheap ($100 or so) compared to the cost of losing important data. As for help or have a shop install the second drive if you're worried about being able to do it.
   Backing up folders is easy. You can use backup software if it's simple and sensible -- the backup program that comes with Windows is not simple or sensible, so stay away from it. Or you can just drag things from the first disk drive to the second one.
   Remember, you're not going to back up everything. You're just going to make copies of your own stuff. That's why you don't need a fancy backup program. You make these copies by dragging them across your screen.
   This is about as simple as computers can get. Let's say all your important word processor files and digital pictures are in a folder called "My Documents." You just double click on "My Computer" and then double click on the C: drive. Then you'd go back to the C: drive window and double click on the D: drive.
   Now you have two windows open on the screen. You click on the "My Documents" folder and hold the mouse button down and drag the folder over to the window for the D: drive and let go. That's all. You've just made a backup copy of that entire folder. (To restore the folder after reinstalling Windows, you do the same thing in reverse. Simple, eh?)
   Now you know how to do backups. I put them first because people tend to forget things, and they get home from the store with a new installation CD for Windows and jump right in and start installing a new operating system -- and when the installation program has just finished wiping out all the old files, only THEN do they remember that they forgot to do a backup.
   So do that backup now. Next week we'll tackle the hardest part. It's also the part where you'll probably get mad at Microsoft and the people who made your PC, so get a lot of sleep before you take on Part 2. You need to be in good form.