Do I reformat and then run kill disk, or just run kill disk on my PC as is, with everything installed - and then I have an 'as new' HDD?

Don't think you can't reformat while booted in windows, if you did it would erase itself.
The only way I know how to do it is with a "live CD".

This virtually what the install CD is, you have to make sure the bios is set to boot of a CD, then the software on the CD looks after everything. Usually the bios can read the CD drive, I think the drivers are for the more complicated stuff.

Not sure if the install CD gives you a reformat option.

Mark: It depends.

If you bought your PC from a generic manufacturer, Dell, HP, Toshiba etc. you can probably just pop in the Windows installation disk that came with it. It will probably give you an option to reinstall everything.

Click "Yes".
Click "Yes, I really want to do this".
Click "Yes really, I am really absolutely sure".
Wait 20 minutes. It's going to be that easy.

If you didn't get a generic PC you'll need all the driver disks, well Motherboard, CD etc, low level stuff. It'll be a bit harder. Things like sound card you can find on web later, if even needed. I've worked in I.T. for 8 years, do some complex programming but if my PC is kaput I just dial tech support on 55555. In other words don't feel too stupid, I dunno how they work either.

Did ccleaner work?

Mark _australia said...

Do I reformat and then run kill disk, or just run kill disk on my PC as is, with everything installed - and then I have an 'as new' HDD?

Step1. Save all the data you want to keep on something. (ie thumb drive, CD or DVD, external HDD what ever.)

Step 2. Insert the floppy or bootable CD on which you have "kill disk" into the appropriate drive.

Step 3. Reboot your computer and during boot hit delete or F2 or F10 or whichever key you need to hit to enter the BIOS and set the computer to boot from the drive that has the "kill disk" program in it and let it boot.

Step 4. You will then have a DOS type page on the screen. Navigate this with your key board to run the "kill disk" program. This will erase ALL data from your HDD and write it all to zeros instead of ones and zeros as it is now.

Depending on how large your HDD is you might consider doing something else instead of sitting in front of a PC screen. Make a cup of coffee and start reading a book is one option. The program may take an hour or more to do it's task depending on your processor speed.

The free version will do one pass over the drive but you can rerun it 9 times like the paid version if you want. I think once is enough but I have run it twice usually when I have used it.

This should restore the HDD to the same condition as it came from the manufacturer.

Step 5. Remove the "kill disk" disk and insert your Operating System disk and reboot your computer. If you ran "kill disk" from a floppy drive, during the reboot reset your computer to boot from the CD drive.

Step 6. Reload your system as per the on screen prompts.

If your PC originally shipped with Windows XP, the Windows disk will have most or all of the drivers you need to get the computer going. If you have driver disks for various components they will be handy. XP will need to be updated to service pack 3.

If you bugger it all up, take it to your local computer shop, tell them what you have done and they will probably fix it all up for $50 - $100.

If your PC originally shipped with any thing earlier than Windows 2000, you should give a salt water flotation test before doing anything else.

With the popular consensus on Vista being thumbs down, get hold of an XP disk and do what I said above. It took me a while to become a convert from Win 98SE to XP but I bought a new Dell Dimension E520 about three years ago and it has never missed a beat. It has been running on the original install all that time and I think it has had only one recovery form a serious error.

XP Professional is probably the best version of Windows ever.

Just follow this gentlemens simple step by step guide when dealing with vista.

cisco said...

XP Professional is probably the best version of Windows ever.

You're right there!

Busterwa...nice vid!

I made the mistake of buying a laptop and actually 'requesting' a Vista OS about 2yrs ago...about 6mths ago I finished getting all my software to work on it, and got rid of the bugs...I like Vista's interface, but it is high maintenance!