Sooner or later, you’re going to have to do it: reinstall the Windows operating system.
The reason, inevitably, will be that no amount of troubleshooting, uninstalling of applications, or reconfiguration of hardware will fix system instability, crashes, or lockups. Only a fresh installation will get things working the way they should.
But reinstalling Windows is no insignificant affair. You have precious files on your PC, applications configured just the way you like, and customizations that you probably forgot you made. So when the time comes, how should you proceed? Read on for some answers.
Q: It’s time for me to reinstall Windows. Rather than reformatting my hard drive and installing from scratch, should I just try an “upgrade” installation over what I currently have?
A: Upgrading an existing version of Windows with the same version is possible, but it’s generally not a good idea. The attraction to doing so is obvious: you hope that Windows will right itself by fixing any arcane settings that have become corrupt and your computer will operate as it should. In practice, however, reinstalling Windows over an existing installation will typically mix older files with ones that have been upgraded through Windows Update or through other means, and you could end up with conflicts that cause different problems than those that prompted you to want to reinstall Windows in the first place.
In addition, such reinstallations frequently simply do nothing to fix the underlying problems, which are frequently caused not by Windows itself but by some application or device driver that has caused Windows to become unresponsive or unstable. So if reinstallation is on your mind, you’ll be better off in the long run by biting the bullet and doing a clean installation.
Q: If I do a fresh installation of Windows, what’s the best way of retaining all of my…