My computer is having a hardware issue when booting... I think. [more inside]
posted by logicpunk on Mar 4, 2009 - 14 answers

WTF? I thought I knew what I was doing! I reinstalled WinXP on C:\ and it screwed up all my drive letters and made a secondary partition into a system partition. Help me get it back to normal! [more inside]
posted by jluce50 on Jan 10, 2009 - 7 answers

Please help get my old iBook to be as fast as possible! [more inside]
posted by Cantdosleepy on Dec 5, 2008 - 17 answers

My friend's only Admin account on Windows has been ripped to shreds by a virus, an uninstaller program, or both; his CD drawer won't open or shut manually at all; and his BIOS settings, which are protected by a password we don't know, are to boot from a CD in the drive before anything else. Help me to not destroy his computer with an axe. [more inside]
posted by Acheman on Nov 14, 2008 - 20 answers

How do I copy browser histories & saved passwords from one machine to another on XP? [more inside]
posted by GuyZero on Aug 19, 2008 - 6 answers

I need to swab my old laptop as completely as possible before I sell it... the only problem is, I don't have a restore or new operating system disc. Please help! [more inside]
posted by bjork24 on Aug 4, 2008 - 13 answers

Is it possible to reinstall Windows XP on a small partition (~20 GB) of a single 300 GB hard drive? [more inside]
posted by Nelsormensch on Jun 7, 2008 - 10 answers

My Dell XPS M1710 required a complete windows re-install (XP SP2 Media Centre). All went swimmingly (if not labouriously) until I went to re-install other programs. My 110Gb hard disk now only has 2 Gb free. Where are the the other 95Gb and how do I get access to it? [more inside]
posted by dangerousdan on Apr 26, 2008 - 12 answers

I have some novice questions about a re-install with dual booting in Windows XP. More inside.... [more inside]
posted by Huplescat on Dec 21, 2007 - 1 answer

I'm thinking of nuking my hard drive and reinstalling Windows XP. This means iTunes, which sits on my C Drive, will obviously be wiped and reinstalled. If I do this, will I lose all the star ratings and other individual settings I have for my mp3s (which are stored on another partition that I won't be wiping)? If so, is there some file in the iTunes directory or somwhere else that I could back up and add to my new iTunes installation so I don't have to individually rate every mp3 I have all over again?
posted by Effigy2000 on Oct 31, 2007 - 5 answers

Boostrap windows XP setup on a computer that cd-rom is not working on? [more inside]
posted by unvivid on Oct 19, 2007 - 6 answers

I bought a new HP laptop. Vista is installed, I am going to install XP. If I want to reinstall Vista later on, after an SP or two, how can I reinstall w/ my legal copy's credentials? [more inside]
posted by jacobjacobs on Oct 16, 2007 - 12 answers

Help me find a driver backup application that can be scripted to run without prompting... [more inside]
posted by doomtop on Sep 19, 2007 - 3 answers

I'm trying to move MS Office Pro. 2003 to a new computer, but I'm having trouble. I've lost the certificate and CD, but can extract the product key... [more inside]
posted by BrotherCaine on Aug 13, 2007 - 5 answers

My many Windows errors are starting to grate on my nerves. I'd like to do a reinstall - but the recovery cd that came with my Toshiba laptop refuses to play nice (probably due to SP2 or the new motherboard). How do I reinstall an OEM version of Windows XP, without losing my key? Is it even possible to reinstall an OEM XP setup? Where do I even get an OEM version to reinstall from? Aargh!!!! More inside. [more inside]
posted by Xere on Jul 20, 2007 - 10 answers

Password emergency / mystery. I'm a new Filemaker user and I've somehow set a password that's keeping me from accessing the file I just put two days of work (and some not easily replaceable data) into. [more inside]
posted by lorimer on Jun 11, 2007 - 10 answers

Had to reinstall XP Home. How do I get all my old settings back? [more inside]
posted by dirtynumbangelboy on Apr 14, 2007 - 6 answers

Main hard drive is about to die...New hard drive ready... Is there some way to copy drivers for video card, sound card, printer, etc, from the current OS hard drive to my external hard drive and then put them on my new hard drive with the newly installed windows? [more inside]
posted by matthelm on Feb 5, 2007 - 15 answers

My mom's computer won't re-install an older version of Windows XP. This is actually a timely, pressing problem. [more inside]
posted by jeffmshaw on Nov 27, 2006 - 8 answers

I've got a MacBook Pro that currently has Max OS X 10.4.7 installed on a single partition (no boot camp). I'd like to wipe the hard drive clean and reinstall OSX 10.4 from scratch, but I'm running into some issues. [more inside]
posted by freshgroundpepper on Sep 23, 2006 - 4 answers

Is it possible to format my computer if I lost the format/backup disc that came with it along with cd drivers? [more inside]
posted by cheero on Jun 14, 2006 - 5 answers

I inherited a NeXT machine. How can I start from scratch on it? [more inside]
posted by tkolstee on Apr 20, 2006 - 9 answers

I'm getting the blue screen of death right after reinstalling windows XP and the drivers [more inside]
posted by BigBrownBear on Mar 2, 2006 - 4 answers

My computer, a 2 year old Dell Dimension 4600, is pretty sick... and in a general state of decline. [more inside]
posted by Huplescat on Feb 16, 2006 - 10 answers

After using software update to get to OSX 10.4.4 and uninstalling some older helper apps and reinstalling one other app, I know have "glitches" all over every edge on my screen, and a 128 pix grey box follows my cursor around. Pic inside [more inside]
posted by Brainy on Jan 24, 2006 - 11 answers

I have a P-3 Dell desktop with Win98 that is a few years old and has been buggy of late, even with all the virus and adware scans I can do on it. I also have a laptop with XP and the XP install disks (I have reinstalled XP on this one). I feel like it's time to start fresh with the desktop, so my question is two-pronged: 1. Would it be easier to just buy a new hard drive (since a 20 gig one is relatively cheap) than to reformat the existing one and reinstall everything? 2. Would you reinstall Win98 or go with XP (assuming that it WOULD install on this box and I don't know any reason why it would not)?
posted by Danf on May 23, 2005 - 15 answers

After a few hours of Google researching over the weekend, I could not find a simple, understandable guide for formatting my hard drive and re-installing Windows XP. I'm more interested in the actual process and less interested in being reminded to "backup everything." Does anyone know where I can find such a resource?
posted by LouMac on Feb 7, 2005 - 19 answers

I have kind of a n00b question here...I want to format my hd and reinstall everything. How do I save my autofill userids and passwords? I find it a pain when I reinstall IE (or now Firefox) and have to start all those logins from scratch.
posted by zardoz on Jan 20, 2005 - 8 answers

Forced to reinstall my server, so I'm also optimizing it. Any suggestions on which Linux build I'd be best off using? Some specific issues inside. [more inside]
posted by caution live frogs on Dec 19, 2004 - 16 answers

scarabic's question brings up a more general question I have. Is there a good, systematic way to repair Windows' slow and steady degradation other than periodic reinstall? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by badstone on Jan 8, 2004 - 20 answers