trouble free reinstall

[kenner]

Whatever the OS, is it better to reinstall by using a bootdisk and then the original CD or can it be done as easily using the setup.exe in Windows folder?

[Budfred]

Huh?? I don't think you can reinstall from within Windoze under usual circumstances.. Are you talking about reinstalling over a current install or on a reformatted drive? It is different with different versions of Windoze now, WinXP uses the CD to install and doesn't use a floppy drive at all.

[kenner]

I want to reinstall WIN98SE over tthe current version to hopefully do away with a few glitches. The young tech at the senior center said that when we originally install any version of Windows, we should make a directory and copy the cd to that directory; do the original install from there and we could use the setup for reinstalls. Just not sure tyhat is the safest way.

[Budfred]

Ok, yes that is a good way to do a reinstall. However, keep in mind that when you do a reinstall, the system tends to become more unstable over time, so eventually is best to backup, wipe the Windoze partition and start over with a clean install.

Also, what kind of glitches are you experiencing?? There may be other things going on that a reinstall won't fix anyway...

[kenner]

With the exception of WIN98SE and Boot Magic, all my installs have been on other partitions. I was going to uninstall Boot Magic so loses it in a format won't be a problem, I hope. If I can get the system to boot to A:; can I format just c with no problems? I would then do a reinsall with the cdrom.

[Budfred]

Yes, you should be able to format with a boot floppy. You should be able to install from the CD or the saved copy after that.

However, keep in mind that if you have programs installed in other partitions, they still have instructions for running in Windoze and when you reformat you will lose that. You may have to reinstall some of you programs to get them to work properly.

[kenner]

I think I will try reinstalling over the current install. IF that doeesn't improve things, I will format and reinstall. When I do, do I use Format C; or format c:/sys

[Budfred]

If you decide to format, I believe it is Format C: I don't do it real often so you might want to double check Easy DOS (http://www.easydos.com/format.html) for more detail....