Reformatting windows XP or reinstalling it.

sabedra211

sabedra211

Member
Hey everyone i was wondering if theres a way to reformat windows XP and not lose any information like drivers for your hardware programs? And if you reformat it will you have to retype your product key cuz i think i lost mine? Anyways the reason why i want to reformat my computer because its going super slow now and i baught all this virus stuff for it and theres still some on my computer and its messed up. So yea if anyone can help me out that would be great! thanks in Advanced!
 
Even to perform a repair install on XP you would still need the original product key. You don't reformat but reinstall there without wiping the current installation in order to repair Windows. Hard drives like floppy disks are the items that get formatted and reformatted.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm is one well written article that explains how to repair the current installation and still preserve the programs installed and folders on the drive. It repairs the essentials where you may need to reinstall video and sound drivers.
 
PC eye said:
Even to perform a repair install on XP you would still need the original product key. You don't reformat but reinstall there without wiping the current installation in order to repair Windows. Hard drives like floppy disks are the items that get formatted and reformatted.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm is one well written article that explains how to repair the current installation and still preserve the programs installed and folders on the drive. It repairs the essentials where you may need to reinstall video and sound drivers.
Click to expand...

Alright i think i will just wait then i buy windows vista. do you know the difference between the 32 bit and the 64 bit of windows vista? and how do i find out if my computer supports the 64 bit?
Thanks
 
Anything cpu past a P3 or AMD Atholon XP would be 64bit capable. But there's not really too much software presently for 64bit OSs. All the games and multimedia apps as well as other softwares are written for 32bit versions. Gaming is certainly out at this early stage. The slow increase in programs for 64bit are mainly desktop and business apps.
 
PC eye said:
Anything cpu past a P3 or AMD Atholon XP would be 64bit capable. But there's not really too much software presently for 64bit OSs. All the games and multimedia apps as well as other softwares are written for 32bit versions. Gaming is certainly out at this early stage. The slow increase in programs for 64bit are mainly desktop and business apps.
Click to expand...

oh so if you had the 64 bit version you wouldnt be able to play any software at 32bit?
 
Its all about drivers! If you can get all 64 bit drivers for your system-M/B-sound-video card and so on. Vista 64 bit can run 32 bit programs just as well as Vista 32 bit
 
StrangleHold said:
Its all about drivers! If you can get all 64 bit drivers for your system-M/B-sound-video card and so on. Vista 64 bit can run 32 bit programs just as well as Vista 32 bit
Click to expand...

And just how long have you been running the 64bit version of Vista? While the 64bit versions of both Windows and Linux have a degree of compatibility for 32bit applications there have been some serious utterances regarding gaming.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top