Formatting The Hard Drive In XP!

First go to http://www.bootdisk.com and download a Windows 98 boot disk and then just follow the instructions.

There are several ways to format in XP:

1 During install

2. Using Disk management under administrative tools

3. Using the recovery console

4. Using start run cmd then the format command.

5. Right click on the drive in explorer and select format.

6. Using a Win98 boot disk

Note: Windows XP will not let you mess with the boot partition or system partition since both contain items required to boot and run Windows XP. Thus, you should use the install process to format system and boot drive.

Here is the easiest way to perform a "Clean Install" of XP:

Using Windows XP CD:

1. Insert your XP CD in the drive while running your current installation of XP.

2. You will be given some options here. You can select:

-Clean Install

-New Installation

-Advanced ...and others I believe. But since this tutorial teaches a Clean Installation of XP, select "Clean Install".

3. Put a checkmark in the box to "designate where you want to install XP" (or some such dialog). Typically, you will choose to install XP on your C: drive.

4. Next, you will need to select the file system you wish to use. I recommend selecting NTFS as it is more secure than the FAT32 system.

5. Setup will then format the partition you chose and then you can install XP clean on that partition. Be sure that if you have more than one partition, you select the correct one.

6. Install your Windows XP Operating System. Using Windows 98 Boot Disk:

Get yourself a Windows 98 boot-diskette with fdisk. Delete all partitions and THEN boot from the CD. If XP's setup finds formatted partitions, it proceeds without user intervention. If it doesn't find any, setup will prompt you for partitioning and formatting. Using Floppy Drive:

If you are not able to boot from your CD-ROM, try changing the boot order in your BIOS so that your CD-ROM boots first.

If you happen to have a machine that doesn't offer a bootable CD-ROM, you can create the 6 boot discs (below) to allow booting from your Floppy drive. Windows XP Professional Utility:

Setup Disks for floppy boot install (requires 6 floppies)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=55820edb-5039-4955-bcb7-4fed408ea73f&DisplayLang=en

Windows XP Home Edition Utility: Setup Disks for floppy boot install

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=15491F07-99F7-4A2D-983D-81C2137FF464&displaylang=en

Gary Chambers

Information You Should Have Available Before Calling For Any Type Customer Support!

First and foremost (If your computer is still under warranty don't call me! Call the company that sold it to you).

Now on with the show! You may end up spending a fair bit of time on the phone before you actually get the opportunity to speak to someone when you call for technical support. Once you get someone on the line, your objective and that of the person taking the call is usually pretty much the same: get the problem resolved and get off the phone. (The problem is when you end up with a technical support person who wants to skip the first part and just get to getting off the phone.)

When using my Phone support I will usually ask the Customer to send an inventory report using ADIA 32 System Information or Belarc Reporting Software before even trying to trouble shoot a problem on there computer. You can find out more about this software and support at:
http://www.internetfixes.com/phone_support.htm

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article (if your computer is still under warranty don't call me! Call the company that sold the computer to you)

The best way to ensure that your technical support session goes smoothly and quickly is to have all the information that you will need for the session available for the technical support person before they get on the line. Doing your homework in advance is important, especially if you are paying for the call.

The type of information you will be asked for depends to some extent on what sort of company you are calling, and what kind of problem you are having with your PC. Obviously if your problem is a flaky hard disk, you're much more likely to be asked about your hard disk interface and other storage devices than about your mouse or sound card. The following items are however general information that will be of use in most cases:

1. Hardware Configuration: You should be sure that you know the basic hardware that is in your PC. If it is a branded PC, the brand and serial number. If possible, it is good to know specifically the motherboard type and version number, processor type and speed, amount of level 2 cache, amount and speed of memory, number and size of hard disks and other storage devices, and the video card type and amount of video memory.

2. Software Configuration: Find out the version number of your operating system. Print out your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. Make sure you have a handle on what software is installed in the system.

3. Current System Status: Examine each of your hard disks to see how much free space they have. Find out what software is being loaded when Windows starts up. Look up the version numbers of the key drivers you are using for your video card and other devices. Think back to the last time the system was scanned for viruses, scanned for file system errors, and backed up.

4. System Resources: It is helpful to many technical support efforts if you can identify all the devices in the system and what resources they are using. (The exercise of compiling the list may help you find the problem at any rate, since it may expose a resource conflict.)

5. Specific Information: Augment the list with information that is relevant to the particular problem at hand. For example, for a modem problem you might be asked what kind of communications software you are using and what initialization string you are sending to the modem before dialing. For a specific software application problem, you will want to know the version number of the software, what directory it is installed in, etc.

Gary Chambers

Did You Know Windows Rearrange's Your Data On A Daily Basis!

Don't be shocked, but your computer can get sloppy; sometimes real sloppy. So bad that you will notice a decrease in performance. Your computer often breaks files side by side to increase the speed of access and retrieval. However, as files are updated, your computer saves these updates on the largest space available on the hard drive, often found far away from the other adjacent sectors of the file.

The result: a fragmented file. Fragmented files cause slower performance. This is because your computer must now search for all of the file's parts. In other words, your computer knows where all the pieces are, but putting them back together, and in the correct order when you need them, can slow your computer down. That’s where the next part of my story begins!

(Two things to note before moving on! If you have a large hard drive that is all one partition the defragmentation process is going to take a while. Second you may want to reboot the computer into Safe Mode and then run the Disk Defragmenter. There are less chances of programs writing to the hard drive and hanging Disk Defragmenter)

Windows includes a Disk Defragmenter program to piece all your files back together again and make them quicker to open.

To run the Disk Defragmenter:
1. In your Start menu, click My Computer.
2. In the My Computer dialog box, right-click on the drive you wish to check for errors (for most of us this will be the C: drive, unless you have multiple drives on your computer), and click Properties.
3. In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab, and then in the Defragmentation section, click Defragment Now….
4. In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, select the Volume (most likely your Local Disk C:) at the top of the screen, and then click Analyze.
5. After analyzing your computer, the Disk Defragmenter displays a message stating whether you should defragment your computer. Press Defragment to clean up your computer if necessary. The Disk Defragmenter will reorganize files by placing together and organizing them by program and size.

Gary Chambers