It's a task that's not for the faint hearted, you can lose target="_blank">http://www8.hp.com/us/en/support.html, selecting your PC model using the serial number or model labelled on the chassis, burn these to a disc or put them on the hard drive with the backups, then, you need an operating system, I recommend windows XP or windows 7, you can get a copy of Windows 7 from here (don't forget to pick the operating system architecture, x64 is 64 bit and x86 id 32 bit, check against the one you have currently as this is going to be the one your system can support):http://www.w7forums.com/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads-t12325.html then, you need a blank DVD or a USB thumb drive, and this image writing tool to make the ISO into a bootable disc: http://download.cnet.com/Windows-7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool/3000-18513_4-10972600.html you may also want this if you don't have a product key and cannot afford/can't find one: http://anonymz.com/?http://www.solidfiles.com/d/910f104799/ this will permanently activate windows on your machine :) once you have these, you need to restart the PC and get into the BIOS options to change the boot order, to get in, it will either be F1, F2, Escape or Delete, just look at the first screen with the company logo for white text, once you're in, go to the Boot tab and move either the DVD ROM/RW drive or USB HDD0 to number 1 or above HDD0 (your boot drive), press F10 and enter, it will save the new config and restart, the system will boot off the disc and into a setup screen, agree to the legal junk and follow the on screen instructions, when it comes up to the drive selection screen, select your hard drive with the old operating system and click the Format option, now's a good time to make an extra drive for documents or programs if you want to, one you've formatted the drive, click next and wait 10 to 50 minutes for the installer to copy the files over, the system will reboot once or twice during the install, one it finishes the last part of copying and registering files, it will ask you to make a username and password, do so if you like, and click next, select your account picture and click next, if it prompts you for a product key, enter it later or use the loader i sent a link to, if you enter it now, and something goes wrong and Windows has to be reinstalled, it is very difficult to renew the key through TechSupport so get it working first and enter it later :) once you've got the system running and it has logged you in, install the drivers for missing devices, go to the start menu and type 'device manager' (without quotes) and look for a section that says 'Other Devices', install all the driver files you downloaded, restart the PC and reload all your backups to the machine and you're done, a fresh load of Windows in under 4 hours, if you're a first timer at this, do your research before backing up and doing this, and remember to be careful with this type of work as it can easily go wrong, also, after you get the fresh load of Windows on there, it would be a shame to get viruses, so here's some reputable anti malware utilities that I and other IT admins swear by: Avast! http://www.avast.com/en-gb/index Avira http://www.avira.com/en/index SuperAntiSpyware (recommended by many people, including me) http://superantispyware.com/ Malwarebytes (also highly recommended and very useful) http://www.malwarebytes.org/ Bullguard (this one is fantastic and pretty much every person into computing i know loves this!) http://www.bullguard.com/ (they have a 15 day trial you can take a look at, or go full protection, it was a really good decision for me and this has saved my **** a heck of a lot :) (use at least 2 of these, and do quick scans daily, full scans once a week) Hope this helps and that it improves the stability, performance and life of your PC Best regards and good luck Brandon
YOU CAN'T REFORMAT THE DRIVE WINDOWS ARE ON C:\ . ONLY THE OTHER DRIVES . GO INTO COMPUTER RIGHTCLICK ON THE YOU WANT TO FORMAT.UP POP A WINDOW READ IT. IF YOU WANT TO FORMAT C:\ YOU HAVE TO REINSTALL WINDOWS.
Answers & Comments
It's a task that's not for the faint hearted, you can lose target="_blank">http://www8.hp.com/us/en/support.html, selecting your PC model using the serial number or model labelled on the chassis, burn these to a disc or put them on the hard drive with the backups, then, you need an operating system, I recommend windows XP or windows 7, you can get a copy of Windows 7 from here (don't forget to pick the operating system architecture, x64 is 64 bit and x86 id 32 bit, check against the one you have currently as this is going to be the one your system can support):http://www.w7forums.com/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads-t12325.html
then, you need a blank DVD or a USB thumb drive, and this image writing tool to make the ISO into a bootable disc: http://download.cnet.com/Windows-7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool/3000-18513_4-10972600.html
you may also want this if you don't have a product key and cannot afford/can't find one:
http://anonymz.com/?http://www.solidfiles.com/d/910f104799/
this will permanently activate windows on your machine :)
once you have these, you need to restart the PC and get into the BIOS options to change the boot order, to get in, it will either be F1, F2, Escape or Delete, just look at the first screen with the company logo for white text, once you're in, go to the Boot tab and move either the DVD ROM/RW drive or USB HDD0 to number 1 or above HDD0 (your boot drive), press F10 and enter, it will save the new config and restart, the system will boot off the disc and into a setup screen, agree to the legal junk and follow the on screen instructions, when it comes up to the drive selection screen, select your hard drive with the old operating system and click the Format option, now's a good time to make an extra drive for documents or programs if you want to, one you've formatted the drive, click next and wait 10 to 50 minutes for the installer to copy the files over, the system will reboot once or twice during the install, one it finishes the last part of copying and registering files, it will ask you to make a username and password, do so if you like, and click next, select your account picture and click next, if it prompts you for a product key, enter it later or use the loader i sent a link to, if you enter it now, and something goes wrong and Windows has to be reinstalled, it is very difficult to renew the key through TechSupport so get it working first and enter it later :)
once you've got the system running and it has logged you in, install the drivers for missing devices, go to the start menu and type 'device manager' (without quotes) and look for a section that says 'Other Devices', install all the driver files you downloaded, restart the PC and reload all your backups to the machine and you're done, a fresh load of Windows in under 4 hours, if you're a first timer at this, do your research before backing up and doing this, and remember to be careful with this type of work as it can easily go wrong, also, after you get the fresh load of Windows on there, it would be a shame to get viruses, so here's some reputable anti malware utilities that I and other IT admins swear by:
Avast!
http://www.avast.com/en-gb/index
Avira
http://www.avira.com/en/index
SuperAntiSpyware (recommended by many people, including me)
http://superantispyware.com/
Malwarebytes (also highly recommended and very useful)
http://www.malwarebytes.org/
Bullguard (this one is fantastic and pretty much every person into computing i know loves this!)
http://www.bullguard.com/
(they have a 15 day trial you can take a look at, or go full protection, it was a really good decision for me and this has saved my **** a heck of a lot :)
(use at least 2 of these, and do quick scans daily, full scans once a week)
Hope this helps and that it improves the stability, performance and life of your PC
Best regards and good luck
Brandon
YOU CAN'T REFORMAT THE DRIVE WINDOWS ARE ON C:\ .
ONLY THE OTHER DRIVES .
GO INTO COMPUTER RIGHTCLICK ON THE YOU WANT TO FORMAT.UP POP A WINDOW READ IT.
IF YOU WANT TO FORMAT C:\ YOU HAVE TO REINSTALL WINDOWS.