Things to Remember Before Reformatting Your PC

After years of extreme usage where there are many times you installed and uninstalled different application programs, attacked by certain viruses due to having poor antivirus program and other things that can make your hard drive filled with crap files and applications, your computing machine will start to slow down.  System crashes will occur sometimes, and the worst is experiencing the blue screen of death. In that kind of situation, the last resort and could be the best solution is to reformat your computer to regain the original performance of it.

Before reformatting your PC, there are important things you should remember. This checklist will save you time and effort in reformatting your hard drive.

1.  Backup all your data. Make a backup of all significant files that you have stored in your hard drive. You may also want to save a copy of all important programs that you have downloaded on the Internet. If your hard drive has partition, you can put the necessary data on the extended partition and format only the primary one. Also, you can also use a CD or external hard disk to create your backup so that you won’t be pulling your hair off your head if your machine totally crashes.

2. Make sure that you have all the installation CDs. This includes your operating system as well as software drivers for your video card, sound card, Ethernet controller, motherboard, printer, webcam and other hardware installed in your computer.  You can make a list of Activation Keys or Serial Numbers of your program installers so that you won’t look for your computer’s box again if the next time you need to reinstall all the programs.

3. Having an internet connection is also useful. This will help you activate your Operating System and register other programs online. Most especially, you can search and download software and drivers on the World Wide Web in case you don’t have an available copy with you.

Doing these important measures before reformatting your computer will prevent you from having big problem.