Wiping Windows

[55andraining]

I am so fed up with Windows Vista.  Not only does it constantly lose my audio driver, now it has slowed to a crawl on my internet connection, and I don't know why.  My mac is running perfectly fine on the same Wireless Router.  And Vista tries to update itself online but it fails every time.

I want to wipe my computer and install Windows XP from an

Comments

[rminct]

A "conservative" approach would be to stop at the local computer store and pick up a new hard drive - they're fairly cheap now. You can get an 80GB drive for ~$50 and up to 500GB for ~$100. Then remove the drive on your computer, set it aside and put in the new one. That way you can install XP on a fresh drive. If things go badly, you can always put the old drive back and limp along with Vista until you solve any problems that may arise while installing XP. I find the most annoying and time consuming part is not installing XP, but having to reinstall the dozen or so non-MS applications I have. Once you've got XP up and running for a while and are satisfied you have everything you need, you could install the old drive as a second hard drive and just scrub it and use it for extra storage.

[55andraining]

Wow, that's a good idea! Is it easy to take drives in and out of computers? I did that with my RAM but never with my hard drives...

[rminct]

If you have a desktop (that's what I assumed in quoting the price range above), the hardest part is figuring out how to get the cover off. The drive is fairly obvious and usually removing 2-4 screws will set it free. It will probably have a power cable (3-5 wires) and a data cable (flat multi-conductor) that can be unplugged. Reverse the process to install the new drive

[55andraining]

Any local nerds out there willing to help? Aaron?

[kuteluvr]

For what it's worth, this can be tricky... getting the drive letters to line up right, handling partitions, etc., can be a bit more confusing that popping a few more chips into your computer (and your computer usually doesn't care what order the chips are in).

personal suggestion: Take it to geek squad. This is the kind of thing they're good at, and they can prob do it in less than a day. Buy a new hard drive, take your windows install disk to them and say: "I want this drive put in as my primary system drive, aka "C", and I want my old drive to be drive D. DO NOT ERASE MY OLD DRIVE. After windows is up, apply all the latest service packs and updates, and give it back to me."

having them do it will likely cost you maybe $100, and you don't need to worry about any of this other stuff :P

...on the other hand, maybe a "good friend" would be willing to do it for an incredibly well cooked dinner and free tickets to your next show :P