Ok, here is the scenario.... we noticed that the computer is slow, has pop-ups, behaves erratically and we just can't seem to accomplish our daily tasks the way we're supposed to. We also have tried everything in the book before deciding that we're going to do a complete system restore, so we know this is the last step.

I say "last step", because many people format their computers without any solid reason or without trying to cure the problem at hand. To put it in a different way, they "paint the whole car, because there is a scratch on the door". We try to eliminate this scenario by making sure we absolutely have to format and it is the final step before moving to formatting. The reason for this is that computer Hard Disks HDs literally get overworked during this process and if the disk has been formatted too many times, it looses it's ability to function. Therefore, we format ONLY when necessary.

Having said all this, let's move forward. So we decided that we're going to format and we need to make sure we do not loose anything vital in the process. I am sure most of us had our computers for a long time and we have information on them which we would hate to lose. Therefore we need to plan carefully.

Here are the steps we need to go through to make sure we have everything backed up before moving forward.

1. Put a list together of all the things you might have on your computer.
2. Once you have your list, then you move on to finding your files.
3. Most of the files which are (pictures, video, music, and saved information) are in "My Documents" folder.
4. Create a folder called "My Back-Up Date", and make sure you put everything that you find which needs to be backed up in this folder in a way you can restore it once you finish formatting your computer.

After going these 4 steps, find your "System Recovery" disk which came with your computer. If you can't find the disk and you have a one of the recent Dell, Gateway or HP systems with Vista, then you should restore the system from within the "D-Recovery" drive. In order to access this you will need to restart you computer, "F8" during the restart process, pick "System Recovery" and follow the prompts.

When going through the recovery process, make sure you choose "Factory Default" recovery method, so your recovery process can restore all your drivers appropriately. Follow through the prompts completely until the computer is restored.

Once restoration is complete, configure your computer with all the user accounts and permissions according to your old setup. If you don't know then here is a "RULE OF THUMB".

Setup your computer with the ADMINISTRATOR account completely. This means creating users and giving them the appropriate permissions. When creating the users, include your "OWN" user account as well, however that account should have Admin. privileges as you're going to be the one taking care of your PC. Once this is done, then put a good secure password on your Admin. account and make a note of it so you can access the account later on.

We do this because the Admin. account is the 1st account to get attacked on the Internet, and we want to keep it as secure as possible. We can always delete other accounts on the computer with the ADMINISTRATOR account, but we can't do much when the Admin. account itself gets corrupted. So be wise and go the extra mile.

Once the environment is ready, then we log in with the appropriate account and restore all the backed up content in the right places. It's amazing when then the computer is running like new and we have all of our work in tact.

Hope this will take the overwhelming feeling away when we come across a situation similar to this and decide to format our PCs.

www.NetSectors.com

Good Luck!