Asked By
Claire
0 points
N/A
Posted on - 01/13/2012
Hello! I just want to ask some questions regarding the issue I am facing right now.
My computer at work has an issue running the software used by our company.
The personal IT of the company told me that he will remove everything from my computer and will make it work like new.
He told me to save and backup everything important and just leave or delete those that are not needed anymore.
I want to know now, which one should I save?
I have some software which I purchased so I don't know if I can restore it if he will wipe everything on my laptop.
Send me some suggestions please.
What is needed to be saved before reformatting PC?
Hello! Claire
Before you reformatting / Installing new windows to your PC. Things are need to backup, otherwise you will loose something.
Programs – know where to download the programs you need or have them on CD ready to install. Remember that Office (the suite that combines Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Access) is separate to Windows and does not normally ship with new computers. You will need to buy it or use the free alternatively the Open Office
Email – your email (inbox, sent etc.), address book and email account settings. Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird.
I strongly recommend Plaxo for managing your contacts.
Browser – Your favorites, cookies, passwords. I suggest you save your passwords in a database example in MS excel or Word or any that keeps data. You must keep the data not in one place I mean if you have Hard Drive or Portable HDD then you can burn into a CD/DVD . You can also use Mozbackup to backup your Firefox
Drivers – This things should will be the I.T.Â
Documents – always store your personal documents/files on a separate hard disk. This should be an external disk so you can take them wherever you go. If you do not have one, use a partition on your hard disk. If you don't have a partition, file your documents somewhere like My Documents (that standard folder on every computer).
Make sure all your documents (music, photos, ) are in this place – wherever it may be – and that you have them backed up
iTunes – If you use iTunes, backup your iTunes library file (which houses your playlists, library, track rating and so on).
Google Earth – You can export your Places by clicking on My Places then going to Save. After reinstalling, go to Open, choose the file you saved and all the places you marked in Google Earth will be brought in.
Program Settings – Each program you use may have settings you have personalized. Check each of your programs for these and note down what they are. For example… FileZilla FTP settings; VOIP SIP settings; RSS feeds; PuTTY settings.
Fonts – If you installed extra fonts to your computer, back these up. Normally located here: C:WINDOWSFonts
Hosts file – If you are a web developer, you may have changed your hosts file. Normally here: C:WINDOWSsystem32driversetc
Private Key – If you use SSH2, remember to save your Private Key.
You may also like to backup your entire hard drive by copying it to an external drive (or a partition) just in case there is something else you need and did not backup. You can also use software that will backup the entire HDD which contain data by putting them all into an image and you can burn into DVD for your backup purposes!.
Also in the future do not put your save files in " My Documents" Its because this folder is in the DRIVE C: which when formatting it will be included!. I recommend to save your work to Drive D: Which separate from other windows Partition.
Above are just TIPS an recommendation you can follow your own if you have. :))
Allan,
Answered By
Lee Seen
0 points
N/A
#101410
What is needed to be saved before reformatting PC?
Well, what your IT support person wants to do is format your computer and therefore he wants to you to backup all the important information that you will not want to risk loosing.
I will suggest that you save the backup of the data on an external hard drive another partition on the same computer that is not the primary partition so that the data will not be affected when the computer is formatted.
As for the programs that you have installed, you cannot do a backup of them, but you will just need to install them afresh after you have formatted your computer.
Lee Seen
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What is needed to be saved before reformatting PC?
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Document your login IDs, passwords, and settings
Document all your user credentials. In case you depend on the save my password feature once you have formatted the computer it will no longer remember your login details.
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Export your e-mail and address book, bookmarks/favorites, and cookies.
You can export your e-mail and contacts from Outlook Express, Outlook, MS Mail, and most third-party e-mail programs.
Also export your contact list
Export your IE favorites and bookmarks. Otherwise you will have to spend days searching for them after the reinstallation
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Download the latest applications and drivers.
You can take a screen shot of the installed programs from the start menu or control panel, and use it as a guide during the reinstallation.
Download the latest version of your favorite anti-virus software.
Identifying the drivers you need to install, download them and save them to a non-system logical drive.
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Backup your Data.
Do a full backup of your data. Do a virus scan of all your drives in order to ensure that you don’t back up infected files and copy it to your freshly installed machine.
