PC guru's please step foward.

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Feb 16, 2008 | 12:04 PM

tewferford

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From: Where's my map???

PC guru's please step foward.

Okay, short and to the point.
Is there an easy way to totaly clean the HD and not lose the OS? (WINXP)

Feb 16, 2008 | 12:18 PM

donjamer

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From: MA

Quote:

Originally Posted by tewferford

Okay, short and to the point.
Is there an easy way to totaly clean the HD and not lose the OS? (WINXP)

If you mean wipe all your data off then Yes, but it is not easy..

Otherwise the easiest is to reformat and just install the OS..

Spybot Search and Destroy has a secure shredder function that you can use to deleete your files securely..

Feb 16, 2008 | 03:58 PM

scole250

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From: Goldsboro, NC

There is no tool I'm aware of to specifically do that. There are lots of tools that claim to clean your drive and registry but I'm not sure they do exactly what you're asking. If I ever want a clean PC and OS, I format and re-install. It's a pain, but clean.

Feb 16, 2008 | 04:45 PM

lswartz

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From: MD

Quote:

Originally Posted by tewferford

Okay, short and to the point.
Is there an easy way to totaly clean the HD and not lose the OS? (WINXP)

Sorry, there is no easy way. If you have a backup hard drive (or two hard drives in your desktop) you can save documents, pictures etc. to the 2d hard drive. You can even save your favorites from your browser. Then do your clean install as it fixes a lot of things that you have installed & deleted over the last year or two.

If you need more info, I/we need to know what programs you use, i.e. Firefox, explorer, outlook etc.

Feb 16, 2008 | 05:29 PM

donjamer

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From: MA

Quote:

Originally Posted by scole250

Sorry but that does not clean your data off of the drive.. The data is still recoverable using software..

You must write 1's and 0's over the area where the data was. Spybot secure shredder does this as many times as you set.. The default is 5 times..

Feb 16, 2008 | 06:01 PM

modar

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reformatting is the easy way, you start with a clean registry but you'll have to download windows updates, and reinstall drivers for your devices and cards.