Reinstalling programs after formatting a computer

If you have to format your computer and reinstall an operating system, you will find you need to reload any programs that you want to use. Here is how to reinstall several popular programs:

iTunes
iTunes is a free program but must be reinstalled on your computer if you have had to do a format. You can go to www.itunes.com and click on the Download iTunes for Free button, then follow the prompts to install it.

Firefox / Chrome
These operating systems will need to be reinstalled after a format, however both are free downloads. Visit the Mozilla or Google websites and look for their links to download the respective programs.

Microsoft Office
The Office suite includes programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and more. In order to load this program back onto your computer, you will need to find the discs for it. This is not a free program, so is likely something you purchased at one time or another. Many computers come with a free 60 day trial version, but once the trial has expired you will need to purchase the software to continue using it. If your computer originally came with it installed but after formatting the computer you lost it, I’m sorry but you are out of luck and will need to purchase the software to use it again. You can also not share one copy of the software with your entire office. The software will need to be activated by a product key, and if Microsoft determines the product has been activated too many times it will not allow further activation. This is a valuable program, so just spend the $100 or so and buy a legit copy for your use.

Internet Explorer
If you are using a PC, Internet Explorer will automatically be downloaded when you reinstall your operating system. You should not need to do anything.

Virus Scan
Virus scan software can be downloaded either via discs, or online. If you purchased the software online originally, go to the manufacturer website for the virus scan and log in to your account. Most big-name companies will have a record of how much time is remaining in your current subscription, and will let you re-download the product.

Other software
Other software you might use includes accounting software (Quickbooks, Quicken), games (Warcraft, Sims), photo editing software (Adobe, Kodak) and more. These programs were likely purchased by you at some point and came with a CD that you can use to download the software. Use the discs and make sure to have on hand any product key numbers that came with the software in order to reinstall it.

Format A Secondary Drive or External Drive with Windows XP or Vista

Formatting a secondary drive or external drive in Microsoft Windows XP or Vista is easier and less time consuming then formatting a primary drive. (These steps should work for all external drives suchs a usb jump drives, flash drives, flash cards, firewire drives, etc)

The first step, is opening My Computer or Computer.

Right click on the drive you wish to format. (This drive would normally NOT be labelled C:)

Select Format. Then, hit Start. If you are in a rush, you can check the box for Quick Format (files possibly could still be recovered with this method).

Before you format your computer – Getting Started

• Operating System CD/DVD This will say Windows 7 Windows XP, Vista, etc. on it, or might be called a Restore CD/DVD.
• Product Key This is a long number usually located on a sticker on the back of your computer. This is required to activate your operating system.
• Drivers You will likely need to reinstall some drivers in order to have full functionality of the computer. Drivers might be located on a CD/DVD that came with the computer, or you can go to the computer manufacturer’s website and look them up by model and operating system. Save yourself some grief and download the Network Drivers onto a portable USB drive ahead of time, so that you can quickly restore internet access after the format.
• Software You will need to reinstall your software after formatting your computer. Take an inventory of what you have on your computer before you format it. Common software programs you might use include Office (Word, Excel, Outlook…), accounting software (Quickbooks, Quicken…), and antivirus software.

Other notes:

Back up your data before formatting your computer. Make sure to back up all documents, pictures, music, contacts, emails, and anything else you regularly use. An external hard drive is a great tool for backing up data.

Tips for reinstalling drivers after formatting a computer

Windows 7

1. Right click on “Computer”
2. Click on the “Device Manager” link, located in the left hand side tasks menu

XP

1. Right click on “My Computer”
2. Select “Properties”
3. Click on the “Device Manager” button

Vista

1. Right click on “Computer”
2. Click on the “Device Manager” link, located in the left hand side tasks menu

Under Device Manager you will see a listing of drivers on your computer. Look for anything that has a yellow question mark by it. A yellow question mark means that driver is missing. Make note of all the drivers you will need to find. Next are steps to easily get all drivers.

1. Install the “ethernet controller” first. This is the driver that allows you to connect to the internet. If it is missing, you will need to download it on a different computer that is connected to the internet, then transfer the driver to the formatted computer and install it. To locate this driver, go do your computer manufacturer’s website, then search your computer’s make/model. There should be a section of drivers you can download on the manufacturer website. Be sure to download the drivers for the operating system you are using. Look for the ethernet controller driver (sometimes called a network driver), then save it on a USB flash drive or external hard drive. Next go to your formatted computer and install the driver. If you are still seeing a yellow question mark in Device Manager next to ethernet controller after installing the driver, you have not located the correct one for your computer. Go back to the manufacturer website and try finding a different driver.

2. Once you have the ethernet controller driver installed, you can do the rest of the work from the formatted computer. First, get all updates for your computer (windowsupdate.microsoft.com). Installing the latest updates will often update some of your missing drivers automatically for you.

3. Go to Device Manager and look for any yellow question marks. Right click on the item, then choose “update driver”. Let your computer automatically connect to the internet to search for the driver. You can usually install a couple of drivers this way.

4. Finally, if you have any remaining yellow question marks, you will need to go back to the computer manufacturer’s website and search for those specific drivers to download and install.

Note: You can download all drivers from the manufacturer’s website from the start, however I usually recommend doing this step last. The reason is that there are often several driver possibilities to download for each driver, and if you do not locate the correct one on the first try you can end up spending some frustrating time searching for the correct driver and are essentially taking a chance that you will get the correct one each time. Letting the computer automatically install drivers for you through updates can sometimes be easier in the long run

How to format a computer

***********WARNING************

(also known as reformatting, wiping or restoring your computer to factory defaults) The following steps will delete all of the information off of your computer’s hard drive. Please make sure that you have backed up all your data, programs, address book, data, calendars, etc, etc. It will ALL be gone after these formatting steps

***********WARNING************

What is the benefit to formatting my computer? How to format the computer’s hard drive:

These steps are for formatting your primary drive (normally C:\) in Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and Windows 7 and to reinstall the operating system.

The easiest way to format your computer is by locating your operating system CD. Look for a CD or DVD that specifically says “Operating System” or “System Restore”. Insert the installation disc into your CD or DVD drive.

Restart your computer.

When your computer is restarting, you will be prompted to “Press any key to boot from CD”. Simply press any button on your keyboard when you see this message. If you do not see this message when you restart your computer, you may need to reset your boot disk sequence. *

*To reset the boot sequence, go into BIOS mode. To do this, restart your computer and while restarting press the F1, F2, F10, or maybe the delete key (your computer screen will say “To enter setup press xxx”. You only have a few seconds to press the correct key, so if you miss it you will need to restart your computer and try again. Once you have successfully entered the BIOS mode, look for your boot sequence options. Set the CD ROM drive to be the 1st in the boot sequence. Save your changes and exit.

The CD will load a blue screen, then after a few minutes will ask you to press Enter to set up Windows.

You will then be prompted to select where to install Windows. There will be a box on the lower half of your screen that will either show “Unpartitioned space yyyMB” or will have “Partitioned space yyyMB”. Highlight which partition you wish to format (typically it will be the unpartitioned space or the space with the largest partition by most megabytes). Hit Enter after selecting the space to partition.

The next step is to choose which file system to format the drive with. The NTFS option will be the fastest option. For most formatting purposes, choose the option that ends in “Quick”. Press Enter when done.

The computer will then begin the formatting process. This process may take a while depending on the size of the hard drive you are formatting and the speed of hard drive.

As soon as the drive has been formatted, the operating system files will be copied to the hard drive and the operating system will start installing.