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Recently I've decided to reformat my old computer, Its running XP Home. and I just want to reformat to get rid of all the..****, thats on the computer. and was wondering Does everything get reverted back to how it was when I first turned it on(first day)? But also does it revert/delete the drives I've installed? because over time I bought a wireless keyboard and mouse and they require a certain driver to run, same with my Internet connection and my video card. If i reformat will all my user-installed drivers get deleted?

If they Do.

Is there a way to tell XP not to delete them, when i reformat?

And also I just noticed that I have no idea how to preform the reformat, because the computer came with Xp Home, and it came without the XP CD....I can't seem to find the reformat option.

Thanks in advance.

Hi HyeVltg3,

A reformat completely deletes EVERYTHING on the computer, not specific things.
What you want, is a factory reset - you'll most likely find that in a boot up sequence if you're on a HP or Dell style machine.

In regards to the drivers for different keyboards and what not, you will need to reinstall everything, and update windows again once you've completed.

A Factory Reset.

I do have a HP and the Factory reset should be in the BIOS?
Is it possible for me to somehow copy the system32 folder to a usb-drive and paste it back after the reformat? i knwo that sounds stupid, but its worth an "ask"

Nothing worth asking is stupid
It's possible, but the system32 directory holds more than just drivers. If you want to start fresh, it's best to just reinstall everything from scratch, and not doing a "patch job"

In regards to factory reset in the BIOS...that is only for the BIOS settings, and not for Windows...
it's also called Recovery (you might have some Recovery CDs)...if not, you'll need to order them from HP for the cost of shipping.

So the only way I can preform a factory reset is with the Recovery CDs?..I dont have them.

EDIT:
Is there another way to get rid of everything...?? something that'll delete everything. because even thought I've deleted everything...manually I still only have about 30gb of space free on my 80gb HDD.

Do you have a recovery partition? If so you could use system restore. If not, then you could do like Hengis said and order the discs from HP.

If all else fails, try Linux...

Are you just looking to free up space on your HD? If you want to do that, and can't reformat, delete all the stuff you don't want/need (DON'T just go deleting things from the Windows folder, it's a recipe for disaster), that includes uninstalling all the programs/games you don't use, deleting temporary files etc etc. What sort of junk is it that you're trying to get rid of anyway?

Not really...Windows takes anywhere between 800mb (very very very cut down version) to 15gb (pretty much everything)
Then you get the software, such as Office and anti-virus...it all adds up.

The only ways you can do a clean install, is with the recovery CDs or with a Windows CD...and even then, you have to have a HP windows cd (they have an agreement with Microsoft that only HP windows cds work with HP Windows keys).