reformat windows me (how? can overwrite?)

I am having major problems and would like to clean
install Windows ME, but I don't want to lose my programs
etc. If I have a C drive and a D drive, will I lose the
stuff on my D drive as well? If I overinstall
Windows ... will I lose my programs and have to reinstall?

Thanks for your help!

J Lo

Why don't you fix the problems instead? What are they?

Alias

"Jlo" wrote

I am having major problems and would like to clean
install Windows ME, but I don't want to lose my programs
etc. If I have a C drive and a D drive, will I lose the
stuff on my D drive as well? If I overinstall
Windows ... will I lose my programs and have to reinstall?

Thanks for your help!

J Lo

Reinstalling ME over-the-top is unlikely to fix most problems - but can
occasionally be the only cure for some problems, short of a clean install.

For instructions on how to do it properly, look here
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/reinME.htm

You shouldn't lose any data or programs in an over-the-top reinstall, but as
always, BACK UP FIRST!!

I've seen the name (or variants of) J Lo attached to a number of posts
recently - are these relevant here?


--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
or
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/f.../Mar27pmvp.asp

"Alias" wrote in message
...
Why don't you fix the problems instead? What are they?

Alias

"Jlo" wrote

I am having major problems and would like to clean
install Windows ME, but I don't want to lose my programs
etc. If I have a C drive and a D drive, will I lose the
stuff on my D drive as well? If I overinstall
Windows ... will I lose my programs and have to reinstall?

Thanks for your help!

J Lo

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 05:28:52 -0700, "Jlo"
wrote:

I am having major problems and would like to clean
install Windows ME, but I don't want to lose my programs
etc. If I have a C drive and a D drive, will I lose the
stuff on my D drive as well? If I overinstall
Windows ... will I lose my programs and have to reinstall?

Thanks for your help!

J Lo

J Lo,

If you do a clean install of Windows (booting from the install CD etc), and you
have the system on the C drive, with data and programs on the D drive, the stuff
on the D drive will not be touched. That's the good news.

Once you get Windows re installed, the DATR (documents, pictures, etc) on the D
drive will be re usable (after you start the programs that use the data). The
programs are another story, and that's the bad news. Any programs that you
installed under Windows before will have to be re installed.

Programs that keep their settings in the program folders might retain those
settings during the re install. Programs that keep their settings in Windows
(in the Registry) will, almost certainly, have to be reset after re install.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your help. I think my Windows file must be
corrupt. My system is freezing (hanging) constantly -
sometimes it's okay for an hour ... sometimes it hangs
immediately upon loading ... sometimes after 5 minutes.
It either just completely freezes up ... or it may give
me a message that say Windows Protection Error. You need
to restart. System halted.

I recently installed an external drive and a wireless
network. Could these be the problem?

I have up to date NAV which suggests my system is clear
and have now done the Spybot thing with everything
cleared to no avail. What can I try next? Do I need to
overinstall Windows ME or is there something I can try
with the registry?

Thanks,

J Lo
-----Original Message-----
I am having major problems and would like to clean
install Windows ME, but I don't want to lose my programs
etc. If I have a C drive and a D drive, will I lose the
stuff on my D drive as well? If I overinstall
Windows ... will I lose my programs and have to
reinstall?

Thanks for your help!

J Lo
.

If the problem started when you installed the external drive and network,
they could be the problem. Did you install them yourself? Are you sure
they were installed correctly? You might want to contact the manufacturer
of those devices to verify.

If you overinstall Windows ME, you shouldn't lose anything. I've done so
several times and did not need to reinstall any programs. This means just
starting the setup from the install disk. By default, it loads Windows over
your current installation, so anything that loads on the computer from the
startup disk should look as it does on a first install. It does not remove
excess, so if there are programs installed or extra registry entries that
don't belong, they will most likely still be there. It does retain some
information but I'm not sure how much. For instance, I believe an
overinstall keeps your Windows background.

If you do a reinstall, you will lose significantly more, but you will have a
cleaner installation that will most likely be error free. To do a complete
reinstall, start the computer with the installation disk in the drive.
Select the start computer with cd-rom support option. You should get a DOS
prompt. Switch to your disk with Windows installed by typing "C:", then
remove or rename your Windows directory. By default, I think the directory
name is Windows. You can change it by typing "REN WINDOWS WINOLD". Then
restart the computer and run the normal Windows setup. It should prompt you
for installation directory and default to WINOLD. Change it back to
WINDOWS.

Before you reinstall Windows, make sure you have the installation disk for
all programs you will want to reload, and save anything you think might get
overwritten by the reinstall. If you do a complete reinstall by just
renaming the Windows directory/folder, some of that information will be
saved in the old directory, such as your Internet Explorer Favorites. The
registry entries will be completely cleared on the reinstall, so export them
first. Ideally you might want a full backup of the entire hard drive if
you're concerned about losing anything.

"J Lo" wrote in message
...
Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your help. I think my Windows file must be
corrupt. My system is freezing (hanging) constantly -
sometimes it's okay for an hour ... sometimes it hangs
immediately upon loading ... sometimes after 5 minutes.
It either just completely freezes up ... or it may give
me a message that say Windows Protection Error. You need
to restart. System halted.

I recently installed an external drive and a wireless
network. Could these be the problem?

I have up to date NAV which suggests my system is clear
and have now done the Spybot thing with everything
cleared to no avail. What can I try next? Do I need to
overinstall Windows ME or is there something I can try
with the registry?

Thanks,

J Lo