I have finally decided that my computer has accrued so many problems that it’s time to bite the bullet and wipe it clean and reinstall Windoze.
This might sound easy, but it’s easier to say it than to do it. For one thing, I have 13 years’ worth of email safely saved on my hard disk and I would be loth to lose any of it. I have lots of data of various sorts, pictures going over more than a decade, and lots of programs that I wish to preserve and reinstall. So my project for the next few months is to:
1) Take off on DVDs the data that I want to save. I had some foresight a while back in that I put a lot of it into a folder called data. I may have to put more stuff in it and perhaps subdivide it a bit. However, it’ll all be there and backed up.
2) Make a list (probably with Belarc Advisor) of all the programs on the disk. Then I will have to ensure that I have all the installation information, the registration keys, and the install programs put away somewhere. I will probably put them on another external hard disk. This will also give me the opportunity to ditch programs that have accrued on my system and been uninstalled but not very well. For some reason, when it comes to uninstallation, many programmers make very little effort to code it correctly, thus leaving cruft all over your system.
3) See if I can persuade HWMBO to let me buy a copy of Windows 7 and install that. Failing that, I’ll install Vista yet again.
4) Put the data back on the system and reinstall all the programs in item (2). This will take a while as well.
There are some people who do this once a year, whether they need to or not. Unfortunately, I have never done this, as every operating system I’ve ever purchased has been an “upgrade” from the previous one. So some of this cruft could go back four computers and all the way back to Windows 95.
I will still have my netbook, my Ubuntu notebook, my Apple iMac, and my Sun 10 Sparcstation, all of which are usable in a pinch. And, of course, my own computer will never be the same after all this is reinstalled. However, needs must, and I’m tired of fighting with it.