Format, Install XP Again, Any catches?

[Madog51]

135145.1

So its that time of the year again.. format time for me. I format like every six months to keep my system running fast. Anyway, I've never done this with XP home before, so I was wondering if anyone could give me a heads up on any problems I might encounter. My machine is not quite a year old, at the time it was top of the line everything. I had WinME, then around January I bought XP and formatted and did a clean install (its easy enough to find tips for a clean first install). Now that my isntallation is starting to get cluttered in the registry and spyware is kicking my ***, format! I have all my data backed up (I have 2 drives, one for programs & windows which I can format whenever, theres no data on the drive to backup, and one for expressly data that I don't want to lose.
***So, whats the best way to go about getting a clean install of windows on a clean drive that already has XP installed on it?***

I'm concerned that product activation might yell at me, saying my activation code is already in use (since I've used it before on the same machine in my current install).

As soon as I get a new install I'm gonna do that tip in the new maximum pc about backing up whatever to a cd rom for a forever clean copy of windows (I don't remember any details, I read it too late last night).

tia

[Blakhart]

As long as you do not make any major part changes, in particular the nic or modem (due to the MAC), you should have no problem going thru activation. I think one can change the mobo after 60 days without reactivation. Like about 5 parts can be changed without reactivation with the same nic/modem.
In your case you may want to phone them and tell them the number your computer generates and they will tell you a number to put in. Write this number down as it should be good for every activation if you do not change parts. I am pretty sure the number your computer generates will not change unless you swap parts.

If you saw how often I wipe a drive and reinstall, you would figure they would say no, but never a prob.
cu

[sdkfz]

If I remembr correctly, the activation resriction for hardware changes resets every 120 days, so if you change one less than the max that sets off a reactivate and then (and this is where I am a little fuzzy) 120 days since the last reactivation (not the change of hardware) resets the hardware changed back to zero.

You will need to reactivate after deleting the old activation code, but if this is 180 days since the last install there should be no problem

[trulad]

Madog51: I re-installed XP twice within two weeks, first a virus and then a hard drive replacement. Reactivation was a snap. I had to do it by phone and tell the support person why I was re-installing again and he gave me about a 50 digit number to type in and all was wnoderful again. Whole process took less than 5 minutes on the phone.
Trudy

[RJ]

So its that time of the year again.. format time for me. I format like every six months to keep my system running fast.

Just a note: You're dealing with Windows XP here. While it was normal to reinstall Windows 9x often, you don't need to with WinNT/2K/XP.
If you don't encounter problems, I wouldn't format. XP is different than Win9x. More reliable.

RJ

[bailey]

from my experience, you do not want to format and reinstall xp-home, unless you are ready to call MS for a new code.

xp-home will not activate when you do that, the guy on the fone when I called, said no, you do not want to do that, and that was with no hardware change

[shadow_man]

If you are having problems with spy-ware...download Ad-aware and you can remove all that nasty ole spy-ware...

I agree with bailey and RJ. Get a good virus program and 'WATCH' what the hell you download.

shadow_man

[DilLy]

word to that. But those proggys don't catch everything, especially if you have downloaded programs that admit to having spyware, AdAware won't always put those in thier .ref file because it is part of the agreement of the software in question, and AdAware doesn't condone manipulating free software that is free because of spyware. Only sneaky spyware is supported by Ad-Aware.

Anyway, to Maddog51, you cannot get a clean onstall of Windows on a drive that already has windows on it. A clean install entails deleting the partition (which deleted all data), creatinga new one, and THEN formatting, and then finally installing Windows. Make sure to get the correct partition for your tastes. (you could skip the partition and just reformat, but why not just repartition too? It ensures a super clean install)

[Blakhart]

I ripped xp off this drive and reinstalled. Using exactly the same parts as before, it generated a different number to tell M$. There goes that idea.
So over the net the activation went fine.

[Alfie]

If you're simply reinstalling with no major hardware changes,XP seems to reactivate.
A simpler approach is to boot off the XP cd and click on install,XP will offer the option to install or repair,choose repair and you'll get virtually a new install,all that you'll need is the product key#
You MAY have to reinstall drivers,etc.