What OS is easiest to format?

[Madboy]

I remember having plenty of problems when formtatting Windows 98, re-installing the OS etc

Well, my pc is slowing down really bad and im considering a fresh install. As you may know im now on XP Pro, i just wanted to know if formatting a XP OS is more hard work then, say Windows 98?

Thanks

[NoteMe]

If you boot from the XP CD it asks you during the install if you want to format. Thats how easy it is. Can't be much easier.


ØØ

[Andy]

Shoot yeah!...XP is BY FAR the best OS MS has put out...(enough abbreviations for ya? LOL)

[Madboy]

yeah, sounds easy, i actually had a friend make an ISO back up of my Windows 98 Installation disk, and my Windows XP Pro disk.

So would setting that up be easy too? He said just pop in the disk, and the menu will come up to install either 98/XP.

The only worry i have is, i remember the times i tried formatting Windows 98, i never knew what to type in the dos screen command prompt, is this the case with XP?

Like in Windows 98, i had to type FDISK, Format C: etc etc

As i only have on computer, with only one access to the net, i dont want to be stuck to an extent that i cant even post troubleshooting problems here.

Sorry, i had a few pints, hope this makes sense

[Andy]

if you pop in your XP disk and restart the computer, as long as your cd drive is set to be the first bootable device, you will be asked to press any key to boot from XP...the rest is downhill...

[Madboy]

ok,i just popped in the CD and a Windows screen came offering me to install Windows XP, check Windows System blah blah.

So, im guessing liek you say, follow the on screen prompts.

My final question though, is do I have to do anything to format, or will that screen i mentioned above do this for me?

Like on windows 98 you need to format/install manually, will the installation from my XP cd do format this? Or do i need to go into My Computer?

Cheers

[Andy]

well, at about the 4th screen or so, you are asked what disk you would like to install the OS on...what I always do is delete the existing partitions first. You do this by selecting the one you want, press Delete, it'll confirm it twice (press L then Enter) and you can then install the OS on the unpartitioned drive...The program will take care of partitioning the drive for you and you can choose to format in NTFS, what you SHOULD choose or FAT32.

If you want additional partitions, you can use FDISK prior to this or use PartitionMagic or a similar 3rd party program after the OS is installed.

[Andy]

here is an EXCELLENT site to see the process http://www.theeldergeek.com/xp_home_..._-_graphic.htm

[Madboy]

Thanks for all your help mate, very handy indeed