Re-installing Windows 7

[narkeddiver]

I'm thinking of re-installing windows 7 on my laptop to help tidy up my hard drive

I have the beginnings of a plan and would welcome any suggestions if I'm going about this the wrong way

I have a couple of spare external HDDs so my initial thoughts are to clone my laptop hard drive to one so I have a backup in case of problems and then store the folders and documents that I want to keep on the other (to restore after the re-install)

I'll then create a restore disk to use to do the re-install

I have a couple of concerns:

How to re-install any device drivers - is there a way to back these up?

Windows updates - I don't want to have to re-download and install several years worth of updates and apply them again

All help appreciated

Thanks in advance

[katana]

Haven't tried this, but here looks like an easy way to reinstall Win 7 drivers:

http://pcrescue.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/how-to-reinstall-windows-7-and-get-your-drivers-back/

[RichCor]

How was the OS originally installed on your system? Retail Package, OEM, or Slipstream version.

Does the drive contain an OS reinstall partiion?

[JSixpack]

Not sure why you can't tidy up your hard drive w/o reinstalling Windows? It's almost never necessary to do that.

[Turkleton]

Not sure why you can't tidy up your hard drive w/o reinstalling Windows? It's almost never necessary to do that.

Depends on what you want.

Just to reclaim space, it's not necessary.

But if your Windows needs at least 5 minutes to start after a few years (instead of 30 sec.), no way without re-installing it.

Windows updates - I don't want to have to re-download and install several years worth of updates and apply them again

Yes, I can confirm that's a pain in the ass, even if you use a install medium with integrated SP1/2.

Not to forget the installing and configuring of your essential programs.

That's the reasons why I stick on Win7, instead of Win 8.1

Maybe if Win9 appears...

Edited September 4, 2014 by Turkleton

[JSixpack]

Not sure why you can't tidy up your hard drive w/o reinstalling Windows? It's almost never necessary to do that.

Depends on what you want.

Just to reclaim space, it's not necessary.

But if your Windows needs at least 5 minutes to start after a few years (instead of 30 sec.), no way without re-installing it.

Of course there is. Here's a guy whose computer was taking 8 minutes: http://www.hardwarecentral.com/showthread.php?184599-RESOLVED-Windows-7-slow-to-boot. Cleaning the registry fixed that one.

GIYF:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=solved+windows+7+slow+boot+times

http://computercheckup.aol.com/articles/clean-my-pc/

http://www.guidingtech.com/2955/fix-slow-windows-startup-boot-performance-diagnostics/

[Turkleton]

Of course there is. Here's a guy whose computer was taking 8 minutes: http://www.hardwarecentral.com/showthread.php?184599-RESOLVED-Windows-7-slow-to-boot. Cleaning the registry fixed that one.

Nope, this guy's problem started from one day to another and he had a problem with a probably corrupt Outlook .pst file.

He has had it for about 2 years and about 3 weeks ago it started to take this long to boot

...................................................................................................................................................

Copied the .pst file and his personal data to a external hard drive. Restored the computer to it's original state. Reinstalled Office, copied the backup data back to the c drive and all is good.

Not sure what caused the problem...but it boots up much more quickly now

http://www.hardwarecentral.com/showthread.php?184599-RESOLVED-Windows-7-slow-to-boot&s=6bd596e42e15e06a851df69a0560088d&p=1051469#post1051469

But if you have a machine which gets slower (to boot) over the years, because of the amount of programs/services which were installed (or removed) only a clean install helps.

I would also try to deactivate useless or unwanted auto starts.

A very good program for this purpose is "Autoruns for Windows"

"Registry cleaner" are more or less snakeoil and may leave you with an unbootable or unstable system in the worst case.

(Tried CCleaner a while ago)

NEVER use them unless you have an image of your hdd!

Edited September 5, 2014 by Turkleton

[JSixpack]

Nope, this guy's problem started from one day to another and he had a problem with a probably corrupt Outlook .pst file.

OK, but even so that makes my point.

But if you have a machine which gets slower (to boot) over the years, because of the amount of programs/services which were installed (or removed) only a clean install helps.

No. That was Windows 98 back in the days when it was so easy.

I would also try to deactivate useless or unwanted auto starts.

A very good program for this purpose is "Autoruns for Windows"

That was already mentioned in one of the refs above. (See the entire list.) A common & obvious reason for a slowdown in boot times, actually. OP should try all the steps and I think he'll find that his problem has disappeared.

"Registry cleaner" are more or less snakeoil and may leave you with an unbootable or unstable system in the worst case.

(Tried CCleaner a while ago)

NEVER use them unless you have an image of your hdd!

Mostly snake oil, but I've seen them help. Ccleaner is very conservative & reliable. An up-to-date image is good have anytime, but a restore point (again, we've left Win 98 behind now) will allay fears. I usually use ERUNT for a reg backup but I have a boot disk if needed (never been needed after a reg cleanup, compacting & defrag).

Edited September 5, 2014 by JSixpack

[aarn]

I would agree to make a backup of all files but then...

Unless you are comfortable with registry editing (I am not),

wipe the hard drive and do a fresh clean install.

A fresh install without all the crapware that comes with most new computers,

and turns windows into a dozer zzzzzzzzzzz....

The easiest way is to burn a [win7 service pack 1 (or 2)].iso file to a 16Gb usb drive,

using <<Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool>> (google it).

You will also need (obtain this prior to reinstallation) the latest .exe file for your wifi driver(s),

which you can find by googling your computer's brand/model etc.

Once you have installed Win7 and the appropriate wifi driver,

turn off <automatic windows update> setting in Control Panel

(otherwise windows update will take over your computer + your life...).

Then go online and search for drivers for whatever accessories you use.

When you are feeling time-generous do a one-off search for windows updates.

Good luck, AA

[keeniau96]

Used to be standard practice by advanced users to reinstall Windows every six months or so. Just too much loose fragments drifting around. Not the case any more but still helps in many cases of slow computers. Very important to save your drivers first, several utilities for that, collect them in a bundle and have ready to reinstall right after the new Win install. Life is much simpler with Linux so I am not current on Windows peculiarities.

[WhizBang]

But if you have a machine which gets slower (to boot) over the years, because of the amount of programs/services which were installed (or removed) only a clean install helps.

I would also try to deactivate useless or unwanted auto starts.

A very good program for this purpose is "Autoruns for Windows"

"Registry cleaner" are more or less snakeoil and may leave you with an unbootable or unstable system in the worst case.

(Tried CCleaner a while ago)

NEVER use them unless you have an image of your hdd!

You can invoke msconfig (if it still exists in Win 7) from START/RUN to see what starts at bootup.

As for registry cleaners, I use one ALL the time. Never had a problem. It is amazing sometimes to see what useless junk exists in the registry. Uninstall often leaves behind non empty folders and useless registry entries. All of which makes me wonder what other useless junk uninstall leaves behind buried inside the windows folders.

Driver Genius is a program I use to backup all the drivers installed in windows. It can even create a self installing exe file of all the drivers. Great when it comes time to do a fresh reinstall.

Edited September 5, 2014 by WhizBang

[JSixpack]

A fresh install without all the crapware that comes with most new computers,

and turns windows into a dozer zzzzzzzzzzz....

http://pcdecrapifier.com/

[narkeddiver]

Thanks for all the help, advice and suggestions

I'll have a look at what's auto running at start-up and remove anything that looks like it doesn't belong

I'm mainly looking at tidying up my hard drive ahead of getting a new SSD - I've gone through and got rid of a lot of junk and I know there's another 10 gb of photos and music that can go once I've double checked that they're stored on my media server

Now I'm left with lots of folders that AR only a couple of hundred mb in size but I'm not entirely sure what they relate to - could be the remnants of old games or software long since discarded

If the worst comes to the worst I'm down to 140 gb which will easily fit on to a 256 gb SSD

[JSixpack]

But if you have a machine which gets slower (to boot) over the years, because of the amount of programs/services which were installed (or removed) only a clean install helps.

I would also try to deactivate useless or unwanted auto starts.

A very good program for this purpose is "Autoruns for Windows"

"Registry cleaner" are more or less snakeoil and may leave you with an unbootable or unstable system in the worst case.

(Tried CCleaner a while ago)

NEVER use them unless you have an image of your hdd!

You can invoke msconfig (if it still exists in Win 7) from START/RUN to see what starts at bootup.

As for registry cleaners, I use one ALL the time. Never had a problem. It is amazing sometimes to see what useless junk exists in the registry. Uninstall often leaves behind non empty folders and useless registry entries. All of which makes me wonder what other useless junk uninstall leaves behind buried inside the windows folders.

Driver Genius is a program I use to backup all the drivers installed in windows. It can even create a self installing exe file of all the drivers. Great when it comes time to do a fresh reinstall.

I appreciate Driver Genius though I just keep the latest driver installation files backed up somewhere (automatically); it's an old habit.

The REINSTALL knee-jerk always cites "leftover" files and registry entries as the reason a time-wasting (let's not forget you gotta reinstall all the programs, too, and tweak settings), bothersome reinstall is necessary. These are not actually a big problem except perhaps in the rare instance of a driver file, maybe the wrong driver, that Windows won't update. Yet we never see any reason given why simply removing the leftover absolutely can't solve the problem. I think it just means that somebody wants to be doing something important without knowing much. It's the DIY "oil change." But, after all, the problem might be hardware anyway. I see a lot of mentions of useless reinstalls on the 'net.

I think the only Windows I've ever met that couldn't be tuned up to showroom condition are those installations so virus-ridden that killing the virus would destroy so many program and even OS files as to leave the system useless.

You Don't Need to Regularly Reinstall Windows; Here's Why

I don't even reinstall when moving an installation a new motherboard. (SHOCK!) Waste of time. I create an image w/ Acronis or Paragon then do a bare metal restore using their "restore to different hardware" facility. Update the drivers and you're done. Same installation hums along for years and years . . . just as I like it.

Edited September 5, 2014 by JSixpack