Windows Help & Advice – May 2019

72 |^ |^ May 2019

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A full, destructive reinstall

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einstalling Windows

from scratch – namely,

wiping your system drive

to install a fresh version

of Windows on to it – is

the ultimate choice for

anyone looking to revive a slow PC or

resolve a major, non-hardware issue.

Here we’ll step you through the entire

process – if you’re simply looking to

repair an existing Windows install, turn

to our guide on page 70.

Before you begin, make sure your PC

is fully backed up by following the ‘Back

up Windows 10’ tutorial on page 43 of

issue 148. A full reinstall really is

destructive – nothing left on your C

drive will exist once you’ve finished.

If you’d like to transfer selected

program settings from old installation to

new, download the portable CloneApp

tool (www.mirinsoft.com) to your

backup drive. Once complete launch the

tool by right-clicking CloneApp.exe and

choosing ‘Run as administrator’ and go

through its list of 247 supported apps to

see if yours are there. If any are, tick the

box beside each one you want to save

the settings for. If any apps aren’t

covered – or you want to back up

additional settings – then choose

Custom where you manually specify the

files, folders and Registry keys where

your program settings are stored. You

should also follow the step-by-step

guide on page 71 to ensure you have

the latest installation media for your

target version of Windows. This will

ensure a cleaner, more up-to-date

installation from the off.

It’s also worth sourcing networking

and graphics drivers now rather than

relying on Windows. Consult your PC or

motherboard manufacturer’s website for

these, or visit your Wi-Fi adapter or

graphics card manufacturer’s site –

download them to your backup drive.

Uninstall any products that require

activation – this should deactivate the

licences and allow you to use them with

your new install. Be sure to have product

keys and program installers to hand.

START YOUR REINSTALL

A full destructive reinstall should

always be started by booting from your

installation media, be it a DVD or USB

Restore programs, settings and data

Once Windows is reinstalled,

open Windows Update to

bring Windows fully up to date

• don’t be surprised if there are
  hundreds of updates still to
  apply in the case of Windows 7
  and 8.1. Once it’s fully up to
  date, consider reinstalling
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• a vanilla backup you can
  restore in future instead of
  reinstalling Windows itself.
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  reinstalling your core apps.
  Once in place, open CloneApp
  from your data drive. If you
  click the Restore button, every
  single program setting you

backed up will be restored – if

there are any backup settings

you don’t want to restore,

select Options to locate the

backup folder, then open it and

move any program folders you

want to ignore out of the

folder temporarily before

clicking the Restore button.

Now, take your second

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‘perfect’ snapshot, as it were.

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the Windows Backup and

Restore tool and take steps to

restore any data you backed

up, then make sure the tool is

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up going forward.

Windows 10 users can launch a repair install directly from the Media Creation Tool.

Windows 7 and8. 1

userswillfinda

large numberof

updateswaiting

tobe installed

after reinstalling.

Open File History, link it to your previous backup and then you can

restore all your data back to its original location with one click.