I can't afford to send my old computer in to get fixed and want to try to do it myself. How do I erase my hard drive and start with a clean slate and reload everything? I would REALLY appreciate any help and advice. Thx

HELLO! IF YOU ARE RUNNIG WINDOWS GO TO START SHUT DOWN THAN CHOOSE OPTION,RESTART COMPUTER IN MS-DOS MODE IF YOU CANT GET INTO THE WINDOWS THAN BOOT YOUR COMPUTER WITH YOUR START UP DISK... THAN WHEN YOU GET IN COMMAND PROMPT WHICH LOOK LIKE THIS C:\ WHEN YOU SEE THAT TYPE FORMAT C:/S IF WONT DO THAT THAN JUST DO FORMAT C: THAT WILL FORMAT YOUR HDD THAN YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANYTHING ON YOUR HDD RESTART YOUR COMPUTER IF YOU GET MESSAGE LIKE THIS: Non System disk or disk error replace the disk and press any key to continue YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE YOUR HDD THAT HAVE SYSTEM ON IT THE EASIER WAY TO DO THAT IS WITH YOUR BOOT DISK, YOU WILL USE THIS COMMAND TO TO THAT A:\ --- THIS IS YOUR FLOPPY DRIVE LETTER WHEN YOU SEE THAT ------------------------------------------------------------- TYPE THIS SYS C: IF YOU HAVE SYS.COM ON YOUR BOOT FLOPPY DISK YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DO THAT NOW YOU CAN RESTART YOUR COMPUTER AND YOU WILL HAVE SYSTEM ON YOUR HDD AFTER THAT MAKE SURE YOU HAVE DISK FOR CD-ROM TO INSTALL YOUR CD-RO .... FOR MORE INFORMATIONS VISIT THIS SITE THEY HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED! www.bootdisk.com GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First of all, when you bought the PC, was it a store built model or a name brand such as a Compaq, and HP or other? Over the past three or four years, a number of name brand PCs have come with preinstalled back up programs that restore the operating system to the way it was when you first purchased it. These are normally found on a partition of your hard drive and are often labeled D: SYSTEM SAVE or SYSTEM BACKUP. Often you can use a special progam to access them. A number of name brand PCs also contain a set of CDs that you simply insert to reformat and reinstall your original software. In both these cases, all data files you've created as well as drivers and programs you've added will be lost, because the PC will be loaded with the software--as it was--the day you opened the box. If you have these easy-restore programs, they should be described in the literature that came with your PC. If not, you should have a copy of your Windows operating system on a CD somewhere. Here, again, you must follow the instructions. If you've never done this before, I'd suggest you get some friends or co-workers to come over and help you with it. (At one time or another, most PC users have had to reinstall their software, and it's NO FUN to go it alone the first time!)

If you want a really clean hard disk you could try the debug script at: http://www.fdisk.com/fdisk/HardDrive.htm It simply erases the master boot completely. If you have an update version of Win9x it will not install without being pushed. For a completely pristine hard disk you really need Linux, if you do: cp /dev/zero /dev/hda There will be _nothing_ on the disk: lots of nothings.