Windows Overhaul - How to
Added Sept 6, 2000

After some time, Windows slows down to a crawl due to installation/removal of applications, a mega obese registry, redundant DLLs, zillions of startup applications, the list goes on and on. You find your hard disk littered with all leftover files that serve no purpose other than consume disk space. And now and then, illegal operation messages will, literally, pop out of nowhere. Ain't Windows grand! In order to restore your PC back to the speed demon it was, you have to give Windows a total overhaul. This section describes how to perform a total cleanup of Windows, ie formatting the hard drive and re-installation of your applications.

Boot disk A boot disk with essential MS-DOS drivers is required in order to boot up your PC in case of emergency purposes, it is also required to do an installation of Windows on a clean hard drive. Essential drivers required for a clean Windows installation will be your CDROM driver for MSDOS, MSCDEX.EXE, and HIMEM.SYS. Look for the later files in your WINDOWS\COMMAND folder. The CDROM driver for DOS can be obtained from your original PC manufacturer, or it may already be on one of your installation diskettes.

Making a boot disk To make a boot disk, insert a diskette into your A: drive. Now goto MS-DOS prompt (Start -> Programs) and type "format a:\q \u" to do a quick format of the diskette. Next type "sys a:" to transfer system files to make the diskette bootable.
Now copy the essential files to A: drive, ie those 3 files listed under Boot disk. This can be done by switching to the WINDOWS\COMMAND folder, then typing "copy mscdex.exe a:\" and "copy himem.sys a:\". Alternatively, you can use Windows Explorer.

Boot disk configuration To boot up your computer, the OS loads two essential files, Config.sys and Autoexec.bat. You will have to create these two files on your newly created bootable disk by using the MS-DOS editor, or notepad.

Your Config.sys might look at follows:
DEVICE=A:\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=A:\NECATAPI.SYS /D:NEC_CDROM
DOS=HIGH

Do the same to create the Autoexec.bat file. It might look as follows:
@ECHO OFF
A:\MSCDEX.EXE /D:NEC_CDROM

* Make sure CDROM name for both config.sys and autoexec.bat is the same, ie if NEC_CDROM is specified as the name of the CDROM in Config.sys, NEC_CDROM must be specified as the parameter for MSCDEX as well.

Test your boot disk by restarting your computer and inserting your boot disk. If all goes well, you should end up with an A:\ prompt, and should be able to access your CDROM drive, eg "D:\" Try accessing your CDROM drive by inserting a data CD, then by typing "D:".
** Make sure your boot disk works and you are able to access your CDROM drive before formatting your hard disk

Do a backup Backup all your essentiel data files to a zip disk or any removal storage. Make sure you have all essential drivers as well. Goto System Properties under Control Panel and make a list of all the devices that you have, and the device drivers needed.

Formatting and reinstalling Windows Got everything ready? Format your hard disk by restarting in MS-DOS mode, ie Start -> Shutdown -> Restart in MS-DOS mode, then type "format c:/q /u" and answer Yes to proceed with format.

Once the format has finished, reboot and insert your bootable disk. Insert your Windows 9X CD, change to your CDROM drive and run "setup". Windows will now install.

Upon completion, make sure Windows loads successfully, then re-install your device drivers, followed by your applications. Congratulations, you have now a clean installation of Windows. Windows should run faster and smoother than before. ( That is until it slows down again, which you will then have to repeat the entire process. :-) )