Does installing XP onto a new hard drive give you a fresh start?

[Ichigo]

Aside from hardware/firmware/BIOS wise?

 

[tiap]

Yes, but i'm not really sure what you mean.

 

[mOeeOm]

Originally posted by: tiap
Yes, but i'm not really sure what you mean.

He's asking will it reformat...but keep the BIOS/firmware and hardware as it is.

 

[Ichigo]

I meant a new hard drive. Will I get to reinstall all drivers, apps, etc, without old software issues.

 

[tiap]

You will get to install absolutely everything. Something I hate to do it on my own system because of the time involved

 

[Ichigo]

Well this time I'll be more cautious of viruses/spyware/etc. Which is why I want a new start. The old drive will be reformatted and used as a media storage drive.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Ichigo
Well this time I'll be more cautious of viruses/spyware/etc. Which is why I want a new start. The old drive will be reformatted and used as a media storage drive.

Since you're starting fresh, make sure you have SP2 slipstreamed on your XP install CD or, at the very least, have the network install file for SP2 burned on a CD and ready to go. Don't connect your XP machine to the internet without SP2 installed.

Secondly, set up a limited user account for your day-to-day usage. This, coupled with an up-to-date virus scan, should eliminate most of your virus/spyware/malware issues, which often rely on a user's administrator privileges to muck up the Windows system files.

 

[Ichigo]

SP2 is indeed slipstreamed and ready to go. Going to get the hard drive in a couple of days, when they get the Maxtor DM10 in stock anyways.

Interesting advice. Can I ask for what functions will I need to log in as an Administrator for? And I'm assuming most if not all apps/utilities will work fine with the limited account?

 

[MrChad]

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/docu...proddocs/en-us/ua_c_account_types.mspx

Most applications work fine under limited accounts, although you may need to switch to an administrator account (or use Run As) to install the applications.

 

[Ichigo]

Great advice, my thanks to you.

 

[DasFox]

Yes you can take a harddrive that is a total mess with viruses and spyware, trojans, you name it and as long as they did not damage any of the hard drive which can happen, but is not to often, then all you need to do is reformat it and if it really seemed a mess to be even safer, running a lowlevel format, which takes quite a bit longer but really whipes it cleaner, more often then not, it will be like having a new drive all over. 🙂