Reformatting and reinstalling Windows 7.

[maxxpower18]

I have a Toshiba Satellite L505 laptop, and I used Ccleaner to delete some programs and to delete some stuff in the registry in the past and my laptop malfunctions at times. There's also some programs I installed like Acronis Disk Director that I can't uninstall. A few months ago I was getting blue screens quite often though thankfully they stopped.

Overall I feel like my laptop is just "dirty" and not as clean as I would want it to be and I'm thinking of starting fresh by reformatting my laptop though that would require that I reinstall Windows 7 as well as all the drivers.

Now, my Toshiba laptop has reformatting option where you hold 0 while you press the power button and a screen appears that shows you many reformatting options. Since computers don't come with Windows recovery cds anymore I downloaded a Windows 7 recovery cd iso.

The question is, should I go through with this? Will this complicate things more? And if so, is there a better way to "start over"? I already backed up all my data.

 

[Matt1970]

I personally would do a clean install with the ISO you downloaded. No bloatware and a cleaner install. Any Toshiba drivers apps that you like will be on their website.

Wher you are running through the install options, leave the recovery partitions alone for now. You may need it as a back-up option.

 

[Devilpapaya]

Clean install is generally nicer. Just make sure you have at least networking drivers downloaded (or a way to get them) just in case windows doesn't auto-install them (though win 7 is generally pretty good about this).

Also, if you have office installed (or don't know your windows key) I'd get a keyfinder (like produkey) and get those before doing the reinstall.

Also, to the "should I go through with this?" part; yes, yes you should.

 

[Bubbaleone]

....The question is, should I go through with this? Will this complicate things more? And if so, is there a better way to "start over"? I already backed up all my data.

How to restore your Toshiba laptop to its factory fresh software condition using system recovery

OR

How to Custom Install Windows 7 and add Toshiba-provided drivers & utilities with the Toshiba Software Installer for Windows 7

 

[happyboy]

Just reformat your HDD and make sure you want a clean install that wipes your previous data out.