From Format to Start

Here’s a Guide for those who suffer from formatting each couple of months in result of bad maintenance of their System.
You need to have a fresh Installation to avoid any kind of Corruption or viruses to be left over.

Chapter One:
Installing Windows

Best and latest Windows Out there is "Windows Xp: Build 2600 Sp2 Pro".
It Has Service Pack 2 Integrated With it so you wont need to update your windows with Service pack 1 Update series. Buy it or as most of us do DOWNLOAD it .
now whether u download the cd or buy it it will be bootable, meaning that once you insert the cd and restart you will be redirected to Installation page instead of windows and you wont need to make your own boot disk as older version of windows required.

1) Ok so once you booted your Pc with the Cd you will see the following Page, as it says PRESS ANY KEY TO BOOT FROM CD

http://www.microsoft.com/library/med...any-key-to.jpg

2) Next a Blue Page shows up and you will see some setup files being copied, ignore it for a while till the below Screen Shows Up.it will ask you if u want to repair the Current Windows or install a new one, the 3rd option will be Exiting the setup. Press ENTER on the "Set up Xp Now" for new installation.

http://www.microsoft.com/library/med...e-to-setup.jpg


3) Press F8 at User Agreement page to Agree with it.

http://www.microsoft.com/library/med...s-xp-licen.jpg

4)Selecting and Formatting Partition is what next page(s) will be about.
Select your partition and choose Whether you want to Format or leave the partition as it is. Quick and full Format is among the options.
Full format is more reliable but takes some time so go with the Quick Format.

http://www.microsoft.com/library/med...-partition.jpg http://www.microsoft.com/library/med...p-4-format.jpg

Once you select you're method setup will format the partition.

http://www.microsoft.com/library/med...t-progress.jpg

5) Setup will Start Copying file once the format is done and will restart.

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/6508/copingbr8.jpg

6)The setup process reboots and loads installation mode. It will then begin to load device drivers based upon what it finds on your computer. You don't need to do anything at this stage.

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/6779/guixx5.jpg

Let the setup Continue and you Customize some Options like region setup when given.

Continue to Next Chapter....

Chapter Two:
Windows Security

Before starting anything you should think about security of Your Windows, These days with spreading viruses and worms, stepping into Internet without proper and strong protection are like stepping into Minefields. From next step ill be guiding you on which and how to use some application to protect your self from getting unwanted craps on your system.

1)Firewall and Anti-Virus
One of the best and what personally i Use to protect my self from internet dangers is All in One "Symantec Norton Internet Security 2005", Which is Integrated with all Security Apps:

• Norton Anti-virus a power Full Anti-Virus with Auto-protect to Stop Virus to enter the pc at 1st place.
  
• Norton Personal Firewall a power Full Firewall to keep dirty hands away of your Pc.
  
• Norton AntiSpam to filter out unwanted email to make your online communications safer and more enjoyable.
• And some more useful Stuff which can be Found here.

There is plenty of Sites that provide a copy of latest Edition of Symantec Norton Internet Security 2005", get it and install it.

This is what main screen of NIS (Norton Internet Security) looks like; make sure Your Status Looks Green (OK!) which means every protection is working perfectly.
you can browse every Integrated Apps like NAV(Norton anti-virus) from the left menu as shown, you can update "Virus Definitions" and "Security Updates" from the Live Update option given in top right of the screen. the Live update is Sated to download the update Automatically by default.
http://img240.echo.cx/img240/3649/nis9hr.th.png

Windows Xp Sp2 has built in Firewall you may want to Turn it off cuz u already got More Power full Firewall and to avoid some Confliction its better to turn it off.

• Browse the Antivirus from side menu and select "Scan For viruses" and then select "Scan my computer" from item list.
  http://img294.echo.cx/img294/1944/avscan7fj.th.png
• let the scan be gain and detector will try to detect and repair them at the end of scan, UN-repaired virus will be Quarantine or will be asked to delete, its on you.
  http://img294.echo.cx/img294/451/avscan21du.th.png http://img294.echo.cx/img294/8465/avscan36tq.th.png

2)Ad ware and Spy ware protections

• Spyware works by monitoring your surfing habits and sending results back to a company. This slows your computer down a lot, and threatens your privacy.
• Adware works by infiltrating your browser and displaying ads on your PC. This also really slows down your browsing speed, and you have to look at a load of ads.

Sometimes, spy ware and ad ware come bundled with software, but often they come embedded in spam emails and on hijacked websites.

To stop these Misc codes you need some Good Scanners, this Step will Interdious You with Most Used programs.

• Ad-Aware SE Professional

Ad-Aware® SE Professional Edition offers you the highest level of protection from known Data-mining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components. Lavasoft’s new Code Sequence Identification (CSI) technology protects you from both known and unknown variants of these threats; and with the real-time protection of Ad-Watch you can block suspicious processes and browser hijack attempts from affecting your system.

Ad-Aware® SE Professional Edition also includes the process browser Process-Watch which allows you to browse, scan and analyze processes running on your system. You can easily scan for, and terminate known suspicious processes and their associated modules.
Install and Run it, each 21 days it will update it self with latest threat protections and you do it yourself once in a while too.
press Start at main screen to do the scan, Customize your Scan to reach the deepest area of the windows, always be sure to check the Deep Scan option and select whether u want to do a full or smart Scan, smart Scan is for scanning main partition but Full scan scans Entire Hard disk (Adwares can be found in main Partition unless you export them to another partition by copying it).
Press Next to start the scan

http://img300.echo.cx/img300/1006/adware16yr.th.png http://img156.echo.cx/img156/6320/adware22nl.th.png

• Spybot - Search & Destroy

Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don't see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behavior to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies
Before doing anything as every program it needs to be updated, Click the "Update" option from side menu and download the list of update.
http://img292.echo.cx/img292/3756/sd11co.th.png http://img292.echo.cx/img292/3213/sd21xf.th.png

Next select immunize from side menu to protect your system before spyware gets to it.
Check the items in the list down page and Click Immunize.
http://img298.echo.cx/img298/6740/sd34fb.th.png

Now to the Scan Page, Click "Search and Destroy" from the side menu and press "Check For the Problems", click Fix problems after Scanning is finished to remove the detected Spywares.
http://img298.echo.cx/img298/6186/sd42dw.th.png

Continue on Next Page(Crap Cant post More then 11 images)...

• Microsoft AntiSpyware

Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) is a security technology that helps protect Windows users from spyware and other potentially unwanted software. Known spyware on your PC can be detected and removed. This helps reduce negative effects caused by spyware, including slow PC performance, annoying pop-up ads, unwanted changes to Internet settings, and unauthorized use of your private information. Continuous protection improves Internet browsing safety by guarding more than 50 ways spyware can enter your PC. Participants in the worldwide SpyNet™ community play a key role in determining which suspicious programs are classified as spyware. Microsoft researchers quickly develop methods to counteract these threats, and updates are automatically downloaded to your PC so you stay up to date.

• Click "Quick Scan" from Right menu, Let the scan begain.
  http://img160.echo.cx/img160/6527/msas16od.th.gif http://img153.echo.cx/img153/3340/msasscan2hj.th.png
• When the scan is completed you will be presented with a list of spyware or other malware that was found by the program. If you want to learn more about a particular item found you can click once on that item and its information will appear in the box on the right. You should then decide if you are going to Quarantine, Remove, or ignore the file. When you have finished choosing an action, or using the default action, put a checkmark in the checkbox labeled Create restore point, in case something goes wrong with the removal process.
  Press the Continue button to start the removal process and a confirmation screen about the actions the software is about to take similar to Figure 10 below will appear waiting for input from you, Select Yes to perform the choices you've made.
  http://img153.echo.cx/img153/6448/msresult2yk.th.jpg http://img153.echo.cx/img153/443/scanremove5dj.th.gif

More Guide on this Product Here

Chapter Three:
Windows Maintenance

Maintaining Windows is Very Important as Craps keep Mounting in it and waste the space and leaves u with some Poor hard Disk performance, not only this but Registry files gets dirty as well. you should keep Cleaning them on regular bases. there r tons of quality programs which will Helps you to remove unwanted or Left over Data from your system.

• TuneUp Utilities 2004

TuneUp Utilities 2004 optimizes the performance of your computer, solves problems and helps you to customize your system to suit your needs.
now Tuneup has many tools i will only guide you on "CleanUp and Repair".
http://img268.echo.cx/img268/9217/tuneup15um.th.png

Choose "CleanUp and Repair" from the side Menu, two Tools will show up, "RegistryCleaner" and "DiskCleaner".

• TuneUp RegistryCleaner finds and solves problems caused by invalid entries, references and links in the Windows registry.
  http://www.tune-up.com/images/screen...2004_rc_en.gif
• A lot of unrequired garbage collects on your hard disk during normal usage. TuneUp DiskCleaner scans your hard disk for these unnecessary files and removes them.
  Run it, select the drive from 1st page, Let the scan finish on 2nd and remove what u want on 3rd page.
  http://img247.echo.cx/img247/3902/cleanup13qm.th.png http://img247.echo.cx/img247/4353/cleanup24wt.th.png http://img247.echo.cx/img247/4833/cleanup37lf.th.png

There is also "One Click Maintenance" which will do all above steps in just One Click as it says.
http://img285.echo.cx/img285/2314/oneclick7cs.th.png

Chapter four:
backing UP the Windows

there are many windows Backup programs, What personally i use and i think is the best is "Norton Ghost".

Symantec’s Norton Ghost 9.0
Get Norton Ghost and Install it, also remember to burn it to CD because its also a Recovery disk, meaning that you need it when Restoring your windows.

1)Backing Up
Before backing up your Windows install all Programs and Updates you need so it can be backed up with the windows and restore with it. i Recommend you to Disable "windows Restore Point" its waste of space(in my opinion) if your going To Use NortonGhost, you wont need two backup programs anyway.

• Run NortonGhost and Select "Backup Drives" from the side Menu.
  http://img183.echo.cx/img183/1109/backup11xr.th.png
• Select the drive and click next.
  http://img254.echo.cx/img254/6466/backup22lm.th.png
• browse a directory where you want to save, You cant safe on same Partition in other words u must have more then 1 partition or u can burn the backup data into a DVD or CD.
  http://img254.echo.cx/img254/6562/backup31ou.th.png
• Select the Compression Method(Standared, medium and High), higher you choose more time will take but size will be smaller.
  http://img254.echo.cx/img254/6924/backup49ys.th.png
• Press next and backup will start.

Update the backup File Using "Incremental" Method from the Backup job menu. this option will monitor the drive for changes and update the backup image with it, it will take much less time cuz it only back ups the changes.
http://img250.echo.cx/img250/7843/backup50ag.th.png

2)Restoring

• Open Restore Drive from side menu.
• Browse the backed up file.
  http://img99.echo.cx/img99/8311/restore12lr.th.png
  
• Select the Drive which you want to restore the backup on it.
  http://img196.echo.cx/img196/260/restore26xw.th.png
  
• Press next on last page to start the Restore progress, remember that, Restoration will not be done on windows, the system will reboot and you should have the Recovery Disk(norton Ghost 9 Cd) to boot with it.
  In case that you'r windows doesnt boot up you can use the norton ghost cd to boot to recovery page, from there you can restore the backup.

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Thats It folks, you wont need to format again and you have the backup of your windows loaded with Security and wanted programs . Every time something goes wrong and windows starts to screw up all u need to restore the image and the ready made version of your customized windows will show up.
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Guide By BawA
proud member Of FileSharing Talk
Created June/17/2005

Nice guide, although just wondering if you could put it through MS Word so it can be spell checked, some of it doesn't even look like English :huh:

Apart from that very helpful guide, my vote for forum contributar goes to Bawa :01:

yeh i did that several times but i guess MS couldnt find them all

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bawa

It Has Service Pack 2 Integrated With it so you wont need to install or update your Windows sapretly. Buy it or as most of us do DOWNLOAD it .
now whether u download the cd or buy it it will be bootable, meaning that once you insert the cd and restart you will be redirected to the Installation page instead of windows and you wont need to make a bootable Cd of yourself as you did with older version of windows required.

---

Thats just the first paragraph, the last bit doesn't even make sense, why would anyone want to turn themself into a bootable windows CD?

:huh:

Quote:

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so you wont need to install or update your Windows

---

Totally wrong, there have been a massive ammount of major fixes and secruity patches since SP2's release and downloading them should be done as soon as possible.

i didnt ment after Sp2 Fixs, what i ment is Sp1 patchs till the release of Sp2.
anyway fixed the line.

where is Chapter three? :huh:

u cant see it?
http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/showp...33&postcount=3