i want to format my hard drive but i want to keep vista

ok one day i had about 9 gigs of sapce on hard drive c then the next i
had 233 mb.....
so i decided to defragment but as ive done this its caused most of my
programs to not function properly.... not cool so ive decided to start
fresh and delete everythingbut the problem is i dont know how to....also
i dont want to delete vista itself....can anyone help?

 

Save your important stuff to CD or DVD.. then use your Vista DVD or recovery
partition to start over..


--
Mike Hall - MVP
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|
| ok one day i had about 9 gigs of sapce on hard drive c then the next i
| had 233 mb.....
| so i decided to defragment but as ive done this its caused most of my
| programs to not function properly.... not cool so ive decided to start
| fresh and delete everythingbut the problem is i dont know how to....also
| i dont want to delete vista itself....can anyone help?
|
|
| --
| lucky3

How you do the task you want to do depends on the brand of computer you have.
Instructions for "re-installing" vista to factory status should be in your manual.

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

 

kk i dont have the manual but its an acer..also i dont have the vist
dvd sorry but am a very unorganized person..

 

Contact Acer and ask for instructions..


--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

 

Acer Recovery Media Purchase Program
https://secure3.tx.acer.com/RCD/Main.aspx

 

ok one day i had about 9 gigs of sapce on hard drive c then the next i

You've had all the advice you need from the other respondents. But just for
your interest I would clarify a couple of points.

1/ Defragging is NOT designed to release any disk space at all

2/ Defragging does NOT cause any of your programs to stop working, or work
differently

Something else is to blame. But you are doing the right thing: vapourise
the whole installation and start again.

SteveT

 

Formatting your drive means removing everything including Vista. If
you only want to remove programs you are sure you're not going to want
to use in the future you can remove those leaving Vista behind which
in effect would leave you with a "clean" (empty) drive other than the
operating system itself. If this is what you want:

Click on Start, Control Panel, Programs and Features. Wait as Vista
builds a list of icons. One by one select the programs you are sure
you no longer want and uninstall them. This will free up a lot of
space and virtually remove everything other than the OS itself.

This is generally a POOR way to proceed, but you asked. Especially if
you bought some box computer that came with pre-installed software and
they didn't give you actual CD/s/DVD's to restore from. So proceed
with caution.

If you are trying to free some room, a better approach is to use the
disk cleanup feature which can remove a lot of clutter,junk and dead
wood without removing actual applications you may wish you didn't down
the road.

 

Why? What does defragmenting have to do with your having little hard
drive available?

Defragmenting rearranges the clusters on your drive to make the
clusters that each file uses contiguous. It does nothing to get you
any more disk space.

Defragmenting can not do anything like this. What program did you use
to defragment? The Windows one or a third-party one?

Exactly what does "not function properly" mean? Which programs? What
are they doing wrong? If you get error messages, please quote them
verbatim.

That's likely way overkill, and certainly a premature decision to
make. Start by answering the questions above, and let's see if one of
us here can help you without your having to resort to the draconian
solution of reinstalling Windows.

On the one hand, you say "start fresh and delete everything," but on
the other hand you say "i dont want to delete vista itself." Those
statements are incompatible. "Everything" includes Vista. Exactly what
is it that you think you want to delete?

 

Actually it is overkill. Reformatting and starting over from scratch
is like imploding a six story building with explosives because a light
bulb in the hallway on the 3rd floor burned out.

I noticed a lot of "MS fanboy experts" always suggest starting over
rather then offering advice on how to actually fix what's wrong.

Some experts.

LOL!

 

and your advise is.....? Nice of you to knock everyone else's suggestions
without offering your own

 

You need to pay closer attention... the advice was given a couple posts
earlier than the one you decided to reply to.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/62mogk

 

Sometimes it is best to reformat your PC. If you have issues with a number
of programs, it could take longer to fix those issues than to backup your
data and do a reinstall. Especially if you are the type to try lots of
programs, install and uninstall software quite a bit.

IN 1997, I worked for Microsoft and had a problem with my computer. I
called the help desk, told them about the problem, and they said it would
take longer to fix the issue so it would be better to do a complete install
from scratch. Yes, it's a pain in the ass, but once done, and if done
right, you know your system will perform better (Hopefully!) After all it's
still Microsoft so your mileage may vary.

 

From what I've read, "Ringmaster" aka "Adam Albright" is a drunk
who lost his job several years ago and has nothing better to do
than play "mind games" in this newsgroup. He is nothing but a
pitiful excuse for a human being. At times, he may seem half-way
intelligent, but his irrational, adolescent, and uncivilized behavior in
this newsgroup setting suggests otherwise. A loser, for sure!

 

[a lot of garbage snipped]

From this post it's obvious that I need to find a larger boob bin.

 

You're dumb enough to believe the slop the idiot Frank posts?

Look who's talking. You accept at face value the lies of the biggest
troll here, Frank the Fuckwit. How intelligent is that?

The truth as I've said many times is I worked hard, got paid very well
and was able to retire in my early forties. Almost twenty years ago. A
dream many have but don't realize. I did. Deal with it.

I also explained why I post frequently. A usual day I spent 12-14
hours at the computer working with video and music editing mostly.
Since that is very intensive, highly demanding work requiring great
concentration and creative skill at the professional level every hour
or so I take a break and often come here to see what the idiots are up
to. They NEVER fail to amuse in their utter lack of competence about
anything. I see I can add you to the list of nitwits which far out
number the other posters that know what they're talking about or come
here for help and often get attacked by MS fanboy morons.

 

Not necessarily. You can remove the programs, true, but most often the data
associated with the programs are magnitudes larger than the programs that
created them. Add/Remove doesn't touch the data.

 

That is 100% more intelligent than you.

Liar! You are unemployed and unemployable.

Almost twenty years ago.

You've proly spent the last 20 yrs either behind bars (for embezzling
funds) or in a mental institution.

A

Hahaha...yeah, you retired in your derams!...LOL!

Deal with it.

It's your problem asswipe!

\
Hahahaha...you're delusional at best and fukkin insane a worse!

They NEVER fail to amuse in their utter lack of competence about

You are the biggest fuckwit idiot moron POS big mouth pompous loser to
ever post inn here.

You are a fake and phony. You're insane!

 

You keep making libelous statements about me. Well duh, you being
nothing but a fucked up asshole do it to everybody. Thank your lucky
stars I never post here under my real name or I would instruct by
attorney to sue your stupid shit encrusted ass off.

 

So if you did post with your real name, what on earth could you sue for?
[Remembering your posting history]