Category: User advice
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Advice when bringing your sytem to us for a clean Windows install

Bringing your device in for a clean install of Windows?

There are times in your devices life when you may need to perform a clean install of Windows for various reasons such as problens within the current Windows system such as failed updates or corrupted files, or that your computer is so slow a system tune up may not be effective enough or it may be a case that your hard drive has failed and had to be replaced requiring a clean install and you may require us to carry out a clean install.

A clean install will bring many benefits however there are a few things to take into account when doing so.

What about my current data and programs when doing a clean install?

Data

If Windows is currently booting ok – If doing a clean install from a system that is currently working (i.e. you want it reinstalling just to speed it up) then we have specialist software to be able to backup your data and much of your profile(s) settings before reinstalling and then restore them once reinstalled.

If Windows cannot boot up but the hard drive is healthy – Using specialist software we are able to perform a backup of your data and profile(s) settings and restore these after the reinstallation.

If your hard drive has failed or cannot be read – In this situation, if the data cannot be read then we do have data recovery services available. Sometimes the data can be recovered by means of specialist software, however on occassions when recovery software is unable to recover it then it may be possible to recover it using hardware based methods in a specialist lab. The cost of drive failure can sometimes end up quite high which is another reason we always recommend keeping regular backups of your work.

Programs

Due to the nature of how programs in Windows are usually installed, to restore these usually requires the installation source media to reinstall them in all cases. Some certain software may also require a product key too. The majority of programs we may already have access to the installation media for however some software we may require you to supply the relevant discs/installers for along with the product keys if we unable to read them.

What do I need when you do a clean install?

When we do a clean install of Windows of your machine, we may need you to take note of or supply the following in some cases:

  • We recommend you make your own backup of your data first if possible, however we always make a backup first which we restore from but will notify you beforehand if that is not possible.
  • Although we have many software installers, we may occassionally require installation media from yourself for software that is more specialist or more common.
  • Some software may require licence keys, if we are unable to obtain the licence key beforehand we may require you to supply it to us.

Our specialist backup and restore software is very much more in-depth than that used by many other technicians (many of them even only copy and paste documents), ours is able to back up more elements of your user profile to allow your machine and preferred settings to be as close to as it was before reinstallation.

Do I need to do anything more once I receive my device back?

Although our software is excellent in restoring data and settings back to your device after reinstallation, and your machine will be setup very much the same as before (but faster!) there are some things that you may need to add yourself afterwards, these are usually:

  • Printers – Very often when reinstalling printer drivers, it requires the device to be present and plugged when running the install program. If we do not have the printer present, you would need to do this when it is.
  • Any other devices – Any other devices that were not present to us when reinstalling i.e. webcams you may need to reinstall drivers for. However in many cases Windows will detect and configure these automatiaclly once plugged in.
  • Wireless keys – If you connect your device wirelessly to your router at home, you would need to re-input the wireless for the first time you connect it once getting it home.
  • Software – Any software that you we did not have access to the installers for.
  • Product keys – Some software may require a product key. If you did not supply us with a product key at time of installing and we were not able to access the current one, you may have to input it yourself. However, we are often able to install the software ready for you to be able to put the key in when you receive it back.

Don’t forget though…We don’t just do clean reinstalls of Windows and it’s various versions (10, 8, 7, vista, XP etc) we also do reinstallations of Mac OS and Linux too along with other Ios and Android devices!