5 replies to this topic

[art248]

Hi, guys i just would like to confirm something. i am planning to perform a custom installation of windows 7 64 home premium using the advanced recovery method available in the control panel. i hv 2 partitions, i moved over some of the stuff there which i know to be clean.

 

so, i know that the option will erase all installed apps and etc. some stuff will be backed up to the windows.old folder after the install.

so my question is, would the existing registry be cleared out as well? and what will be in the windows.old folder? 

thsnks

[cnm]

Which method are you planning on using:  System Restore, a system image, or Return your computer to factory condition?

Any of those will change the Registry back to what it was at an earlier time.

 

You can backup the Registry, but the backup wouldn't be useful since it would no longer correspond to the installed files.

 

Windows.old will have contents similar to System Restore.  It's used to revert the changes made by the custom install. See  http://answers.micro...6e-82cf616246e3 and http://forums.techar...ems/1274319.htm

[art248]

hey thx for the response :D
yeah i'm planning to start anew. return to factory condition.
i decided to yolo and reformat 2 of my 3 partitions anyway and put the os over there. start fresh again 

[cnm]

Good plan.  Return to factory condition will restore the original partitioning so you'll need to repartition after you do it.  This is easy - Start > Disk Manager.

 

You will also need to reinstall all your non-Windows programs.  You could back up the installers, if you have kept them, but it's not worth it.  Some could be infected and many would be for older versions.

 

The first thing to do after the restore is to arrange your partitions the way you want them.  Then get all Windows updates. Then install your programs and copy back the data files you have saved.

[art248]

yeah so i now have 2 partitions. one new and one from the previous windows installation. 

yeah i'm switching to more open source programs, many literally free and work just as well as the brand versions also with some advantage of lesser security hacks in many ways. juz install what i need atm. i hv libreoffice and nitro pdf. both seem to work very nicely and nitro seems to be faster and more fluid than adobe's version lol

 

i had some installers for older programs, games etc. so i'll juz put them back again. will take awhile lol

 

btw how would the old versions of the installers be infected when the initial download was not infected?

Edited by art248, 20 January 2014 - 12:22 PM.

[cnm]

Unlikely that old installers would be infected, although it's (remotely) possible if malware attaches itself to all .exe files.  But it's very likely that they are out of date and would install obsolete versions.