One often-overlooked option is an "in-place reinstall" where you just layer a new copy of the OS over the copy that's gone bad. With some kinds of problems--- missing or overwritten system, files, for example--- this kind of reinstall may completely cure what's wrong, and can do so without losing your data, your installed apps, or any customizations or alterations you've made. Instead, the new copy of the OS picks up your existing installations, alterations and such, and leaves them alone. With a little luck, the only thing the reinstall alters is the broken portion of the old OS install.
The problem with the in-place reinstall is that it's not as thorough-going as a clean install, and can also pick up bad settings, and may not correctly replace subtly corrupted files. An in-place reinstall isn't a panacea, but it may be worth a shot if you're out of other options:
It's easy: Just insert your OS setup CD, navigate to the root directory on the CD, and launch the Setup file. The OS should reinstall right on top of the existing OS. The broken or missing parts should be restored, and your settings *should* remain intact.
If that doesn't work, there's still another option short of a full reformat, and it's spelled out at http://www.winmag.com/library/1998/1001/fea0045i.htm#won't_work . It's basically a way to completely delete Windows from your system, leaving no trace, but leaving all your data intact. Although this "no-reformat reinstall" does require that you re-install all your applications, it's still faster than a full-reformat reinstall because all your data stays put.
You know what's coming next: With good backups or drive images, you can skip all the above and get your system back to a known-good state with far less time and hassle than any of the above options. But I know very, very few people bother with backups of any kind, so it's worth discussing various no-reformat reinstall options, even though they're a poor substitute.
In any case, it's good to have options other than "format c:"
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-01-15.htm#3
More Reformat Time- and Step-Savers
In "Avoid The Reformat/Reinstall Two-Step" (
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-01-11.htm#2 ) we discussed an "in-place
reinstall" where you just layer a new copy of the OS over the copy that's gone bad. With
some kinds of problems--- missing or overwritten system, files, for example--- this kind of
reinstall may completely cure what's wrong, and can do so without losing your data, your
installed apps, or any customizations or alterations you've made.
While that advice was deliberately general, reader Lou Holobradek suggests a targeted
kind of fix for problems associated with a copy of Explorer that's gone bad. Lou suggests
putting in fresh copies of explorer.exe, shell32.dll and user.exe: In combination, fresh,
known-good copies of these files may solve many problems with Windows Explorer.
Lou also suggests:
As an aside, for a long time now, I've been storing all my data files on another drive.
Various system folders (eg program files, desktop, templates, favorites, my
documents, etc) can be moved using TweakUI. If using Outlook Express, the mailbox
can be moved by clicking Tools -> Options -> Maintenance -> Store Folder.
This way, no matter how bad the C\drive, your data is safe even after a format and
re-install. And as the data is all in one location, it can be easily backed up.
Thanks, Lou. There are all kinds of ways of protecting data files from OS problems, and
this approach works fine too. If other readers are interested in TweakUI, you can get
up-to-date information on this excellent, free utility at
http://www.winmag.com/help/sbs/2000/tweakui/default.htm.
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This item reprinted with permission from The LangaList (a free email
newsletter available at http://www.langa.com/newsletter.htm), Copyright (c)
2000 Langa Consulting."
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Tulsa Computer Society 2/01/2001
Don Singleton, President
djs@ionet.net