Greetings:

Windows 8 Preview

Here are some helpful things to help you to maintain your computer when you, the higher source forbid, have to format your hard disk.

First, I suggest making two disks, one specifically for your computer and one with programs needed to help with diagnosis and cleaning in case a friend needs the neighborhood techie to lend a hand.

 Make two new folders on your system and name them Home and Utility.  In the home folder download make sub-folders called Drivers and Programs.  In the utility folder make subfolders for Malware, System, Startup and Recovery.

In the Home\Drivers download the newest drivers for your video, sound, modem, ethernet, motherboard chipset and USB 2.0 plus any other hardware you have installed.  In a national brand PC just visit the manufacturer?s website for these but a custom built unit requires a little more effort.  Use System Information from http://www.gtopala.com/ (which we?ll put on the next CD) to identify everything, and then visit each individual manufacturer?s site.

Don't forget drivers for any peripheral devices you have like printer, scanners, cameras etc. (Most of if not all of the following are free.)

 In the Home\Programs folder put important software that would need to be downloaded each time you reload Windows.  Things like:

 Open Office: www.openoffice.org

Acrobat Reader:  http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html?promoid=BUIGO

Flash Player: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/?promoid=BUIGP

Google Toolbar: http://toolbar.google.com/T4/

Picassa: http://picasa.google.com/

 Also get the latest version of your antivirus software as well as anything else you think may save you time in the future (plus all this stuff is free)

 In the Utility\Malware folder you'll want:

 Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Spybot: http://www.spybot.info/en/spybotsd/index.html

Spyware Blaster: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

CWShredder: http://www.trendmicro.com/cwshredder/

HijackThis: http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php

AVG: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/avg-anti-virus-free/lng/us/tpl/v5

In Utility\System get:

 Winsockfix: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Network-Tweak/WinSockFix.shtml

TCP Optimizer: http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php

System Information: http://www.gtopala.com/

 For the Utility\Startup folder download http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startups_all.zip and unzip it and then delete the .zip file.  This is a searchable HTML based list of programs that run with Windows and describes which are needed, which aren?t and which are bad.

For the Utility\Recovery folder download:

PCI File Recovery: http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/welcome.htm

PCI Smart Recovery: http://www.pcinspector.de/smart_media_recovery/uk/welcome.htm

Restoration: http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html

 That should be a good start.  Burn a Home CD and a Utility CD and you now have everything needed to repair both hardware and software.  As I said about the Home folder add other items you think may be of use.  Over time these will evolve as you discover new things and update the existing ones.

Also, if you want to spend a tiny bit of your hard cash on a system utility program that I use frequently, give system mechanic a whirl.  You can try before you buy of course.  Get it @: http://www.iolo.com/  This puppy will find solutions to most computer problems.  Don't worry about getting  the Pro version. 

Enjoy and hey, be careful out there?