Full reinstall of win7

[oparadoxical_]

Hey guys, about a month ago I posted a topic about how my PC would keep randomly freezing. (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=63&post=13725&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0 this is the original post that I made if you want to see it) It stopped doing that for awhile so I thought that one of the things that I had done to try to fix it worked and that the problem went away. But, two days ago it started back and I have spent almost 24 hours of the past two days to fix it, but to no avail. In fact, If it loads at all it just freezes again in a couple minutes for no reason at all. I can use safe mode with networking without it freezing and using that I have done just about every possible thing that I could think of that might fix it. So I have just about completely given up on getting it fixed and I think that it might be some kind of virus or whatever.

Basically what I think I am going to have to do is completely wipe the hard drive and start from scratch. Which leads me to several questions.

1. What is the best way to completely wipe a hard drive of everything on it? I have never done that before and I have no idea how to.

2. Would I have to buy another copy of win7 in order to reinstall it or would the one I have be fine? (Reason I ask that is because I have no idea if it will let me use the same serial twice like that)

3. I have downloaded a couple games off steam, could I download them again without actually purchasing it again since I had downloaded it on that account in the past?

4. What would happen to the Norton security that came with the motherboard install disk? Would I just reinstall it and the Norton would automatically continue on with the subscription I had or what?

5. Is there anything kind of advice that or something that you might no that could help with this that I didn't think to ask about?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[electrontau]

1 - when you reinstall windows, make sure to delete all partitions, create a partition, and format the partition. All these during the setup process

2 - you don't need to buy another copy of windows. The one you have is fine. Use the same key code. After completion, you have to activate it again.

3 - if you purchased the games from Steam, you can download them over and over without paying them again. They are yours.

4 - As for Norton, if you install it, it will continue whatever time left on your subscription. I would not use Norton since it is one of most common antivirus and therefore target by virus. Also tend to slow down performance. Eset NOD32 is very good. You can also use Avast Free antivirus (I use it).

5 - After you install windows, all the drivers, all your applications: create a backup/image of your drive. I use Acronis. This is the image of your system after clean install. So anything happens, I can just restore the image without the hassle of reinstalling windows, drivers, and all the apps.

6 - Also it is better to have a small drive for windows and apps, and a large drive for music/photos/games/video. So if windows crap out and need to reinstall/restore, all my personal stuff is safe on different drive. My computer has 150GB for OS/apps, and 1.5TB for personal stuff.

 

[oparadoxical_]

Alright, thank you very much for the help. The only reason I was using Norton was because it came for free with the motherboard and once the 80 day subscription was over I was actually going to switch to the NOD32 anti virus software, so I might just go ahead and get it now. Thanks again for the help.

 

[oparadoxical_]

Best answer selected by oparadoxical_.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey