by Raleigh Stout

Created on: October 16, 2007

How to determine whether to troubleshoot or reformat the computer really depends on whether you have the skill to repair it yourself. Some computer users enjoy the personal struggle and challenge of troubleshooting real problems in order to build their own repair skills and computer knowledge.

Even advanced users with repair skills may wish to troubleshoot in order to avoid configuring the operating system all over again.

Troubleshooting is also preferred if you have a lot of files on the computer but cannot save them off the hard drive to another media. If you have no memory stick or network connections or compact disc recorder, then you may feel compelled to troubleshoot because archiving the data files will be too difficult.

In any case, some amount of troubleshooting will take place as you decide whether to reformat the hard drive. Our presumption here is that the computer hardware is functioning normally, and that the motherboard and system batteries are running normally (not discharged and needing replacement). Now is the time, early in the process, to collect all the original media for installing the operating system, software packages, and device drivers. This is also the time to bring out your favorite PC repair manuals and reference books for hardware and for DOS and for the operating system. Look them over casually for any helpful tidbits.

The first troubleshooting steps include updating all software for operating system, antivirus, antispyware, firewall, and antimalware programs. Then see if the conditions improve on the computer after running detection scans for problems and fixing or removing all detected issues. If nothing is found yet, but a problem persists, you can reboot the computer in safe mode look more deeply at the computer with all the antivirus, antispyware, and antimalware scanners available.

If you still have unresolved problems, then you can consider setting the operating system back to its default settings without reformatting. In this case, you will probably want the original installation disks of the operating system to provide any setup files required. Don't trust any files stored on the PC at this point; they may be part of your problem by means of a virus infection, but you should have already scanned the PC by this time and have more confidence in them. You can also restore the computer to a previous working state as in XP and Vista systems.

If your scans detect the presence of a rootkit on your computer, then you should seriously

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