Five Tools to Make a Windows Reinstallation a Snap

I have to admit something. I used to be a chronic formatter. Even months after installing a fresh Windows XP machine, I’d go ahead and feel the urge to reformat in order to get the system working ‘like new’. It’s true though, it used to be difficult to keep care of your machine and actually avoid reformatting. It’s made a lot easier now with the slew of system optimizers on the market (even the ones included with the OS), and if you take care, then you should rarely ever have to format.

After a while, I realized that formatting was no longer fun, and I stuck with an installation on a one-per-year basis, which has since been improved even further (it helps that I use Linux more than Windows now, though). So what am I getting at? Reinstalling Windows is not fun for everyone, like it used to be for me, so the folks at Download Squad list their top five applications for easing the pain with a Windows reinstall.

One tool mentioned, DriverMax, is one we’ve reported on before. It’s designed to be run before the format, as it will back up all of your system drivers, making it a breeze to reinstall them after you get Windows back up and running. Another application they recommend is the file backup tool straight from Microsoft, Migwiz, which they insist is actually ideal. You just need to know how to use it!

After going through the install process, the first thing I shoot for is a complete set of functional drivers. Running DriverMax before the format lets you back up all the drivers on a system. It’s a great app, and it even loads drivers for non-present devices – meaning my customers don’t have to fight with a printer or webcam install CD when they get their computer home.