What is entailed in reinstalling windows

[dogs4thewin]

I have some computer games that were seemingly installed incorrectly wrong path, but when I try to uninstall them to try to install them correctly it will not let me do that either. I am starting to think the only thing to do is to get a fresh start and reinstall windows, yet I do not want to do so and the computer not work at all. I do know that everything will be uninstalled ( even what I do not want to be which is no big deal as I still have all the disks I would want to install off the top of my head.

 

[Neostarwcc]

Honestly formatting a computer isn't as difficult as it was in the mid to late 90s. All of your drivers and everything you need to run your computer is already pre installed for you by Windows now. Back in the 90s you had to install your drivers separately and it was much more of a hassle.

Honestly the only thing formatting your hard drive will do today is erase all data on your hard drive. So if you have pictures or videos back them up before formatting your hard drive. Any game saves you might have you might want to backup too although most games today save via cloud.

Sorry if I'm speaking Japanese to you if i am let me know and ill gladly try to explain. You'll just have to backup all of your files. If you need step by step instructions on how to format your hard drive or how to backup your games and pictures or whatnot just ask and I'd be glad to help.

But formatting a hard drive will not screw up anything. It will just erase all data on your hard drive and you'll have to update windows through Windows update again. I think it's always on by default so there should be no problem. If not you just have to go to the start menu, type in Windows update and follow the instructions from there that Microsoft gives you.

 

[dogs4thewin]

Honestly formatting a computer isn't as difficult as it was in the mid to late 90s. All of your drivers and everything you need to run your computer is already pre installed for you by Windows now. Back in the 90s you had to install your drivers separately and it was much more of a hassle.

Honestly the only thing formatting your hard drive will do today is erase all data on your hard drive. So if you have pictures or videos back them up before formatting your hard drive. Any game saves you might have you might want to backup too although most games today save via cloud.

Sorry if I'm speaking Japanese to you if i am let me know and ill gladly try to explain. You'll just have to backup all of your files. If you need step by step instructions on how to format your hard drive or how to backup your games and pictures or whatnot just ask and I'd be glad to help.

But formatting a hard drive will not screw up anything. It will just erase all data on your hard drive and you'll have to update windows through Windows update again. I think it's always on by default so there should be no problem. If not you just have to go to the start menu, type in Windows update and follow the instructions from there that Microsoft gives you.

I have searched the computer to try to ensure nothing is on there we cannot afford to lose pictures/videos and the closest thing I found to that was my late father's resume which as he has been deceased nearly nine years is no longer needed even if it did disappear.

 

[dogs4thewin]

Honestly formatting a computer isn't as difficult as it was in the mid to late 90s. All of your drivers and everything you need to run your computer is already pre installed for you by Windows now. Back in the 90s you had to install your drivers separately and it was much more of a hassle.

Honestly the only thing formatting your hard drive will do today is erase all data on your hard drive. So if you have pictures or videos back them up before formatting your hard drive. Any game saves you might have you might want to backup too although most games today save via cloud.

Sorry if I'm speaking Japanese to you if i am let me know and ill gladly try to explain. You'll just have to backup all of your files. If you need step by step instructions on how to format your hard drive or how to backup your games and pictures or whatnot just ask and I'd be glad to help.

But formatting a hard drive will not screw up anything. It will just erase all data on your hard drive and you'll have to update windows through Windows update again. I think it's always on by default so there should be no problem. If not you just have to go to the start menu, type in Windows update and follow the instructions from there that Microsoft gives you.

What is saved via cloud also does that mean that the games will not uninstall? The games I mean that are installed, but are in effect useless as it keeps telling me something about it being on the wrong path. The games that I do have installed that are working I do not really care if I have to restart as I have actually been playing these games on and off for years and have already solved them once anyway (plus today you can "cheat" with walkthroughs all that to say that if my games do not save it will not be the end of the world to re-start them.

 

[Neostarwcc]

What is saved via cloud also does that mean that the games will not uninstall? The games I mean that are installed, but are in effect useless as it keeps telling me something about it being on the wrong path. The games that I do have installed that are working I do not really care if I have to restart as I have actually been playing these games on and off for years and have already solved them once anyway (plus today you can "cheat" with walkthroughs all that to say that if my fames do not save it will not be the end of the world to re-start them.

A game that saves from a cloud drive is an online drive basically. Like when you buy games from Steam and they're forever on your list and for most of the games they're all saved online and you can keep your progress even if you have not picked up the game in years and have formatted your computer multiple times. It's because your game saves your progress online instead of on your hard drive. Most games released in the last ten years or so save your progress online and even some old games are being updated with this feature. Especially games purchased on Steam.

A game that saves on your hard drive will need to be backed up. I forget exactly where on your hard drive steam saves your games offline. I'll have to look it up and get back to you. If you don't use steam to buy your games you can lookup whatever game save you want to keep and where on your hard drive it's saved to. The internet should tell you whether or not it's saved via cloud too.

 

[Neostarwcc]

I have searched the computer to try to ensure nothing is on there we cannot afford to lose pictures/videos and the closest thing I found to that was my late father's resume which as he has been deceased nearly nine years is no longer needed even if it did disappear.

Yeah you'll definitely want to back that up before you format your hard drive. Do you have an inexpensive flash drive? If not I recommend getting one for backing up your stuff. They're very inexpensive and sold in almost every store and are sold everywhere online too. They should be around $5-$10 for a small one. If your only saving pictures/videos and resumes or whatever you'll only need a super cheap small one.

 

[dogs4thewin]

Yeah you'll definitely want to back that up before you format your hard drive. Do you have an inexpensive flash drive? If not I recommend getting one for backing up your stuff. They're very inexpensive and sold in almost every store and are sold everywhere online too. They should be around $5-$10 for a small one. If your only saving pictures/videos and resumes or whatever you'll only need a super cheap small one.

That is what I am saying as far as I can tell we do not have any pictures or videos on here and as my father has been deceased since March of 15 there would be no need for his resume.

 

[dogs4thewin]

A game that saves from a cloud drive is an online drive basically. Like when you buy games from Steam and they're forever on your list and for most of the games they're all saved online and you can keep your progress even if you have not picked up the game in years and have formatted your computer multiple times. It's because your game saves your progress online instead of on your hard drive. Most games released in the last ten years or so save your progress online and even some old games are being updated with this feature. Especially games purchased on Steam.

A game that saves on your hard drive will need to be backed up. I forget exactly where on your hard drive steam saves your games offline. I'll have to look it up and get back to you. If you don't use steam to buy your games you can lookup whatever game save you want to keep and where on your hard drive it's saved to. The internet should tell you whether or not it's saved via cloud too.

These games are on disks some nearly two decades old or more even the oldest game I have tried to install that will not is from Nov. 99 and the other two I really want to play were from either 03 or 04.

 

[Neostarwcc]

These games are on disks some nearly decades old or more even the oldest game I have tried to install that will not is from Nov. 99 and the other two I really want to play were from either 03 or 04.

Yeah... If you wanted to keep your saves for games that old I'm 99.9% sure you'd have to back them up or check and see if the companies have provided an updated version that would be more compatible with Windows 7/10/11 whatever version of windows you have. Maybe formatting your hard drive will do nothing and they're just too old to play with current versions of WIndows and need to be updated.

A lot of video game design companies are updating their old games for Windows 10/11. Perhaps your games have been updated too. I'd look into that.

 

[dogs4thewin]

They are the Nancy Drew games the 3rd one is installed and last I tried works the 2rd, 9th and 10th tell me that they cannot play or uninstall ( if it was just the second one I would say the game may be too old, but since the 3rd game works that makes no sense as to why 9 and 10 would not work.

There are currently over 30 games spanning from 98-to 2019 with another one that is supposed to be coming out at some point soonish.

 

[jacks]

Maybe you don't need a total reinstall, there are several options. If you are using Windows 10 look HERE. Windows 11 HERE. Maybe a "Reset" and keeping your files is all you need.

 

[dogs4thewin]

If I did this would I also need to reinstall all of the windows products mostly windows office.

 

[JesseBassett]

It depends on what windows version you are reinstalling. If it is 10 or higher, not much is required except your Microsoft ID and password. If it is 8.1 or below you need a product key.

 

[dogs4thewin]

It depends on what windows version you are reinstalling. If it is 10 or higher, not much is required except your Microsoft ID and password. If it is 8.1 or below you need a product key.

so is the ID/password something you come up with when you first get the computer? Last time we had to do fresh start it was not for this same reason and we actually took the computer to a professional who informed us what had to be done. I do not know if mom gave him the information or for that matter if she even remembered it as even at that point it had been years since we got the computer. This was after my father died and as I said he has been gone nearly nine years. I believe this is windows ten.

 

[Wookiee]

Unless you're using a retail copy (which is very unlikely), when Windows 8, 8.1, 10 and 11 get activated, the key gets tied to the motherboard - if it's a computer you bought off the shelf (ie Acer, Dell, etc.) the key is saved into the computer's hardware and it will detect it.

The ID Jesse is talking about is for logon information; if you logged into your computer with a Microsoft email address (eg dogs4thewin@outlook.com) then you would just use that again. You will also need the product information for Microsoft Office which will either be tied to a Microsoft account if it's newer or a product key install if it's as old as the computer (and at that point you really shouldn't be using that version of Office anymore).

For what it's worth, at this point if you're really unsure you're better off taking it to someone who does know what they're doing.

 

[dogs4thewin]

I did it and got the games to install

thank you all