How do I do a clean install?

Whether I install xp or vista, I need to know how to do a clean install.
I want to clear everything from my laptop and reformat it and then install a new version of xp (or Vista if I choose to go that route). Will the xp disk give me the choice to do that? Is there anything I should do first?

 

Well, besides backing up your data, you have basically said it all, reformat and install. However, do go into your BIOS to change your boot sequence to CD/DVD first. Also, before going to Vista, make sure there are available drivers for it. As you haven't specified the laptop model, we can't help you there. Perhaps run Vista Upgrade Advisor first on XP to see if your machine is up to the task.

 

If you stay with XP and since its a laptop, the first thing I would do is to get a hold of one of those driver collecting programs (I think Driver Magic has a free version) and use it to make a backup of all the drivers on the laptop for the motherboard, graphics and other devices onto disk. That way after you reinstall you won't be hunting around for the drivers for your model. It might be a good idea to update your drivers to the latest ones prior to making the backup so you have the most uptodate system you can have if your compfortable with that.
The Windows disks do have the capability of formating the drive, but I have always found that using the manufacturers utilities to be much faster. So if you have a system information app like Adia32 or Everset Home (both free) you can use them to see who made your hard drive and then download their utilities from the site to use either as a bootable cd or floppy if your machine has one.
Probably the most important thing, is to save your data to disk, any pictures you have collected, music, wallpapers, screen savers etc.. I use desktops mostly so I have more than one hard drive and can backup to the D drive when formatting C. I like to backup My Documents folder to the other drive so I can move it back afterwords. Then there are any profiles you have spent time creating for your browsers and things. Its enevitable that after you have formatted you will say DOH! and realize you left something behind. One way to avoid this is to install Acronis True Image, uninstall all the extrainious programs from the machine, run ccleaner to get rid of junk files, clean the registry, run "nullfile-1.02.exe"(the pascal version, I can give you a link) from the root of the C drive (the root of C means put it directly under the C drive letter not in any folder) what it does is writes 0's to all the free space on the drive making it very compactable for a backup. It can take along time depemding on the size of your drive so do it over night or on the weekend. Finally defragment the drive. Once you have your C drive as small as you dare, make a backup of it to dvd with acronis. That way if you forget something you can remount the images on the new installtion simply by reinstalling acronis and asking it to mount the dvd's. You can then view the old system for any files you left behind. And if you use a DVD-RW you can eventually delete the stuff and use the disks again.

As for nullfile google this exactly "nullfile-1.02.exe" without the quotes and look for the link to (theatomicmoose.ca) and about half way down the page you will see blue links for nullfile exe and pas under the label "Windows Pascal solution:" download the .exe one for windows. There is a 64bit one there if your a collector for the future.

 

Wow! That is awesome stuff there Applzalien. You are now promoted to Super Specialist. Thank you very much for all that. I'm sure a lot of newbies will be copying and pasting that info. I am.

 

Thanks also to Auggiedoggie. You know I wouldn't of thought of doing that. That is essential info.