i am currently in the process of re-installing windows. i have a 300gig external hd which i have backed up all i want onto, but i am still terrified i've forgotton something important. i just had to hack into the system32 to blank my forgotton admin password, thanks to the tutorial i found on these pages. i just have a few questions to ask:

* how can i save my emails and my firefox preferences [bookmark and scrapbook]. i use thunderbird if that is important. i looked at the files and settings transfer wizard from microsoft but no surprized it only supports outlook and i.e. what a waste of effort the program is.

* does restore to factory defaults wipe the computer back to the windows defaults or to the sony factory defaults. i.e. does it totally blank except for windows or will all the strange sony vaio programs be there?

* are there any other tips i might find useful

* also i have a partitioned individual drive. will the restore only erase c drive as that it the windows drive. or will it do both the partitions. if not i will probably have to format the d drive and then restore as i am trying to possibly remove viruses [not sure if they are there or not].

thanks in advance.

You should be able to save your Firefox bookmarks very easily. Just go into Firefox->Bookmark->Manage Bookmarks. Then in that new Bookmarks Manager window, go to File->Export and backup that bookmark.html file. Use that same file to Import it back when you are done with the restoration.

For the scrapbook backup, it seems like there is also a easy way to back that up as well. Take a look here for methods on how to do this.

Google seems to have a bunch of links on how to backup your Thunderbird emails. So start from there.

Depends how they created that restore CD. If it's a Sony computer, it might restore everything you had originally when you bought this system.

Any other tips? Double, triple...check that you backed everything up LOL. I suggest doing a wildcard search for your files also to be sure. For example, to make sure you backed up all your word documents, do a search for *.doc and see if any of those files shown are backed up already (or if they are needed).

Backup the data from the d: drive also. I can't be sure if it will touch it at all. If it's an actual restore to factory default CD/partition (if that's how it was setup), then it probably will revert back to how it was setup originally.

There's an excellent extension for Firefox called BookmarkBackup. I've been using it for a LONG time now.

You simply set a folder on a different partition in that extension. Everytime you close down firefox, it saves your latest bookmark list into that folder. It even creates SEVEN folders below it, one for each week-day, so you can in effect revert back to the settings of any of the past 7 days.

Optionally, you can set this extension to backup not just your bookmarks, but your cookies, form-fillup data, url history - almost any and every firefox settings.

This has helped me beyond imagination. Everytime I've reinstalled my system, I've simply copied one of those folders back to my Profile folder of firefox and when I fired it up, it was in the EXACT same condition I'd seen it last before the reinstall.

You can find this one at:
1. http://www.pikey.me.uk/mozilla/
2. http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/more-info/bookmarkbackup

This one is a MUST HAVE.

For thunderbird, its actually simple.

Copy your documents and settings\your user\application data\thunderbird folder

reinstall thunderbird, copy back the folder and whalla. back in business.

wiping the os drive will not destroy your other partition Unless you use a 3rd party/oem system setup disk.

As far as firefox, I just go Bookmarks - manage bookmarks - Export.

then import them back in once you have firefox reinstalled.

hi again. im midway through the process but im a bit stuck. i'm very sure that someone here can answer my question.

i want to reinstall my installation to a clean fresh start. im using a windows xp disc that the people who i bought the pc off gave me. but it is not the specific one for my pc [it was a display one and no idea where the oem disc is]. i booted from it and tried to repair my installation as that was what i though i was doing. all that did was reinstall certain files.

do i use the option to install a fresh system to get a blank windows?
and if so will that acept the code on the back of my pc as the correct code?

also on a linux question: if i install a fresh windows will that affect my partitions + grub? especially grub as i dont know how to reinstall that in the mbr from windows.

thanks in advance.

i have done a bit more research and i now have only one question left.

when i reinstall it is likely that windows will overwrite the mbr and leave me with no grub. i want this as i still want linux so i think i can use grub4dos. but i dont totally understand what it's website meens.

is this a program that i install in windows and then boot using the windows boot loader?

therefor i can reinstall linux without worry for my linux install. can i?