By MakeTechEasier.com

3 Things to Check Before Reinstalling Windows

Windows is a very complicated system, so there is bound to be a complication waiting to happen that could jeopardize system integrity, forcing you to reinstall the operating system. Most of us have been there, experiencing the inexplicable blue screen of death (BSOD) whenever attempting to boot a computer. This kind of thing might even happen in safe mode, giving you no other option than to throw everything away and start from scratch. As gruesome as the process is, it’s sometimes necessary and we’re here to give you some tips on the subject!

1. Did You Check Everything?

Make sure you’re not reinstalling Windows for a reason you can easily fix. If your computer is experiencing blue screens left and right, but you have no idea what’s happening, reinstalling your operating system might not solve the problem. First, check if your RAM has problems. For this, you can use memtest, a freeware application that allows you to test all of your RAM. If you get errors, try replacing the RAM and see if you have problems now. In such a case, reinstalling your operating system would have been a horrible waste of time and a mistake that could cost you some of your precious data, if not all of it.

Can you boot in safe mode? If you can, fix the problem there! This usually means that you have a service or program that starts up with your system that causes it to go kaput the moment you turn it on in a normal boot. Safe mode loads only the bare essentials. Try disabling services and programs using msconfig. Joshua Price already covered this in previous articles, just FYI.

2 More Things to Check Before Reloading Windows-Here

This excerpt is shared with permission from maketecheasier.com.

About Make Tech Easier

Make Tech Easier offers computer tips and tricks that will change you to a computer geek (even without you knowing it). Topics covered here include troubleshooting your computer, optimizing operating system performance (be it Windows, Mac or Linux), simplifying tasks, software review and plenty of cool stuff. If you think that computer technology is only for geeks, then they aspire to change your thinking.

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