Formatting?

[NotAGolf]

I've thought about doing a full format of my computer as it's slowed down a bit and i'm starting to see niggly little problems. But i've never formatted before. Am i right you lose absolutley everything, therefore you would have to back up all my documents. (what about drivers, updates etc) How would you back all this up i dont have a spare hard drive i could use, and i would take up loads of dvd's to burn it all. Any advice as to how i could do it?

Thanks.

Oh and if you could solve a problem i have, it might stop me from formatting: When i try to unistall anything i get an error 6003 in installshield wizard, it tells me to empty temp folders, close all programs and have an active internet connection. I've done all this but no joy. Sometimes I get the error :

Error loading C:\Progra~1\Common~1\Instal~1\Profes~1\RunTime\11\50\Intel32\Ctor.dll

The specified module could not be found.

I've spent ages googling but no success. Any ideas? Thanks again

 

[NotAGolf]

Just backup your files to another hard-drive. If you don't have one spare, then DVD, but I like to use Winace with no compression and use CRC correction, to help safeguard the data.

What should i back up? Is it possible to backup drivers, updates etc? I'm ok with the basics but i dont know about all the 'fiddly' little bits.

 

[NotAGolf]

Do you have other partitions besides the C: drive?

No I dont have any partitions at the moment, if i was to format do you recommend i set one up next time? Is it easy to do? And is there a way i can get a list of all the hardware drivers i have installed because i cant remember them. Thanks

 

[NotAGolf]

I have ad aware, norton, and microsoft anti spyware and have updated them all and run them all in the past few hours. I will try spybot though, thanks split.

I have a 160gb hd. I think i may have to research a bit more before i partition, do you think tho performance increase is worth the hassle?

 

[NotAGolf]

I've downloaded and run CClenaer and Spybot S&D but still nothing. I've also looked through the registry and task manager for the entries that you suggested split but i've found no entries. I've also got a friend to send me his installshield folder and i've replaced mine with that but i still got the same error message Any other ideas? I think a format is the most likely option now but i will have to wait till i finish uni first.

 

[NotAGolf]

What is the problem you are getting?
Is it still the Error loading C:\Progra~1\Common~1\Instal~1\Profes~1\RunTime\11\ 50\Intel32\Ctor.dll

You have prolly deleted that file, but not the thing that launches it hence it's missing.

Yes, i'm still getting that same message but I havn't deleted it because I can find the directory through my computer and it still there, along with several other files:
iGi.dll
iKernel.dll
iscript.dll
iuser.dll
setup.dll
and DotNetInstaller

This looks identical to what's in all the other folders, and i've also tried copying the same folder from a friend and it still doesn't work Is there a way i can download/re-install installshield?

And i've had a look through those links but couldn't see anything of use. I think i had a similar problem before and iirc i renamed one of the folders and problem solved but its not the case this time. I renamed the whole installshield folder as well but no success