I find it shortsighted that you cannot reformat/partition your hard drive and
get a TRUE clean install. I want my harddrive wiped!!!! No programs, no
viruses.
Is there a workaround for this without having to go through the laborious
task of reinstalling WindowsXP clean and then upgrading?????

I got a true CLEAN install by using Vista Ultimate full install, booting
from the DVD and using the tools included in the installer. You can also.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!



"Michael" <Michael@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:068535E5-6549-4F12-BDE7-E153FF922D02@microsoft.com...
>I find it shortsighted that you cannot reformat/partition your hard drive
>and
> get a TRUE clean install. I want my harddrive wiped!!!! No programs, no
> viruses.
> Is there a workaround for this without having to go through the laborious
> task of reinstalling WindowsXP clean and then upgrading?????

"Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23JhG8UrTHHA.5108@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>I got a true CLEAN install by using Vista Ultimate full install, booting
>from the DVD and using the tools included in the installer. You can also.
>
> --
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>
> Quote from George Ankner:
> If you knew as much as you think you know,
> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>
>
>
> "Michael" <Michael@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:068535E5-6549-4F12-BDE7-E153FF922D02@microsoft.com...
>>I find it shortsighted that you cannot reformat/partition your hard drive
>>and
>> get a TRUE clean install. I want my harddrive wiped!!!! No programs, no
>> viruses.
>> Is there a workaround for this without having to go through the laborious
>> task of reinstalling WindowsXP clean and then upgrading?????
>


Great answer. And you are 100% correct. Vista will prompt you what to do
when you boot from the DVD. Another way would be to just buy a new hard
disk and do it that way. Then you are assured that it's completely a virgin
drive. Even though you may repartition and format your drive, there are
utilities on the market that allows you to recover the data. I think one of
them is called "Recover My Files" which I used extensively when I
inadvertently reformatted a drive. It works.

Buy a new drive, they are inexpensive now. The way I would do it is to buy
a 80 Gigger for Vista and use your old drive for programs, and if possible,
another drive for your data. It's always a good idea to keep data files
separate from everything else in case of an accident. I have so many drives
laying around I cannot keep track of them. We have come a long way from the
$700.00 300mb hard drive that had six platters and took up two drive bays.