Having problems with your current Windows installation? Maybe your computer won’t boot or has viruses or spywares? Then you might need to format you hard drive and install a fresh copy of Windows. But before you do that, you need to follow few important steps in order to solve the problem.

For example, if your computer won’t boot; try to diagnose and Repair an Unbootable XP or Vista PC, if your computer starts then check for malware, remove unneeded autoloaders, and update drivers. You might even consider cleaning the Registry.

If all of that didn’t solve the problem, and you decided to format your computer then follow these 7 easy steps to make the formatting process easy and safe.

Pcworld has all the details you need – step by step instructions.