Just like starting over

My PC got really sick all of a sudden about 3 weeks ago. Took ages to boot (20-25 minutes) and much effort to start an application or switch to another one.

Despite having done all that I knew to improve its performance, I had to conclude that the only "cure" was to start over again by reformating the entire PC.

I had never done that before and was nervous about it. Had to back up all the important stuff to the external hard disk, noted all the important settings (e.g. the wireless network) and passwords.

But the process turned out to be relatively painless. Ran the recovery discs which came with the PC, did lots of Microsoft updating (including installing SP2), re-established the wired/wireless Internet connections, and installed/downloaded the software I needed. Simple.

Of course there were hiccups. Like I forgot which little freeware text editor I relied on to read text files and write html codes. Having all applications to read and write Chinese properly also took a bit of time and googling.

Now, my PC is a healthy little kid once again.

Just like starting over!