I bought a second hand PC from a fellow at work. It is loaded with Windows 95 and came with a shrink-wrapped Windows 98 CD and booklet (an OEM version). The PC still refers to the previous owner’s preferences and has lots of his old stuff on it that we don’t need. Is there anyway of loading the new Windows 98 over the top of the existing Windows 95 version to effectively delete everything that is currently on the PC, so we can start from scratch with Windows 98? We do not have a Windows 95 CD and the fellow who we bought the PC from cannot be contacted. Can you help?

In effect, what you want to do is totally wipe your computer clean of everything and then install Windows 98. Since the CD of Windows 98 which you have is an OEM version it should be the full version of Windows 98 and not an upgrade. This means that you will not need the original Windows 95 CD. However, double check this by inspecting your Windows 98 CD to see if it has ‘Upgrade’ written on it. If it does, you will probably need to buy a full version of Windows 98 yourself (NB: A new version of Windows, named Windows Millennium, is being released soon so you may want to hold off). However, if it does not say that it is an upgrade then it would be the full version. I strongly recommend that you DO NOT attempt to wipe your system and install Windows 98 yourself unless you are sure of what you are doing. Otherwise, ask a colleague from work/friend who is computer literate to do this for you. The operation can be very tricky because you will be mainly using the DOS command line and if you are not familiar with DOS, you will probably run into some major difficulties. However, if you do want to try your hand at it, or your computer literate friend needs some guidance, then read on. The first thing to do is not to blame me if something goes wrong. But, seriously, firstly, backup all of the data you want to keep as you will lose everything on your hard drive during the procedure. Secondly, create a DOS boot disk with CD drivers. Instructions to do this can be found at www.help.com/cat/1/21/hto/16/1.html . It is essential that you are able to access your CD-ROM from the boot disk otherwise you are in trouble. Once you have created the boot disk which should have the CD drives on it, you can verify that you can access your CD-ROM drive by booting up from the disk and trying to access your CD drive. Put your boot disk into your floppy drive and reboot your computer. Once you are presented with the command prompt, place your Windows 98 CD into your CD-ROM drive and type ‘D:’ (without the quotes) (or replace ‘D’ with whatever your CD drive is) at the command prompt. When you have changed to your CD-ROM drive, type ‘dir’ (without the quotes). If all is well, the contents of the CD-ROM should be listed. If it isn’t (or you can’t boot up off your boot disk) do not continue with the rest of the instructions. Work out your problem with your CD drivers or boot disk first. After you have verified that you can access your CD-ROM drive, remove the disk from the drive, remove the CD from your CD-ROM drive, and reboot your machine. You will now need to copy the ‘format.exe’ and ‘fdisk.exe’ utilities to your disk. These files are normally located in the C:WINDOWSCOMMAND directory. When you have found the file, copy it to your DOS boot disk. Place your boot disk into your floppy drive and reboot again. You will then be presented with the command prompt. Put your Windows 98 CD-ROM into the CD drive (but do not change drives, stay at the command prompt) and type the command ‘FORMAT C:’ (without the quotes) (or replace ‘C’ with whatever your hard drive letter is). THIS IS THE POINT OF NO RETURN! Once you type this command, all data will be lost on your hard drive. Once the format has been completed, get a cup of coffee as the worst is over. The next thing to do is to setup Windows 98. With your Windows 98 CD in the drive, switch to your CD-ROM drive by typing the command ‘D:’ (without the quotes) or replace the ‘D’ with whatever the letter of your CD drive is. Finally, type ’setup’ (without the quotes) and, all being well, the Windows 98 setup should load and you are on your way! If you have any questions about this solution, please contact me to clarify/rectify them first otherwise you may find yourself in some trouble!