Reinstalling Windows Vista

[MichaelZZ]

I am about to uninstall and reinstall Vista Home Premium on my computer which has become slow to boot up. (Less than 3 years old, plenty of memory)
I have backed up all my important files (photos, spreadsheets, documents etc) on to an external hard drive and saved and copied all my email contacts and bookmarks. I have noted my frequently used programs and I have CDs for most of these so that I can reinstall them. Those for which I don't have disks I intend to download from the internet.
Have I forgotten anything? I would hate to be in the situation where I find something missing after I've done the reinstall. Any tips would be most welcome.
Thanks

[rojash]

Device drivers

[wildwood]

Not sure as I don't use Vista, but isn't there a 'Windows Easy Transfer tool' that will also save your settings etc. so that you don't have to redo all your mail settings, browser preferences etc.

There are very affordable quicker options to back up files other than CDs. A external hard drive is a lot faster and connects via the USB port. Even better is an extra hard drive inside the computer where you can save stuff continually.

[wildwood]

Ha, just read your Q completely and see you already have an external HDD.

[Postdog]

someone needs to read a bit slower......

[VHG]

Did you buy the computer from a large company like Dell etc with Vista already installed?

If so then they have probably built in to the computer a way to reinstall Windows, and take it back to "factory settings", using either a hidden recovery partition on the hard disk, or a way to make a recovery DVD.

This should all be covered in the documentation.

If you have not got the documentation then let us know the make / model and we will see if there is somewhere on the web you can download them.

[MichaelZZ]

Thank you everyone for your comments so far. I bought the computer from PC Specialist and it came with Vista Home Premium ready installed. However, they also supplied the disc and the 25 character serial number. The only extra items of hardware I have added are the monitor (obviously!) and a printer, both of which are extremely well behaved. A couple of days ago I got the external hard drive already mentioned. This has built-in backup software which has copied everything apart from my program files (obviously, again!).
Other things like Internet (O2), Open Office, IrfanView, PaintShop Pro X2, I have in the past uninstalled and reinstalled and for these I either have discs for or I can download, so I'm not too concerned about these. What I am really after is "hints, tips and pitfalls for the unwary" so I don't get any unpleasant surprises either during or after the uninstall / reinstall.
Thanks again

[galeck1947]

Why not upgrade to Windows 7 you can upgrade using the upgrade disc and it will keep all of your files etc intact and just upgrade to Windows 7 OS no hassles. Worth considering as you already have Vista installed you are halfway there.

[VHG]

If the person who supplied the PC (PC specialist) gave you a Windows DVD and the 25 digit code then I assume this is a Windows Vista OEM disk.

If so then as has already been said, if you install Windows using that you need to install the drivers on top of that.

There should have been a drivers CD supplied which will have the drivers for network, sound, graphics, etc, and if you dont install them AFTER putting on Vista then some of your hardware either wont work, or wil work very badly as Windows will install basic drivers.

This is VERY important and I would not begin the install of Vista until you have drivers for all your hardware components.

[Old_Geezer]

From personal experience, not all PCs upgrade to Win 7 well. I've not checked but have been told MS keep a list of compatible boards, or something like that.

Should never have upgraded my woman's PC, still get complaints about lack of video acceleration and nonsense about drives not being loaded. I feel sure it is the motherboard unable to cope.

[MichaelZZ]

Thanks, VHG, for your comments about drivers. I have also been in communication with PC Specialist and the guy there gave me a link to the Graphics Card driver download. He also confirmed that the other driver discs that I have are up to date and compatible.

Thanks also OG for your comments re Windows 7. It hadn't really crossed my mind to upgrade (if that's the right word!) to Windows 7 as I am quite happy with the Vista I know.

[ChuckFickens]

When Vista first came out it was (quite justifiably so) slated, because it was crap!

Vista with all the service packs, correct drivers, and updates (and on a machine upto running it) isn't that much worse, or different to windows7

If Vista is working for you it's not worth the upgrade cost IMO