ims said:
Dear all,
I want to re-install my windows XP, will all the application softwares
installed in the harddisk disappear?
Some of my friends say yes, but some say no.
Depends on what you are doing and why. If you simply want to do a "repair
install", that is, run XP setup over the top of your current installation to
repair some broken settings, it should preserve everything just fine.
If you want to do a fresh install of Windows, then this won't erase the
programs from the disk (unless you choose to format as part of this fresh
install of course) but it will delete all their settings and such-like in
the Windows registry, so you'd need to re-install many of the programs to
recover their settings.
Lastly, if you have an "OEM recovery disk" and plan to use that, be aware
that most if not all of these return your entire hard disk to "factory
fresh" settings, removing everything on your system that was not there when
it left the factory.
