External hard drives and reformatting computer?

ok, someone told me my widows might be corrupt and i need to reinstall it, willl i have to reinstall drivers? how do i know what driver i may need before i reinstall? also i want to get an external hard drive to save all my pictures on how do they work, do i just plug it in and transfer my pictures or do i need to download something? i have been haveing problems running my yahoo messenger or downloading anything. will i have to reinstall my security when i reformatt. how do i know i wont screw up my computer more by reformatting? i just had my computer fixed not to long ago, should i use the disk he used or should i use my own that i bought. also what fo you think is the best security for it, i know lots of questions, sorry, please help

External hard drives and reformatting computer?computer repair

lets start at the beginning.

you should have a restore disc or 2 that came w/your computer and contains Windows and all the necessary drivers. If you have customized your computer or added hardware/etc, you will also need those drivers. you could write out a list of your hardware and the drivers needed for each, just to keep track and make sure you have them all.

external hard drive...usually just plug it in and start to copy/move your files. you may have to format the drive, but usually not.

to back up your files, you can use the 'File and Settings Transfer Wizard' (usually found in your Start Menu-%26gt;Programs-%26gt;Accessories-%26gt;System). With this program, you can make a backup of your files %26 settings to your external hard drive and then restore them after you have formatted your computer. It will create a large file, and you will need to File and Settings Transfer Wizard on the new computer, so you may want to copy it's entire directory (folder of files) to the external drive for ease of use.

i'm not sure what you mean by security...you will have to restore all programs/users/documents/etc.

as far as security, i like the 'free' programs, ClamWinAV, Avast, SpyDoctor, and AdAware.

i would use the newest discs you have to restore.

External hard drives and reformatting computer?free antivirus

If you still have the installation disk you can repair XP instead of re-installing it. This would do no harm to your files and settings.

Please include details of what the computer is doing.