Win98 -- Re-installing, Clean w/ no sign of prev anything ??

[vhelp]

How can I remove or delete ALL entries in:

** config.sys
** autoexec.bat
** wipe registry to zero
** anything else here

..files so that I can do an abolutely CLEAN re-installation
of Windows 98 ??

Reason why I ask, is because every time I re-install win98x,
my path string keeps adding/contatenating endlessly.
I have a fullscreen worth of PATH="xxxxxxxxxxxxx" of many
ditrectory entries, etc.

..also, because I want to make sure NOTHING is tainting my
setup from a previous corrupted setup.

Thank you, for any advice/tips

-vhelp 3591

[thevoelk]

Buy a new hard drive and install Windows 98 to that is the most surefire way. Look around with google for a "Forensic sterilization floppy". Law Enforcement will use these tools to completely wipe hard drives aqnd floppy disk to image evidence to them to work off of. While data can still be recovered with advanced tools off of the disk/drives formatted with these tools, it's far beyond what Windows can read.

[redwudz]

AFAIK, just running fdisk from a W98 bootdisk and repartitioning and reformatting should start you with a clean slate. You are deleting all partitions before reformatting?

[VegasBud]

Here's a freeware app that should work. If you don't like that one, there are other freeware disk wiping programs on the web.

[vhelp]

I'm sorry guys. I didn't mean to mislead any of you.

I am not trying to hide or delete permanately or private data or
any other such files. Really.

I only want to give my current setup a cleaner or basic

** config.sys
** autoexec.bat
** registry
** (anything else missing, goes here)

..to work with, instead of the conjective build-up of these
3 files before I head to a re-installation process. I have lost
count of the many times I re-installed win98x from my current HDD
mess.

When I want to do a clean start, installation'wise, what I normally
do is:

** rename my windows dir to windows.old (or similar)
** rename "program files" dir same way, etc.
.
** Then, I proceed to DOS and begin a fresh Windows 98 installation.

This way, I still have my old setup of files, and desktop, and can
refer back to them if things don't quiet work out. I never had to
actually revert back, with only a few exceptions.. ie, desktop icons
and folders and a few other tid-bits. But its a safe method I have been
using since.

All I want to do is get rid of the garbage in those three files above
because they (mainly the registry) and SET PATH="XXXX" have bloated
over time, and I can't seem to kill the config.sys contents. They seem
to re-appear out of knowwhere's during the Windows 98 re-installation,
and I have that huge PATH="xxxxx" again, but bigger.

Again, thanks for you help or tips, etc.

-vhelp 3594

[handyguy]

I dont think you can do all that without a reformat.

** config.sys
** autoexec.bat

These two you can rename.

If you have a win.com I think you can also rename that from Dos & the computer is going to think that you don't have windows & do a reinstall.

[808smokey]

go to the hard drive manufacturer and download there format software. It will have a low level format that erases everything. FDISK doesn't always erase everything.

[vhelp]

UPDATE: subject matter solved (sort of)

Evening everyone.

I didn't get much further in my original goal, *but* I did manage to
remove the garbage build-up from my "autoexec.bat" file, and my PATH=
statement is now clean

I did not want to resort to reformating, etc. because that was not
part of the problem, and as such, was not necessary.

I resorted to my original plan (see above post) and re-installed
win favorite OS, win98x from scratch, and everything is back to
normal and up to speed (little bit quicker than usual) and I couldn't
be happier.

Thanks again for your additional info. All is well again

Case closed!

-vhelp 3595