Backup files before reformatting C Drive

[bzens]

I am looking to re-format my C drive and do a fresh reinstall of Windows 10 (Build 18362), my programs and aps. I know that many of my installed programs, such as those from Adobe, require me to uninstall them on the Adobe home page first. Others, such as windows, Office, and other specialty programs, will require saving of passwords, etc. The main question I have here is that I want to know what saved information I should keep (such as paswords) and what shouldn't I keep, such as cookies??? AND, what landmines should I be aware of.

Re passwords, I know how to view them on the Edge settings option, but is there a convenient way to save them?

Finally, why am I doing this? It's been about four years with this system, and my drive is getting cluttered up, and there is a lot of stuff on there that I cannot see that is bogging the system down. AVG now cannot run a complete scan. I used to do this about every two years under old Windows versions and every time I did it seemed like the computer got a shot of steroids. With the holidays coming up, I figure that it is a good time to start all over again.

Thoughts?

 

[spicypadthai]

Resetting the PC will definitely improve speed/stability and should clear up a lot of niggling problems. I usually do resets that remove everything b/c that's the cleanest but it means you need to back up all personal files (docs, xlsx, pdf, photos, videos, etc.) and reinstall all apps. If you don't want to do that, choose the option for "keep my files" and you'll be able to keep personal files and also choose whether to preserve preinstalled apps, the ones the manufacturer included out of the box. Any you installed will need to be reinstalled. You can export your Edge favorites but there's no option to keep passwords or anything else. You'll need to log in and save those again. Last thing is to run Windows update prior, make sure you have the lastest version (1909) and security update, and then reset. Other than that, it's easy and straightforward and the few hours invested reinstalling and reconfiguring should be worth it. Just make sure you spend a little extra time backing up personal files even if you choose to keep them b/c you never know what may go wrong and those are the only things you won't be able to recover. Check the apps you use the most for music/video/photos and verify the location where they save files and then copy them to a USB drive and/or OneDrive/another cloud storage. Also make sure to have all the info you'll need such as WiFi password, MS account credentials, app product keys if applicable, copy of device drivers or the support page where you can download them, etc.

Good luck!