I'm looking for some guidance on reinstalling Windows on my laptop. I've been having issues that make me think there might be a virus, especially since my Wi-Fi connectivity has been unreliable. Any tips on how to go about this?
2 Answers
To reinstall Windows, you'll need a few things: a USB thumb drive that’s at least 8GB in size, another computer to set up the drive, and a tool called Rufus, which is free to download. First, grab the Windows ISO file for the version you want: you can find Windows 11 or Windows 10 directly from Microsoft's site. Once you have the ISO, open Rufus on the other computer, point it to your ISO, and follow the prompts to create a bootable USB drive. Then, just plug that drive into your laptop and boot from it (you might need to press a key like F10 or F12 to do this). Just a heads up, this process will erase everything on the USB drive, so make sure to back up any important files beforehand!
You can also use any hard drive 8GB or larger, but make sure it's a USB thumb drive otherwise it won't work with the installation! Simply search for the Windows download after you plug it into another PC and follow the installation instructions provided. It's pretty straightforward!
Just to clarify, it really needs to be a USB thumb drive, not a regular hard drive.