There’s a fair-to-good chance at least some of the components in your system were released after the Windows version you’re now using, especially if you’re falling back to Windows 7. System builders have particular reason to load a USB drive up with drivers before installing a new OS version.

Wiping your OS image and installing another is almost always a one-way trip. This process doesn’t need to take all day, but dedicate some time to checking you’ve actually got all the data you intend to keep.

Check your installed programs list in case you come across an app you need to either backup or preserve (if, for example, install files are no longer easily available online but you still have them on your local system). If you’ve created personal macros in Office, make sure those are saved. If you keep local chat logs and wish to retain them, make sure you back them up. If you’re a gamer, make sure you’ve transferred any saved games you want to keep, and copied your Steam library to a different storage solution. Backup your favorites and export your browser cookies and passwords, if that’s something you want to do. Look through your Downloads and Documents directory. The most important part of this process is often the most overlooked, namely, take time to think about what you want to keep. Check subdirectories, like the Screenshots directory, just to be careful.

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