Common Sense Advisory #1

Do not reformat your computer unless absolutely necessary.

I know too many people who think that reformating their computer is an easy way out of solving computer problems. I understand that they may not have the know-how to troubleshoot it cleanly, but reformating should always be used as a last resort.

Over the past couple of weeks two of my friends have reformatted their PC over trivial matters and ended up worse than before. One reinstalled Windows because the computer was a little lagging while playing videos. But he forgot to keep the audio card driver, and so had no sound for a few days. Another reformatted his C:, but somehow or other it also ate up D:, which contained precious photos and videos.

Of course, Common Sense Advisory #2 would be: Don't keep your precious photos and videos in one place. This guy did, and now he has nothing to replace those precious files.