Maintenance  -

Formatting Floppy Disks   - March 2009:

So exactly what's the easiest way to format disks? You can do it one of three ways:

full format (recommended for new disks and disks whose contents are unknown to you), quick format (recommended for reusing disks whose contents are known to be OK, just not useful any longer), and system disks (covered here). Your best bet is always the Full format choice. Insert the disk into the drive, double-click My Computer, and choose the A: drive, and click Format on the menu bar. Select "Full" under Format type, choose a label (title) if you like (11 characters max), and click OK. The drive whirs and mutters to itself for a while, then you're done. Windows has wiped the disk clean, checked it for errors, and formatted it for file storage. (In theory, you can put a Macintosh-formatted disk in for reformatting, but I've seen some computers refuse to recognize the disk, so don't get your hopes up for reformatting that fistful of old Mac disks.)

Quick formats are even easier than full formats, and take less time. Just shove the disk into the drive, double-click My Computer, and choose the A: drive, and select Format. Select "Quick (Erase)" and, if you like, a label (title) for the disk up to 11 characters long. Click OK, listen to the drive hum, and then when prompted, click Close and then OK again. That's all there is to it.

Other Maintenance Categories:

• Monitor's Maintenance

• Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Maintenance

• Deleting Unnecessary Files

• Hard Drives

• Using Scandisk

• Scanning for Viruses

• Input Devices (Keyboards, Mouse, Joysticks)

• Peripherals

• Computer Toolbox

• Budget Web Hosting

• Defragmentation of  Your Drive