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It is increasingly popular to setup your own computer. In most cases, it saves money and time.
Best of all, having to setup the system yourself, you will be familiar with the system and computers in general.

If you have a desire to learn, then you can. And once you know the basics, you can easily setup your computer!
In my opinion, it is best to do this more than once, so you will how to do it in the future.
In short, you need to know what you are going to learn. I hope this tutorial is going to teach you the things you want.

In the following tutorial, you will find the steps to setup the OS in your own PC. Enjoy!


At this point, the CD-ROM drivers are installed. So, you are ready to install the operating system.
You can choose whatever operating system you wish. I generally use Windows, as do most people.
I will assume you are installing Windows so I only offer the installation processes to each version of Windows.
I think you have any chance of using.

  1. Windows "95" Installation
  2. Windows "98" Installation
  3. Windows 2000 Installation
  4. Windows "XP" Installation

Note! Just click on the above link to take you to the section you want.



Now, your new PC should be up and running and you should be staring at the BIOS setup screen.

Your next step is to make sure your BIOS is using the proper settings.
While some users like to use the BIOS to tweak the system into running like greased soap, during an initial build,
it is best to keep settings conservative, which usually means leaving them at their defaults.

When you first enter the BIOS,
and where you probably are at this point in the tutorial,
you will see the main menu.
It will list two columns (usually) of sections of
your BIOS which have different settings in them,
an example of which is to the right.

Standard CMOS Setup-This section just controls some of the basic stuff.

Advanced BIOS Features-This section controls some of basic operating settings of your PC.

Advanced Chipset Features-This Bios section allows you to control certain aspects of your motherboard which are specific to the chipset on your board.

Power Management-This section controls the power setting.

Integrated Peripherals-This sections is used to configure the ports.

PnP/PCI Configuration-This section controls some of the various aspects of plug and play and the PCI bus.

PC Health-This section controls the hardwares like fan speed, cpu temperature, voltage level etc.

SoftMenu / Frequency-Voltage ControlThis section allows you to control the CPU settings.

Defaults-This section lets you choose the defaults.

Passwords-This section lets you set a password for your bios settings.



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Windows 95 is a true multitasking operating system than is much better than the previous Windows.
It supports:

Just click on the link below to see its information.

Windows 95 Installation
  1. Begin Setup. At the DOS prompt, type "D:setup". If your CD-ROM is a letter other than D:, type in that drive letter instead.

  2. SCANDISK. Once begun, the setup program will begin to run a SCANDISK on your hard drive. This will proceed automatically and, hopefully, without error. If you get an immediate error stating that you have no extended memory manager, don't fret. This is probably because this drive is brand new and you don't have DOS installed on it. Simply hit ESC and move on.

  3. Welcome Screen. At this point, you will see the graphical interface of Windows 95 and a Welcome screen. You should see a mouse cursor. Makes sure your mouse works. If not, double-check its connections. You can setup Win95 without a mouse, but I wouldn't recommend it. Now, hit "Continue".

  4. Setup Start. Setup will tell you all about the three phases of this install process. How nice of Microsoft to warn us.=) Click Next.

  5. Choose Install Directory. You will be prompted to tell the computer what directory to install Windows to. The default is C:WINDOWS, and I strongly recommend leaving this value at default.

  6. Options. Upon continuation, setup will run some routine tests on your system. After this, you will be offered four options for a setup routine, "Typical", "Portable", "Compact", and "Custom". Pick the options that best suits you. For most people, I recommend choosing "Typical". If you wish to have more control over what Microsoft would like to install on your machine, choose "Custom".

  7. Hardware Search. At this point, setup will analyze your computer to see what components are installed. When asked if it has a MIDI or sound card, or video capture card, check the appropriate boxes. This search may take several minutes, and expect your hard drive to be very loud and active.

  8. Select Components. Windows will ask you which components you would like to install. Simply click on those you want. I recommend choosing at least Accessories, Communications, Multimedia, and Disk Tools.

  9. Network Configuration. Even if you don't have a network, Windows will want to add a network card. Just accept the defaults and move on. This can be fixed later.

  10. ID. You will be asked for your network identification. Just type something in for each line just to make Windows happy. You can always change these names later.

  11. StartUp Disk. Windows will ask you if you want to make a startup disk. Make one if you would like. You can always make one later as well.

  12. Copy Files. Setup will now copy all of the files to your computer's hard drive. This may take awhile depending on the speed of your system. When it is finished, click "Finished".

  13. First Boot. Well, first Windows 95 boot. You will see a nice blue screen. At the bottom, it will say "Getting Ready To Run Windows 95 For The First Time". It will do some thinking, and it might take a while. Just let it go.

  14. SetUp Finished. You will see a dialog saying setup is done. Click OK and the system will reboot.

  15. Install Additional Drivers. If you're like most, you have additional hardware that is not yet set up. This probably includes your video card, sound card, modem, etc. Install these drivers now. Follow the procedures outlined in their documentation. You may have to reboot a few times.



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Windows 98, an upgrade of Windows 95, provides faster system startup and shutdown,
better management and support for devices like DVD, Webtv.

The only thing that is the same is their design, no change at all. So you might find it boring.
I suggest waiting for more versions of Windows to come out because there is reports of Windows 98
crashing too often.

Just click on the link below to see its information.

Windows 98 Installation
  1. Setup Start. Type Setup?at the command prompt to start the process. It will warn you that setup is going to do a routine check on your system. This is fine. Press Enter.

  2. Product Key. It will then ask for the product key. You can find this on the CD-slip that help the Windows CD when you bought it. Type it into the blank boxes.

  3. Directory. Select the directory to which you want to install Windows. For most people, the default of C:WINDOWS will do just fine. Hit Next.

  4. Options. You will be presented with your setup options. You are given four options: Typical, Portable, Compact, and Custom. The explanations for them are given. Choose the one you want. For the regular user, Typical will do just fine. If you want more control, and don't necessarily want everything Microsoft thinks should be on your computer, choose Custom.

  5. Custom. If you chose custom, you will be given a window to select those components you want installed. Go ahead and do that now.

  6. Startup Disk.The next window informs you that setup will make a startup disk for you. If this is your first install and you do not already have a Win98 system disk, I recommend you do this. Just follow the prompts. If you don't want to make one, Microsoft doesn't really give you an easy out. Just hit next. It will start compiling the data. When it pops up with a window saying to put a floppy in drive A:, just hit cancel and you will get away with not making a startup disk. Sneaky, huh.

  7. Startup Disk. The next window just says that Windows is ready to start copying files. Hit next.

  8. Finished. When it re-starts this time, it will go into Windows and you are done.



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Windows 2000, an upgrade to Windows NT, has a sophisticated GUI operating system
with networking and multitasking capabilities. It was designed for client-server networks.

Windows 2000 requires more disk space, memory, and a faster processor.
This Windows is mainly used for buiness and networking, so buy other Windows
if you are a home-user.

Just click on the link below to see its information.

Windows 2000 Installation
  1. Setup Start. When starting setup, you will first see a Windows 2000 Setup Wizard? Here you can select an upgrade or a clean install.

  2. Product Key.Plug in the product key when asked.

  3. System. It will then ask whether you want to upgrade your file system to NTFS. If you want increased compatibility or simply want to dual-boot with Win98, then leave your file system as FAT32. If, after understanding the ins and outs or NTFS, you still want to go with it, then go ahead.

  4. Report. It will start to wind and grind, detect things, and otherwise make noise. It will then spit out an upgrade report.

  5. Installation. It then gives you a message that you are ready to install, that it will take 75 to 90 minutes, and that it will restart 3 times. Yes, good, whatever?hit next.

  6. Wait. Sit back and watch the pretty pictures. You are pretty much done, other than the wait.

  7. Finished. When it re-starts this time, it will go into Windows and you are done.



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Windows XP is Microsoft latest Windows creation.
It is the faster, most reliable Windows operating systems,
providing quicker startup, better performance
and a new, simplified visual look.

It is availble in two editions:

Windows Xp provides simpler administration of users, multiple language
interface and support for secured network access.
I definitely recommend this Windows because it is much better than the previous Windows
and also crash rarely.

Just click on the link below to see its information.

Windows XP Installation
  1. Setup. Insert the CD into the CD-ROM. Click Install Windows. If your CD doesn't automatically run when inserted, then run setup.exe manually on the CD.

  2. Installation. Choose the type of installation you want: Upgrade or New Installation. Upgrade is recommended if you just want one OS on your machine, but choose New Installation for an easier process.

  3. license. Agree to the license agreement and enter the product key.

  4. Update. Choose whether or not to do Dynamic Update. This will download the latest setup files from Microsoft before continuing. You must have an active internet connection, and obviously a modem, set up to do this.

  5. Directory. You will be prompted to tell the computer what directory to install Windows to. The default is C:WINDOWS, and I strongly recommend leaving this value at default

  6. Convert. You will be asked which file system to use. You can convert to an NTFS file system or use FAT 32 or, the default, which is to leave the file system as is, which I recommend.

  7. Select. You will be asked to select which partition to install Windows XP to. It is best to install it to a different partition than any other version of Windows, as Microsoft recommends it. But, you have full control.

  8. Finished. Once these steps are done, you will sit back and watch it copy all your files over and do its thing.