Formatting a hard drive along with the install of a new OS is the best option. The vast majority of operating system installations provide a "format" option as part of the installation process.

Are you someone like me whose entire life revolves around their desktop PCs? Do you work, study, game, and watch movies all from a single computer? If yes, having separate OSes for each of your ...

Windows 11 might be the latest version of Windows, but if you still use Windows 10 and need to "clean install" the operating system, or install or upgrade to it for the first time on an older PC, ...

Teaching little kids to use computers is a great idea, but the thought of exposing innocent minds to the drek that flies across the Internet is enough to make a sane parent think about relocating to ...

We originally published this install guide for Windows 11 shortly after the OS was released in October 2021. To keep it current and as useful as possible, we updated it in October 2024 to cover ...

Jake Peterson is Lifehacker’s Senior Technology Editor. He has a BFA in Film & TV from NYU, where he specialized in writing. Jake has been helping people with their technology professionally since ...

If you own a Raspberry Pi, you can start several operating systems from a single boot medium. All you need is a micro SD card with sufficient room (32GB or more) and a tool called PINN. This stands ...