windows "hour glass" seems to be in a loop & can't click on any icons

**Pauly** · 10 Dec 2014

Most important thing to back up is your personal data which you can do via drag and drop ie music,pictures, documents etc
If you wish to keep you installation ready to copy to a new drive you will need to take a system image of your hard drive ready to transfer over to a new hdd but be aware that as you are having problems and suffering corruption of system files you will also transport that corruption to a new hdd so may not work as expected so may be time for a clean install

Heres some links that may help which ever way you decide to go

Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7
Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
Imaging with free Macrium

tayimali · 10 Dec 2014

Thank very much Pauly and thank you Noel for your kind assistance. I will most probably go for a new installation as recommended after i back up my personal files.

Any recommendations on type of hard drive or make?

Thanks again, Ali

**Pauly** · 10 Dec 2014

I would recommend an ssd as a replacement, it will dramatically speed up the responsiveness of a machine but it depends on budget mainly
Most people here would generally use an SSD for windows and programs and a large capacity traditional spinner HDD for storage
SSDs are getting quite cheap now for smaller capacity but if your machine can only take one drive you would need storage space and a large SSD is not so cheap
I mainly use 120GB SSD drives for my machines with a 1-2TB HDD for storage so its really determined by what you can afford of course theres nothing wrong with having a standard HDD and just replacing it with a like for like swap

NoelDP · 10 Dec 2014

It all depends on whether its a laptop or not ... I.e. whether the machine can support more than one drive.
If it can then follow Pauly's advice.
If not then you need a decent HD... but there aren't really amy bad omes out there as gar as I know, at present

**Pauly** · 10 Dec 2014

NoelDP said:

It all depends on whether its a laptop or not ... I.e. whether the machine can support more than one drive.
If it can then follow Pauly's advice.
If not then you need a decent HD... but there aren't really amy bad omes out there as gar as I know, at present

Someones took their laptop to the pub

tayimali · 10 Dec 2014

haha...thank you very much for your time and effort and advice.....appreciate everything you've done and wish you both best of luck.......and a 100 pints for Noel

Ali

NoelDP · 11 Dec 2014

Pauly said:

NoelDP said:

It all depends on whether its a laptop or not ... I.e. whether the machine can support more than one drive.
If it can then follow Pauly's advice.
If not then you need a decent HD... but there aren't really amy bad omes out there as gar as I know, at present

Someones took their laptop to the pub

Nah - that was on the phone

gregrocker · 11 Dec 2014

What hard drive diagnostics have been run so far so we know the exact condition of the hard drive?

Dell has built in diagnostics which test all of the hardware at once, so that should have been the very first step: Dell Hardware Diagnostics from F12 Menu

Next, is this the factory install? That's the worst install of Win7 one can have, larded with bloatware and duplicate utilities which interfere with better versions built into Win7. I would do what most tech enthusiasts do and Clean Reinstall Windows 7 following those steps which compile everything that's worked best in tens of thousands of installs we've helped with here since beta.

You will never even experience Win7 on that PC until you get rid of the factory install. The tutorial has helped over a million users get and keep a perfect install without a single complaint or return here for problem repairs by those who stick with the tools and methods given.

If not ready to reinstall then after clearing the hardware the next step should be to check for infection, since if you're infected the OS may not repair. These steps are all sequenced in Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start to run from boot disks until the OS is stable enough to work from the OS Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7

NoelDP · 11 Dec 2014

Have a look at the CHKDSK results in the Applications Event log, Greg - they show a deteriorating HD.

gregrocker · 11 Dec 2014

Yes, I saw the file system findings but needs mechanical verification.