OV9

We have a "family" dell which is used for general use, storing Photo's, my iTunes library etc. Following a year or 2 of Mini Dinny using it for this and that, it's now running ridiculously slowly and in serious need of a refresh.

Ideally, I'd like to re-install Windows and take it right back to the start but keep all files. i.e. I don't want to format and re-install the software as I really don't fancy ripping 500 odd CD's again into iTunes.

But in reality, any maintenance type update that could be triggered would be better than nothing

I appreciate I'm asking for moon on a stick here but I don't know where to start and there are literally millions of sites all telling you different things.

You can reinstall Windows and keep the files, but make sure you have a backup anyway.

Easiest option is to buy a new hard drive (does it have an SSD drive already? If not that's the biggest boost you can give it), install Windows and your apps on it, then hook the old drive up and either use as a secondary drive or to transfer stuff away from. That way you don't (as long as you copy things) lose anything if the install goes wrong.

Remember to follow the Apple guides on how to migrate from one machine to another if you do what I suggested.

And for goodness sake invest in a backup solution, ideally something that backs up to a cloud service.

Back up is currently on 2 external hard drives (each a replica of each other) - not exactly the modern approach and not 100% fool proof but better than nothing.

I'll re-take a fresh set of back-ups (and also validate they're completeness) and then try the Windows re-install option (althogh I'll need to find out how to do this) Presumably as you do this, you're given options as to the "level" of re-install - full, partial etc ??

Yes, you can install over and keep your data but refresh Windows, or complete wipe.