First, do not make a second new post to add to or correct an existing post.  There is an Edit option to edit your post or just "reply" to your original post to add something to it.   Reinstalling won't eat up "memory".  If you are referring to the hard drive instead of the actual PC memory (RAM) it will not eat up hard drive space either. Further, memory (RAM) is handled much differently in Windows 7 (actually it started with XP) and although more physical memory is now required it is not the issue it was with older Operating systems such as 98.  Complete different "ball game" than it was with Win 98.  Hard drive disk space is not the issue it once was either with the larger capacity drives that are available now.  Back in the Win 98 days a 40 GB hard drive was a "large" drive, today 160GB is a "small" drive. Your PC should have the Dell recovery partition on the hard drive, accessed by F8 at power on and that will allow you to restore the PC to the original factory condition.  That should be used to restore as no discs are needed and no addtional drivers need to be downloaded and installed.   Dell Win 7 "PC Restore" reinstallation instructions.
I have not had a new computer since 98 windows SE came out and in Janurary I finally bought a Studio 1745.  I am a "player" and really like trying out different programs and learning what will work on my computer or will "not".  Anyway I am done playing (satisfied my curiosity on what is out there) it eats up memory.  Is this true and is there a way to avoid this problem. I have the start up disc etc that I made not long after I got my laptop but i made them about 3 weeks after the purchase.  Dell sent me the discs for reinstalling windows, programs and drivers.  Any help or tips would really be appreciated.                             Thankyou, Verlon54
studio 1745 want to restore to factory settings