HP TouchSmart. Touch the future now.
Windows XP: Reasons behind reformatting your hard drive and reinstalling Windows OS?
- 8/21/09 2:39 PM
tweakui
by btblondon - 8/22/09 1:20 AM In reply to: See my answer to last week's question ... by WatzmanPutting your data in a new partition is made easy with TweakUI, a free utility from MS. Among the many thing s it lets you do, you can easily relocate your data to a new partition (and you can move your desktop as well - critical if like me you keep lots of things you are using on the desktop. You can even move the default location for programme files to a different drive - neater but it doesn't get rid of the need to re-install them after a reformat as you still need to recreate the registry entries but you may keep some of th4 modifications you have made if they are stored with the programme (and you keep things like plug-ins).
I agree, with clarifications on WHY I agree
by depage - 8/22/09 6:52 AM In reply to: See my answer to last week's question ... by WatzmanYou covered it all on reformat, reinstall Windows, and reinstall software; the last is the part people forget, and the most difficult.
You mention imaging software. Everything from Norton Ghost to Windows home Server can function there. Windows Home Server gives one a daily (recent) to weekly (less recent) choice of images to choose from, and with no user intervention and little understanding required. Its a great choice to recover from hardware failure, especially of hard disk drives. It also recovers from virus infestation if you can figure out when it happened. No method of imaging recovers from "registry bloat", and other "damaged registry" issues.
Imaging software also doesn't work for all hardware problems. While issues that require replacement of the motherboard do fine if an identical motherboard is available, 3 or 4 years later that's rather unlikely. The original image will be locked to the original processor type, which may be no longer available.
You implied, and I want to state outright, that at the 3-4 year point an entirely new system is likely to be the best choice.
Right
by peter_rat - 8/22/09 9:06 AM In reply to: See my answer to last week's question ... by WatzmanI'm a computer engineer by profession, and an avid hobbyist. Your answer is absolutely spot-on. Pete (UK)
What's the reason behind reformatting your hard drive an
by ltchang - 8/22/09 12:27 PM In reply to: See my answer to last week's question ... by WatzmanInstead of make partition within your one hard disk, you can install a second hard disk (call it D:) and move all your vital files and programs to this D: drive and reinstall Windows to you C: drive. You can use cccleaner to clean your temporary memory and registry, this free program works reasonably very well.
System Restore not working
by bvirji - 8/22/09 1:17 PM In reply to: See my answer to last week's question ... by WatzmanDear Friends
for sometime now - almost a couple of months- my system restore does not work after going through all the motion it gives a msg of being unsuccessful. I have Windows Vista home edition.
Do advise!!
Ali
System Restore on Windows XP
by rocket40 - 8/22/09 11:59 PM In reply to: System Restore not working by bvirjiI am having the same problem with the Windows Restore program. How far back will this program go? It looks like on mine it goes back to May 2009. I once used the Restore that comes up as F10 when Windows first starts and managed to lose a lot of data. Fortunately I had most of the data on another computer.
I use an HP PAvilion a847c, 250GB HD, 3.20GHz, XP Home Edition, 2.5GB Memory.
Can data that is transferred from a computer that uses Windows 98 to an external harddrive be accessed by a second comuter using XP? How can I tell if the older computer has the proper transfer configuration?
system restore not working
by johnlira - 8/26/09 2:33 AM In reply to: System Restore not working by bvirjiI had to read your post again more closely, for a minuite I thought I wrote it. I have the same problem. After trying about 8 times or with no success I later found out your not suppose to do too many system restores. Does trying or actually following through with success count? How many times are you allowed? ect.
Jo Anne R
Most of that can be achieved with backups
by jsp614 - 8/22/09 4:03 PM In reply to: See my answer to last week's question ... by WatzmanMost of the problems requiring a full installation can be cured with having drive backups using Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost. Make an image each year and store it away. Then make weekly images. If there is a failure you can go back to the previous week. If you have reg bloat, you can go back to the point after you installed your main apps -- saving the agony reinstalling applications.
Having a second disk to backup data is critical. I keep all my data on a separate file server that mirrors the data and I have a program that automatically copies the data to 3rd location at 3AM.
Drives are mechanical devices and all mechanical devices fail eventually. One must plan for that eventuality.
X-actly
by colorguys - 8/23/09 6:04 AM In reply to: See my answer to last week's question ... by WatzmanA perfect answer and I agree. Techhelp and computer shops are WAAY too fast to go to DEFCON2 by doing Win-reinstalls or so-called rescue disks - when the answers are only a few clicks away. Corporate IT departments toss out perfectly good computers or by policy they do FIRST STEP reformats because "fixing them" disturbs their "profit margin". Even before I suffer from BLOAT (123 programs + games loaded) I usually need to get a new hard drive (size increase) to manage large creation files - graphics+3D/ani) - but in these days of long-lasting T-byte drives I think it is neccessary to develop a reformat cycle. I used to it once a year by habit - but those were in much more volatile days (dos, win3.1).
Great answer!
by geenosr - 8/23/09 8:14 AM In reply to: See my answer to last week's question ... by WatzmanIt's great to find someone who can explain something that makes many people nervous in a way that everyone can understand. It's people like you who can teach and inspire aspiring geeks in a detailed easy-to-understand manner. I have reformatted my son's desktop more times than I want to admit, and I wish I would have had your answer and insight when I struggled through the process. I have it now and hope I don't have to use it, but if I do, it will be less painful.
Thank you,
geenosr
about System Restore...
by nbellion - 8/23/09 9:59 AM In reply to: See my answer to last week's question ... by WatzmanSystem restore has worked really well for me on those occasions where my problems were due to something I did or some software I just installed, but I have had 2 instances where a virus or Trojan had actually infected the restore files and prevented their use. Talk about a bit)) to remove. I switched to a different anti-V program (AVG-Free, God Bless you) and it got the little buggers.
System Restore... Another target for malware
by Good-PC.Guy! - 8/24/09 1:24 AM In reply to: about System Restore... by nbellionMALWARE, (which is considered to be any bit of software that does anything on your PC without your approval), IS CREATED WITH THE GOAL OF INFECTING AS MANY PCs AS POSSIBLE AND STAYING ON THEM AS LONG AS POSSIBLE... SO IT STANDS TO REASON THAT THOSE CREATORS WILL ALSO WISH TO TAKE WHAT-EVER ADDITIONAL STEPS THEY CAN TO TRY TO DEFEAT ANYTHING WHICH MIGHT PREVENT THAT GOAL!
I'VE NOT ONLY HAD MY System Restore DEFEATED, BUT ALSO MANY OTHER THINGS WHICH ARE COMMON TO MOST PCs,, LIKE EVEN MY Norton-AV !
__ ANOTHER THING THAT MUCH MALWARE TRIES TO GET ACCOMPLISHED, IS GET YOUR PC TO BE REBOOTED... SO THAT THEN YOUR OS WILL ACTIVATE THE INSTALLED MALWARE, AND YOUR PC WILL THEN BE EVEN LESS IN YOUR CONTROL! _ (AND MANY SUCCESSFULLY ATTEMPT TO GET THAT ACCOMPLISHED IN SUCH A WAY SO AS TO KEEP YOU UNAWARE OF IT!)
__ YOU MAY THINK THAT YOUR ANTI-VIRUS/ANTI-MALWARE PROGRAMs WILL TAKE CARE OF SUCH CRAP / ($#!+) FOR YOU, AND IT LIKELY WILL... EVENTUALLY.
EVENTUALLY, MOST EVERY AV-PROGRAM WILL! _ BUT UNTIL THEN, THAT CRAP CAN HAPPILY LIVE & WORK ON YOUR PC!
__ THERE ARE BOTH ENDS OF THE SPECTRUM OF ANTI-MALWARE PROGRAMS... THOSE THAT FIND & ELIMINATE ANY INFECTIONS PRETTY-MUCH AUTOMATICALLY FOR YA, AND THOSE WHICH JUST FIND IT FOR YA AND LET YOU DO THE WORK OF CLEANING IT.
I, MYSELF, DISLIKE THOSE THAT DO THE WORK FOR YA, (leaving ya thinking afterwords that all is well), AND MUCH PREFER THE SMALLER PROGRAMS WHICH LET ME DO THE CLEANING-WORK MYSELF! _ AND HERE SOON FOLLOWS THE IMPORTANT REASON WHY.....
MANY DIFFERENT ANTI-MALWARE PROGRAMS FIND MANY DIFFERENT INFECTIONS, AND SOME SOONER THAN OTHERS!! _ SO JUST CUZ ONE FOUND SOMETHING THAT ANOTHER DIDN'T, DOES NOT NECESSARILY MAKE IT MUCH BETTER THAN THE OTHER! _ OFTEN THE REVERSE WILL HAPPEN!! _ (SO DON'T ASSUME THAT SWITCHING AV-PROGRAMS WAS A DEFINITELY POSITIVE CHANGE TO HAVE MADE!)
THE BIG & WELL-KNOWN ANTI-MALWARE PROGRAMS REFUSE TO WORK TOGETHER ON THE SAME OS, BUT, THOSE AT THE OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM MOST OFTEN WILL! _ SO YA CAN HAVE MORE THAN ONE SUCH PROGRAM SEARCH YOUR PC FOR ANY INFECTIONs THAT YA MAY HAVE PICKED-UP, AND, WHEN THEY FIND ANYTHING, THEY GUIDE YA TO WHERE THE INFECTION WAS FOUND AND LET YOU DO WHAT YA WANT TO DO WITH IT. _ I LIKE THAT, CUZ FOR ONE THING, I CAN THEN GET A CHANCE TO LOOK-UP THE EXACT TIME THAT THE INFECTION WAS PUT ONTO MY PC!
THEN, I CAN ALSO LOOK-UP WHAT ALL OTHER CRAP GOT PLACED ON MY PC AT THAT SAME EXACT TIME... AND, I'LL THEN KNOW THAT ANYTHING ELSE PICKED-UP AT THAT TIME, IS ALSO DEFINITELY MALWARE AS WELL,, EVEN THOUGH NO OTHER ANTI-MALWARE PROGRAM (in the world) MAY FINE IT, (until sometime later)!!
YA MAY WONDER IF THAT OCCURRENCE HAPPENS VERY OFTEN... WELL, YA BETTER BELIEVE IT DOES!!!
MANY,MANY TIMES, (about 50%), I PERSONALLY DISCOVERED EXTRA FILES THAT WERE PICKED-UP AT THE SAME TIME AS A FOUND INFECTION (which at least one of my many anti-malware programs had found), BUT WHICH WERE NOT ALSO FOUND DURING THE SAME SCAN EFFORT, (by any of the anti-malware programs)!!
I ALWAYS MOVE SUCH FILES TO A New Folder (which i name: 'HoldingCell')... THEN,, DAYS, WEEKS, EVEN MONTHS LATER, ONE OF MY ANTI-MALWARE PROGRAMS WILL FIND THE CRAP WHICH I HAD MOVED TO THAT FOLDER, (then, identified as some sort of malware-infection!) !
___ NOW HERE'S THE PAY-OFF FOR READING THIS POST THIS FAR.....
HERE'S WHAT YA OUGHT TO DO...
GO TO Download.com AND GET 'Rubber Ducky', OR SOME OTHER SIMILAR PROCESS-MONITOR TO INSTALL, SO AS TO KEEP TRACK OF INTERNET-TRAFFIC INTO YOUR PC.
THEN WHEN-EVER YOU'VE NOTICED ANY UNUSUAL ACTION TAKING PLACE, YOU'LL THEN KNOW TO DO A SEARCH, (likely on just drive-C), FOR ALL NEW FILES WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN CREATED AT THE TIME IN QUESTION. _ (CUZ ANY SUCH FILES, [if you didn't purposely download them], ARE AT BEST, LIKELY TO BE JUST CRAP THAT YOU DON'T NEED, AND AT WORST, BE THE BADDEST DANG VIRUS THAT YOUR PC HAS EVER BEEN EXPOSED TO YET!)
AND SO THEREFORE YA CAN BE FULLY AWARE OF ANYTHING OF THE SORT, AND, BE SURE TO NOTE THAT YOU OR YOUR ANTI-MALWARE PROGRAMs PROPERLY HANDLED ANY SUCH CRAP, AS WELL,, (before it can do any harm).
__ NOW IF YOU'RE TOO LAZY TO DO ALL THAT BIT OF MAINTENANCE, THEN PERHAPS YA OUGHT NOT SURF THE WWW.NET, (or, perhaps become a victim, as usual).
GOOD LUCK (to all us PC users)!
Netiquette
by jayatcnet375 - 8/25/09 2:50 PM In reply to: System Restore... Another target for malware by Good-PC.Guy!Please do not write in all caps. It is the equivalent of shouting. Hard to read, annoying, unnecessary.
_"Netiquette" shrediquit! _ here today, GONE TOMORROW!
by Good-PC.Guy! - 8/25/09 5:30 PM In reply to: Netiquette by jayatcnet375WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? ...
I'VE MADE IT SOMEWHAT CLEAR THAT I VERY MUCH DISAGREE, THANK YOU!
I, FOR ONE, THINK THAT THOSE DANG small LETTERS ARE THE ONES WHICH ARE ANNOYING AND HARD TO READ!!
__ YA HAVE TO GET USED TO READING CAPs FOR THOSE RARE TIMES WHEN YA MAY HAVE TO READ SOMETHING NOT ON THE NET! _ LIKE WHEN YA GET 'MAIL', (remember mail?, the envelopes of paper that come to your house)? ... YA EVER NOTICE THAT WHEN THAT STUFF COMES AND IT'S CONCERNING SOMETHING WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE IMPORTANT TO YA, THAT IT'S IN ALL CAPS? _ WHAT YA GONNA DO THEN? , GET A HEADACHE?
__ I GUESS I WAS BRAINWASHED IN HIGH SCHOOL MANY DECADES AGO... EVER SINCE THEN, I'VE VALUED THE LOGIC OF USING JUST LARGE & SMALL CAPITALS ONLY. _ AS THEY LOOK VASTLY SUPERIOR!
__ I NEVER HAVE, AND NEVER WILL ALLOW MYSELF TO BE BRAINWASHED INTO ACCEPTING ILLOGICAL & UN-SENSIBLE RULES OR SILLY FASHION-FADS THAT ARE SIMPLY STUPID!
THAT WORDS DONE IN CAPs MUST HAVE TO ONLY MEAN JUST THAT THEY ARE YELLING, HAS GOT TO BE ONE OF THE SILLIEST FASHION-FADS OF ALL TIME!
__ YOU AND I SHARE A DISABILITY... THERE ARE FORMS OF LETTERS WHICH WE DON'T WISH TO READ!
BUT YOU'RE WORSE OFF THAN I, CUZ IF I & MOST EVERYONE ELSE HAD CHOSEN TO PREFER THE CAPS, AND I SAW THAT YOU USED small LETTERS,, I WOULDN'T FEEL THE NEED TO SEEK TO GET YOU TO DROP YOUR HABIT!
__ WE SHOULD ALL TRY TO BE VERY USED TO READING & WRITING BOTH TYPES OF LETTERS, SO THAT WE'LL BE QUITE FINE WITH EITHER!! _ OR ELSE CAPs MAY DISAPPEAR ALL TOGETHER.
SO IT IS (somewhat) NECESSARY THAT AT LEAST SOME OF US USE ALL CAPS!
CUZ I'M SURE THAT THIS FAD AGAINST THE USE OF CAPS WILL PASS BEHIND US JUST AS ALL PASSING FADS HAVE,, AS SOON AS TECHNOLOGY HAS CAUSED 'chatting', (the original source of the rule), TO BECOME OBSOLETE!
THUS UNTIL THEN, PEOPLE LIKE ME ARE ACTUALLY DOING YA A FAVOR! _ BY HELPING YA TO KEEP YOUR ABILITY TO READ CAPS, INTACT.
__ I INVITE YA TO GET (back) INTO PRACTICE BY READING ALL MY POSTS! _ I'M REASONABLY SURE THAT YOU'LL LEARN SOMETHING MORE OF REAL INTEREST TO YA, AT THE SAME TIME BESIDES!
____ I DO REALIZE THAT ALL THESE POSTS CAN BE SOMEWHAT DIFFICULT TO READ WHEN THEY HAPPEN TO GET STUCK WITH THE BLUE-ISH BACKGROUND... HOWEVER THAT IS AN EASY PROBLEM TO SOLVE, BY JUST SIMPLY HIGH-LIGHTING THE POST! _ PLEASE TRY THAT.
AND PLEASE TRY TO UNDERSTAND, AND, BE HAPPY! _ PLEASE.
(your PC-pal who just wants to help ya out!)
POST 45 ---
by CBAUMANN - 8/26/09 3:41 AM In reply to: _"Netiquette" shrediquit! _ here today, GONE TOMORROW! by Good-PC.Guy!WELL SAID SIR!-- MY EYES LIKE THE CAP'S--EVEN MY "READERS DIGEST"
COMES IN BIGGER PRINT--(CAPS) UNDERSTAND THIS--- IT'S JUST EASIER TO READ FOR SOME OF US !!! ALL BE SAFE-BE WELL!!!
LETS SOLVE THE "P.C.s" PROBLEMS FOR THE WORLD...
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
