Computer maintenence

All this is great but reformating every 6 months, isn't that overdoing it a little bit even for a MSFT mega geek? As far as I am concerned I rarely have any problems (except for a really nasty adware recently and managed to remove it without any special program) and I don't even know what maintenance means. That is I do ZERO maintenance. All the guys I 've met who constantly upgrade, DL, reformat always had some problem on their PC . But it seems that more and more tinkering made them happy. To each his own.
 
Hi guys. I moved my PC from one spot to another and when I booted it, it would hang just dark screen. I tried about 5 -10 times same result. I got lucky after a while and it booted after I pressed one of those f keys to try to see if I can get it to boot under Safe mode.( I don't know which f key). I am concerned that the disk might be starting to go bad. In addition to the boot problem, I am also unable to add/remove program using control panel->Add/Remove. The top of the list says "no installed programs in this computer" followed by a list of programs!. In addition, the "remove" button is all grayed out and disabled for ALL the programs. Should I re-install Windows 2000 on current drive or get a new disk drive. If I buy a new drive, how can I migrate my apps and data files over. Someone from circuit city suggested removing old, installing new disk, installing OS, installing apps in new disk, installing old disk and copying data files over. Does that make sense? Thanks
 
Good thread.

Is there some source for a non-techie type that would explain all this stuff about system maintenance, backup, reformatting, etc? I'd feel more comfortable with a good book or something that would guide me safely through the process.
 
Quote from GATrader:

Hi guys. I moved my PC from one spot to another and when I booted it, it would hang just dark screen. I tried about 5 -10 times same result. I got lucky after a while and it booted after I pressed one of those f keys to try to see if I can get it to boot under Safe mode.( I don't know which f key). ..
More...

F8 look like you need some expert help.
 
From gnome
Paranoid me, I'd also have a backup outside of my rig at all times. If you get a virus, it might corrupt BOTH of your HDs, then where would you be?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By golly you really are concerned about protecting your 'puter..

My having the 2ed hard drive inside the case isn't too bad since
it isn't used except for special backups. Going into C.M.O.S. and
checking 'not installed' also protects it when not in backup mode.
I like some extra safety and I think my method is a reasonable amount. Like I mentioned.. all I worry about now is my stocks..
Thanks gnome for all of your good info.

ag pilot
 
Clearly I was wrong to say "every 6-9 months" one should load an clean OS copy. What I should have said is:

At your discretion... :D

I do it when:

1) The hard disk spaced alledgedly used does equal the amount reported used by Windows. How far off, well, it has got to be WAY off. Like the new dell using 10 GB too much space for no apparent reason.

2) A bogus program is loaded and System restore does not fix it.

3) I start getting buggy behavior.

4) Performance has slipped too much and a disk defrag does not fix it.

5) If critical drivers are not working after several upgrades and roll-backs.

6) If I install a mission critical program and have to uninstall and reinstall more than 2-3 times to get it to work. To me, it is better to start from a know state than try to debug a problem.

Cheers
 
GATrader,

Sorry to hear about your problem. I would proceed with caution with the existing drive.

Things that go wrong with the HD include.

-- controller no longer recognizes it as a boot drive

-- Power servo fails, hence disk cant spin as it should

-- OS boot files gone bad.

If it were me I would just get a new drive and load it up. Use the old drive a secondary drive. Clearly Windows is confused visa vi the ADD/Remove. I've had that before and it called for a new OS install. Sure I could have fixed it, but it takes less time to do a new OS.

Cheers
 
This is for those who are asking:

Starting with a new HD is the easiest since reformatting an existing one with XP is a bit harder.

Make sure you have your orginal disks.
Get disk imaging software so you don't have to do this again.

Install the new disk as you primary disk and put in your old disk as the secondary disk. ( Jumpers should be set to Cable select, BTW)

Decide your partiion allocations. I find 15- 20 GB plenty for the OS partition and critical apps (games don't count :p )

This should leave plenty for games, reference, music videos etc on the other partition.

Install your OS, Use NTFS as the file system.

Create an image of it and store it on the new disk's partiion.(this saves you 30-40 minutes)

Install all the windows updates, your MOST critical apps.
Optimize boot
Defrag the disk 2 or 3 times.

Now create another image. This will be your base image from now on. If you ever have a problem, this will be your starting point once you restore your image.

Cheers

PS: if you live in Seattle I might be able to help...
 
Thanks Luto. I am heading of to BEsy Buy to get a seagate,maxtor . As far as procedures are concerned, is this the right step?
1. Install new, change jumper setting of old and new to make new the master drive.
2. Install win 2000 on new, install apps like word,excel on new.
3. Copy data files such as xls, word docs onto new drive.
4. Remove old drive?

Thanks
 
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