I love the speed and responsiveness of a newly installed XP system.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

Sumpin' got into my system and began corrupting files. I knew I was under a serious attack when I discovered I couldn't reinstall my antivirus program, so I bit the bullet, backed it all up, wiped it all out, and began again.

I'm not much of a believer in restore points- the archives take up a lot of space and if you have a virus then create a restore point you will reinfect the machine if you go back to that point. So I take advantage of the moment and reinstall everything. The result is I have a zippy machine to play with, at least until the MS Fungus takes over and rots out XP's guts again.

Heaven help me for thinking this is actually fun stuff. Jeez, I've been doing this computer stuff WAY too long...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear Prisoner_Number_Six!

Good for you!

Having that kind of motivation is rare indeed...

Since I'm such a klutz around computers, I really respect anyone who can do what you do, and with such class...

:yourock:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

3. It's true- I AM a classy guy.

I'm also extremely modest about it. :evilgrin:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Lol!

Your modesty knows no bounds, sweetie!

How's the ankle looking/feeling today?

:hug:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

9. My ankle is all better.

Whatever happened didn't do any real damage (thank God!) and I feel good enough I'm once again able to race Lady to her favorite sniffing spots on our walkies.

[hobbit709]

2. That's why I make an image copy after a fresh install.

Install Windoze, drivers, apps and configure it the way I want it. Make image of clean install with Acronis. Then when everything starts to get flaky, I just restore-back up and running in 15 minutes.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. Only a few small problems with that

I have a large hard drive and I use a LOT of apps. Although I do have Acronis, the image file would use up a large chunk of space on my backup computer drive- I also store images for my clients. I can't justify the expense of an extra drive just to save myself a bit of time. For me it's simpler to just go through the reinstall routine- I can do it in my sleep and it's no big deal to me to go the long route.

[hobbit709]

11. Make a backup of just your basic setup

That shouldn't be over 2 Gb. My main backup file is only 4 Gb. I've burned both of those to a DVD.If I make a backup now that I have the Adobe CS3 Master Collection on my system that would add about 10Gb to my C: drive files. I don't keep any data files on my C partition so that saves a lot of space. Counting everything connected at once I have 850 Gb of hard drives and I'm up to drive letter R.

[SKKY]

5. 3 words you'll never hear me utter in the same sentence...

"Speed", "Responsiveness", and "Vista". If my wife didn't need Vista, I'd have Ubuntu on this baby so quick, Gates' head would spin.

[The Straight Story]

6. Well, install firefox for starters and open office

Microsoft has some good points in OS stuff, but application wise stick to third party software :)

And my policy is - once a year, reinstall it all from scratch.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

8. I have both.

I constantly research software so I can recommend possible solutions to my clients. That's one reason my system goes to hell- not all software is easy to install nor does it uninstall cleanly.

[The Straight Story]

10. True indeed - I might also recommend

http://www.stumbleupon.com/

Helps to find some cool tech sites now and then (not to mention it is addictive as hell).