Windows reinstal
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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by RedWood on Mon Aug 6th at 3:58am 2007


My moms computer is on the frits. I'm hopeing a reinstall of windows will fix the problem. She has about 8 gigs of ituns that she doesn't want to rerip. My question is if i reinstall windows will she lose her music. Should i take the time and move everything to a disk before reinstalling? (I just moved 450MB of pics to disk already and that took 22 min. 7 year old computer.)


Reality has become a commodity.



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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by rs6 on Mon Aug 6th at 4:37am 2007


If its XP you can try a repair install, which should leave the program files, and documents intact. Although in my experience it just f**ks up the OS more.

What I usually do is hook up another drive and transfer all the files I need or want to keep to an external drive and then do a fresh install. A fresh install formats the drive, erasing everything,




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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by RedWood on Mon Aug 6th at 6:13am 2007


It is Xp. sorry i forgot to mention that. Thanks rs6.
Ya, i wish i had a external.



Reality has become a commodity.



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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by Le Chief on Mon Aug 6th at 8:04am 2007


If you don't reformat when you uninstall than all your files should be nice other than the ones in c:windows.

When it asks select "Leave the Current file system intact"......

I'll walk you through it just in case.

1) Change the boot priority and make your cdrom drive number one priority so it..... inspects your cdrom drive before anything else of course it finds a compatible startup cd. You have to do this in bios, before your computer is booted up. There mabye a button that you have to press like [del] or [f1]. Than Restart

2) Press any key to boot from the cd, it will say. What do you do?

3) Wait for the bloody thing to load, it takes ages.

4) Now as you continue through the setup it will tell you there is another os already installed, we want to install over it so select the appropriate option and DONT reformat as mentioned before.

5) 1 hour later your pc will be refreshed and you still have your old files, but that doesnt mean that itunes will work. Its probably complicated like steam. Itunes could of put files into c:windows and this is the file where the xp os is. But anyway I have anw'ed your question. Time to do a spell check.







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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by Crono on Mon Aug 6th at 9:26am 2007


Or you could do a refresh install. Which replenishes all system files to a "clean" state. The bad news is, if you have an XP disc that has no Service Packs and you previously had them installed ... you have to re-install them.

This is by far the least hassling and no-nonsense method that requires the least amount of work and, should, work the best. I've never personally had it screw things up even worse than previously.

The downside is, you're sort of taking the "lets hope it's this" approach to the issue. There's a very real possibility that this will NOT fix whatever is wrong with the machine, since the problem may not be with the Windows system files.

I think, it'd be more prudent to roll the machine to previous back-ups (if you have any) before doing this. Hell, even if it's a problem with the registry that can be refreshed in less than 10 minutes to a previous state.



Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by RedWood on Mon Aug 6th at 7:52pm 2007


well... the problem popped up about a month ago. I try the roll back(why didn't that option cross my mind :/ ). I just hoping it not a hardware issue. she keeps losing her net connection. she will restart the modem and router and comp. and have internet acese for about 10 second before she stop receiving any signals. ???
Thanks guys!



Reality has become a commodity.



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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by OtZman on Mon Aug 6th at 7:54pm 2007


A longshot, but could there possibly be a problem with the modem or router? I'd try hooking up another computer to the modem and router just to see.





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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by RedWood on Tue Aug 7th at 12:03am 2007


That was my first thought but, my computer is running off the same router and modem so thats not it. and ya, i tried switching the wires in the back of the router.

I tried rolling back the system and it said "can not be restored" for two different dates. soo, im left with a reinstall. I'll let you know how that goes.



Reality has become a commodity.



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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by RedWood on Fri Aug 17th at 9:10am 2007


Ok, i finally found the disk... 80 years ago when this computer was built their was a problem with installing the windows that we got with the computer so we (not me) installed a bootleg copy of xp office. I'll google how to reformat a hard drive on my own but i don't know how I'm going to reinstall xp using a disk like this.

This is what i found on the disk...

image



Reality has become a commodity.



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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by Crono on Fri Aug 17th at 9:46am 2007


Run the file (it's a zip archive) and it will either unpack an installed copy of Office or the actual installation files which can then be installed with "Setup" or something like that.

image



Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by reaper47 on Fri Aug 17th at 10:50am 2007


Get Open Office, open and and format any existing MS office files without any problems and say goodbye to obscure MS-specific unusability issues.

I never regretted switching to OO. Never missed a feature, not even a super-complicate one. And it's free + updated more often.






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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by Crono on Fri Aug 17th at 11:09am 2007


I concur 100%


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by RedWood on Fri Aug 17th at 7:01pm 2007


Uhh, I not sure if I'm not understanding u or your not understanding me. Xp Office is the name of the os running on the computer. come to think of it, that doesn't sound right. Microsoft Office Xp professional is the name of one of the installers i unpacked for the zip file... if that tels you anything.

If i think i'm going to have to buy a new copy of xp and if i do i'm just going to build her a new computer. shouldn't cost more than $300.

I bookmarked the open office. I'll install that when i have my new computer. <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">



Reality has become a commodity.



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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by reaper47 on Sat Aug 18th at 8:23am 2007


Well, I wouldn't buy a new copy of XP anymore. Then you'd be better off with getting Vista to save you "new features require the ingenuity of "Windows Vista ?" errors.





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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by Crono on Sat Aug 18th at 9:02am 2007


? quote:
Well, I wouldn't buy a new copy of XP anymore. Then you'd be better off with getting Vista to save you "new features require the ingenuity of "Windows Vista ?" errors.


Never give advice again.



Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by Le Chief on Sat Aug 18th at 9:35am 2007


It is inevitable crono





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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by RedWood on Sat Aug 18th at 9:38am 2007


I would sooner drive to the most bombed out, depleted slum of Iraq to meat a man siting in a burnt hay hut, missing both legs and his right arm. So he can hand me a fist full of floppy disks with Linux spelled across them... in crayon.
(nothing against Linux)
I will never, ever, ever have vista running on anything i own. DX10 isn't worth it.



Reality has become a commodity.



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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by Crono on Sat Aug 18th at 9:58am 2007


? quote:
It is inevitable crono

I've heard enough of your Microsoft c**k sucking for a lifetime, please don't comment on the company anymore.

I was being sarcastic earlier, in any case.

At this point in time, in any case, there isn't a reason to use Windows outside of playing games (or development on a MS platform ... which only happens when your boss doesn't know anything ... this happens at Intel a lot "We wont use Linux machines because they aren't 'professional', but you need to use all these Unix and Linux tools through Cygwin". That conversation really happened.). If people still purchase it, it's because they are ignorant of (better) alternatives, which are, in almost all cases, easier to use and provide more power (as well as software efficiency).



Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by Le Chief on Sat Aug 18th at 3:48pm 2007


Are you serious? I hate Vista. Microsoft took a step in the wrong direction with vista.





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Re: Windows reinstal
Posted by reaper47 on Sat Aug 18th at 8:28pm 2007


It's a matter of balancing s**t. Would you seriously recommend buying a copy of Windows XP now?

The PC being for RedWood's mom changes things a bit (I don't expect her to become an avid "Crysis" player - but who knows!). Linux can provide all the programs ever needed for basic internet/office/leisure use.

But I could imagine your mom complaining that the program her friend recommended "doesn't work on the new PC". You'd make her a Linux rainbow-warrior without her having a clue what's going on (at least I don't expect your mom being very passionate about the ongoing OS war - but who knows!). What not even Crono can deny is that Linux does have less support from hard- and software firms which is a major issue. I, for example would terribly miss my Photoshop. Gimp, as impressive as it is, is not a replacement for it and running PS in a buggy program loader just isn't the same. And it's not yourself who has to deal with it, it's your mom.

The thought alone of going to a store and asking for a copy of Vista feels weird to me, too. I can't make that decision for you, pal image I don't have any intention doing so either. I can only give advice.

It's a dilemma.







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