baby/bathwater PC problem

[bruto]

As a suggestion, only hard format the computer when there is a problem with reading from the memory core. *such as virus damaging the core system files (overload) or kernal memory problems*

I have noticed that people do not understand the 2 format methods on window machines.

1. Soft Format

It is a method where you just put in your window os installation disk and do the soft format as in replacing the current operating system with the newer one while retaining all the files.

2. Hard Format

Its a method where you just wipe out everything on the harddrive and reinstall the operating system with a fresh start.

Otherwise, yes the tech guy is lazy to fix a simple problems on the computer.

A quick question on soft formatting, or reinstalling without a reformat. I know that in the days of Win 3.1 and even Win95 this was considered OK, but have long read that it was not recommended for Win 98, and almost always failed to correct problems, especially from a corrupted registry. I have never had to reformat anything since mice peed on the hard drive of a Win 3.1 machine and lost too many sectors to recover, but am now wondering, just for reference, if soft formatting is a reasonable solution for XP. We're having a cold snap, so, you know, just in case the mice come back.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Always interesting to run Autoruns.exe from Sysinternals , to find out just what your machine is actually doing with it's time.

 

[Pro7]

A quick question on soft formatting, or reinstalling without a reformat. I know that in the days of Win 3.1 and even Win95 this was considered OK, but have long read that it was not recommended for Win 98, and almost always failed to correct problems, especially from a corrupted registry. I have never had to reformat anything since mice peed on the hard drive of a Win 3.1 machine and lost too many sectors to recover, but am now wondering, just for reference, if soft formatting is a reasonable solution for XP. We're having a cold snap, so, you know, just in case the mice come back.

Pending on what is wrong with the XP. If the pc is in the hospital requiring major surgery, yep, you gotta hard format but at least try alternative methods of recovering data before you do so.... if the pc is in a medical clinic with minor injuries, then you can soft format. It all depends on what is wrong with the XP itself as well. It can be many things but mostly concentrated by attacks of viruses that really inflict system files with unrecoverable damages (sometimes but not always) Spywares does the same thing.. but in slow motion.

A lot of people do not understand what "cookies" really does to a XP installed machine. I have encountered many computers just not functioning right just because they had too many cookies and junks in their files, and not organized correctly. Some machines with XP installed just quit after reaching over the limitations..

I mean there are so many things that you would have to take into context to figure out whats wrong with the XP itself. ... troubleshooting does help alot but not always.

 

[bruto]

Pending on what is wrong with the XP. If the pc is in the hospital requiring major surgery, yep, you gotta hard format but at least try alternative methods of recovering data before you do so.... if the pc is in a medical clinic with minor injuries, then you can soft format. It all depends on what is wrong with the XP itself as well. It can be many things but mostly concentrated by attacks of viruses that really inflict system files with unrecoverable damages (sometimes but not always) Spywares does the same thing.. but in slow motion.

A lot of people do not understand what "cookies" really does to a XP installed machine. I have encountered many computers just not functioning right just because they had too many cookies and junks in their files, and not organized correctly. Some machines with XP installed just quit after reaching over the limitations..

I mean there are so many things that you would have to take into context to figure out whats wrong with the XP itself. ... troubleshooting does help alot but not always.

Interesting. So far I've never had to reformat anything, preferring to troubleshoot, as I've said, but you never know what will come next. We country folk do have some odd problems. I don't think most people have to worry about mice urinating on the hard drive. A few years ago a friend had printer problems, opened it up and found a nest of garter snakes.

 

[bug_girl]

oh man. Don't even get me started on organization of hard drives. I'm still trying to get people to understand that putting all your files individually on the root level of the server, rather than in a folder, is really not a good idea.

I commonly see people with 40 or more files on their desktop.

Sigh. Or maybe I'm wrong, and these things are harmless? Maybe I'm just OCD about disk organization

 

[Pro7]

oh man. Don't even get me started on organization of hard drives. I'm still trying to get people to understand that putting all your files individually on the root level of the server, rather than in a folder, is really not a good idea.

I commonly see people with 40 or more files on their desktop.

Sigh. Or maybe I'm wrong, and these things are harmless? Maybe I'm just OCD about disk organization

Well its true.. usually there is a default limit in all windows operating systems that a folder on a desktop is supposed to hold at least 30 MB of data each folder. When it goes overboard.. who knows what will happen next.

Am I wrong or right? .. hmm

 

[bruto]

Well its true.. usually there is a default limit in all windows operating systems that a folder on a desktop is supposed to hold at least 30 MB of data each folder. When it goes overboard.. who knows what will happen next.

Am I wrong or right? .. hmm

Why don't you try it empirically? 30 MB isn't much these days. Stick a half dozen CD images on your desktop and report back.

There is a 4 gigabyte file size limitation in FAT 32, though I don't think that comes into play very often.

 

[xenxabar]

Right now I'm trying to backup 5 years of server logs, because we have run out of space. I wish I had a DVD drive

You can get external USB 2.0 DVD +-RW drives for under $80 shipped from Newegg.

 

[chran]

I commonly see people with 40 or more files on their desktop.

Sigh. Or maybe I'm wrong, and these things are harmless? Maybe I'm just OCD about disk organization

THANK YOU!

Your post made me clean up my desktop - 49 MB of useless crap!

Now it's all clean and nice again



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