Reloading Windows sucks when you don't know what you're doing.

[twinrider1]

Holy Hell. Just spent pretty much the whole day working on my computer.
Windows wouldn't load. Wouldn't let me restore, wouldn't let me boot up in any kind of safe mode.
So I began searching for ways to reinstall Windows without losing my pics and stuff. Didn't want to reformat.
Searching the web through a Playstation3 is torture. So clunky.
Found an Ubuntu 9.10 disc (they're up to 18 now). Was able to get online using Ubuntu from the disc. Slow, but faster than the PS3.
Found some webpages that gave me enough info to try a reinstall.
Copied the My Documents folders for myself and my daughter to a different partition and renamed them.
Downloaded SP2 to a usb drive.
Reinstalled XP and SP2.
Took forever going back and forth from XP to Ubuntu. Have to restart, put Ubuntu disc in, research, restart, take out Ubuntu disc, start XP, again and again.
Couldn't figure out why I couldn't get a network connection set up in XP, but could get online in Ubuntu.
Help me Tom Cruise!
Figured out I needed a LAN driver. More research. Loaded LAN driver.
Eu-freaking-reka. I'm back in business.
More time spent logging into my regular sites...trying to remember passwords for all of them.

No sound. Monkey mother$%&^#. Ok, probably needs a driver. That will wait until morning.

 

[skull]

You don't have two hard drives? Just copy your stuff over, wipe the windows drive, install windows, copy stuff back over, easy peasy.

The bigger question is why XP? Load linux mint on that thing and be done with it. Won't have to worry about blue screens of death and such.

 

[lxskllr]

Windows sucks to work on. If it breaks, you aren't supposed to fix it. My boss' computer at work lost all the print drivers, and it says the printspooler service isn't running. Start the printspooler, but nope; still not running. Obviously not the problem, but Windows is good for obfuscation, misdirection, and unhelpful help.

I haven't fooled with it cause he's talking about getting a new computer, and I don't want to waste my time. My fix will be to restore to 2014 when I imaged it, and update the stuff he needs; pita. I would just put gnu/linux on it, but that doesn't play nice with the xerox workcentre. To play nice, you need a ~$500 postscript module installed in the printer. What kind of shit is that?!

 

[renz20003]

Windows sucks to work on. If it breaks, you aren't supposed to fix it. My boss' computer at work lost all the print drivers, and it says the printspooler service isn't running. Start the printspooler, but nope; still not running. Obviously not the problem, but Windows is good for obfuscation, misdirection, and unhelpful help.

I haven't fooled with it cause he's talking about getting a new computer, and I don't want to waste my time. My fix will be to restore to 2014 when I imaged it, and update the stuff he needs; pita. I would just put gnu/linux on it, but that doesn't play nice with the xerox workcentre. To play nice, you need a ~$500 postscript module installed in the printer. What kind of shit is that?!

It's almost always reinstall Windows instead of fixing it.

I had an issue with MS silverlight years ago. The solution directly from the MS support site was to reinstall windows.

Always a good idea to back up your stuff folks!

 

[Ketchup]

Get a flash drive? Get an external hard drive? Don't mean to be rude, but you are an excellent example of why some of us keep harding on people to backup, backup, backup. If that hard drive were to have died, instead of whatever problems you are having, it sounds like you would have lost a lot of important data.

As far as your driver issues, it's still XP, so you are still going to have to install the same drivers that were installed when the computer was bought/ built.

As far as "you don't know what you're doing" we are always here to help, I just wish we could have helped before you started. But that's IT for you.

 

[zinfamous]

I guess I'm so used to the default "reinstall windows" mode that I actually enjoy the clean and fresh feel. I also charge folks $100/hour for my expertise in fixing their computers.

 

[skull]

I guess I'm so used to the default "reinstall windows" mode that I actually enjoy the clean and fresh feel. I also charge folks $100/hour for my expertise in fixing their computers.

If you installed linux you'd always have the clean and fresh feel.

 

[zinfamous]

If you installed linux you'd always have the clean and fresh feel.

lol, linux. I don't have the nerd creds for that.

 

[twinrider1]

Yep, all good advice. It's just not something I do often so it was a steep learning curve, on top of not having a fast way to research. I'm a decent troubleshooter in general life, so I'm willing to try anything. But I have very little experience, so everything takes me 10x as long to get it done.
Backups. I was pretty sure I had all my pics on their SD cards, but wasn't sure about my daughter's. But yes, a dedicated backup hard drive is on the to-do list.
I thought I was doing something right by having a separate partition for the OS, but learned that My Documents goes to the same drive. (I know that wouldn't save me from a hard drive crash).

Fresh and clean. Ha, yea, that is kind of nice. A lot of old stuff I won't reload. Haven't decided if I'll reload Foxfire or just go with Chrome. I don't think I'll reload Flash or Java until I run into a need for it. Crap, just remembered Steam. Gotta reload that.

 

[purbeast0]

Haven't had to reinstall windows in probably 7 or 8 years. I still have Win7 on my desktop which I hardly use. My laptop is a MBP and on OSX which runs a lot faster than any windows machine ever did, although this hardware is also pretty quick compared to any windows hardware I've had.

 

[BUTCH1]

I guess I'm so used to the default "reinstall windows" mode that I actually enjoy the clean and fresh feel. I also charge folks $100/hour for my expertise in fixing their computers.

Wow, people are so dumb they can't manage an OS re-install?, with every version of Windows it gets easier IMO, if you have an internet connection it will automatically fetch and install the drivers for you. I guess this just terrifies people and they cave in and fork over the $$, I'd LOVE to do OS installs for $100/hr!, of course I'd make sure the service packs need to be downloaded as well!

 

[lxskllr]

if you have an internet connection it will automatically fetch and install the drivers for you.

and then there's the joy of installing drivers for the nic you just replaced. Windows doesn't have compatible drivers for exotic hardware like intel nics :^S

 

[BUTCH1]

Haven't had to reinstall windows in probably 7 or 8 years. I still have Win7 on my desktop which I hardly use. My laptop is a MBP and on OSX which runs a lot faster than any windows machine ever did, although this hardware is also pretty quick compared to any windows hardware I've had.

I'm still running a win 7 install from '12 but lets face it, it is inevitable the registry will get bloated, running CCleaner can help somewhat but you have to be careful not to let it delete something that was needed.

 

[BUTCH1]

and then there's the joy of installing drivers for the nic you just replaced. Windows doesn't have compatible drivers for exotic hardware like intel nics :^S

True, but for most hardware it can find the driver although driver installation in windows (any version) is far from fool-proof, it's a YMMV situation.

 

[Number1]

What hardware are you using?
An update to win 10 would make a world of difference to your computing experience but you do need decent hardware to run it.

 

[ImpulsE69]

It's not that it is hard, it's that MS decided to leave out the 'don't format my drive' option. A better solution is to run something like Macrium Reflect, then rather than hassle with a complete reinstall you can just revert to an older image that worked.

I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've done a wipe and reinstall of Windows since 95. I just HATE doing it. It's not the Windows part that is hard, it is everything else. That motivation alone makes you become good at troubleshooting and fixing and optimizing things.

 

[RichUK]

Don't you have a smart phone to browse the net?

Oh, and backup FTW.

 

[destrekor]

Windows sucks to work on. If it breaks, you aren't supposed to fix it. My boss' computer at work lost all the print drivers, and it says the printspooler service isn't running. Start the printspooler, but nope; still not running. Obviously not the problem, but Windows is good for obfuscation, misdirection, and unhelpful help.

I haven't fooled with it cause he's talking about getting a new computer, and I don't want to waste my time. My fix will be to restore to 2014 when I imaged it, and update the stuff he needs; pita. I would just put gnu/linux on it, but that doesn't play nice with the xerox workcentre. To play nice, you need a ~$500 postscript module installed in the printer. What kind of shit is that?!

and then there's the joy of installing drivers for the nic you just replaced. Windows doesn't have compatible drivers for exotic hardware like intel nics :^S

I've had plenty of driver struggles in every OS I've played with, especially Windows, but with modern Windows releases (7 and above) it's stupidly easy to correct things like printspooler issues and NIC drivers. You must devote so much time to Linux that you just aren't familiar with Windows troubleshooting anymore. It's practically a cakewalk for me anymore. Driver conflicts are still an absolute pain in the ass but again, they aren't exclusive to Windows.

And rarely are driver and OS issues ever easy for the uninitiated, hell they are a nightmare in Linux for those same individuals, and in Mac they are no easier than in Windows. Hell, Microsoft has gotten pretty clever and has some phenomenal "Fix It" tools if you are able to search the internet. Some can be found with troubleshooting steps from within Windows itself as well, and they are only making it easier as time goes on. Still difficult for many instances but many "common" issues can be resolved by the end user if they know how to use the internet.

 

[destrekor]

It's not that it is hard, it's that MS decided to leave out the 'don't format my drive' option. A better solution is to run something like Macrium Reflect, then rather than hassle with a complete reinstall you can just revert to an older image that worked.

I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've done a wipe and reinstall of Windows since 95. I just HATE doing it. It's not the Windows part that is hard, it is everything else. That motivation alone makes you become good at troubleshooting and fixing and optimizing things.

It's there now, introduced in Windows 8. It's magical. They've made refreshing and completely reloading the OS a breeze.

 

[lxskllr]

I've had plenty of driver struggles in every OS I've played with, especially Windows, but with modern Windows releases (7 and above) it's stupidly easy to correct things like printspooler issues and NIC drivers. You must devote so much time to Linux that you just aren't familiar with Windows troubleshooting anymore. It's practically a cakewalk for me anymore. Driver conflicts are still an absolute pain in the ass but again, they aren't exclusive to Windows.

And rarely are driver and OS issues ever easy for the uninitiated, hell they are a nightmare in Linux for those same individuals, and in Mac they are no easier than in Windows. Hell, Microsoft has gotten pretty clever and has some phenomenal "Fix It" tools if you are able to search the internet. Some can be found with troubleshooting steps from within Windows itself as well, and they are only making it easier as time goes on. Still difficult for many instances but many "common" issues can be resolved by the end user if they know how to use the internet.

I've *never* gotten helpful windows help. Once the troubleshooter gets through the retarded crap, you get "Fuck if I know", and you're searching online for an answer.

gnu/linux has equally bad, if not worse help, but it gives informative errors, and plenty of logging so you can more easily find an answer.

 

[zinfamous]

Wow, people are so dumb they can't manage an OS re-install?, with every version of Windows it gets easier IMO, if you have an internet connection it will automatically fetch and install the drivers for you. I guess this just terrifies people and they cave in and fork over the $$, I'd LOVE to do OS installs for $100/hr!, of course I'd make sure the service packs need to be downloaded as well!

well I'm joking. i don't charge people anything for such nonsense solutions, lol. For me, it's basically: "I give up, I have no idea what you have done. Let's just format and reinstall."

 

[mikeymikec]

If you installed linux you'd always have the clean and fresh feel.

Or stop abusing Windows installs, that's another way.

 

[purbeast0]

I'm still running a win 7 install from '12 but lets face it, it is inevitable the registry will get bloated, running CCleaner can help somewhat but you have to be careful not to let it delete something that was needed.

Not inevitable when you use it as little as I do lol.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I remember my first time reloading an OS, it was windows 98. Was our first computer, and like win98 was common for, the computer was just really slow and would crash a lot. Windows just had to be reloaded a lot back then, and it had never goten done. So after lot of reading I more or less knew how, and got ready to do it. Backed up all important files, made sure I had all the installer CDs that came with the computer, etc. Then proceeded to do it. It was quite nerve wracking as once you format, there is no turning back. I did not know anything about disk imaging back then so I would not have made an image first.

Needless to say after a couple hours (that's the time it took back then) I had a fresh win98 install done! Now I had to do all the drivers and crap, that would take another hour at least. Then install all the programs like MS Office etc. It was kinda a surreal experience at the time. Diving within the bowels of the computer, so to speak. After a while it just got so routine as I knew as the computer got slower a reinstall would make it fast again.

Now it's pretty much something that is second nature to me, and oddly, rarely have to do. For my own machine, the only time I ever actually do a format is because I want to install a different OS. Since most of my data is on my server I also don't really need to backup much. I usually do a file level backup of the entire drive to my network anyway to get all the profile stuff and pretty much call it a day and reformat.

 

[Ketchup]

Even the XP install was 10x better that waiting for a buddy's computer to read 13 floopy discs to install Windows 95. But 95 was pretty darn awesome back then, so it seemed worth the wait. And thinking back to that time still gives me a little wow when I am installing Windows 10 off a flash drive onto an SSD.