Doing a clean reinstal of windows ME

[dogger]

** I am a computer retard , so please use small English words to answer**

My computer is starting to run pretty funny and I've been through all the normal things I know of to correct it . Defrag ; DiscScan ; Spyware check ; ran Norton Anti Virus , deleted temp files , cookies and history ; checked StartUp list ; done a restore and upgraded RAM from 128MB to 512MB .

I'm running windows ME and have had this computer for 4 years . It is the first computer I have ever used and in my ignorance I've probably managed to store a lot of rubbish on it that I don't need . Until early this year it ran really well and rarely gave any trouble . It is now slow and hard to start , sometimes requiring a reboot or two to start , slow to shutdown , often giving me the blue page with ''error'' on shutdown and quite often needs rebooting because it is running out of memory . I'm guessing that the thing to do would be a clean reinstal of ME and start again .

I use my Outlook Express as a notebook to store information that I want to retain and also have some things like my business accounting and photos stored on the computer . My question to start with is , could i do a partition of the hard drive to store this stuff on , then wipe the remainder of my hard drive clean and reinstal ME on the cleaned portion , put the stored stuff back into where it came from and wipe the rest of the hard drive clean ?

I do have a CD/DVD burner that I fitted myself but have never used and due to my location , getting hold of CDWRs [ is that the right term for rewritable CDs ? ] is difficult . My other thought on how to store this stuff while doing the the clean reinstal , is move them to a number of webmail accounts then bring them back later .

Any advice is welcome , but please keep it simple . You are dealing with a bloke who on the day the technician installed the satellite connection and computer , when told to '' boot his computer '' , had to be restrained from putting a size 9 piece of footwear through the screen . I have learnt a bit about the high tech pile of plastic and thingos since [ I don't leave my left over food in front of it to feed the little men inside anymore ] , but not much .

Thank you ,
Dogger

[CapnGimp]

Sorry, gotta store that stuff somewhere that you want to keep. In order to repartition a drive, you are by nature losing all on it, in your case. They do make software called PARTITION MAGIC that you can buy and redo your existing partitioning on the fly as you are wishing to do.
HOWEVER, as it seems you are having problems, I would not try this.
You can order CDR's online and have the mailman bring them to you. CDRW's are REwritable, like floppies, you use over and over. In my experience, they are not 100% reliable, ie,do not count on them working all the time.
CDR's are write ONCE, permanent, like the cd's you listen to for music or buy software on. That would be what you want to get. Your solution to store things online would work also, especially if you have a fast connection, cable,dsl. If you are using a modem(telephone) this could be a trying experience(don't).
Or you could get a USB drive and use it IF you have USBports on your computer.
Always after burning a cd, shut down the burning software, put the cd ion and make sure your info is REALLY there. Make this a hard and fast rule for VALUABLE info, trust me. Only takes a minute.

If you have sufficient FREE space on it, and have done a thorough DEFRAG( check the box to fix bad sectors) and go to sleep with it running and NO SCREEN SAVERS/power savers enabled. Then it should not be saying insufficient memory. This is in reference to the swap file(page file, virtual memory,etc) being to small and since I doubt you manage it yourself, this means YOUR HARD DISK IS TOO FULL of stUph,lol. You should have a minimum of 500megs free. I can elaborate if you want.

What size is your hard drive(total in gigabytes) and I'll tell ya how to partition it to save ya problems like this. When you have everything backed up and are ready.


WHY DON"T YOU DO THIS.... Go buy a new hard drive, say 40, 60 or 80 gigabytes, and ADD it to your computer. As long as you have a spot on the motherboard( most can have 4 devices). If you have one of those non upgradeable(*^!&!#) computers, pull the cd drive and put it in its place. Format it, again, ask if ya want n I'll help, and back up yur data to it. Then Reload the old one and BINGO, you are back in bIness!

Are you using a newer, upgraded antivirus or the old one you bought more than 2 years ago??? THIS could still be a problem.
Answer me n I'll hit ya up with some up to date info for your specific immediate needs.
Sorry for the confusion, I rarely think in order,lol.

[Davey]

First thing to do is not re-install Windows ME. Windows ME was one of the worst releases Microsoft ever put out. If possible, upgrade to Windows XP. XP is a different animal and will protect you from viruses and spyware much better. It will also keep you automatically updated with the latest patches/fixes/virus blocking.

[CapnGimp]

He may not want to waste 180 bucks on just an os. Spending a bit more he could have the whole SHEBANG. You can gettim for 300 in the right sales. WITH that MSos on it already.
And Remember, it's an ME era computer, that makes it a tad slower running it. I'll hush now, can't cover all the bases one finger typing.
GARSH I hate typing, I argue REAL GOOD talking, lol. But ya gotta have 2 good, fast ears, and a foundation to understand;) :thinking:

I'm going back to put my lathe back together,lol. :agog:


OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! :zzz:
FIXES/BUGS/SPYWAre/ adware/DONKEY D00 AND waaay too much m00lah T00!!
Another fine time to UPGRADE to Linux. You don't HAVE these problems. You don't need antivirus, antispyware, anti CRAP! It isn't a bunch of junk like windows and it is FREE, not 180 bucks.
Since you are not a windows whiz anyway, you won't have to "learn a whole new system".
It has all the software you need there with it FREE.
No hassles either :mega:
PN says UBUNTU works good on older computers, I've used other versions but looked at it and it is well supported and highly spoken of in the lunux community. Try it. Right now they will mail you the cds FREE.

Oh, did I mention Windows is NOT free?
LOL, Pee-P00r JUNK that it is. :zombie: :zombie:
There , now I feel better. Besides Fixed my lathe and it's off to turning that headset race for my new handcycle frame I B makin, did I mention...
I WON'T be paying INVACARE 3 grand for one again,lol.
I'm SICK I tell ya of money hungry people peddlin TRASH like it is gold.
But I also got the medicine to fix it, not a pill, not from a "doctor" either.
It's called common sense...if ya want something done RIGHT, do it yerself.
I think they outta put MS and all these high priced equipment manufacturers in the SAME deep dark dungeon and let me be the jailer, sure, I got what ya need, got yer WALLET?
Rant over....(slides weatherbeaten s0apb0x back under the bed).... :applaud:
Did I mention....
I made it myself? :D
lol
I kill me. :p
:)

[dogger]

Capn , I'm using Norton Antivirus 2005 , bought in August , something I'm not happy with as I spent the extra dollars and bought '''SymantecSystemWorks'' after being sucked in by their spiel and having been very happy with the previous Norton2002 AntiVirus I had . Running the NortonGoBack is what is causing part of my startup/shutdown problems I think . From what I've read since , Norton has gone to the pack in recent times .

According to my system information , I have a 20 Gig hard drive and I'm on a 2way Satellite connection that is reasonably fast . I do have 25 new CDRs here that I bought when I bought the CD burner and will look into the possibility of buying and fitting a new , bigger hard drive . I will also look into a USB drive as I have 2 spare USB ports and also have one of those adaptor thingos to plug into existing USB ports to use more USB devices . I did a proper full Defrag last night in the way you have suggested . Re buying new gear and Davey's suggestion of buying XP , I'll check into that , but computer stuff is much more expensive than in the US and dollars are a consideration . Bit of an example on costs here , I'm looking to buy a laptop in the future and our prices are nearly double [ depending on exchange rates ] yours .

Davey , I have never used any other OS , so don't know any better , but for 3 years I had no complaints about ME , I heard others complain about ME and couldn't understand what they were talking about .

Thank you , you have given me some thinking to do and I'll be back with more questions as I think of them ,

Dogger

[CapnGimp]

I would try reading up on Norton's UNINSTALL tricks and uninstall it COMPLETELY. Clean the registry if ya can, that is why I say read at their site to ensure you get complete removal.
Then reinstall the new version. If is ays something like detected registry settings from previous instal do ya wanna use'm say NO
but this hints ya didn't get rid of all traces, there MAY be slow problems again, hopefully not.
I'd try that first.
As far as new drive, just get an internal as I stated above, so you won't be paying extra for the usb part. Then you'll be in good shape.
I'd seriously look into linux.
Download a LIVE version and burn it to cd and try iit out.
If ya get another internal drive, save a spot on it when partitioning, leave that part unused and install linux AFTER installing ME. You can then boot into either OS, so you can learn it that way.
ANYWAY, holler if ya need somethinmg.
I HOPE my SPONGEBOB riding britches(cold weather) show up in my above p0st soon, you'll get a kick outta them, Sp0ngeB0b longjohns, my sis gottem for me as a joke, didn't think I had the cahones ta wear'em,lol. Shoulda known better, year two sport'n em ever chance I gIt!

{that boy ain't right...}

[CapnGimp]

since it doesn't wanna work above...I was getting dressed for a 55 degree handcycle ride.

[CapnGimp]

I give up, it is not showing up.
I've had speed probs with this site off and on all day.

[dogger]

Ok , I've looked into buying another hard drive and that seems possible , here is the one I found ...... Seagate Barracuda 40GB 7200rpm ATA100 IDE HDD - 2MB Cache (5 year) ...... Just checking if I have this right , before I go ahead and buy it . If I do this , I'll be able to store my stuff on one HD while doing a clean install on the other ? IE , no need to burn CDs , get a USB driver , or store stuff [ i think it is really called data ] on webmail ?

I'll look into a reinstal of Norton tomorrow , I've had enough of this turnout for today and my beer fridge is crying out for some attention .

Thanks for your patience , I'd much rather be helping you build your h/cycle , that is right up my alley , than mucking around with these electronic mirror and hanky gizmos .

Dogger.

[CapnGimp]

Yes this is what ya want.
We will be putting the fresh ME install and all your software on the new drive w/o touching old one so you can THEN go get the valuable files off it and update your software after it's installed. Then when you know everything is cool, we will repartition the OLD drive.
By changing the boot device in bios we can switch back and forth if need be. You can copy files from the old after new is set up in any event.
Do you have a floppy drive and GOOD floppy and do you have a Windows ME cd and serial numbers? Or do you have a reload disc with all your software built in with it? Like usually comes with HP, Compac etc machines?
If you have seperate discs, do you have driver discs for the hardware on your machine?
Also if I remember correctly you need to boot from a windows 98 floppy to partition/format the drive, but most new hard drives come with a cd that you can also use to do this.
For some reason MS didn't make the ME cd bootable to install I THINK, could be wrong gotta look in morning to be sure.
Any whoo, get the drive and we;ll get the instructions lined out for ya b4 you start
do ya have a printer to print the instructions on?
IF you were to get stuck, we might out to swap phone numbers so I can help ya. I think weekend would be best for frree minutes on my cell, gotta check that to be sure,lol. I'm heading to sn00ze myself, we'll continue tomorrow.

[CapnGimp]

And yes, I have always been a mechanical, electrical trades man myself. I just got into this because everybody needs help it seems. If I am not building of repairing something, I AIN'T having fun. I actually have got tired of fiddling with computers over the years, but hey, somebody's gotta do it...that does it RIGHT<big grin>. You know what I mean. Owning tools don't make a mechanic. I could beat most folks in pool with a broomstick,lol.
There is a BIG difference in know how, and having a title.
That is my philosophy.
oops I am starting to hear h0rn sounds, better hush, I ain't that way.
CapnGimp...0ut

Hey, how bout posting some pics of your neck of the woods, love ta see Aus,

[Davey]

He may not want to waste 180 bucks on just an os. Spending a bit more he could have the whole SHEBANG. You can gettim for 300 in the right sales. WITH that MSos on it already.
And Remember, it's an ME era computer, that makes it a tad slower running it.

Although we disagree about all this Linux stuff ;), if it were me I'd just buy a new PC with Windows XP already installed for a little more. You can get Windows XP Home for $99 at Buy.com though. A pretty good deal that Dell is running right now is for a Dell Inspiron B130 Notebook for $500. You can upgrade to a Pentium M for $100, but if your current PC with Windows ME has been working for you then a Celeron would also work just fine. I'm sure you could get one a little cheaper somehwere else, but not bad for a Dell notebook IMHO.

[CapnGimp]

That's what I meant when I said MSos, not an older one, I wasn't too plain.
But you would really be suprised if you put a version of linux on your computer, either dual boot or a live cd version.

As far as Intel processors, I prefer AMD, lotta price difference here also to spend on other parts of a system.
I personally don't buy name brand computers, I build mine. Though I did buy a laptop from Asia thru som CA store, 1/3 cost of an American machine with WAAY higher specs. My bro-in-law was so impressed He ordered on immediately to replace his Dells. He is a high tech dentist, all the bells n whistles to provide the best care for patients. NO ONE around here has the equipment he has, does almost everything in house too, except dentures.
It's a tool man's nirvana there,lol. And I get to set it up and help keep things going with the reps, when we have issues(very rarely).

I have some nifty xrays of my noggin, looks alien,lol.

[bob clark]

For $55 (or less) Dogger can totally fix his problem with the Seagate Barracuda 40GB 7200rpm ATA100 IDE HDD - 2MB Cache hard drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148013). And then he'll have his old hard drive for storage and can even put his swap file on it to speed things up a little bit. I don't know the specs of Dogger's computer but if it's kinda old WinXP may put undue stress on it.

I buy most of my hardware from Newegg. They aren't always the very cheapest but they're always in the ballpark and I trust them.

I don't know how much memory Dogger has but he should have at least 512MBs of system memory if he wanted to upgrade to XP. It's a real resource hog. He can get away with just 256MBs using WinME. WinME got some bad reviews but with all the MS updates it should be fine. He's been using it for 4 years without a clean install so that's saying something good about it. I still have my copies of 95, 98 and ME!

And since CapnGimp has graciously offered to help Dogger via the phone he shouldn't have any problems getting the Barracuda installed, formatted and ME installed.

A guy named Black Viper has a great website for tweaking Windows and he also has very thorough step-by-step graphical tutorials on how to install 98/ME and XP. But his website has been down for repairs lately so I'm glad the good Captain has offered his tech services. It can be a little tricky to do the first time. Your computer is gonna feel like silk on meth once you get everything installed and tweaked on that new hard drive Dogger. Seagates are my favorite hard drives. They are much quieter than their competition.

I'm not 100% sure but I think you can format using the ME CD. Just make the CD ROM drive the first boot device in the BIOS. No need for a floppy startup disk but Dogger may want to make one just in case.

What are your computer specs Dogger?

Best of luck you guys.

[CapnGimp]

I just worked on a P2 233 recently with XP on it. It ran right at 56% cpu usage idling,lol. Would NOT play a dvd and didn't even TRY to burn a cd, knew better. But it chugged along on some old education games for his young kid and they used MS Word 98? on it, albeit slowly. I had it running barebones, nothing unnecessary running at startup, like many products are want to do to seem faster. It had a 256 plus 128 sticks in it.
Sorta a waste of money on the ram and Os, in my opinion, but hey, 2 each his own.
I have multiple copies of each Os MS has since dos 6.22. Most aquired thru working on them for others, taking old ones when building new etc.

For some reason, I still think you had to have 98 or a boot disk to install, may be bad memory stick of mine,lol. I'm under assumption it was never made for fresh install for some reason. I hadda make a few boot discs using lite-on cd drivers to work most of the ones I installed.
I even used a linux boot disc for partitioning/formatting for a year or so. With it, you could format in ANY of the 30? something different filesystems
Don't know what happened to it. I quit using floppy discs years ago, with my first cd burner.

Man I ramble too much, I hate me sometimes :)

[bob clark]

I was wrong... you do need a floppy startup disk to format ME. For some reason I thought ME was the first WinXX to do away with needing one.

At the below website there's a link to download a startup file(s) if for some reason Dogger can't create one. You may want to check out this website to brush up on WinME.

http://www.burzurq.com/forum/format_reinstall.html

About the type of WinME installation CD Dogger has....

If you don't have a real Windows CD but some sort of recovery disk set instead you should contact your PC makers web site or technical support phone line for correct reinstallation instructions. Instructions for reinstallation vary depending on make and model so its important you locate make-model specific instructions.


You may need to go to his computer manufacturer's website for further info if he has a recovery CD and not a retail or "real" WinME CD. It's always something! :)

WinXP uses 150MBs just to boot to my desktop. I use a free program called "EndItAll2" to easily close unnecessary programs and background processes. I don't use it very often now because my computer is pretty fast and I have a gig of memory but with my last computer I would run it before I flight simmed and it helped a bit.

[dogger]

My computer is an IBM Netvista A20I EZ PC with the following specs ; AMD Duron 750MHz Processor ; 512MB Memory [ upgraded myself ] ; 128KB cache ; 200MHz Front Side Bus ; 20GB Hard Drive ; 3.5 Floppy , 48x CD-ROM Media Device and a Samsung WriteMaster DVD/CD burner I added myself . I hope this is what you want .

Bob the Seagate H/D is $A76 over here and thanks for the comments on it , I was wondering if it was any good .

Capn , I do have a printer , though I'm in the process of ordering new cartridges , they hate our warm , balmy climate and gum up or something pretty quickly , so I'm up for another $150 every 6 months or so replacing them . I'm ordering the H/D today , but won't get it until next Friday probably , only 2 mail services a week here . I don't have MS instal CDs , the software was installed on my computer when I bought it , but do have 2 CDs called '' IBM Product Recovery NetVista '' and one called '' Software Selections NetVista '' . I'm guessing the 2 Product Recovery CDs will have ME on them ? Thank you for offering your phone number , I will get it when I'm ready to go , as I'm bound to need expert advice .

Davey , like I said , computers etc are a lot more expensive here , a Dell Inspiron 1300 [ which I'm guessing is the same as a B 130 ] is A$1300 on a Dell special offer over here . A 9300 is A$2,100 on special offer . This IBM desktop [ with 128MB of memory ] cost me A$1,700 on a bulk buy , special deal , 4 years ago .

Thanks for all the help so far ,
Dogger

[LaoziSailor]

Hey Capn'...snip...
As far as Intel processors, I prefer AMD, lotta price difference here also to spend on other parts of a system.
...snip...Likewise, I just had a gig to install a CCTV system and I wanted to build a 64bit processor with dual Opteron but the software company said that they only supported the Intel so I had to go with the Xeon.

I gave them an earfull about the fact that I understood heavy video will need FFT which is in the Intel math library and I pointed out that AMD also had such a library.

So I've got a a 1TB Raid 0 and ...we'll now I'm rambling and we better take this off to a different thread. ...still this so sweet :) real LOUD :D 6 fans to keep it :cool:

I wish I could have used Linux instead of WinXP, ...but hey, remember Lucy and Charlie Brown when she tells him "you win some, you loose some" and Charlie replies "wouldn't that be nice".

Cheers!

[dogger]

PS . I just rang Bigpond , my ISP , we can forget Linux . My satellite connection will only work with Windows . BigPond broadband 2way Satellite is my only option here unless I want to go to dialup , which is about the same speed as using carrier pigeons , or fork out for another lot of satellite gear [ the setup I have would cost somewhere between A$4-7,000 today ] to change satellite ISPs.

[CapnGimp]

w0w! copy the Carrier PigeonZ,lol.
For what it's worth, I'd trade living spaces with ya anyday, I tend to like uninterrupted peace n quiet. Get the hd and between now n then, I'll send ya some install directions. Looks like we'll use your two recovery discs, they have the operating system on them too, unless you want me to send ya a copy of ME for a clean install. But if we do that, you will have to find drivers for all the hardware on your machine and burn them to a cd, up to you.
Otherwise, we'll multipartition the drives, but when it does the install, it will still cram everything into C drive originally.
No biggie. From there you can add/remove programs and use free software from the web for most of the things you do anyway. We'll get ya spIffIed up there regardless.
In the meantime, start saving your keepers to cd.
BTW did you try the complete uninstall/reinstall of your antivirus stuff that I mentioned earlier to see if that helped ya out?
And how much free space do you have on your hard drive now?

Most printers, you can physically clean the head with a bit of alcohol on a non-lint cloth to de-gum them. worth a try. I drill holes/plug with rubber when I'm done refiiling them with ink kits I buy on the cheap from the web, save a fortune that way. And my printer has 6 wells(photo printer).
I'm just a penny pincher, what can I say? Now if it were tools, telescopes, etc, that's a different story,lol.

[CapnGimp]

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-4MVU6P

go here scroll to your machine type, pick EXACTLY which one it is and get all the drivers for it, burnem' to a cd

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsme/default.asp
this looks to be the starting point for ME update site, don't know if you can still GET updates but it's worth a try to see if they'll let ya download and burn them to a cd also.

[LaoziSailor]

Hey Dogger,
Not that this is related to your computer, but how far away are you from Townsville?
About 20 years ago I was planning to move there. (...now they won't even let me in <he, he>)

Cheers!

[CapnGimp]

sounds like me Sailor, can't leave, can't go, so I just keep dreamin....

[LaoziSailor]

OK, I found Dogger :) ...he's way under where I was going :D

http://www.queenslandholidays.com.au/_assets/images/noflash/townsville_map.gif
http://www.queenslandholidays.com.au/_assets/images/noflash/outback_map.gif


...a five (5) hour flight north in a Cessna!

Cheers M8!

[LaoziSailor]

Now that biz about being hooked up to a WinSattelite makes sense to me.

I can really go for that "The Great Artesian Spa (http://www.queenslandholidays.com.au/outback/mitchell.cfm) is the centrepiece of Mitchell and the wider Booringa Shire. The large open-air spa has been making a huge splash among visitors to Mitchell. The warm waters are said to relax the muscles, ease tension and revitalise both the body and the mind."

Like the Capn' said, "I'll trade places with you" :cool:

Cheers!

[bob clark]

Since Dogger is going to install a new hard drive with a clean install of ME there's no need to back up anything onto CDRs. He can just slave up the old hard drive and access everything from there.

You may want to cut/copy and paste anything that you want to save that's located on your desktop back into the C:/ directory/folder. Just create a new folder in C: called "backup" or whatever and cut/copy everything that you want to save from your desktop and paste it into the backup folder. If I recall correctly you may not be able to access the stuff that's on your desktop after you slave it up and the drive letter changes to D:/ or whatever. Depending on whether you partition the new drive or not.... it will be the next letter after the last assigned partition letter on the master or new hard drive.

Dogger should have all the drivers that he needs on those two CDs and in the WinME driver database. And on the floppies or CDs that came with his added/upgraded hardware. At least drivers that will get him up and running until he wants/needs to update them for performance reasons. If he runs into trouble he can always put the old hard drive back in as the master and download them after he knows which one(s) he needs.

What type of IDE ATA cable do you have connected to your hard drive Dogger? Are all the plastic connectors the same color or are they black, grey and blue? If they're black, grey and blue you shouldn't need to screw around with the jumpers on the hard drives. Just connect the new Master hard drive to the black end connector and the old Slave hard drive to the middle grey connector. The blue connector goes into the 0 or Primary channel on the motherboard. The hard drives should come factory defaulted to "Cable Select or CS or CSEL". But if the three connectors on the IDE cable are all black (or the same color) you'll need to manually set the jumpers on your new hard drive to "Master" and your old hard drive to "Slave". And put the new Master hard drive on the middle grey connector and the slave on the black end. They never make it easy. Check out this website to make sure:

http://www.mikeshardware.com/howtos/howto_connect_ide_hd.html

But if you have the slower 40 pin ATA IDE all black connector cable then you may want to upgrade the ATA IDE cable to the faster 80 pin/ATA 100 cable to accomodate your faster, newer hard drive. But then you may need to plug the older, slower slaved hard drive into the Secondary IDE channel in order to get the faster speed out of your new hard drive. They will only run as fast as the slowest hard drive if they're both on the same IDE channel. Hopefully your old hard drive is an ATA 100 too so you don't run into this potential bottleneck. Since your computer is getting pretty old you may need to "manually" set the ATA speed to DMA 5 with a special driver/utility that you can download from Seagate's website.

I'm running an AMD FX-55 64 bit processor on my new computer. I finally jumped the Intel ship. Too bad it's back in Texas getting the motherboard replaced while I'm here in Florida! I'm on my old Intel P4 now. They say with the release of Windows 64 certain applications may run slower. Especially graphically intensive ones like games and flight sims. And it'll be awhile before any games are written solely in 64 bit code anyway. Kinda like the chicken and the egg deal. The market needs enough 64 bit processors to use the new 64 bit code for profit reasons so they don't want to write in purely 64 bit code until 64 bit processors become commonplace. Grrrr...

I don't know much about Linux but IMO it should only be run by computer enthusiasts/geeks. Not everything is compatible with it so you need to know how to tweak and "work-around" its incompatibilities. It may be a good idea to set up a dual boot system so you can learn as you go but to have your only computer running it may not be a good idea. It's not quite as "user friendly" as Windows.... or so I've heard.

So you think you ramble on CapnGimp!? :)

[CapnGimp]

Hey BOBKAT,
It pays to read the thread, told him most of the b/u stuff you stated already(post 10).The why for' I still say cd backup is because I AIN'T altogether sure his drive isn't crapping out on him.
As far as drivers on the RESTORE type discs, ALL of them I have ever dealt with from the major name brand manufacturers list the files in long number cabs. And they DO NOT unpack in a simple to read/know what ya got-format.
In simple, ya gotta have drivers, if we are to do a CLEAN ME only install w/o using the restore discs, see post about me mailing him one.
I once again say as in previous posts, if you can do it in windows, it is done 3 different ways and better in linux. Also, since he isn't a MS whiz to begin with, he would only be learning it the RIGHT way for his initial go,lol, not having to forget all the useless crap one has to learn to run MS junk.
Linux is very user friendly, has more internal help than MS ever DREAMED of, plus a world of people who use/write code for it, willing to help. AND you rarely find the slew of unknowingly-wrong-way-MS-slave-types MISLEADING you with passed down faulty info.
Until you have used a few versions, you will never know just how intuitive it is OUT OF THE BOX, period. Most people on wind0Ze boxes are completely lost outside of the basic software they use day to day anyway.
When wind0Ze goes CLUNK, they have to get help to even USE their computer.
SHOOT! Half the software on it is to protect/defend/repair/troubleshoot/etc/etc/etc/. Most people spend 25% of there time trying to get them fixed instead of USING them,ROFLMAO!!
With linux, it doesn't crash/get infected/blue screen/ tell the world your info/lock up/ need 10 varieties of softare to c0ddle it along, need reloaded/defraggged/scanned/etc/etc/etc/.
It works, period. Has all the software ya need, FREE. And has scads of manuals to tell ya what ya want to know. DID I MENTION FREE? Did I mention no VIRII, no ADWARE, no SPYWARE, no hassle computing at its INTENDED BEST.


DID I MENTION, he said he can't use Linux because his provider only supports windows? lol
It is beyond me why the world follows after microsoft like Pavlov's Slobberin' Puppies. If your car came from the manufacturer in equivalent form, he would be outta biNess' in a week. Eating on the run, cause everyone would be out to lynch them.'
I shall quit ranting now and go to bed,lol.
G'night B0BK@T, you have a good evening, I will sleep well, knowing I have Linux as the first boot os on all 3 of my p00terZ. If bill's junk was invaded tomorry, I'd still be on here talking to linux losers, while all the virii invaded mosheenZ were getting fixed by some p0r feller like me.... ;)
it MUST be a conspiracy, those dang left wingerZ...
or iZZit them dang right wingerZZ...
or iZZit the radical treehuggerZ...
I bet it's the alienZ....
naaaah, it's the newly evolved race from chipmunks...
or did they evolve from fish....
maybe somebody just put to many animalz in a pot and they evolved from IT!
I ain't sweatin it tho, I still have a slide rule and 2 BIG hammers.
Not to mention some rather FINE armament....
and a slingshot....
n a big p0inty stick...
and if'n all that fails...
I know in whom I believe.
And it doesn't take a cell phone to call on Him either.

Besides, I know the end of the story, I read it all the way through.

[CapnGimp]

Now that biz about being hooked up to a WinSattelite makes sense to me.

I can really go for that "The Great Artesian Spa (http://www.queenslandholidays.com.au/outback/mitchell.cfm) is the centrepiece of Mitchell and the wider Booringa Shire. The large open-air spa has been making a huge splash among visitors to Mitchell. The warm waters are said to relax the muscles, ease tension and revitalise both the body and the mind."

Like the Capn' said, "I'll trade places with you" :cool:

Cheers!

I say we swap him our computers/ conveniently crowded states for his passport and remote home/ befuddled computer, you get us there in your b0at, n I'll fetch the food from his fridge n c00k our first deprived of 'life' meal!
LOL, Reckon he'll go for it?

[CapnGimp]

Hey B0BK@T,
I meant to ask, how do ya like the 64 bit processor?...
Since MS doesn't HAVE a 64bit operating system yet, you might want to try one of the 64bit versions of LINUX so you can USE that added versatility.
Yes, I know, you would rather waste that h0ssp0wer and WAIT patiently for MS to come out with a buggy system so you can spend 187 bucks for it.
I hope you know I'm just razzing you in g00d nature, even though the facts are true.
Look for ya a version you like the characteristics of oand either download or buy a copy for less than 10 bucks and get it shipped to ya.
I like SUSE or rather use it now.
I have used Caldera, RedHat, Mandrake, TurboLinux,Knoppix off the top of my head... Do a hardware support search to ensure the version you pick supports all your hardware, and/or look for drivers from your mfg or within the linux community. Almost everything gets drivers written for it sooner or later.
I think you will like it.
And it DOES have games with them.
Not to mention you can get vmware to run windows on top of linux
http://www.vmware.com/
there are others also.
Anyway, that'll get ya started.
John