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Having just had another component failure I am having to rebuild my system
for about the third time in six months and it drives me a bit crazy having
to do this as there are so many programs to remember to reinstall. I was
wondering if anyone had any useful tips on how to do this to make it as
simple and painless as possible! TIA.

Start by figuring out why things failed. Is your computer connected to
the power grid directly or via a good surge suppressor or, better yet, a
UPS? Does it have a good quality power supply? Is it the same
component that fails repeatedly?

Bryan Henderson wrote:
>
> Having just had another component failure I am having to rebuild my system
> for about the third time in six months and it drives me a bit crazy having
> to do this as there are so many programs to remember to reinstall. I was
> wondering if anyone had any useful tips on how to do this to make it as
> simple and painless as possible! TIA.

"SgtMinor" <> wrote in message
news:. ..
> Start by figuring out why things failed. Is your computer connected to
> the power grid directly or via a good surge suppressor or, better yet, a
> UPS? Does it have a good quality power supply? Is it the same
> component that fails repeatedly?

The PC is direct to the mains and I leave it on as a fax/answer machine most
of the time and all the time when I am away. I have the HDs set to not power
down as they tend to lock up when the PC wakes up to answer a call. I also
don't have the PC set to standby but the monitor is turned off obviously.
Sometimes I am away on business for a week or two and the problems seem to
be worst when I return.

The case/PS is a Mercury one and I don't know how good or bad that is. The
problems aren't always the same. Last year around October I needed to
reinstall Windows after two years as it had become more and more bizarre or
corrupted but I bought a new HD as I hadn't backed up the old one for a
while and decided to make it a slave. I was also having graphics card
problems and eventually replaced the card then I had an unfortunate incident
putting RAM in and had to replace the mobo this then lead on to the problems
with not closing down properly and the current HD problem.

I would appreciate any comments.

>
> Bryan Henderson wrote:
> >
> > Having just had another component failure I am having to rebuild my
system
> > for about the third time in six months and it drives me a bit crazy
having
> > to do this as there are so many programs to remember to reinstall. I was
> > wondering if anyone had any useful tips on how to do this to make it as
> > simple and painless as possible! TIA.

Bryan Henderson wrote:
>
> "SgtMinor" <> wrote in message
> news:. ..
> > Start by figuring out why things failed. Is your computer connected to
> > the power grid directly or via a good surge suppressor or, better yet, a
> > UPS? Does it have a good quality power supply? Is it the same
> > component that fails repeatedly?
>
> The PC is direct to the mains and I leave it on as a fax/answer machine most
> of the time and all the time when I am away. I have the HDs set to not power
> down as they tend to lock up when the PC wakes up to answer a call. I also
> don't have the PC set to standby but the monitor is turned off obviously.
> Sometimes I am away on business for a week or two and the problems seem to
> be worst when I return.
>
> The case/PS is a Mercury one and I don't know how good or bad that is. The
> problems aren't always the same. Last year around October I needed to
> reinstall Windows after two years as it had become more and more bizarre or
> corrupted but I bought a new HD as I hadn't backed up the old one for a
> while and decided to make it a slave. I was also having graphics card
> problems and eventually replaced the card then I had an unfortunate incident
> putting RAM in and had to replace the mobo this then lead on to the problems
> with not closing down properly and the current HD problem.
>
> I would appreciate any comments.

Using the machine as a fax/answering device in the manner you describe
is a poor use of resources. A stand-alone device like this Samsung unit
would probably pay for itself in a year through savings in power
consumption.
http://www.buy-cheap-electricals.co...._SF-3200T.html

Windows is not good about cleaning up after itself - when programs shut
down, some vestiges of it may stay in the background - and it benefits
from a periodic restart. Some versions are worse than others. You also
need to do periodic maintenance, and Mike's tips are a good place to
start: http://uk.geocities.com/personel44/maintenance.html

Your computer could also benefit from having something suppress spikes
and surges coming from the power grid and telephone line. A
uninterruptible power supply (UPS) would be even better.

Many of your system's problems could be heat related. If you are going
to just replace some components, consider leaving the case off to
improve ventilation.

>
> >
> > Bryan Henderson wrote:
> > >
> > > Having just had another component failure I am having to rebuild my
> system
> > > for about the third time in six months and it drives me a bit crazy
> having
> > > to do this as there are so many programs to remember to reinstall. I was
> > > wondering if anyone had any useful tips on how to do this to make it as
> > > simple and painless as possible! TIA.

Use Files and Settings Transfer Wizard in System Tools to backup everything
to a CD or DVD.


"Bryan Henderson" <> wrote in message
news:c78brr$u5dg$...
> Having just had another component failure I am having to rebuild my system
> for about the third time in six months and it drives me a bit crazy having
> to do this as there are so many programs to remember to reinstall. I was
> wondering if anyone had any useful tips on how to do this to make it as
> simple and painless as possible! TIA.
>
>

"Bryan Henderson" <> wrote in message
news:c78brr$u5dg$...
> Having just had another component failure I am having to rebuild my system
> for about the third time in six months and it drives me a bit crazy having
> to do this as there are so many programs to remember to reinstall. I was
> wondering if anyone had any useful tips on how to do this to make it as
> simple and painless as possible! TIA.
>
>

Norton Ghost (what's that other one?)...get it all set up just the way you
like it, Ghost it off to CD and then next time you need to reinstall, you
just put the Ghost CD's back on.

Bryan Henderson wrote:

> The PC is direct to the mains and I leave it on as a fax/answer machine most
> of the time and all the time when I am away. I have the HDs set to not power
> down as they tend to lock up when the PC wakes up to answer a call. I also
> don't have the PC set to standby but the monitor is turned off obviously.
> Sometimes I am away on business for a week or two and the problems seem to
> be worst when I return.

I'm not going to get involved in an OS flamefest, here; I'll just
suggest that Windows isn't a good idea for a machine that you're going
to go off and leave for weeks at a time. Take that thought from
there...

--
Blinky Linux Registered User 4892F
AOL Diary http://snipurl.com/aoldiary
Nigerian Scam From Space http://snipurl.com/iss419
New Windows - Don't Wait For Longhorn! http://snipurl.com/newwin

"Blinky the Shark" <> wrote in message
news: ...
> Bryan Henderson wrote:
>
> > The PC is direct to the mains and I leave it on as a fax/answer machine
most
> > of the time and all the time when I am away. I have the HDs set to not
power
> > down as they tend to lock up when the PC wakes up to answer a call. I
also
> > don't have the PC set to standby but the monitor is turned off
obviously.
> > Sometimes I am away on business for a week or two and the problems seem
to
> > be worst when I return.
>
> I'm not going to get involved in an OS flamefest, here; I'll just
> suggest that Windows isn't a good idea for a machine that you're going
> to go off and leave for weeks at a time. Take that thought from
> there...
>

I agree...and the servers at work are running Novell Netware...who is now
offering a Linux OS as well. My suspicions are that they will eventually
migrate away from Netware and base their server software entirely on Linux.

Toolman Tim wrote:
> "Bryan Henderson" <> wrote in message
> news:c78brr$u5dg$...
>> Having just had another component failure I am having to rebuild my
>> system for about the third time in six months and it drives me a bit
>> crazy having to do this as there are so many programs to remember to
>> reinstall. I was wondering if anyone had any useful tips on how to
>> do this to make it as simple and painless as possible! TIA.
>>
>>
>
> Norton Ghost (what's that other one?)...get it all set up just the
> way you like it, Ghost it off to CD and then next time you need to
> reinstall, you just put the Ghost CD's back on.

The other one is Powerquest Drive Image probably... although Norton
bought it recently. There are others (like BootIt NG which is half the
price and does partitions and multi-booting as well) but whatever you
use, the quickest way to restore your computer is from a disk image...
about 10 to 20 minutes to have the hard drive exactly as it was.

"Tim" <> wrote in message
news:6N3mc.14788500$.. .
> Toolman Tim wrote:
> > "Bryan Henderson" <> wrote in message
> > news:c78brr$u5dg$...
> >> Having just had another component failure I am having to rebuild my
> >> system for about the third time in six months and it drives me a bit
> >> crazy having to do this as there are so many programs to remember to
> >> reinstall. I was wondering if anyone had any useful tips on how to
> >> do this to make it as simple and painless as possible! TIA.
> >>
> >>
> >
> > Norton Ghost (what's that other one?)...get it all set up just the
> > way you like it, Ghost it off to CD and then next time you need to
> > reinstall, you just put the Ghost CD's back on.
>
> The other one is Powerquest Drive Image probably... although Norton
> bought it recently. There are others (like BootIt NG which is half the
> price and does partitions and multi-booting as well) but whatever you
> use, the quickest way to restore your computer is from a disk image...
> about 10 to 20 minutes to have the hard drive exactly as it was.
>

Thanks! I knew that there were others, but what with working 12 hours a day,
I'm suffering from some serious brainfarts lately ;o)