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From Twitter 01-08-2011
Jan. 9th, 2011 02:00 am- 21:21:06: Good evening, all. Tweeting from my netbook, as my desktop seems to have shit the bed. Still able to get into safe mode, tho. <3 Thunderbird
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Jan. 9th, 2011
Computer shenanigans
Jan. 9th, 2011 05:33 pmAs some of you will remember from previous posts, I am having trouble with my main desktop computer. To sum up what is a long, sad story, Vista sucks, and it especially sucks when it updates a previous XP installation which probably updated a previous Windows 98 installation. The amount of cruft and general stupidity that accrues when you update a Windows installation is beyond belief. I have suffered from the following:
I have to make a backup, wipe the disk clean, get a fresh install (not an update) of Windows 7, and install that.
To that end, I booted into the computer using safe mode with networking, and I'm now backing my hard disk up to the NAS box. This will take quite a while, but is worth it. I don't do it often enough. When I finally figure out how to use ViceVersa most efficiently, it will be faster. Now I'm just using it as a blunt-edged sword, to get all the files off.
Last night I discovered that if I copied my Thunderbird Profile directory to the other drive in the NAS box, I could access all my email from the netbook. I can't tell you how neat this is. I suppose that I could have accessed Eudora from the NAS box too, or at least the email files, but this brings along my profile too, so Thunderbird on my netbook looks exactly the same as Thunderbird on my desktop. If I like I can install Thunderbird on my Ubuntu notebook and access my emails from that as well. What this means is that my online life can continue while I rebuild my desktop computer in a leisurely fashion. LJ, Facebook, Twitter, email, and MSN all continue on the netbook.
The next step is to take the list of installed programs and, one by one, take the setup files off the computer and put them on an external disk drive, along with any license keys needed for reinstallation. This wll take time. I will also have to make sure that the installation programs for all my peripherals such as the monitor, the webcam, the audio console, and the like are also available.
Then I have to buy a copy of Windows 7. Will be looking for the best bargain (if any) but not a pirated version. I might join Tech-Net again if I can get a license through it that won't expire.
Dell set up the hard disks in a RAID 0 array (I think; I can't check at the moment). What I need to do is get bigger disks (perhaps 1 TB) and install them in an array so that I have redundancy. This will take a while. As I have lots of time during the day. I shouldn't have much of a problem doing all this (although the expense may be a problem).
Next step is installing Windows 7 and making sure that all the peripherals work with it. This may be easy, or not. I'm not sure at this point.
Finally, I need to reinstall all the programs I want, and make sure they work. I expect this to be a bit frustrating. Some of these programs have been on my computer for years, and I may not have the latest versions. I know that the programs I use most (such as Office) should be OK, it's other ones that I'm worried about.
I don't expect to be finished with this until spring. But, if I don't do it now, I'll never have a functioning computer again until I buy a new one and I can't see that happening for a long time. In fact, I suspect that my next main computer will be a notebook of some sort (not a tablet yet). I'm exhausted just thinking about all this.
- When I right-click on a disk drive in the Explorer window to, for example, format a thumb drive, Windows Explorer freezes and must eventually be rebooted. Why? I believe that at one time I installed an add-on to the right-click menu that was ill-considered. I can't even remember what it was now. But, ever since, through the upgrade to Vista, this behaviour has persisted.
- The Ethernet connection has been flaky for about a month. I think that it was having some trouble with O2's DNS server. However, I don't think it was O2 because none of the other computers in the house had this problem.
- There have been lots of unexplained and (seemingly) unexplainable crashes, where Vista just stops. I don't know whether it's the computer, or Vista.
- Occasionally, but more and more frequently, when I reboot the computer it goes into CHKDSK and, after a very long pause, complains about a file named gameuxmig.dll. This file is associated with the Windows Migration Tool, which I have never to my knowledge used.
- After an attempt to fix some of these matters with a piece of software I bought (which shall remain anonymous to protect the guilty) I have now found that I cannot boot into my desktop. The computer stalls after logon, and the desktop never comes up.
- MSN has stopped working after an upgrade. I think I can log in, but all I get is an empty frame, and the actual user list and menu never get shown.
I have to make a backup, wipe the disk clean, get a fresh install (not an update) of Windows 7, and install that.
To that end, I booted into the computer using safe mode with networking, and I'm now backing my hard disk up to the NAS box. This will take quite a while, but is worth it. I don't do it often enough. When I finally figure out how to use ViceVersa most efficiently, it will be faster. Now I'm just using it as a blunt-edged sword, to get all the files off.
Last night I discovered that if I copied my Thunderbird Profile directory to the other drive in the NAS box, I could access all my email from the netbook. I can't tell you how neat this is. I suppose that I could have accessed Eudora from the NAS box too, or at least the email files, but this brings along my profile too, so Thunderbird on my netbook looks exactly the same as Thunderbird on my desktop. If I like I can install Thunderbird on my Ubuntu notebook and access my emails from that as well. What this means is that my online life can continue while I rebuild my desktop computer in a leisurely fashion. LJ, Facebook, Twitter, email, and MSN all continue on the netbook.
The next step is to take the list of installed programs and, one by one, take the setup files off the computer and put them on an external disk drive, along with any license keys needed for reinstallation. This wll take time. I will also have to make sure that the installation programs for all my peripherals such as the monitor, the webcam, the audio console, and the like are also available.
Then I have to buy a copy of Windows 7. Will be looking for the best bargain (if any) but not a pirated version. I might join Tech-Net again if I can get a license through it that won't expire.
Dell set up the hard disks in a RAID 0 array (I think; I can't check at the moment). What I need to do is get bigger disks (perhaps 1 TB) and install them in an array so that I have redundancy. This will take a while. As I have lots of time during the day. I shouldn't have much of a problem doing all this (although the expense may be a problem).
Next step is installing Windows 7 and making sure that all the peripherals work with it. This may be easy, or not. I'm not sure at this point.
Finally, I need to reinstall all the programs I want, and make sure they work. I expect this to be a bit frustrating. Some of these programs have been on my computer for years, and I may not have the latest versions. I know that the programs I use most (such as Office) should be OK, it's other ones that I'm worried about.
I don't expect to be finished with this until spring. But, if I don't do it now, I'll never have a functioning computer again until I buy a new one and I can't see that happening for a long time. In fact, I suspect that my next main computer will be a notebook of some sort (not a tablet yet). I'm exhausted just thinking about all this.