Harddisk or software

[soongmak]

Thanks, will give it a try.

[soongmak]

Hi Carlton,

 

When I say reinstall, I mean format the primary partition and either do a clean install from the windows XP cd or from a previous image I made. Maybe that is overly cautious, but when I encounter problems, I don't always find out what the problem is due to limited knowledge, so I resort to a clean reinstall every six months or so.

 

Does that have an effect on programs that are installed on another partition?

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"Does that have an effect on programs that are installed on another partition?"

Yes, if those programs have installed DLLs in the windows dir or have settings in the registry then there is a reasonable chance that they will no longer work and will have to be re-installed as well.

 

Sanuk!

[keekwai]

My system partition has plenty of free space I was just thinking that next time I did a clean install I'd put programs on another partition to save time for future clean installs. Judging from other posts this wouldn't work well. As you point out if I did a system repair it would probably not hurt having programs on a separate partition.

 

I do use DriveImage but as it turns out the image I have saved includes programs I no longer want. I'm going to delete all partitions and start from scratch when I get the free time. I'll do a clean install of Windows and the handful of programs and utilities that I'm certain I want then create a backup image.

[carlton68]

Sorry, I misunderstood.

 

I can only repeat what KS says: when you do a clean and fresh installation of Windows (format the system partition and install - I wont that call a reinstall) then you'll loose all the linkage to the additional programs that are on another partition. How is Windows supposed to know? Only very few programs don't add info to the registry, these would still work. But most programs will need a (re)install as well, cause they are not known in the registry anymore. Not to mention the dlls that are missing then.

 

The XP repair option is quite nice (can't solve every problem), you should give it a try. 99% of the software still there and running.

And old backups are as good as no backups (reminds me to do a fresh backup myself, so I'm off now!)

[keekwai]

Don't be sorry, half the time I misunderstand my own posts too.

 

That all makes sense. Glad I asked before finding out the hard way latter. Thanks.

[soongmak]

BB,

 

Just to get back to the original topic, could it be that you have been infected with the sasser worm? I heard that this virus causes PC's to shut down repeatedly as well. According to virusalert.nl having the file avserve.exe in your standard windows directory. Probably a long shot, but worth a try I think.

 

Cheers,

 

soongmak

[Guest]

soongmak said:

BB,

 

Just to get back to the original topic, could it be that you have been infected with the sasser worm? I heard that this virus causes PC's to shut down repeatedly as well. According to virusalert.nl having the file avserve.exe in your standard windows directory. Probably a long shot, but worth a try I think.

 

Cheers,

 

soongmak

 

No, BB is behind a router, (broadband) so no chance of sasser.

[adikgede]

No, BB is behind a router, (broadband) so no chance of sasser.

 

??? We are all behind routers, sasser couldn't get from network to network with out a router.

[Guest]

my understanding was that sasser was a worm, not a virus and stopped by the firewall at the router as it can not see any ip address except that of the router.??

 

anyway the patch for this was issued AFAIK 3 days before it struck, so I have little sympathy for those caught, Also have read that it could have been much more vicious if it had not been so badly written.