Re: BIOS - COULD THERE A PROBLEM WITH MY PC'S BIOS?

On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:50:01 -0700, InfoHungry
<InfoHungry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


HI KEN, HOPE ALL IS WELL.

I HAVE GOTTEN OVER MY MAJOR HURDDLE WITH MY BOOKKEEPING PROGRAM. IT IS
ALMOST BACK TO HOW I LAST LEFT IT. I JUST HAVE TO TIE UP SOME LOOSE ENDS
TOMORROW. SO NOW I KNOW I HAVE A "GOOD BACK UP" OF IT ON DISC.
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN, THANK YOU.


You're welcome. But for the future, please do *not* post in all
capitals. It's very hard on the eyes, and it feels like you're
shouting at me.

Normally, I would ignore a message like this with all these capitals,
but since we've started corresponding about your issue, I'll make an
exception for you, and read it and continue. See below.



You're welcome. Glad to help.

AND YOU DON'T IMAGINE HOW GLAD I AM THAT YOU CAN AND ARE HELPING ME, THANK
YOU SO MUCH.


You're welcome again.


No, you don't necessarily need third-party software. You get extra
capability using third-party software, but depending on your needs,
just copying them is often fine.

I TRIED THAT BUT COULD NOT COPY THAT WAY, I GUESS I HAVE NOT YET FIGURED OUT
HOW TO DO THAT PROPERLY.



It depends on what you are trying to copy. See point 2, quoted
immediately below.


2. For various reasons, you can't just make a copy of the C: drive
using standard Windows facilities. If that's what you want to do, you
need third-party software. However you *can* copy your data files that
way; just be sure you copy to external devices.

FOR THE 2 POINTS ABOVE: I DID INDEED DO COPIES TO CD/DVD AND EXTERNAL DRIVE.
IT IS THE INTEGRITY OF THE COPIES THAT WORRIES ME


Look at what you've copied. Open the files.


AND ALSO I DO NOT KNOW IF I
HAVE ALL THE "ESSENTIAL" FILES THE SYSTEM NEEDS TO RUN PROPERLY.


Not everyone wants to back up all the files the system needs to run
properly. Read below for the two approaches to backup.


I NOW HAVE
ALL MY PROGRAMS AND VIP FILES ON DISCS. PUTTING THEM BACK INTO THE SYSTEM
CORRECTLY AFTER FORMATTING IS ANOTHER WORRY FOR ME -



There are two very different approach to backup.

1. You can create an image (or clone) of your entire drive (usually on
a removable hard drive). That requires special software to do it. It
can not be done by simply copying files. If you do that, and the
original drive dies, all you need to do is replace the original drive,
then restore your image to the new drive.

2. You can back up individual files that contain important data, not
everything on the drive. If you lose the original drive in that
scenario, what you have to do is acquire a new drive, reinstall
Windows on it, then reinstall all your programs and restore you
backed-up data. Note carefully that what you can *not* do is restore
backed up programs. A backup of a program is useless, because all
programs (except for a rare tiny one) have many associated files and
references to themselves within Windows, in the registry and
elsewhere. If you reinstall Windows, all of that is lost, and the
programs won't run.

Since you say "I NOW HAVE ALL MY PROGRAMS ... ON DISCS," you
apparently weren't aware of this. Except as part of an image or clone
of the entire drive, backing up programs is a waste of time and
effort.


I AM NOT 100% SURE IF IT
IS STRAIGHT FORWARD ENOUGH FOR ME TO DO - IF I JUST HAVE TO COPY THEM BACK
THAT IS OK, I THINK.


For data, yes. For programs, no. See above.



FOR NOW I DO NOT REALLY WANT A "COPY" OF MY HARD DRIVES BECAUSE THEY ARE
VERY MESSED UP. I WILL WANT TO DO IT WHEN MY SYSTEM IS "CLEAN" AND WORKING
WELL THOUGH. FOR NOW I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE I COPY ALL NECESSARY FILES - I
HAVE BEEN LOOKING BUT COULD NOT FIND A "LIST" OF FILES THAT ARE IMPERATIVE TO
HAVE TO ENABLE ME TO GET THE PC TO WORK AFTER FORMATING OR SYSTEM FAILURE.


You can't find it because it doesn't exist. To repeat what I said
above, what you would need to do is

1. Reinstall Windows.
2. Reinstall all your programs.
3. Copy your data files back to the drive.

Notice that in step 3, I said "data files." That's why such a list
doesn't exist. Nobody but you knows what data files you have.




clicked each respective COPY folder one at
a time and clicked PASTE. Had a lot of warnings saying something to the
effect that "this file could not be copied" and at this point I had the "show
system files" "show hidden files" on. so That does not seem to be a reliable
back up.


No, it's not. See point 1, above.

JUST AS I THOUGHT. SO APART FROM FILES THAT I CREATE MYSELF (LETTERS,
PHOTOS, FAMILY MOVIES, BOOKKEEPING FILES) WHAT OTHER FILES DO I NEED TO COPY
SO I HAVE ALL ABSOLUTELY NECESSATY FILES TO BE USED ON SYSTEM FAILURE OR
HARD DRIVE FORMATTING/WINDOWS REINSTALL?


See above. You are misunderstanding the difference between the two
approaches to backup.


If you need a driver for the DVD drive, you should be able to download
it from the manufacturer's web site.


OK THEN. DO THEY NEED KEYS? I DON'T THINK I HAVE ANY OF THESE.


Do you mean software keys? Highly unlikely.




So please give me the VERDICT = CLEAN UP???? or FORMAT???



Sorry, but I can almost never make that decision for someone else.
I APPRECIATE YOUR ANSWER ABOVE AND APPOLOGISE, I JUST NEED TO ESTABLISH
CLEARLY IN MY HEAD IF I HAVE WHAT I NEED IN CASE I NEED TO FORMAT.


See above. You need your Windows CD, installation CDs for all your
software, and backups of your data.


ALSO I
THOUGHT THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE FOUND SOME CLUE AS TO THE STATE OF MY SYSTEM FROM
THE INFO I POSTED LAST. UNFORTUNATELY THAT DID NOT PROVIDE ANYTHING
CONCRETE... SO FOR NOW I THINK I SHOULD CLEAN UP SOME OF THE MESSY FOLDERS
AND TRY TO DO A FRESH BACK UP, HOW DOES THIS REASONING COME ACROSS TO YOU?


Again, I can't make that decision for you, but based on what you've
said it sounds like it might likely be the best course.



FOR THE ABOVE: I WOULD DEFINITELY WOULD HAVE TO TREAD VERY CAREFULLY AND
WITH VERY GOOD AND CLEAR, COMPLETE STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS IN WHAT RELATES
TO BIOS.


Except changing the boot order to enable you to boot from the CD, so
you can do a clean reinstallation, forget about the BIOS. It isn't
involved with this at all.


I HAVE NOT GONE IN THERE TO CHANGE ANYTHING, EVER. IF I NEED TO
CHANGE BOOT PRIORITIES I CAN PROBABLY DO IT WITH GOOD INSTRUTIONS. I HAVE MY
MOTHERBOARD INTRUSTION MANUAL AND DISC. I AM A BIT SCARED OF OPENING THE BOX
AND REMOVE AND REPLACE DRIVES IF THAT IS SOMETHING THAT WOULD BE NECESSARY TO
DO. AGAIN I WOULD NEED STEP BY STEP INFO.


Opening the case should not be needed.



CUSTOMISING I DO NOT HAVE A LOT OF THINGS DONE BUT I AM CONFIDENT I CAN
BRING IT ALL BACK EASILY. I HAD TO DO THAT WHEN THE SECOND HARD DRIVE WAS PUT
IN.

FORMATING BASIC SHOULD BE OK BUT I WOULD HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT PARTITIONS OR
SIMILER THINGS. I HAVE NO PROBLEM INSTALLING PRINTER,CAMERA, PROGRAMS
I FORMATED MY EXTERNAL DRIVE FROM FAT32 TO NTFS BEFORE USING IT TO BACKUP
BUT IT WAS QUITE STRAIGHT FORWARD.
I DEFINITELY HAVE DIFFICULTIES WITH START UP CONFIGURATION. I KNOW I HAVE
TOO MANY PROCESS RUNNING THAT SHOULD NOT BE, BUT I AM READING UP ON IT.
I DO HAVE A LOT OF CLUTTER SUCH AS: LEFT OVER FILES FROM UNINSTALLED
PROGRAMS - 840 ENTRIES THAT DO NOT WORK IN THE REGISTRY, AND GOD KNOWS HOW
MUCH SPYWARE/MALAWARE GONE UNDETECTED THAT I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO FIND AND
CLEAN. IF FILES HAVE TO BE DELETED I AM NEVER SURE IF IT WILL AFFECT THE
SYSTEM AND OTHER PORGRAMS.

NOW FOR ANOTHER QUESTION TO HELP ME CLEAN UP A BIT: IS IT SAFE TO DELETE THE
FOLDERS I CREATED OF "COPY OF C" AND "COPY OF D"? WINDOWS WAS COPIED AS WELL.
IT RUNS IN MY EXTERNAL DRIVE IF I CHANGE THE BOOT.INI. I AM SCARED THAT IF I
DELETE THOSE FILES IT MIGHT DO SOMETHING WRONG TO THE ORIGINAL FILES IN THE
HARD DRIVES. AT ONE POINT MY EXTERNAL DRIVE SHOWED AS "MBR" IN DISK
MAHAGEMENT. PLEASE EXCUSE MY IGNORANCE BUT THIS IS VERY PUZZLING FOR ME. I
KNOW THEY ARE "COPIES" BUT I AM ASKING JUST IN CASE IT CAUSES ME MORE GRIEF.
PLEASE ADVISE



Since it appears that you will be reformatting and reinstalling,
there's no question of whether it's safe to delete anything on the
drive. When you reformat, *everything* gets deleted, so there's no
need to delete anything in advance.

To reformat and reinstall, just boot from the Windows XP CD (change
the BIOS boot order if necessary to accomplish this) and follow the
prompts for a clean installation (delete the existing partition by
pressing "D" when prompted, then create a new one).

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

or here
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_install_windows_xp.htm

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm


One more point here, and it's an important one. Please don't feel
insulted, but it's very clear from the questions you ask, and some of
your misunderstandings that you are a beginner at this. I'm very
concerned that if you were to attempt this by yourself, you might not
succeed. It would be wise to enlist the help of a more knowledgeable
friend who could work along with you and show you what to do. It might
even be worth it to pay a professional (and by "professional," I do
*not* mean an employee of CompUSA, Best Buy, or some similar store.
Look for a local service person who comes recommended by other people
in your area, such as your local PC users' group).

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
.

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