Re: XP Ugrade Help!!!

From: Mike (mike.hall.mail_at_sympatico.ca)
Date: 04/04/04 

Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2004 07:53:22 -0400

"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
news:efu0BQjGEHA.704@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>
> "Ralph Sepulveda" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:17dad01c419f9$88e5d010$a501280a@phx.gbl...
> > I'm very much a newbie, so please be kind. I wonder if
> > anybody out there can figure out what's going on with my
> > newly installed XP Operating System and what I might be
> > able to do about it?
> >
> > Here are a few details that may provide some clues to any
> > Windows maven/detectives out there: A few days ago, I
> > upgraded to Windows XP Home Edition from Windows Me.
> > Everything during the upgrade procedure seemed to me to
> > go smoothly and well, with no glitches that I was aware
> > of, although I now suspect that perhaps I may have done
> > something incorrectly at the start--I just have no idea
> > what that might be.
> >
> > I had not spent much time on the computer until today,
> > when I started discovering all sorts of problems. The
> > reason for that being that immediately after installation
> > (perhaps this is a clue?), I was forced to spend over 4
> > hours on the phone trying to resolve a virus problem. I
> > had never had any experiences with a virus before, and it
> > appeared that this one (called, I think, Soundblaster
> > PRC) got in at some point during the upgrade, because it
> > most definitely was not there before. And not being
> > familiar with the symptoms of viruses, I initially
> > assumed that there must be some problem with my DSL
> > connection, and so the first thing I did was to get on
> > the phone with my Internet Provider. The immediate
> > problem then was that I was not able to get online or
> > maintain a connection for very long. I would click in,
> > and in a few seconds the computer would quickly sign out
> > and then automatically shut down. This happened 5 times
> > before I decided I'd better call tech support. After
> > about an hour of walking me through various procedures
> > and trying this and that, the guy on the other end
> > figured out that this was not a connectivity issue after
> > all; it was this virus that he was sorry he couldn't help
> > me with and advised that I get in touch with Microsoft
> > immediately. I will spare you the details of what
> > happened for the next three hours (believe me, you don't
> > want to know), but suffice it to say that Microft
> > confirmed that it was indeed this dread virus and we
> > finally were able to take care of it. I was extremely
> > late for a meeting and ran off as soon as the problem had
> > been resolved. For one reason or another, it was
> > impossible for me to get back to the computer until now.
> >
> > What I discovered was that not all my files and programs
> > got transfered over into the new system. Or perhaps they
> > did; I just don't know where to find them? Some of the
> > icons I had on my Windows Me desktop reappeared on my XP
> > desktop, but many did not; and of those that did, some
> > are not opening when I click on them, such as my Netscape
> > icons, even though Internet Explorer is right there and
> > functioning perfectly, along with Windows Media Player,
> > my DVD and several others. But, for example, there
> > doesn't seem to be any trace of Word or my Word files,
> > but, strangely enough, WordPad and Notepad were somehow
> > able to survive the transition. Also missing are other
> > key programs that I use a lot and had many files in, such
> > as Paint, Adobe Reader, Outlook Express, several
> > utilities and others. And of the standard folders that I
> > expected to see, only My Pictures and My Music arrived
> > intact. But no My New Briefcase and no My Documents. They
> > must be hidden somewhere and retrieavable, are they not?
> > Or is it likely that (please don't tell me!) the virus
> > gobbled them right up? I've looked everywhere that I
> > could think to look, but perhaps not in the right places?
> > Has anyone experienced anything like this, and if so, is
> > there anything that anyone has done to achieve a happy
> > outcome? I really would appreciate it if someone could
> > let me know. Thank you in advance.
> >
> > I apologize for such a lengthy post; however, I simply
> > didn't know what might be deemed relevant by the
> > cognescenti and what might not. And now that I think of
> > it, here's another weirdness that occured after the
> > install, and I'm mentioning it on the chance that someone
> > may perceive a hint in it of what may have gone wrong:
> > It's a program that I use fairly frequently and in fact
> > its icon was one of those which reappeared automatically
> > on the desktop after the upgrade installation. Only now,
> > suddenly, I'm no longer able to use the program; that is,
> > it loads up fine and I can open it without any trouble,
> > but a panel on the right hand side which contains the
> > buttons that I click on to take me to the various
> > activities within the program has totally disappeared
> > (?), leaving just an empty white space where the panel
> > once used to be. So that for all intents and purposes the
> > program has been rendered useless. Now I did have the
> > idea that maybe if I uninstalled the program and then
> > installed it right back, I'd be able to recover the
> > program cleanly in its entirety. I've got the original
> > disk with which to do it; trouble is, when I stick the CD
> > in, that missing panel is missing on the CD, too--
> > something which I'm utterly incapable of understanding.
> > Even so, I tried uninstalling it and installing it again
> > 3 times--to no avail.
> >
> > If this is not enough information to go on, I'll be happy
> > to elaborate, but for now, I'll let this stand and see if
> > any responses come in.
> >
> > Again, thanks,
> >
> > Ralph Sepulveda
> > sepulveda1323@sbcglobal.net
>
> If this was my machine then I would base my course of
> action on these considerations:
>
> - The amount of time spent on trying to solve the problem (heaps!).
> - The virus infection.
> - The quality of the upgrade. (While an upgrade from WinME to
> WinXP is possible, I would never attempt it. The two operating
> systems are radically different, and any upgrade entails lots of
> compromises. A clean installation of WinXP would give me a far
> more stable and robust operating system.)
>
> In view of the above I would do this:
> 1. Buy a 40 GByte hard disk. They are cheap!
> 2. Install it as the Master Disk.
> 3. Make the existing disk the Slave Disk.
> 4. Disconnect the machine from the Internet.
> 5. Install WinXP onto the Master Disk.
> 6. Install a good virus scanner & firewall.
> 7. Reconnect the machine to the Internet.
> 8. Re-install all applications.
> 9. Locate my data files on the Slave Disk, then
> copy them across to the Master Disk.
> 10. Remove the Slave Disk.
>
> There are several variations on this theme. They
> depend on your level of experience with PCs, and
> the types of tools you have available.
>
> Post again if you need more details.
>

Why remove the slave disk?.. that would be a good place to save important
files..