BXProject

[Philhod]

I told you about the messages I keep getting. telling me this version of windows is not genuine etc.
Well it changed to windows needs to be reinstalled.
So, I contacted microsofts free help. Couple of Indian guys give me a sequence of ops to follow that will do this from the DVD I got with the computer. I was told to select do not get updates (not recomended) and custom install and my files would be ok. I do this and get a warning that some parts of the earlier installation would still be there so click ok as directed.
Lo and behold after restart, no error messages at all........................................
.
............................ Also no sign of anything I had on the fucking thing.

[mat_the_cat]

I bet your files will still be there, just under a different user account. Are you on XP? If so go into My Computer, then C:\Documents and Settings and there should be a list of all the users set up on the computer. Chances are there will be (at least) 2 fairly similar, one your new blank profile, the other with all your old stuff in it.

Go into the each folder in turn, and then into a folder called My Documents or XXXX's Documents. It'll be there somewhere!

Or alternatively search for a file name you know should be on there, to find the exact location.

[Philhod]

Thanks Mat. Apologies to the microsoft guys. If you click start on Vista and put "windows old" into the search box, then click search everywhere, they all appear............................
.........................Soooooooo! 2 things now. My Labtech webcam sort of asked my permission and then reinstalled it's drivers and software and I have re downloaded the latest version of Safari. What do I do with the old stuff?
There are what looks to be programme files amongst all that stuff. The last major work done on the machine was when Vanny cleaned it up and installed service pack 2 for Vista, about 12 months ago.
I intend to clear everything out I don't need, so am I safe deleting any old files that were downloaded later than that date?

Also I now keep getting a message saying, drive D recovery, is almost full, do I want to clean it up? when I try there don't seem to be any files there. Drive C on the other hand is where all these old files are and that's err....well a lot.

[Vanny]

Vista, its shit.

The recovery drive shouldn't be visible so MicroShit has fucked up there, that said you have the discs, so just delete it.


The files you can just copy into your new user folder and keep them.

Most of the windows old folder is useless junk that you can delete, but if you use microsoft outlook you need to grab some files from the old user aresa before deleting them.



This would have made a good opportunity not to install safari


What AVG do you have?

[Philhod]

Vista may be shit if you do lots of stuff, which I don't so it works ok for me.
IE is shit on here, everytime I use it and that includes just now before I re installed Safari, pop up adverts appear unbidden covering 1/2 the screen for a minute or so covering whatever you are doing. This is with pop up blocker on. It's always done this, that's why I tried Safari in the first place, which behaves impecably, most of the time.


Do I just uninstall recovery as normal

How do I copy files accross individually or can it be done as a whole?

[Vanny]

everytime I use it , pop up adverts appear

viruses again, good job you.

Vista may be shit if you do lots of stuff

No no no, Vista is just shit. Look at how many problems you have with your computer, and you do fuck all with it other than down load viruses.

Seriously, get XP and life will become much brighter. Or a new-ish laptop with Win7 on.

[Philhod]

Philhod wrote:
everytime I use it , pop up adverts appear


viruses again, good job you.

That occurred just after reinstall and only with IE. As soon as I set up Safari, no pop ups.
Seriously, IE has done that since the day I bought the thing.
Again it's peoples experience Dek has XP on the same model of machine I have. He's had lots of problems with it

[Way2go]

Can't understand why anyone would choose Safari over all the browsers that are available. Why the preference Phil?

I can understand you wanting to move away from IE but why not use Firefox which must be the most powerful user friendly browser around.

As for problems with XP, not usual really. I've changed from AVG to AVAST on the anti-virus and found it does not slow things down in the same way as later versions of AVG. No problems with any viruses either!

[Philhod]

TBH I haven't tried any others. When I was looking for a replacement for IE a friend who has a macbook pro, recommended Safari. I tried it, it works very well, gives me no problems and I find it very easy to use.
I use the free version of AVG 2012. It does slow things down a bit when running a scan so I do scans after I have finished using it.

[Way2go]

a friend who has a macbook pro, recommended Safari.

I would have said to ask an Apple disciple's advice on computing in the PC environment was somewhat misguided.........but, if it works for you..........

[Philhod]

Yes well, I didn't know it was an apple for windows thingy, until I went to download it.

What I'm trying to work out now is how to fetch the old version of Vista files that I want to keep, onto this version I just reinstalled, how to get rid of the shit I don't want.
Do I also ditch the old version of Safari that is in there and also my Labtech webcam automatically reloaded it's self on here as soon as I started it up. Do I ditch the one in the old files?

I'll have a play first then get back to my new Indian friends at microsoft, if I get stuck

[Way2go]

You only need to copy/save your own files, documents and pictures before binning duplicate stuff. To be sure save these on to an 8GB USB memory stick as these are as cheap as chips now (less than £10 from ASDA) and you can then be confident you're not deleting your important stuff when cleaning up.

You can delete duplicate/old program files without worry as you can reload them anyway from CD or in the case of free stuff like safari, download again.

BUT if you start deleting Vista files, your computer will likely stop operating because unless what you call the new operating system was created on a separate partition and it boots from that these files are likely still "live" and required. It's likely you have just created a separate user account not a new & separate install of windows.

[Philhod]

I put the DVD in and ran that as a custom reinstall...in partition 3...so I'm told. The only way I can find this old stuff is clicking find old in the start up search box.
There is only me on the computer now, I've ditched the missis as she never uses it anyway. Everything seems new, there are only Safari, Labtech and recycle bin on my desktop and microsoft sent me an email welcoming me to Vista.

I have all this stuff somewhere??? What I need is detailed instructions on how to make most of the stuff I had, Flashplayer, Adobe pro, all the HP stuff for my printer and quite a bit of useful stuff, where I can see it.
How to view stuff and dump or save that sort of thing.
I have all my main docs on pendrive and have backup discs as well, so I didn't actually need them on here.
Lastly (for now anyway) not things like oh just do this or that. I have very little idea of what I'm doing so what seems obvious to most people will err not be to me

[Vanny]

You only need to copy/save your own files

Remembering that a lot of Microsoft settings and documents (specifically Outlook.pst) are stored in your user apps data folder, which is hidden, and a pain in the harris to get to. Just like favourites.

[Vanny]

Phil, if you've made a new instal of windows, then the programs are NOT there (the files might be, but registry entries etc wont be) so you'll need to reinstall them.

[Philhod]

Ok I may be talking out my arse here, so bear with me.
I just punched in C windows old. did the search, up came a load of file titles. I picked 1, Quick time and right clicked, clicked move to documents. minimised that and opened Phil from the start menu. On opening that, the file is now there, clicked it and all the components are there in a big list.
Does this mean they are all available to transfer?
I suppose I could try and transfer something like pictures then open one and see if it is actually viewable.

Oh! wait does that mean I would have to transfer media player first??????????? this is getting complicated me ed's on fire.

[Way2go]

No there is no point moving PROGRAMS to DOCUMENTS, and they wont work in PROGRAMS either unless you install them so they have the right registry entries!

In your example of "Quick Time" you need to go to the Apple download site from your browser, download it and then double click on the downloaded file, then click "install" after you've ticked the agreement and it will correctly install itself and you can then use it.

Some downloads like updates to media player you will need to do from IE as it will likely tell Safari to "Naff Off"!

[Philhod]

Ok I'll stop doing that then and as you say just re download everything

I just may as well ditch everything then but....but... I found all my pictures how do I save those somewhere I can access them??

Ah! Fuck it I may as well leave it all alone

[Way2go]

but....but... I found all my pictures how do I save those somewhere I can access them??

Pictures are just user files which you can save onto a USB Stick; or use file management on the computer to move them from where they are now to "My Pictures" in your new area.

[Philhod]

Well I just bumbled about for a bit more and, don't ask me how, but my piccies have appeared in my new documents. Not in pictures but I can try do do something about that.

For my next trick I will dry to make the rest of the stuff go away permanently