Stupid Trick--What now??

[Keyboard Hound]

I tried to set up my first computer on my own. Got it hooked up to wireless internet and I was so proud. Then someone told me I was supposed to have made a recovery disk first thing. Sure enough, it says so in the instructions, which I did not have when I started working on the computer. I know now I should have looked this up first.

No programs have been installed and the only thing that has been used is the internet. I did accept the 30 day Norton free anti-virus. And I installed a weather report thing on the opening page.

Please some of you wonderful tech people. What will I have to do to fix this? Please don't tell me I have to do away with the internet connection I worked so hard on.

I don't think I could ever help anyone with any technical problems, but i'm a pretty good editor and critter. I could read for you to pay back some of this help you people have so freely given me.

Thanks again,
Keyboard

[Seams]

i don't have a recovery disk, never bothered to make one.

its hard to answer your question because i'm unsure as to what is wrong. did you want to remove something or just go back to where it was?

if its to go back, then i'd just use 'restore' its in your program files/system tools/system retore

but tell me what you want to do and i'll try to help

Seams

[Keyboard Hound]

Thanks, Seams.

My understanding is that the recovery disk is to return the computer to it's original out-of-box state if things go wrong later.

What I don't know is if the disc would even be any good after things have been added to the computer and changed it. I'm wanting to know now if I can make the recovery disc and it be any value in case of a disaster down the road.

[Seams]

most recovers from windows just put windows on it, so those programs will be gone that you added, but let me tell ya, if you are at that stage, those are enough lol, you can always backup those programs you need(setup files) on a dvd or secondary drive so you can just move them over. but because the window's registery has been rebuilt, it won't recognise those programs, you'd have to rebuild all the links, easier to just reinstall.



btw there is a function when you boot up that restores vista setting back to factory state too. when booting up i believe its f10 rather than f8(safe mode) you press like a mad person.

hope this helped :( i ramble around points sometimes

[Matera the Mad]

The OEM recovery disk procedure doesn't give an aerial sex act what you have installed. It doesn't back up what you have at all, it backs up installation stuff from the sneaky secret hidden partition on the hard drive. The recovery disks that you make are to ensure that if your drive is totally hosed, you will at least have your Windows back -- and, of course, all the foistware that was bundled with it.

It didn't make any difference with my computer. Three days after I got it, I made the disks. Then, about an hour later, everything went kablooey because of a faulty stick of RAM. I didn't know what had caused the problem at first, and tried using the recovery function (from hard drive). That didn't work, it pooped out near the end with a mysterious message. So did the disk I had just burned, leaving me Windowsless and very frustrated. The only joy I had of those disks was that at least I didn't have to download drivers for video, sound, etc. after I reinstalled from the real windows install disk that I bought. Since I took out the bad RAM after a couple of tedious diagnostic dances, everything's been fine. And I didn't have to get rid of all the crapware again! Yeah, no 60-day Norton, no nothing i didn't need or want.

What all that means is, do the disks. You might be glad to have them -- at least the driver disk.

[Keyboard Hound]

Thanks, Matera. I'm still confused. I guess I should have asked if doing the discs now will still work? Will they do what they are supposed to do after I've put the other stuff on? Will my internet connection be lost and have to be redone? I don't know much about computers and every little step is a big one for me because it's all new. I'm using the old computer until I figure this out.

[Keyboard Hound]

Forgot to add this computer has windows 7 in it.

[Matera the Mad]

Creating the disks won't affect anything. They are only a backup copy of the original Windows (and bundled garbage) installation files, which are not affected by anything you have installed or changed. You never see that stuff. They are for emergency use only.

You have to make them because the computer manufacturers are too $&^#*&^% cheap to give you a lousy piece of plastic in case you need to re-install/repair Windows and can't do it any other way.

Just make them, label them, and put them in a safe place and forget about them. But don't lose them.

Ugh, Windows7. I made the disks for someone else recently. She had the computer for a month and was wailing that it was "broken" because her Internet connection fizzled out. That was caused by the cheap little modem her ISP stuck her with, not the computer's fault at all. I stopped her from giving it all up, and took the comper home to tune up. It gave me the "make the disks" reminder, and I thought, "zomg, of course she wouldn't have!"

So I made 'em. Also uninstalled Norton and installed Avira (free antivirus), and uninstalled other useless snareware -- the stuff the manufacturer installs to tempt you to spend more money. Then she picked up me and the computer and I set it up again for her and explained what to do if the connection poofed out again. Whew. All for free, too. I kind of hope she "grows into" that computer.

[Clair Dickson]

To further clarify what Matera is saying--
When you make a Xerox, you don't change the original copy.

Similarly, when you make a start up disk, you don't affect the computer you are copying the information from. You are making a COPY of the information the computer needs to find if Windows gets broken.

(A start up disk is often easier than doing a fresh install from the Original Windows CD, or so I hear. I've never made a start up disk. When I do reinstall, I figure it's time to start over anyway and format the whole thing. Oh, then again, I have a hard drive just for Windows and one just for my files.)

All better now?

[Keyboard Hound]

Thanks Seams, Claire and Matera. That helps a lot.

[Lance_in_Shanghai]

Terms confusing: "Startup disk", "Recovery disk". In the old days when X-86 PCs couldn't boot to an optical disc, you had to boot to a floppy diskette called a "Startup disk" that had only the barest of Windows files that could get you to a command line, had a set of commands in a folder, and you typed commands to run the setup.exe program from the CD. A recovery disk might be a clone of the data on the hard drive. How that is going to be easier to use is beyond me. You can feel safe if you have the install disc (DVD for Windows 7). That's really your recovery disc. A clone disk is more useful AFTER you install stuff. Then when some calamity strikes, you can clone all your installed apps, registry, and documents right back to the main drive. Apple uses something called Time Machine that keeps a daily-updated copy of everything on a designated external drive. Of course, that isn't nearly so critically important, since OS X doesn't use a registry. I have a bunch of burned CDs and DVDs of everything and can put it all back together faultlessly with no road map at all.

Some computer builders, such as Dell and HP, make a hidden partition on their new computer's hard drive that has a compressed or "Ghost" image of everything that Dell installed before the computer left their factory. The floppy disk had a command called "ZZTop" that would recover the hidden partition to drive C. Even erasing all partitions seen by FDisk could not affect the hidden partition. When the Chernoble virus hit, we (I worked for Dell then) had to apply a special debug script to affected drives that zeroed all data and wiped out the hidden partition. Some customers had faulty CDs (many PC owners seem content to use the same operating system for ten years!) and found themselves up a creek.