If you have a problem with your computer what course of actions would you consider?

Discussion in 'polls' started by Osaban, Dec 19, 2009.

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If you have a problem with your computer, what course of actions would you consider?

  1. Trust the results of scanners/diagnostic tools

    21 vote(s)
    18.4%
  2. Try to clean/repair the infection/problem at any cost

    29 vote(s)
    25.4%
  3. Use System Restore

    20 vote(s)
    17.5%
  4. Restore a backup image

    63 vote(s)
    55.3%
  5. Reinstall the Operating System

    35 vote(s)
    30.7%
  6. Let a repair shop deal with it

    2 vote(s)
    1.8%
  7. Other

    14 vote(s)
    12.3%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. sir_carew

    sir_carew Registered Member

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    Posts:
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    Location:
    Santiago, Chile
    Well thats depend of the source of the problem.
    If it's an infection (very rare) then I use ESS to clean the PC or a format if necessary.
    If the problem is hardware related (more common for me than malware), then I test each component to see what's failing and also I take a look at Windows registry event.
     
  2. progress

    progress Guest

    Format c: & Reinstall the Operating System :(
     
  3. guest

    guest Guest

    I would try to clean/repair the infection/problem at any cost. When you do this way, you always learn many interesting things.

    Only if I can't find a proper solution after an extensive research, I restore a backup image.
     
  4. YanK33

    YanK33 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2010
    Posts:
    195
    reinstall the OS is better i do that twice a year for personal reasons.
     
  5. nikanthpromod

    nikanthpromod Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 9, 2009
    Posts:
    1,369
    Location:
    India
    Reinstall??:cautious:
    Restore Backup:cool:
     
  6. Boost

    Boost Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2007
    Posts:
    1,294
    I never had any issues.:thumb:
     
  7. icr

    icr Registered Member

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    Location:
    UK

    I agree with you:thumb:
     
  8. ameyap

    ameyap Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2010
    Posts:
    87
    in an totally unrecoverable situation restoring the best full hdd backup takes my vote
     
  9. carat

    carat Guest

    Restore a backup image :thumb:
     
  10. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2009
    Posts:
    8,738
    Restore a backup image.
     
  11. blacknight

    blacknight Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2007
    Posts:
    3,344
    Location:
    Europe, UE citizen

    I too.
     
  12. Rampastein

    Rampastein Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2009
    Posts:
    290
    Really depends on the problem. Infection? Use both scanners and special tools (like AVZ and Combofix) to clean it. If it's a problem with some software I usually reinstall it or restore any possibly damaged files from an other PC where the software works.

    I don't bother with backups, I rarely ever have any problems with my PCs which wouldn't be possible to fix in a few minutes with other methods.
     
  13. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

    Joined:
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    Posts:
    4,186
    Location:
    USA
    If it's not something simple I can deal with, I re-boot to a different snapshot in my FDISR (original), and then copy a good snapshot over the infected snapshot. :cool:
     
  14. Woodgiant

    Woodgiant Guest

    It depend on how comprehensive the problem is, and what kind of information that had to be rescued. But if I have a rootkit that I can't get rid of, then the solution must be a new drive image, if all other ways failed.
     
  15. Page42

    Page42 Registered Member

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    Jun 18, 2007
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    Location:
    USA
    Restore a backup image.
    The only case wherein I would not go to that route immediately might be if my most recent backup was kinda old... like more than two weeks old.
    I usually perform a full system backup every 7-10 days... or sometimes more frequently.
    If my newest image was a little long in the tooth, I might be more inclined to try to fix the infection.
    But restoring from backup is hard to beat.
     
  16. xMarkx

    xMarkx Registered Member

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2008
    Posts:
    446
    Other - I throw it out the window as demonstrated here. (Just kidding btw).
     
  17. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2008
    Posts:
    3,798
    When I reread the first post, I don't see anything that identifies this "problem" as an infection or caused by malicious code. Malicious code is only one of many potential software problems that can plague a PC. An automatic software update can cause the app to conflict with something else on a system that it worked well with before. If the user doesn't investigate why it happened, it'll happen again, even with the backup image. If the "problem' is hardware failure, a backup image won't fix it at all.

    Backups and system images are good but they're not replacements for good diagnostic and troubleshooting skills.
     
  18. Tarnak

    Tarnak Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2007
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    5,285
  19. Noob

    Noob Registered Member

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    Nov 6, 2009
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    Also fixing by it yourself you get to learn a lot :D
     
  20. PJC

    PJC Very Frequent Poster

    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2010
    Posts:
    2,959
    Location:
    Internet
    It depends on the problem.
    Since 2007, my Instant System Recovery software (EAZ-Fix, Rollback Rx, AyRecovery etc.)
    has helped me to stay away from problems.
    Last year, one of my PC had a Hard Disk failure.
    I replaced the Hard Disk, formatted my PC, installed OS, software etc.
     
  21. Kernelwars

    Kernelwars Registered Member

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    Aug 12, 2010
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    Location:
    TX
    backup backup back :argh:
     
  22. Noob

    Noob Registered Member

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    Nov 6, 2009
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    6,491
    I liek formatting because nothing beats a fresh OS install :D
     
  23. xandros

    xandros Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2006
    Posts:
    411
    acronis true image will fix every thing , coz i make image for the pc
     
  24. Boost

    Boost Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2007
    Posts:
    1,294
    Rollback Rx takes me back to where I need to be :thumb:

    I've played around with Comodo Time Machine as well,both served me well,when I used them.
     
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