Disaster Prevention 101

hi
thanks for the terrific post.im a newbie to computers and dont know much and i am thankful for all the tips.these forums have been invaluable to me since ive discovered them--a couple of days ago.i learn something new every day--maybe in 20 years i can help someone lol--thats my goal for me to offer some help to someeone sometime
many thanks
rita

 

I use True Image 8.0.0.763 [Newest Version] Just released about A Week ago, [ http://www.acronis.com ] Saves Image files and excludes the paging file, cretes a perfect backup solution,Have used it several times to restore.
I Also use A Program V-Com System Suite [http://www.v-com.com to save registry backups, Is a perfect system Fixer - System Suite 5.0 , has all the utilities to keep your system running smooth,even includes A Virus scanner and firewall protection integrated within the program.
I Also Use A Free program called Ad-adware 6.0 to remove ad-adware and spyware from your computer, works great,they have A Paid version to stop the spyware and ad-aware from infecting the system in the 1st place.
These utilities - from my experience are a must have to protect your system but then everyone has their own protection, These programs, I Hightly recommend.

 

RegCleaner 4.3, jv16 Powertools 1.3 and more is available at: www.321Download.com

 

Hi All...

3 laws of backuping up - Image, image, image and to HD not tape. The DVD or CD's you burn may not be readable when you need them. Get a USB2 or Firewire external HD - they are cheap, cheap cheap.

Fav utilities can be very subjective unless you live in a corporate enviromnent or live by billable hours and need to justify you recommendations to clients or managers.

I use VMWare ( Microsoft Connectx is comparable - they don't call it that anymore ) Patches, application updates etc must work on my VMWare images before being applied to the real McCoy. I then know they will install and uninstall, repair, modify etc. Even testing Ghost 9.0 and True Image 8.0 is done on a VMWare image. When you know what hits the fan; it is easier to restore the virtual image than uninstall/reinstall or do a system restore or start hacking the registry to undo a failed install, application incompatibility or whatever.

Here's the test. If someone steals your computer tonight, can you be back in business fully functional with all your applications and data installed on a new computer that has a different hard disk size and manufacturer by noon tomorrow?

Take care...

 

I am new, just sniffing round in service pk 2 preparation, I know a friend said xp has a free backup utility so will have to search that out
I have all I can possibly have, winxp pro, spybot adaware, spyware blaster and spyware guard, avg, antivir, za to name a few. I have links for all on our msn group Petchatters so if anyone crashes they can get everything from one place.

 

Root< I want to thank you so much for giving out this valuable information. After reading your article. I installed winrescue. This was about a month ago. Winrescue has already gotten me out of trouble. LOL. I recently installed a software program. Before I installed it, I backed up the registry with winresue, just in case something went wrong. After installing this antivirus (Panda) I did a system scan. Panda found 4 files it said was infected. It cleaned one file, and deleted 3 files without asking me what to do.

I knew I was in trouble because all 4 files were associated with Backweb, which is necessary for software downloads. After rebooting the trouble began. I got the blue screen of death. There was a message that said that there was a error in kernal dill32, or something like that. I tried rebooting 3 or 4 times, only to get the same message, and the blue screen.

I had to boot into safe mode and delete panda. After uninstalling Panda, I simply restored the registry that winrescue created before installing Panda. My computer was running great again Folks, if you want to save yourself lots of potential problems, do yourself a favor and download winrescue. Again I want to say thank you Root

 

I've always had Recovery Genius for this machine and only had to use it once with Win98. It is still active although I do not know how it'll work out with WinXP. Any thoughts?

 

Man I remeber the days of just a virus here or there, but all they junk out there that is so easy to get. It makes you want to go back to the USPS for your life. But alas there would be no AOE game nights or KOTOR games. Just the slow paced old wargames . So I guess I will live with the hassels and be careful to not click the wrong red X.

 

Can't you do all your back ups on an external hard drive without the need for imaging software?

Would an external hard drive be the best way to back up your data and restore from there if you had too?

 

Not if you run Windows NT/2000/XP/2003. These block access to certain system files by normal methods, preventing them from being backed up unless you are using imaging software.

Since this would then cover the possibility of a complete failure of your main hard disk, yes. You will likely need to create a bootdisk/CD with the drivers needed to access the external drive (or create a minimalist Windows install on a flash drive) to be able to restore from it though.

 

What would be the ideal method/setup to back up XP? What hardware and software would you recommend?

I was just about ready to purchase the Maxtor OneTouch II, which I believe comes with an imaging software. Would this be a good choice?

 

from an article i read the Maxtor OneTouch II comes with Dantz's Retrospect Express HD backup software. i have no experience with it but u may want to try it. otherwise for disk imaging i recommend acronis trueimage.

 

Hey Root
Thanks for the informative "How to". I myself am very new to the imaging and back-up tasks and apprieciate the veteran knowledge I'm receiving from these forums. I found the thread very much worth my time.
Also thanks to FanJ for the links

VelvetPorkRind

If it were'nt for the "pros", we newbies would be destined for trial by diaster.