stuff for my pc

hello,
i have created a excel spreadsheet having the programs i will put on to the pc im building soon.
i will either buy shadow protect desktop or paragon drive backup 8.5 for imaging outside windows
i cant attach the excel file
so i have put it in to a note pad file
i want to know if there is any other programs that would be useful or less bloated or better ones for replacement for what i have listed.
i am trying to have only applications i use so to make images smaller and file backups faster plus less bloat on the pc
can anyone do a comparison of shadow protect desktop vs paragon drivebackup 8.5?
if you install paragon does it have running processes in the background if not creating an image?
same questions but for shadow protect desktop

what i want to try to do is instead of getting a 120gb drive that is wasted space since i wont use much of it i will get two 80gb drives instead but the problem is its more expensive to get two 80gb drives. i want two drives so i can have images stored on that second drive as well as file backups of my documents. so if the first drive goes i can buy a new first drive stick in the recovery cd restore the image from the second drive and be back and running in minutes.

can you suggest any places that either sell cheap pc components or complete pc's with the OS shipped but not installed. i will spend about £400
thanks in advance
lodore

 

Foxit Reader, XnView, Notepad++, IZarc/TUGZip, burning software, 2xExplorer, etc.

 

lucas is very right about foxit reader, because internet is full of pdf-files, you must be able to read those.
IZArc (freeware) is also very good.
I recommend CDBurnerXP Pro (freeware) as general burner for CD and DVD and it works very good and Mrkvonic burned hundreds with it.

 

Some alternatives: 7-ZIP, foobar2000 for music, VLC for everything (except real and quickie).
The ones mentioned above are very good also, IZarc, CDBurnerXP Pro and Foxit Reader in particular.

Also, the indispensable EULAlyzer before anything.

 

Using a second internal harddisk as backup isn't good, because your internal harddisk is constantly on-line.
An external harddisk is safer, I use it only when my internet connection is disabled.
An external harddisk is only ON when you need it, so it has a longer life in theory.
Important : never move your external harddisk when it is ON, because that means a shorter life and always keep it in the right position recommended by the manufacturer, vertical (less space on your desk) or horizontal (more space).
Only USB 2.0, not firewire, which is in theory slower.

 

thanks for the replys
i have VLC media player on my usb pen and i do like it.
so i might put that on my list instead of media player classic.
i forgot to put foxitreader on the list its one of my favorite apps and you wont see no crappy bloated adobe reader on my computers.
lodore

 

2 x 80 GB drives is what I have as well. That's not a bad idea, because they probably won't die at the same time unless you get hit by lightning or something else unusual happens. I use SyncToy to back up stuff to the second drive, works like a charm and is free (MS PowerToy).

Google up "last freeware version of RegCleaner", that's an excellent app (does more than just registry cleaning). I'd use that and forget about CrapCleaner, but that's just a personal preference, I don't care for it. You can make your own "CrapCleaner" with a batch file very easily. If you want I can post a batch file for you to copy and paste.

I also think IrfanView is a great image viewer and PhotoFiltre if you want to do a bit more, both are free.

I wouldn't bother with XP-Antispy. The few things it does that are worthwhile you can easily do yourself, a couple of the "features" are useless or even counter-productive.

StartupCop is a good utility, it used to be a freebie from PC Magazine before they started charging subcriptions for downloads. I have the last free version, if you're interested let me know.

For imaging I use Ghost 2003. It's always worked perfectly for me, never had a corrupt image or a failed restore. I know, everyone hates it because it's from Symantec, but I've had no stress with it, which I can't say about TrueImage, I found it to be pretty buggy. If you look around, sometimes you can find SystemWorks 2003 being offered online really cheap, we got it for $7.00.

One tip, instead of the Mozilla backup gizmo just put your profiles on a different partition, then you can hose C:\ all you want without losing any of your mail, bookmarks and settings. This is very easy. In Thunderbird for example, install it and using the profile manager delete the default profile and then create a new one in the directory of your choice on a different partition. That's simpler than the about:config way of doing it.

 

You don't really need another backup software for Firefox and Thunderbird.
Firefox and Thunderbird allow you to move their profile folder to another partition.
I have two partitions :
- system partition = Windows + Applications
- data partition = personal files, firefox/thunderbird profile folder, which means that my bookmarks, my emails + address-book are stored on my data partition.

I use only ONE image backup software, nothing else.
I have total freedom on my system partition, because it has no personal data and my data partition is the most important one, because it contains all my HARD work, far away from Windows and Applications.

And I also have two internal harddisks of 80gb.

 

I don't see any Immediate System Recovery software to restore your system QUICKLY, even outside Windows.
I recommend Firstdefense-ISR, much better than Windows Restore and it has several other interesting features.

 

@johnny,
can you post the batchfile for cleaning out junk files?
where is the profile manager for firefox and thunderbird?
and how do i create a new profile but put all my bookmarks and settings from the default profile to it?
i will use this guide for service tweaks
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm#Services
also i dont really need spyware blaster do i?
i could use a hosts file instead couldnt i?

@Eric, i will probaly have system partition which will be windows+programs
and the documents separately.
the problem is money i could only afford either first defense ISR or imaging software. imaging software is more flexable out of the two since if you have the image you can restore it on barebones.
it seems from the websites ive checked for prices of hard drives it will cost me more to have two hard drives but worth it since
i will have the extra safety if the first drive goes.
lodore

 

A side note: i've read somewhere that Firewire is faster. Faster for being steady, while usb 2.0's speed isn't constant.

 

Firewire is faster, uses less CPU cycles and is "more reliable".

 

OK man and you made the right choice, image backup is a necessity, FDISR is luxury. Image backup will always save you, even in the worst scenarios, like a harddisk crash and works for all partitions, not only for one partition like FDISR.
Just don't use Acronis, TI is becoming more and more bloatware, especially the latest version.

 

Your set up is practically the same as mine. SyncToy however isn't imaging software, it just backs up data somewhere else, over a network as well. It has a few different options that are pretty good. I use the echo option, which keeps the original directory and the backup identical. I back up the documents directory, music and software installation files, etc. to the other drive and once in a while to an external USB drive just to play it safe. I have the OS and apps on C and everything else on another partition, same way you have it. What I don't understand are these pre-installed systems that have huge drives, and the whole thing as one giant C partition

 

the current system one has one big 160gb drive and one C partition lol.
this thread is about want i want to do to make my new pc better setup than this pc and less bloat ware and crap.
i mainly know what good apps there are now and just want the good apps on my new pc aka new pc fresh state and less problems.
the batch file for cleaning junk files would be useful since then i can uninstall ccleaner off this pc as well.
I would use either Norton ghost 2003 (already got) or buy either paragon drive backup 8.5 or shadow protect desktop for imaging

lodore

 

Someone and Lucas,
Thanks for the correction, I just based my opinion on numbers regarding USB 2.0 and Firewire. LOL.

 

I expect anyone else to correct me also, when i'm wrong. And it's not rare...
I prefer to learn, rather than repeat misconceptions

 

Yikes, 160 GB C partition. I don't understand why they do this. A friend of mine has an Acer notebook with XP and they used FAT32 instead of NTFS, which is really idiotic

If you already have Ghost 2003 I wouldn't waste money buying something else. Contrary to what one hears, it works pretty well. I can restore my C partition in around 5 minutes. One trick is to change the Ghost service to Manual and then keep the Ghost tray app from loading with the system start. That way it only runs when you actually use it. It's ridiculous having it loaded in the background when it's not being used.

 

so the bits marked as (rem) i dont put those in the batch do i?

when i moved my profile to mydocuments/mymailprofile thunderbird wouldnt load so i put the profile back for now.
what do i need to change in the .ini file to tell Thunderbird where the profile is?
lodore

 

I agree with Johnny here. You have already Norton Ghost and even when you want another backup software, you always can buy it later.
I would spend my money on hardware, especially the hardware in your computer case, you can buy external components later.
There are enough freewares that do a good job, sometimes better than paid softwares.

 

You can leave them in there, that's ok, only the lines without it get executed.

See above, you have to enter the path to where you moved it to. Say you move it to D:\My Email, then enter that path. Also change the value to 0. Don't forget to save the .ini file, though!

 

i have attached the batch file before i renamed it .bat
where do i get deltree.exe from?
will the file attached work?
i have IE7 will the commands above delete the temporary files for IE7?

i kept a copy of the old .ini file for Thunderbird and restored it since the edited file didnt work
lodore

 

You did it wrong. This is what I do.

Firefox

1. Create Folder “My Mozilla” in Data Partition [D:]
1a. Create Folder “Firefox” under folder “My Mozilla”

2. Open “Windows Explorer”
2a. Click on My Computer/System Partition[C:]/Documents and Settings/Erik/Application Data/Mozilla/Firefox
2b. Right click on “Profiles”
2c. Click on “Cut”
2d. Click on “Data Partition[D:]/My Mozilla/Firefox
2e. Right click
2f. Click on “Paste”
The folder “Profiles” is now moved.
2g. Click on My Computer/System Partition[C:]/Documents and Settings/Erik/Application Data/Mozilla/Firefox
2h. Right Click on the file “profiles.ini” and open it with “Notepad”.
Change line “IsRelative=1” into “IsRelative=0”
Change line “Path=Profiles/xxxxxxx.default” into “Path=D:\My Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxx.default”
2i. Click on “File” and “Save”
2j. Close “Notepad”
2k. Close “Windows Explorer”

Thunderbird

1. Create Folder “My Mozilla” in Data Partition [D:]
1a. Create Folder “Thunderbird” under folder “My Mozilla”

2. Open “Windows Explorer”
2a. Click on My Computer/System Partition[C:]/Documents and Settings/Erik/Application Data/Thunderbird
2b. Right click on “Profiles”
2c. Click on “Cut”
2d. Click on “Data Partition[D:]/My Mozilla/Thunderbird
2e. Right click
2f. Click on “Paste”
The folder “Profiles” is now moved.
2g. Click on My Computer/System Partition[C:]/Documents and Settings/Erik/Application Data/Thunderbird
2h. Right Click on the file “profiles.ini” and open it with “Notepad”.
Change line “IsRelative=1” into “IsRelative=0”
Change line “Path=Profiles/xxxxxxx.default” into “Path=D:\My Mozilla\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxx.default”
2i. Click on “File” and “Save”
2j. Close “Notepad”
2k. Close “Windows Explorer”

 

Deltree.exe should be in the System32 folder. If you don't have it for some reason, you can download it here.

If all you did was remove the remarks, that's ok.