Bah...

[(TKC)-o]T3[o]

Well it looks like my computer issues are related to my older 8800GT.. it's starting to go. Looks like I can play ok with my other one, but it's really time to upgrade I think.. just a tad since I don't have much money any longer. At least I have this newer one that I bought a few months ago to replace the other one that I thought was going bad... just too bad I did a reinstall for nothing, but then again, I was overdue.

[DMPCo]

overdue for a reinstall
keep your system clean updated and backed up weekly
then you can just install the most recent image and be back
to where you left off minus a couple of days or so. i have had
hd's go out on me and corrupt my system. i have learned that
doing regular backups instead of reinstalls of os saves me hours
of time and headaches.
happy to see you have fixed or at least figured out your problem though

[(TKC)-o]T3[o]

Well, considering I worked in Midrange computing I'm well aware of the need for backups, however I don't have the equipment, money, or time.

But it's always a good thing to reinstall bro.

[DMPCo]

But it's always a good thing to reinstall bro.

really? i would have to disagree with you on that one.
its never a good thing to have to reinstall your whole system.
what a waste of time. then not only do you have to reinstall the os but
everything you had on it before. regular backup images are the way to go.

[dflynn]

all you need is a external hard drive, back up to it weekly, or prior to update tuesdays!

That's the right thing to do

[(TKC)-o]T3[o]

really? i would have to disagree with you on that one. P
its never a good thing to have to reinstall your whole system.
what a waste of time. then not only do you have to reinstall the os but
everything you had on it before. regular backup images are the way to go.

To a point, but eventually you've added, removed and tweaked so much crap that your OS may not be running as smoothly as possible. Almost all computer 'experts' say you should probably start with a clean install at least once a year. Or they used to say that anyway. Obviously having a backup is great, especially when you have system problems that weren't foreseen and you really didn't need a clean install, but if you are like me and keep only what you need on your computer, clean installs aren't that bad at all.

[λndersony â€]

I know your broke Doug, but if the money ever does come around...

I bought an HP Windows Home Server a few years back, and have never looked back.

Once I had my system freshly installed with Windows 7 and everything I want beyond that (which isn't much, not even video drivers cuz they always need to be upgraded) for a base install, I connected to my home server, it made an image of my computer at 'base' level and then started pulling periodic backups.

I've used this 'base' install a couple of times by booting off a cd on my workstation, it contacts the hpWHS and I get to pick what point in time to restore to -- base or base + 1week, 1month .... etc. Its brainless

Didn't spend more than $300 to get the HPWHS with 1.5TB of storage. It makes backups of all computers that register with it (ie. the wiffs computer and the kidz pc). I point all of our libraries in Win7 Explorer to the Server and delete the local folders, so we store all of our docs, pics, music, vidz on it since it has redundant drives (I have 3 in it now - added 1). So when I wipe a workstation, I don't have to worry about whats on it (even thought its backed up) all data is on the server.

[(TKC)-o]T3[o]

Pretty neat setup but yeah, not an option right now.