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I'm upgrading from Windows 2000 to XP. I'm not worried about wiping my saved games or stories, they will be put on a CD for safety. Is there anything I should make a backup of? I've never done this, so any help will be appreciated.

 

Backup all documents and files you don't want to lose, of course. Try also doing a fresh install instead of upgrading, since there tends to be quite a lot of rubble with old installations. Write down you bookmarks and passwords, pre-download all necessary updates and tools (SP2 and ZA firewall, namely), and that's about it.

You should also consider giving SuSe 10 a share of your HDD, now that you have a chance.

 

WTH is SuSe 10? I was just going to format the harddrive and install XP from disc. Is that not right?

 

That's a distro of Linux, my dear marilith.

I have asked about Linux in another thread...

 

kuemper, that's the ideal way of doing it. Clear everything off your HDD first, and then have clean installation of XP.

Before you do however, I recomend that you go through all the folders you have in 'My Documents' and anywhere else you like to save a lot of stuff and make a backup. You never know when the picture you have on your computer might be the very last copy of it.

 

Why would I have Linux on my computer? I don't use Linux (that I know of).

It happens this weekend, so cross your fingers/paws/claws/etc. All this for a stinkin' RPG!

 

*REPARTITION* and format your hard drive. The optimal partitioning scheme depends on your HDD size, but generally a 10gb partition for system and basic programs and the rest for files, games and such.

If your hard drive is 120gb or larger, you might want to leave a 10gb share free for emergencies. And possibly installing (some easy distro of) Linux.

 

I don't repartition. I have no real need to do so. I find one OS and one harddrive are plenty for me.

 

@ kuemper

Emulation, office, video, music... Pretty much everything that is not related to gaming can be done on SuSe too. Just thought to mention it since it costs no money and I have found it pretty good.

 

I have 2 problems, one is major and the other is not.

1. My sound card is not hooked up. I only hear the tweet of the internal sound card. How can I hook this up?

2. While d/l Windows updates, I occasionally got this gem:

There is an internal error with Windows updates. Microsoft suggests you go to: ]www.regxp.net

What is that? I hit the closed button and ignored it.

 

Did you install a firewall before letting XP connect?

If not, have fun reformatting again.

 

@kuemper:

Regarding the linking issue when using Automatic Updates, it does look like Malware/Adware has make its way into your computer. You may want to try these before considering to format your HD:

1) Make use of Windows XP "System Restore". XP makes a security copy of the system programs and options every now and again, especially when installing big applications or performing system changes. See if you have an available image and use it. After that, try Windows Update again.

2) If the error is still there, install a cleaning application like Ad-Aware (free) and see if it can get rid of it, or have a look at Kitrax's sticky on this forum for more info on Malware removal. Then use Windows Update again. If the problem is gone, get a firewall asap before connecting for long periods of time.


Regarding the sound card, if you have installed a new OS, you will probably need new drivers for the sound card for your system to manage it. Try updating the sound card driver via the "Update Driver" option in the Device Manager (right-click My Computer - Properties - Hardware - Device Manager).

 

She just formatted her harddrive. Much, MUCH easier to reformat now than to handle with the clutter in six months.

After reformatting install a firewall and disable the messenger service before connecting to the internet. Then get the updates *asap*.

If you did have a firewall, then the popups are just messenger service.

 

Taza, you're just a monkey of fun.

As for the sound card, the computer says I have no sound card. It's an onboard, ADI AD1888 6 channel codek. I get no sound from BG or my online games.

EDIT: I ran my antivirus and spybot stuff. Antivirus found nothing and spybot found tracking cookies.

And this just occured to me: how do you install a firewall with no operating system?

[ May 01, 2006, 02:42: Message edited by: kuemper ]

 

Oh, yeah, I remember those ****ing annoying popups. They appeared every five minute for about a week. They were seriously pissing me off. The tracking cookies were the culprits. Those little annoyances almost drived me insane.

 

Okay, a house call by a local boy gathered up the one loose end she had left.

The 'regxp.net' ads were coming outta those tracking cookies that Spybot - S&D grabbed and cauterized before I even showed up. I wouldn't call that so much 'malware' as 'annoyware'. Sorta like a rep from the autoclub strolling by and passing you a flyer as you're changing a flat tire on the side of the road

She's now got her router's security fully re-engaged and the s/w firewall set to 'maximum paranoid' (I forsee a follow-up visit to set permissions on that thing )

And on an almost non sequitur - how DARE anyone recommend ZoneAlarm?!? She just *cleaned* her HD with a format, why dirty it again with THAT?!?

As for the sound card, that was just about the only omission in her otherwise admirable first O/S install: she had to pop the motherboard's included CD to reinstall the drivers. (onboards aren't exactly on the top of M$'s HCL - Device Manager wasn't showing ANYTHING except for Codecs under audio ) The disk in question was sitting next to the keyboard, and I'm ashamed to admit I wasted some time with 'add new hardware' myself before resorting to the obvious.

But now her PC is whistling and belching like the rest of ours instead of just beeping

 

Hey, empath, long time no see! Almost thought you were dead. What have you been up to?

BlackICE completly pwns ZoneAlarm.

It's certainly better than my ISA Sound Blaster 16...

 

Hurray, I have sounds!

 

It's just a firewall. Personally I like of how the free version of ZA works. It's efficient, user-friendly (although misses 'deny all others' function as in KasperSky), and it's free.

@ kuemper

You should also consider getting a "End-user Edition" of Windows. Comes with all the updates, service packs, and some optimization out-of-box. No fuss with registration and activation either. EuE v3.4 seems to be the latest version.