look who's back

I don't have Win98 (Stupid program, just too simple, to much wasted space - I prefer Windows 95), but I have had problems with Microsoft. A while ago, I installed IE4, unaware that in had active desktop and all those brower-like function changes to your directories. Needless to say, I hated it. So I uninstalled it. Well, the stupid program uninstalled .DLL's critical to run any .exe file. I ended up getting the .DLL's with an old DOS computer and a 9600 modem. It took half an hour just to sign online! Over 4 hours to download the file. That really annoyed me.

BobulusMan wrote:

Better yet, install NT 4.0 and then try to get all the Service Packs to work along with IE and DevStudio. You better get to know a good number of DLLs by hand because you'll be installing/replacing them on numerous occasions. Even better, all the C runtime libs vers 5.0 and beyond don't have versions in their names, so get ready from some wonderful missing symbols between NT installations.

I can't wait for Windows 2000!

On Thu, 03 Jun 1999 11:13:23 -0700, Brian Hannan wrote:

Why wait? Find IEXPLORE.EXE for IE 5 and check the properties.

[email] (BobulusMan) wrote:

Now there's something I thought I'd never see anyone saying.

CountV

[binaries groups dropped]

In alt.tv.simpsons, on the "look who's back" thread, WAV King wrote:

WAV King's post contained some good advice. Now, here's some more.

You've probably heard this before, but the best way to protect your data (and let's face it -- the data is probably more valuable than the machine because it can't be replaced easily) is to back it up regularly. If the hard drive goes south, and you have to reformat or replace it, a modern backup program can restore all the data you've backed up without hard labor on your part.

1) Try to get a system that will back up your entire drive on one piece of media. Nobody wants to sit around and baby-sit the backup process, and if you have to stand by to swap disks or whatever you probably aren't going to get into the backup habit. Usually, the "single piece of media" requirement means a tape drive. Zip disks and the like probably won't cut it. Imagine that you have a 4Gb drive. Even if it's only half full, you'd need as many as twenty Zip disks to back it up. That's not my idea of a fun time. Tapes can store 5Gb or more of data nowadays, which should be enough for most people.

Actually, now that people have these 10-terabyte drives, even tape may not be able to hold everything on it. Consider partitioning your drive so that things that don't change frequently (like the OS or major programs) are in one partition, and your data is in another. Now you can back up your data partition more frequently than your system partition. (Tip 3 explains why that might be good.)

Also, when considering a backup drive, bear in mind that the capacities almost invariably refer to =compressed= data. The real capacity is usually half the advertised capacity. In the real world, not all data is easily compressible; JPEG files, for example, are already compressed. So, if you have a 4Gb drive that's really full, you may need a larger-than-4Gb tape to back it up.

2) Most people follow this backup strategy: A full backup (of all the drive) every so often, and incremental backup (of just the files that are new or changed) after that. This saves time backing up, although if you have to restore the drive you'll have to remember to restore the incremental backups, as well as the full backup. It's important to periodically back up the whole drive because, as WAV King found out, manufacturers can tuck important data in places you aren't likely to find it.

3) Consider segregating your data into a bunch of subfolders under one root folder (Like "Data" or, for the Office97 crowd, "My Documents"). This makes the task of incremental backups easier, since the idea here is to frequently back up data that changes a lot. You just have to point your backup program at the My Documents folder to get your stuff. [In reality, I also do "Program Files," because FreeAgent stores its database of news articles there.] If you have your drive partitioned into data and system partitions, aim your backup program at the data partition.

4) Before you install a new program, back up your drive. As WAV King can testify, new software can really hose your system, and uninstallation may not be possible. I'll confess I'm lax about this sometimes, but then I haven't installed anything major on this computer in a while. If you're always installing the latest edition of some game or other, though, this is a good safety practice.

5) NightShadow's suggestion (get a mirror drive) is good, provided your machine's chassis has room for another drive, and you're disciplined enough to use it as a mirror, and not just another place to stick the latest bloatware game.

WAV King went on to say:

This should be patently obvious, but I'll point it out anyway: If you don't use Outlook Express, this doesn't apply to you! Also, Outlook Express ain't the same thing as Microsoft's other PIM/e-mail programs, Outlook97 and Outlook98.

Actually, these two directories are pretty independent, at least in MSIE 3.0. The various "options" dialogs give me the choice of deleting either the cache, or the history, or both, or none. Cache just saves items from pages you've been to recently, so that when you re-visit them you don't have to re-download the information. Personally, I'd rather save history, as that tells you where you've been -- something I might forget. If you can remember where you've been, you can rebuild the cache pretty easily.

It sounds Draconian, but some people actually reformat their drives (after backing the data up, of course) and reinstall their software for precisely that reason.

Definitely good advice. A co-worker of mine got burned recently by not stashing away his shareware/downloadable software after installing it.

Glad to see you're back in action.

True enough, but even she can't restore you data. Back it up, or be prepared to give it up.

Good advice from the WAVking. Let me add this small bit:

A) If you are building a system or replacing your hard drive, get an IMB deskstar. I can assure, that they will out last the rest of the system. I've done HD testing for an independent agency, and the IMBs beat out all. This will go a long way to save your data.

What the fuck???

Scram spammer! Lest you feel the backside of my hand uponst your ugly face!

David F Heirtzler wrote in message news:[email]...

In article , "Fester" wrote:

It's still going to be July the 4th, they'll just have another name for it. Or do you mean one's that are using the Julian Calendar? In that case, I'm not aware of any so..