Replies

Ted,

Thank you, Thank you, and Thank you!

Things are getting really busy around here so I will let you know how it worked out after Christmas, I plan to be finished by New Year. It only seems right to start the New Year with a fresh computer (OS anyway) and freshly installed programs. I was a small time graphic artist for a local shopping guide, and I had a short run at publishing my own magazine, (poetry is a little too cultured for my area, but hey, I tried.) I love graphics, photos, video and audio, I just love making things that people enjoy, and that makes them smile, or think.

Have a very Merry Christmas and New Year!!!

Sincerely, Evelyn

You can create a folder if you wish. Any folder is just for visual organizational purposes. Windows puts files wherever it wishes on the disk.

Joe

Thanks Joe. It is nice to have a recognizable starting point, especially for me.

Evelyn

Thanks Ted,

Hey ramble away, I appreciate the mental image. It helps me visualize my drive and it helps me understand the diferent ways people set up their discs. Which brings me to another question. I did not set up partitions on my C drive. I noticed you have a C: (OS and Apps) and a D: (data), My Moms computer was setup that way too from Best Buy. When they set up my computer they did not setup two seperate partitions (C: and D:). So I didn’t partition my hard drive when I put Win7 on my laptop, I wasn’t sure how to set up the file system so it would work right. Apparently my Mom didn’t either her D: (data) drive was empty. I was running out of space in her computer so I moved a bunch of files over there to let the programs work properly in the C: drive. Any way my question is: Do I have to do the partition at install, or can I make a D: data drive after I get the computer set up? I think I read somewhere that it’s a pain in the neck to try to set up partitions after install is complete.

Thanks for listining to my rambling.
Sincerely, Evelyn

I am running on SP1 RC and there are not that many updates except security and MSE and that is what Technet said it would be. I capture the updates by clicking the More Information link in WU and place them into a folder saving them if I do a win 7 install disk or a VM. Office updates I extract and copy the .msp to Update folder in Office Folder

Ooops! My mistake, I meant the back-up, for the whole computer. Joe P. said: “You should consider getting an external drive and embarking on a backup scheme. Make a complete image of your system after you are finished adjusting the operating system to your liking and before you begin installing all your applications.” So I was wondering, can I send backups to a designated folder on the external hard drive? The reason I’m asking is because when I tried to do this before I just followed the instructions and I don’t think I did it right, because I wasn’t prompted to put in a file/or folder name, and I don’t recall the computer telling me it was going to make one for me.

Joe and Veegertx,
Thanks for your suggestions– I have a question though: I have an external hard drive made by Toshiba, not a real expensive one, almost 300GB. Can I make a folder to keep my backups in rather than letting them go willynilly all over the hard drive? — I already have two emergency backups from when I had the Vista OS that I eventually want to integrate back into an improved file system. The first backup was performed by Best Buy, the second one I just copied all my files to the hard drive by hand.
Sincerely,
Evelyn

Wow Thanks!

I had a busy day yesterday and couldn’t get on the computer, I just got a free moment and I am breathing much easier now knowing the updates ar OK. I did install two of the optional driver updates. I have some weird ATI graphics card that always requires a driver update. The nice thing is though that Win 7 upgrade recognized it and I didn’t have to install it myself, it came with the updates. When I reinstalled Vista I had a heck of a time getting the drivers to install. For months I kept getting a message that I didn’t have permission to change the settings for the drivers. Problem was, I didn’t, Best Buy did, after they fixed my computer from a spill. They changed the hard drive and something else. But my computer never worked right after that. I still makes some weird noises but It’ll be ok ’til I get a new one in a year or two. I’m doing all the little tweaks and such before I start reloading my programs, the computer I’m using right now was my Mom’s so it’s not too big a deal if I take my time and hopefully do things right.

Sincerely, Evelyn

Hi,

Thanks for taking a look at that. I also went to find it after I realized my folly and found it. I did install all the updates. KB 2412171 wasn’t among them. So far the computer is running fine. I haven’t loaded any of my programs yet. But I don’t think I’ll have any problem… If I do you know where I’ll go first!! you guessed it RightHere!

Thanks A Million,
Evelyn

Woody has a site that is completely independent of this site. That is where he continues to use the “MS-DECON thing”. Most people here believe you run more risk not installing patches than you do installing patches.

Joe

Well thank you ever so much, I just assumed it would be connected to this site, silly me for assuming anything!
Evelyn

Please forgive me…

And thank you for your patience. In the “Dummies” Books that Woody Leonhard writes he makes a referance to his website– askwoody.com. He refers to the safety of installing windows patches by a rating system similar to the U.S. Armed Forces DEFCON system. Only he calls it the Microsoft Patch Defense Condition Level–MS-DEFCON, page 665 in his “Windows 7 All-in-one For Dummies”, 8 books in one. The old Lounge made it easier to see the system, but I haven’t seen it in a long time, though I haven’t had the extra time to really dig for it. I just thought you might know if it still existed. Thank you anyway.

Sorry for the confusion
Sincerely, Evelyn

…Just an aside what happened to the MS-DEFCON thing. It’s still in his books for Win7.

…Well so far so good
Thanks
Evelyn

Thank you so much I will be installing Office Prof. Academic 2010
Sincerely, Evelyn

Thank you All

I think I’m ok now, got Vista loaded, have all my gigabytes, have internet, and working through the book now. I am breathing– Of course I’m not done…

…far from it!

I just wanted to thank you all, everything you all told was helpful.

Sincerely, Evelyn

Chkdsk should not have run, which means something was detected and interpreted as being out of order. I would suggest starting again, look for an advanced option during install and maybe a further options button; something that will lead you to a format option before installation. There are other bootable discs that can also be used to format the drive beforehand as well but you shouldn’t be in need of those. Its a good idea to create at least the system partition if partitioning is to be incorporated at that time as well so you get the partition size desired instead of possibly fighting with Vista to let you shrink the volume down to the desired size.

Thank you for replying back.
My disc dosn’t seem to have the driver for the wireless either even though the “wireless light” is on I don’t get the option to connect to the internet with a wireless connection and when I try to turn on “Network Discovery” in the Network and Shairing Center it makes me jump through all the hoops but, ultimately, dosn’t turn it on. When I just click connect to the internet it only gives me the two “wired” type connections.

I like your idea of starting over, (Windows 7) is looking better and better. If I had the money right now I’d be all over it.

Evelyn

The post you have linked to may have been moved. To get the link working again, edit the post and replace the URL.
Fixed it for you.
C

Thank you. Explaining everything all over again would add to my frustration. My nerves are not wired for this yet. Lots of things going wrong.

Evelyn