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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Back Online

Today's post doesn't deal with nature. I'm going to write about my computer experiences of the past few days. If you don't like reading about that stuff, I completely understand. I made sure I have some nice pictures here for you so you won't feel completely betrayed though. Let me know what you think about either thing. Here's my story...

I'm sure nobody really noticed my absence, but I was offline for about a day. I do keep a spare computer, so I was able to get a few things done. The reason for my absence was that I completely reinstalled everything on my computer. I gave it a total revamp!

I had to do it because it had gotten to the point that the computer was running like it was 20 years old. My computer is supposed to be a souped up hot rod, and it was running like an old clunker. I couldn't even leave comments on any of the blogs without it freezing up after every few seconds. It was awful!

After giving my backup computer a similar lobotomy, and seeing the great results, I decided enough was enough. I had to do something about my main machine too. It gets really frustrating when I have trouble doing things my old computer does with great ease. So that's when I started.

This wasn't going to be exactly that easy though. I had a great many things to backup first. My main hard drive was just packed with junk. A lot of my programs were there, and all of my blogging tools were on that drive, even my pictures that I post every day! This was a big project.

I backed it all up the best I could, and I jettisoned the junk that I didn't need. It was now time to go ahead and format the hard drive and install everything again, beginning with the operating system. I always hate to do this because there is always something valuable that I forget and leave behind. It ends up gone into oblivion.

I am happy to say that the reinstall went more smoothly than it ever has before. I actually had the computer back up and running in only a matter of hours. Of course, this was only running basic stuff still. I still had to reinstall all of my old programs. And that's when I discovered what I had lost!

It was actually two things. First was a little file I used as a start page for the internet. I kept it as a local file that contained valuable links that I visited regularly. I had forgotten to back it up, and it was now gone forever. I'm going to miss it terribly.

The second thing I lost was a very old program that I have had since the Windows 3.1 days. It was a very valuable little program called Cardfile. I used it to store all sorts of things, such as addresses and certain websites and settings. I was lucky enough not to lose those! The thing is that I knew I would have to let the old program go eventually because it was so old. I just couldn't find a replacement for it.

That is, until now! I found a new and better Cardfile, called Azz Cardfile, and it does much more than the old one. The best thing is that it can read my old files from the old program, and convert them to the new one. If you're interested, you can download it here. It's free to download, but you pay to keep it after the trial period. They even have a website that has collections of useful cardfiles! Personally, I'm really glad I found the program. That's why I'm eagerly advertising it for them.

Anyway, back to my reinstall. Asyou can see, I have my computer up and running, and I'm back on the internet, but still in a limited fashion. I'll be reinstalling more programs as I need them, so things will still go rather slowly for me. I don't even have all of my photo editing software loaded up yet. So I'll be trying to do my blogging and reinstalling all at the same time now. This is heaven for a geek like me!

Oh, and I'm sure you've noticed my forest pictures in the post. They obviously have nothing to do with what I'm writing about, but don't they look nice? I'll be back tomorrow with something a little more normal for me. Until then, happy blogging! (I always wanted to say that!)

(This post is a little early, so you might want to take a look at my previous post for a more natury subject.)

19 comments:

  1. WELCOME BACK RATTY!! :D

    Glad to hear that your computer are OK now!

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  2. I second that, welcome back Ratty. I'm glad the reinstall went well.

    Just curious, and because I like geek speak, what CPU are you running and which OS?

    SQ

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  3. Well done - a segue between beautiful nature and upgrading your computer. A most engrossing read.

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  4. We not noticing that u were gone show how u r efficient in doing ur computer backing up thingy. Learn a thing or 2 there

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  5. of course the photos are nice! glad you're back and that your cpu has been overhauled!

    didn't really feel your absence coz when i take a break, it's a way longer than a day! lol!

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  6. You should be a good surgeon to carry out that lobotomy; I hate this process and luckily I manage to avoid all these so far.

    Glad that you're back with comment on my site, I did keep waiting for that. lol.

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  7. Hey Ratty,
    The format and re-install ritual is something I do about twice a year - every six months. Windows has a way of 'eating' itself. I organize all my data files in a group so the backup process is quick. I keep a check list that I run through for the back-up, then I follow the check list during the re-install process to make sure I get everything back in the right order. Thanks for sharing and great pictures!

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  8. I need to do the same, namely wipe and reformat the hard drive, my PC sometimes seems as though it is running on steam.
    Similar to Mike, I also usually do this twice a year, but am now overdue as it does take up a big chunk of time.
    Top marks for adding the forest pictures.

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  9. The beautiful photos ease the pain of the computer problems. I can certainly relate to all of that.

    I love the shot witht the wooden bridge. Beautiful. I'm glad you're back :)

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  10. Glad that your reinstall went well..Now you can come over and reinstall mine :-)

    BTW-the pictures look very nice!

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  11. don't like the comp stuff...but loved the pics.!!!!

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  12. I envy the talent you have to do all of that myself. My main computer (and my laptop, for that matter) are getting slower and slower. I will have to bring it all somewhere for them to fix or buy a new one from someone who will swear to transfer everything to my new one. I shudder at the thought of this and I will be even more scared to do it now that I am blogging frequently.
    Welcome back and I look forward to your future posts, as always.

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  13. I like reading about your nature adventures, but I also like reading personal stuff and how people solve problems. Glad you didn't have any major problems with your reinstall.

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  14. Welcome back, Ratty! I myself would not know what to do should my computer act up! Glad to know things are well now!

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  15. i completely empathize...my PC needs to be reformatted, too! i know it's already infested with malicious virii, but i've been putting it off.

    being gone for a day isn't that bad! it's great you got it all done within that time frame!

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  16. Oh, Ratty, I LOVED the old Windows Cardfile. I finally had to give it up, and went for Karteset, also free. It is just a text file like Cardfile, but it allows me to put cards in more than one category, so also gives a tiny DB capability.

    I've been messing with an old computer too. I got a job building a DB, but the client has Windows 98, so I have to use an old version of Access. Had to reinstall, but got it running, and so far so good!

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  17. Bless you, Ratty...I had to go through this with an infected laptop about a month ago...my main one here is sort of limping along, so it won't be too long before it also needs a complete cleaning--thanks for the inspiration, but I'm NOT very geeky, darn it!!

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  18. Welcome Ratty !! Great shots and lovely location !!Unseen Rajasthan

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  19. Thanks everybody! I'm glad everything went so smoothly. I'm still busy reinstalling everything, but I hope to be back better than ever very soon. I'm still behind so I'll just answer questions for now.


    SquirrelQueen - My CPU is old by today's standards now. It's an Athlon 64 4000+. The operating system is brand new, so I won't name it yet. I still have some testing to do on it. So far it's working great.
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    Icy BC - You don't live far from me, as far as I know. So if you ever do need computer help I'd be happy to do it.
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    Fortuitous Faery - Do a Google search for Avira. It's the best anti-virus program, and it's completely free.
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    Sharkbytes - I'll take a look at Karteset. I'll try it just in case Azz Cardfile doesn't work out.
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    Thanks to everybody for your comments!

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