Restore CD

[Jaded_Goth]

Double-click on the "create image" icon,and away Dad goes..

[Oddysey]

Jaded_Goth;

Crikey yourself, mate! :o That's a clue, if I ever heard one. [rolleyes]

OK, so now I remember why some reviewers weren't too kind to the product - it looked "cartoonish" to them too. I'm a Command Line purist (almost Nazi, but not quite), but I can take cartoons when they still get the job done. Anyone remember the early version of EZ CD Creator?

I don't have a test machine, but I do regularly clean out the whole mishmash and start over. Keeps my blook pressure down, not havin' to deal with all that old crap, know what I mean? :P And for what it's worth, instead of a CD, I now use another hard disk - no problems with that. It's removable (in a docking bay), so I just slip it in once in awhile, and either update it, or use it as directed to regain my pristine state of being. [closedeyes] Same procedure, different hardware. Ah, the joys of scalar economies.

Thanks for the report, I just might give this a closer look-see.

[Oddysey]

ProxRocks;

Quote:I actually get tired of him asking "I'm lost when it comes to file management, any suggestions?"...  He refuses to live with "it's a matter of personal preference, pick a directory and slap the sh*t into it"...  Or "it's like managing the top drawer of your dresser, which side is socks and which side is underwear makes absolutely no difference, it's that YOU know where to find them when you need them"...

Please allow me to share some of my gleanings from my years as a teacher.

I found that the underlying cause of almost everybody's fear of a computer is that they will damage it in some way, and in a most embarassing and most expensive fashion. That fear caused more "freeze-ups" at the keyboard when I walked by than anything else, bar none.

The cure for this is simple, but hard for a relative to implement successfully. As a teacher it was OK for me to say "You can't hurt it". After all, I was (and still am, oh yes) an expert, I should know, right? So students of all ages accepted that. But you, as a son, what can assurance can you give your father that you really and truly know that "Dad" can't damage anything, beyond his own data? Not much, to be truthful about it.

But, the message is simple, and like anything else, if repeated often enough, it will eventually be accepted as the truth: It doesn't matter where you put your data - you can't hurt the machine, no matter how hard you might try. Just make it easy on yourself for remembering where you put it, and you'll always be able to find it. Don't worry, the machine won't get mad at you, and decide to eat it or something. And if you think about it, why is it that no one else has any problems with where they put their data, eh? Perhaps they already know that they can't hurt their machine, so why don't you catch up to them, and just put the stuff where you want to.

And so on, and so forth. I'm sure you've got the idea by now. Worked wonders for my students, and for my Dad too, before he passed on a few years ago. Just keep in mind that they will still call once in awhile, but once you get this idea fully into their heads, they will suddenly remove your cell number from the speed dials, and you can go fishin' once again.

Good luck!


Oddysey

[ProxRocks]

All makes perfect sense...

My solution was to go out and buy him a new computer...

For the last 4 or 5 years, he's been running a 500MHz IBM Aptiva with a 66MHz FSB, 64MB RAM, and a 5GB hard drive operating under Win98SE...

Last summer, we traded the CD-ROM for a CD burner - and unfortunately, we ditched the OEM CD-ROM... Unfortunate because the Recovery CD that came with the dang thing no longer works because it sees that the hardware has changed (at least, that's the only conclusion I can draw)...

I just installed Win2000 and added 128MB of RAM - but there was very little effect (what can you expect with a 66MHz FSB, right?)...

I was working on patching the OS and Office 2000 when I totally lost it and dang near threw the thing off the balcony (okay, not really, but it makes the story more interesting)...

I went out and bought him a 2.53GHz Celeron with a 533MHz FSB, 256MB DDR RAM, and a 40GB hard drive operating under WinXP HE... Heck, he even now has a scroll wheel - how the heck he ever made it by without that I'll never know...

Heck, his old HD had to be a 5(2|4)00, so the 7200 is a vast improvement as well...


I went into Program Files and DELETED several directories...
Then showed him how various programs would no longer run (imagine that)...

Then I showed him MS's BEST idea in YEARS (at least as it pertains to those that have not grown up on computers, which is certainly not me) - I showed him XP's System Restore...

And like "magic", everything was working perfectly...

I have dad convinced that not even Kryptonite can bring XP to its knees...
Hey, it removed his *fear* of messing things up - that's all I was aiming for...


And he's lovin' the new machine...
Christmas in July...


But dang it, now I need to upgrade - can't have a 60+ year-old using a better machine than mine...


btw: I have an unattended install for my machine now - even if I may never need it...

[Oddysey]

ProxRocks;

Your solution was the best one possible (even if a bit more expensive then originally intended)!

Good stories are always appreciated. Good thing I don't have any balconies here at the ol' homestead - the ground underneath would be littered so badly by now that the EPA would have to apply for Toxic Superfunds to clean it up!! :o [lol]


Oddysey

[Kye-U]

I've just found this...LOL!

http://greenmachine.msfnhosting.com/XPCREATE/

Quote:XPCREATE is a utility program that will combine an original XP distribution and assorted hotfixes and updates to produce an up-to-date XP Distibution CD. XPCREATE allows the user to define custon installations and setup programs, but it's main richness lies in the slipstreaming of most available updates and hotfixes, thus insuring the integrity of both the initial installation, and the physical CD media. Slipstreaming the latest hotfixes and updates is important in avoiding possible vulnurability attacks during the setup phase, and in avoiding the need to re-apply hotfixes after a windows component is added or removed.

[ProxRocks]

Cool!

Dad's new computer came with XP Home Edition...
I've got a few updates to pull in then I'll give XPCreate a try...

Then I'll start saving up for an 800MHz FSB...


While I'm on that topic, does FSB make "that much" of a difference?
I'm currently at 266MHz...

I've noticed that AMD's max out at 400MHz FSB...
And I've seen as high at 1600MHz FSB...

But it seems to me that memory is the bottleneck - is there even such a thing as 800MHz memory? Seems as the highest I've seen is 400MHz...

[Oddysey]

ProxRocks;

You asked if the frontside bus makes much of a difference. The short answer is "yes, with some qualifications". In a nutshell, it's all relative. Personally, I'd rather have more memory than a faster bus, but for many folks, it's the other way around.

FSB speeds are a controlling factor in the performance of memory and peripherals. However, they can't get network traffic to transfer any faster, nor USB, nor Firewire. Even your drives are already maxed out under the current specs. (But that will change soon enough.) Your only easily tangible benefit will be faster data transfers from your memory and your video card.

In fact, if you can wait until the BTX specification takes off, in the next few months, you'll reap far greater rewards than if you were to buy anything right now. Just remember, any BTX stuff you see for the next 4 to 6 weeks is gonna be "Version 1.0", and we all know how that works, right? [angry] But after that, everything made today will seem like a slug, and all for the same money. Sigh.

Just some thoughts to while a sunny afternoon. Have fun shopping.


Oddysey

[ProxRocks]

As I recall, BTX simply offers better thermal dissipation...

Sure, this Electrical Engineer acknowledges the benifits gained from an optimized cooling algorithm, but it seems to me, though I haven't read up on BTX for 9 months or so, that that is all that BTX has to offer - better cooling...

That and PCI differences - and I'm not about to upgrade ALL of my hardware just so that my CPU runs cooler by 5 degrees Celsius...

I'm not sure what benefits are to be gained with the newer PCI architecture, but again, I see no benefits in getting rid of the PCI cards I have because they most assuredly will not work in the new slots...

I could be wrong - what have you heard about backwards compatibility with BTX boards using your old (or shall I say, new) ATX PCI ethernet/video/audio/modem/you-name-it cards?

[Oddysey]

ProxRocks;

Your right about one thing - no backward compatibility. I recall IBM trying that crap in 1987, they called it MicroChannel Architecture. Went over like the proverbial lead balloon. Intel has better clout, so the BTX may take off anyway, despite this cost setback.

BTX does more than just cool things down somewhat. For a more informative review, snag a copy of this month's issue of Maximum PC. You also might find the relevent article at their website Maximum PC. << Ooops, I just checked their site - the article isn't up there yet. Kind of like "if we publish for free, they won't buy from the newsstand." >>

Besides cooling, the whole support chipset idea has been redesigned to give greater bandwidth to just about every possible device, both on the mobo and any peripherals. Like I said before, the real beneficiaries will be the video card and the RAM, but drives will benefit somewhat, later in the year (or early next year). Standards such as Firewire and USB have been set by other governing bodies, and it's been a long time since a mobo was the bottle neck for those kinds of devices. Fast Ethernet is the same way, but Giganet should be able to come into it's own, with the upgraded chipset speeds.

OK, so much for my blathering. You can check out hardware review sites until you've made up your mind, you don't need me to bend your ear. And I did forget one thing from my last message. Sometimes it's better to buy behind the bleeding edge of the power curve. The so-called sweet spot is a good bang-for-the-buck (price/performance) point for the great majority of folks. You could do worse than wait for the BTX stuff, if only to get an even better deal on "last year's ancient history". [lol]


Oddysey

[ProxRocks]

Behind the power curve, that's definitely my preference...

It's kind of like never buying a new car and waiting until it's a year-and-a-half to two-and-a-half years old... Considering an automobile loses 15 to 20 percent of its value every year, why would anyone buy one brand-spanking new... As long as you get something right around two years old, you pick it up for at least 25 to 35 percent savings and you get an auto that is one of three things, 1) a bank repo [which means you beat the depreciation curve even more], 2) one that was leased during its "infancy years" [ie, "pampered" due to lease clauses], or 3) one whose owner trades in every other year so as to not lose trade-in value [ie, "pampered" due to the owner's watchful eye on trade-in value]...

That and I am a firm believer in "Neither a borrower nor a lender be..."
~from a speech Polonius gives his son Laertes in Hamlet, Act I, Scene III...

Of course, you cannot forget these as well, from the same speech:

Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

And last but not least:
"do not dull thy palm with entertainment" - I shall refrain from translating that one... Shakespeare, you dirty man...


And with that, I bid you adieu...

[Oddysey]

ProxRocks;

Sounds good to me!! [lol]

Good luck on your shopping expedition.


Oddysey