Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Best Way to
Reinstall Windows
Without Losing Data



At some point during the course of your computer’s use, you will find yourself in the unenviable position of having to reinstall Windows. There are many reasons for this. Perhaps important system files got corrupted or disk errors or viruses caused your system to become unstable.

This is all a result of wear and tear on your PC. When that time comes, you will have to not only know how to reinstall windows, but how to reinstall windows without losing data.

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In this article, we refer to a fresh install of Windows and not simply an attempt to repair a few files.

1. Your Vendor's Restore CD

The first step in knowing how to reinstall windows is to locate your vendor’s restore CD—otherwise known appropriately enough as a rescue or boot disk. Windows comes with its own rescue CD as well. If that’s the only one you have at your disposal then locate your operating system’s instructions below.

Rescue CDs are not all alike. Some give you rescue functions as well as important software drivers for your computer. Others are more basic, only allowing you the ability to reformat your hard drive. Don’t reformat your hard drive without backing up your personal files to another medium first! Your personal files are those located under ‘My Documents’ in Windows. The exact location of your personal files and folders varies from one operating system to another.

In Windows XP, for example, you will backup everything in C:\Documents and Settings. In Windows 98 and ME, you will backup C:\My Documents. More instructions follow below for your particular system. If you have any other folders where you’ve stored personal stuff back those up as well.

2. Windows 98 and ME CDs

With Windows 98 and ME you don’t want to just reinstall windows without backing up important system information. This information can be found in your Windows folders.

First create a new folder on your C: drive and name it oldWindows. Then use Windows explorer to navigate to your Windows folder. Once there, locate the following subfolders: All Users, Application Data, Desktop, Favorites, Local Settings, Profiles, SendTo, and Start Menu. Copy these folders to the oldWindows folder you created.

Now it’s time to reboot. Restart Windows using your boot disk. Upon startup select Start computer with CD-ROM support. Drivers will begin loading so go ahead and pop in your Windows CD-ROM.

To reinstall windows properly you will need to delete your directory tree so type c:\windows\command\deltree /y c:\windows and press the Enter key. After that you need to invoke the Windows setup installation procedure located on your Windows CD. Type your CD drive letter and then type setup.

Next get into the DOS prompt from Windows and type

xcopy
c:\oldWindows\*.* c:\windows /s /h /r /c.

This will restore all important system information.

3. Windows 2000 and XP CDs

If you have Windows 2000 and XP you need to know how to reinstall windows properly as well. Insert your Windows CD and boot your computer. Upon startup you will see Press any key to boot from CD.

After clicking you will come to the welcome screen. Press Enter, then press Escape to start a restore. From the menu options select C as your current partition and then l to delete the Windows folder. Enter temp as your user name when prompted. Reboot and you will be logged in as temp.

Next you will restore your personal files. Windows 2000 users should login as temp, then Administrator and then back to temp again. Then go to C:\Documents and Settings and you will see an Administrator folder and one with Administrator: computername.

From DOS type cd \documents and settings and then press Enter. Type xcopy administrator\*.* administrator.computername /s /h /r /c, substituting for computername your folder that was appended to Administrator earlier. Your personal files will be restored.

4. For Both Windows XP and 2000

Windows XP and 2000 users need one extra step to know how to reinstall windows correctly. Create a new folder on your C: drive and label it oldData. Then go to My Documents and Settings and copy all of the folders for each username to oldData.

In Control Panel go to User Accounts and create a new account for each of these users—use their names as spelled out under their Documents and Settings folders. If you’re using XP ensure that at least one account has Administrator privileges.

For each user on your computer, log off and log in with that user’s name. Then login as Temp and drop down into the DOS command prompt interpreter. Now type

xcopy c:\oldData\*.* "c:\documents and settings" /s /h /r /c

Then press Enter. Go ahead and confirm that you wish to overwrite files. When you’re done, log off and then login as each user. Each user’s Documents and Settings should be restored.

5. Finishing Up

After you install windows you need to install other software too, like drivers and Windows Updates from Microsoft’s web site. Check for any graphics drivers that you may need to install from a vendor CD.

Look for all of your old personal files and make sure that they are all there. If not, check the C:\oldData folder and move the files to the correct location. Once you are absolutely sure that you have everything you can delete both the oldData folder and the Administrator folder.

Conclusion

It may have come as a surprise to you to learn that you can reinstall windows without having to wipe out your hard drive. With a fresh install of Windows you can restore to your computer the speed and efficiency which it had when you first bought it.

A fresh install will do wonders for your computer’s performance and will be better for your system than a simple repair. In order to save your personal files you simply need to create temporary folders as we outlined in this article and restore them back into the new installation.

Physical Damages of Hard disk


When clicking sound starts coming from hard disk drive, this indicates that hard drive is facing some problem. This only happens when power fluctuate while you are working on the computer. This shows that your hard disk is physically damaged.


Some of the hard disks give message when such sounds start coming that some error has reached. Such kinds of troubles are faced by many factors but most common which becomes the primary cause for its failures are given below.

Hard disk head smashed:
Hard disk magnetic plates are used to store the data on the disk and head on the hard disk supports in reading and writing of the data. When head finds any scratches on the magnetic plates; sound is produced when head revolves on the plate to that specific sector for reading or writing data. This needs to be taken care of immediately because if you start fixing the damage then it may result in further disk damage. Immediately shutdown your system and call any recovery experts for consultation. Data stored in hard disk is very sensitive it should be examined and recover in clean room labs.

Bad sectors of the Hard disk:
Bad sectors of the hard disk are areas on the tracks of magnetic plates which get corrupted due to any reason. When head try to read data from these sectors, its all attempts go in vain. Sound heard during the reading of that corrupted sectors which indicates that some of the sectors are failed and damaged.
If hard disk is very old and its condition seems to be very bad; best tip to stream line it again is to scan the whole disk for bad sectors. Scanning process will help in identification of all the damaged or corrupted areas and it will not let hard disk to write any thing on those sectors again.

Damaged Circuitry of Hard disk:
Other than the above two major reasons, additional grounds can be cause of failure of some internal components of the hard disk. It can be out of order spindle; loose head of hard disk, wrong placement of head and any disconnected connection of internal circuitry.
This is always seen that after clicking sound of your hard disk it freezes or stop working any more. Best solution to fix the damage is to take your hard disk to any famous hard disk data recovery company.

Lesser space of storage:
If stored data on hard disk cross the storage limit of hard disk then hard disk uses the technique of virtual memory paging to do the task which are left to process. Such kind of tasks increases the processing of the hard disk and raises it to exhausted state.
In order to overcome over this problem some extra space should be added, for this purpose RAM and extra hard disk is the best solution.

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Geeksnerds, data recovery solutions UK offers data recovery services and software to salvage data from damaged hard drive, RAID system, laptop and removable storage media.





Top 5 Reasons Why
A Monitor Goes Blank


1. Introduction

Computer monitor problems can be very hard to troubleshoot - I mean, if your monitor goes blank, how do you check anything on your screen. So that's why it's important to have 2 monitors in the house. Usually, if I have my desktop PC's monitor going blank, I'll immediately hook up the video card to another monitor. If the screen remains blank, then it could point to a video card problem. If the new monitor displays an image, then it's probably the first monitor that has run into problems.

A typical computer monitor - don't panic if it goes blank!


Reason 1: Wetness

The number one reason why computer monitors go blank is - wetness. Believe it or not, when your computer monitor is exposed to humid air, sometimes water can condense and accumulate in the monitor. This causes the monitor to malfunction and go blank. I've had this happen to my desktop PC at least three times before. What you need to do is to leave the monitor alone for some time and allow the water to evaporate. That usually solves the problem.


Reason 2: Faulty Graphics Card

The next reason why your computer monitor goes black is due to a faulty graphics card. The best way to detect this kind of problem is to connect up a new monitor to your PC, then check if you have a blank screen. If you continue to have a blank screen, then it's likely your video card is faulty.


Reason 3: Faulty RAM

This one is less obvious and less common, but it can happen. You might sometimes get bad RAM modules which prevent your PC from booting up even to the basic BIOS startup screen. To detect this kind of problem is more troublesome, you might need to remove those RAM modules and insert them into another computer.


Reason 4: Loose Connections

Another reason why your monitor goes blank is due to loose connections. The connection from the monitor to the mains is usually a culprit, as is the connection between the monitor and the video card. Check those connections before you declare your computer monitor as faulty.


Reason 5: A Short Circuit In The Motherboard

And the final reason why your computer monitor goes blank? It's possibly because of a short circuit in the motherboard. This is the most undesirable outcome of course, as you might have to replace your entire motherboard. However, it's possible that this can happen - so keep your fingers crossed and hope it doesn't happen to you.


Conclusion

And there you have it, the top 5 reasons why your computer monitor goes blank. Make sure you do a mental check of the above points the next time your monitor goes blank - don't be too quick to declare your monitor as faulty. Until next time, happy computer building!



Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Computer Tips and Tricks

Computer training is possible through formal education like online Computer tips, Networking Tips , Hardware Tips , Registry Tricks and other computer science programs also.

It is no great mystery that major shifts in cultural and societal processes are marked with new advances in technology. This is also true of information technology. The printing press, the camera, the telephone, the computer, the Internet and the cell phone, are all inextricably linked to major changes in human culture. The printing press is linked to the rise of social movements. The photograph and telephone are linked to the birth of the Industrial Revolution. The advent of early computers and television coincides with the first steps towards global consortiums like the League of Nations. Information media changes how we perceive the world around us. The following profiles are two examples of current media that are expected to make a difference in how information is generated and perceived.

ComputerBigLab.com has been designed as a free introductory level, online computer related website, providing tutorials on computer hardware, software, operating systems, and basic troubleshooting, IT glossary, IT certifications and IT interview questions and answers.

If you just want to learn more about your computer's hardware, networking, Certifications and other IT related information, here's a good place to start! Read the tutorials, then try the exercises and computer Tests provided. If you have trouble with the review questions, tutorials or any other please let us know.

The computer computer tips, Interview questions, networking and Free tests may also be helpful for those preparing for Certifications exams, preparing for the interview of computer related jobs, and for students, teachers and the IT professionals.

ComputerBigLab.com intended to help all the students, teachers, & other computer / IT professionals of the Computer Science & Computer Technology Field. We have sorted out much information to help them all.

We are continuously updating our website. If you have any questions, suggestions and feedback please let us know.

We can improve our website in a very progressive way with your help. Your feedback is always welcomed.

Computer Science and Computer Technology has become the vital part of the education throughout the world.

Computer training is possible through formal education attending one of the many colleges or university offering both IT and computer science programs.

The study skills lesson plans should be so structured that it is dynamic and capable of being altered to suit the student’s growing and changing needs. This helps to make the students more focused in their approach, as they are continually involved in the process of change. After all the students are the ultimate beneficiaries. This however does not mean that the content can be ignored. There should be adequate coverage of any topic so that a certain degree of mastery is indicated. Thanks to the technology available along with networking anyone across the globe is now able to access any online hardware around the globe, you can even play games off your phones through the advances in wireless technology.

Whatever study skills lesson plans are drawn up, remember there is no end to it. All plans have only beginnings, for human beings are unique, and it is this uniqueness, which is conceptually infinite. Whatever plan we draw up will be inadequate, but we do require a basic framework from which to operate.
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