Old install - image it or start fresh?

[Bombadil]

Hi Chris,

I'm a bit confused?

Here is where I'm at;
I have an XP install that is about 2 years old
My machine is really beginning to slow down.

I was going to do a clean install until I found the above info.

Option 1, Do I make a BartPe boot disk and use Macrium Reflect along with my
original xp CD to restore my system with the 2 years of dross , while leaving all the data files on it.
All the data is backed up just in case of course!
OR
Option 2, Wipe the hard drive clean, do a clean install of Xp, install my basic programs (Word, Excel, Dragon Dictate, Dream Weaver, Photoshop, etc.) then make a BartPe boot disk and use Macrium Reflect along with my original xp CD to make an image, then later on restore Xp periodically?

Option 1 sounds to good to be true, but wanted to make sure

Thanks
Please Advise
Dave


bajadave
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[Bombadil]

Wotcher Dave,

It's #2 I'm afraid. At some stage you have to have a nice new shiny clean install of Windows, and that's what you image. Then you add your SPs and do an incremental image (an additional one). Those 2 files can be used together, or you can just use the first one. Then you add some apps and data, and do another one.

This gives you a series of clean, new install images. You can use the first file alone, with just the basic OS on it. That could be useful maybe for putting on a CD or two as extra backups. You can use the fileset at any stage as they are complete installs.

But you have to have that new install / series. That's the point really - it's new and clean, no dross, no trojans. It's fast and sharp, unlike what you have right now. If necessary you can keep doing incrementals so that the series will give you a complete and up-to-date install. I'd stop when you have five or six incrementals.

You can use the files up to any point in the series. The downside is you have to start from scratch but there's no way to avoid this, it saves you time in the future. A reinstall of a fully-built system of size 10GB will be about 10 minutes, but there are other tasks that mean it stretches to nearly an hour (reformats & generally messing around). It's not that longer for 20 or 30 GB, or seems that way. But compare that with the time to rebuild by hand. I couldn't get even a small system rebuilt properly in under a day or so.

Some tips:
1. I would defrag it and also fix the pagefile, if you have that capability, as soon as the basic Win install is done.
2. When you've got your clean-install image of the bare OS only, YOU MUST TEST IT. It's pointless going any further if you don't even know if it works. There are a lot of configs to get right in some of these apps and just one wrong will wreck it. How you test it is the issue - you need another PC. Get an el cheapo for a home/office server and general dogsbody machine - it comes in handy. Or go down the local tip late on a Saturday morning, people dump their old PCs by the cartload then. $10 to the guy in charge gets you a choice of the best-looking boxes, and bring it back for an exchange if it's not a goer Just make sure to wipe that disk good (Dban boot&nuke on a floppy, then FDISK etc).
3. Make sure you scan any data you've saved with Avast a/v and A-squared a/s before you reinstate it. Ideally on your USB disk etc before it sees the new-install PC. Or use your choice of security apps. There is no point in reinstating compromised data. Don't reinstall any old screensavers or stuff like that.
4. Don't be connected to the Net at any time when reinstalling an image.
5. My top pick for the first app to load would be a good software firewall like Online Armor. It's by far the most important line of defence now, certainly more important than an a/v. I'm only mentioning this because at some stage you will have / may have a virgin install with no protection whatsoever, and you might even be connected to the Net at that time. Bad news.
6. If your data is important then back it up to 2 different places or more. There's a lot to be said for an encrypted backup in the cloud. I say this because I lost a hard drive on one of my work PCs AND the USB disk it was all backed up to within a few days of each other. Good eh? That hurt.
7. Don't store data on CDs or DVDs in jewel cases. That's the worst option of all. Many people have lost their data this way. Why? Vapour from the glue used to fabricate the case combines with vapour from the printing inks and/or paper of the insert, to produce an aggressive vapour that corrodes aluminium (which doesn't take much anyway as it is about the most delicate metal we use). If you want to long-term store CDs then you must do it this way:
a) Buy a CD wallet.
b) Open it and leave it open indoors, in sunlight if possible.
c) Get a vacuum food sealer, and anti water vapour packs as supplied with cameras.
d) In a warm, dry room, put your CDs in the wallet, close it - include the vapour packs - seal it in the vacuum doofer. Then seal it again.

That's the only way I know to have a spray-on thin layer of aluminium survive more than 5 minutes. It may be encased in polycarbonate but that doesn't seem to protect it well if CDs in jewel cases dissolve in a few years. Yeah it's anal but that's data backup Maybe the cloud is better.

chris.p

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[Bombadil]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the Great, Detailed, Answer!
That really helps

Say sometime when you guy's get a spare hour or so I'd like to see a list of the tools you just can't do without and that you actually pay for. Maybe a Top Ten can't do without list.

Might make a good article for Window's Secrets
Maybe not, might upset some advertisers?

Anyway Thanks Again!!!

Dave


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[Bombadil]

Dave,

It's easy to do a list like that. In fact half the editors and also Gizmo have done one. But they all hate each other's and wouldn't touch it with a barge pole...

I think the current 'top ten' list is about 150 in order to include every possible option and so there's no argument

The trouble is, that list will be different for everybody, when you think about it - there's no such thing as an 'average' computer user (not even if they are all Windows users). I wouldn't suggest the same stuff for a 15-year-old Vista user as a tech guy running W2K on a fast machine, or your Mum with XP on a 1.2 CPU with 512MB RAM. What about sandboxing? What about cloud apps?? What if you have 256MB RAM and an old clunker? What if you have a 3GHz CPU machine with 3GB RAM and visit dodgy sites a lot??

There is no fit-all solution. Gizmo has come up with an idea for a Wizard that you run through, and at the end you've got the right answer. It looks fairly good to me.

After it's worked out you're a 93.y.o. dog lover allergic to firewire living in Easter Island with a 3.0GHz CPU, 128MB RAM iPhone-SinclairZX hybrid, it tells you what apps you need. Pretty clever I'd say.



chris.p



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[grimbles]

Hi Guys - Sorry to interject here but perhaps there is a 3rd option for Dave to consider.....i.e. a non-destructive repair installation....maybe??

JIM

[chris.p]

Yeah, well Grimbles I guess you're right. But 2 years?? The longest I ever had a Windoze install last was a year, and by then it was on its knees...

I guess if Dave's was 6 months old, maybe a year, you could do stuff like registry cleanup, serious online / offline defrag, pagefile sort-out, junk file cleanout, disk error fix, major spyware hunt etc. But to be honest I can't see it getting back to square one if it's that age. I wipe mine every 6 months as a matter of course.

Maybe it depends on the use though. A lot of office machines would probably last well. But mine gets a ton of abuse. You know, the gambling sites, p1rate stuff, cr@x, DC hubs, p0rn sites, hack attempts, v1rus writing etc. Lucky to last a month sometimes

[grimbles]

LOL ....Chris, the main reason I offered the suggestion was, reading between the lines, Dave didn't sound too keen on the format and re-installation option and seemed to be seeking an easier alternative. I know (we all do!) what a complete PITA all the downloading and reconfiguring can be.

cheers....JIM