HELP is at hand for General PC queries, not Foxestalk ones

[Lillehamring]

i'm facing the same problem and this is what the guy at hewlett packard replied:

Restore the PC to its original condition with the HP Recovery Manager from within Windows Vista

WARNING: All data on the hard drive will be lost during the recovery. Backup all data prior to recovering the PC to its original operating condition.

1.

Click Start and type Recovery in the search field. Select Recovery Manager from the list when it becomes available. Allow the action to continue, if prompted. The HP Recovery Manager opens.

Alternately, click Start , All Programs , Recovery Manager , and then Recovery Manager . Allow the action to continue, if prompted. The HP Recovery Manager opens.

2.

Click Advanced options , System recovery , and then click Next . The PC will restart.

Alternately, if Advanced options is disabled, click Next , and then System Recovery . The PC will restart.

3.

When the PC restarts, select the System recovery option and click Next .

4.

If prompted to use the Microsoft System Restore program, click No , and then click Next .

5.

When prompted, select the Back up your files first (recommended) option, and then click Next . Follow the on-screen instructions.

6.

When prompted to Recover without backing up your files , please STOP before clicking Next .

This is the final opportunity to change your mind about recovering the PC and deleting all the files at this time. Once you click Next , the restore process cannot be stopped

7.

If you are satisfied that you want to begin the recover process, click Next . The PC immediately begins formatting the hard drive and destroying all data.

The recovery process may take up to several hours and will return the PC to its original condition. Any custom settings, drivers, software programs and updates, and/or hardware updates are lost and must be reinstalled.

bit ambiguous - sø i'm gonna copy all my data to an EHD...

[Katy]

Some don't come with a disk so you may not find it!

Also, Some manufacturers pre-partition hard drives with a "backup" section so that you can easily restore should something go wrong. Windows Vista already comes with a utility that provides info on your partitions. If you go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Storage > Disk Management.

This then should load a window giving information of the partitions of your hard drive. However, you won't be able to get rid of it and add it to Vista without re-installing.

As long as you keep a copy of you license key you can obtain any Vista Disk which is the same version (ie. Home Edition, Home Premium, Ultimate etc) and install using the license key. When formatting and in your case, re-formatting the hard drives, you completley lose everything and its a fresh install.

I think there is a way to add the partition to your sections where Vista is installed but don't know off hand how this is done..sorry!

Thanks Hitesh, I've looked in Administrative tools and there isn't a section called 'storage' oddly enough. Would it come under another name at all?

[Hitesh]

Thanks Hitesh, I've looked in Administrative tools and there isn't a section called 'storage' oddly enough. Would it come under another name at all?

Apologies, you have to go to Computer Management and then there should be an option for Storage!

[Katy]

Apologies, you have to go to Computer Management and then there should be an option for Storage!

Ahhh, thank you

[Hitesh]

Ahhh, thank you

No worries, got there in the end!

Let us know how you get on...

[Katy]

No worries, got there in the end!

Let us know how you get on...

Well I've located where I'm supposed to be but the word 'format' is unclickable on for some reason.

[Hitesh]

Well I've located where I'm supposed to be but the word 'format' is unclickable on for some reason.

that could be because the partition is locked or protected which in some ways makes sense. How big is it? It would depend on your manufacture/creator of the partition as to how to remove the partition.

Have you tried general programs to try and remove space. I'd suggest trying Crap Cleaner! It clears a lot of stuff you don't need and can remove a lot of space. The first time it runs it takes a while (up to an hour on some machines) so just leave it be until it finished. You can also analyse first before you actually run the cleaner which gives you a report on how much space will be recovered.

[Katy]

that could be because the partition is locked or protected which in some ways makes sense. How big is it? It would depend on your manufacture/creator of the partition as to how to remove the partition.

Have you tried general programs to try and remove space. I'd suggest trying Crap Cleaner! It clears a lot of stuff you don't need and can remove a lot of space. The first time it runs it takes a while (up to an hour on some machines) so just leave it be until it finished. You can also analyse first before you actually run the cleaner which gives you a report on how much space will be recovered.

I have no idea haha, I will try the c cleaner first though thanks for that.

[Katy]

Thanks Hitesh, that C Cleaner is great. Will hold off formatting it for a bit I think.

[Bellend Sebastian]

I just had XP reinstalled on my five year old PC and it's like having a new computer, so if you know what you're doing*, it's well worth it

*I don't, I got someone else to do it

[haraven]

Formatting is the way to go if you're up shit creek without a paddle, just remember that your profile is normally stored on C:\ drive within the Windows installation - if you format, remember to back up any pictures, music, documents, videos and so on, because as long as they are on the drive you format, they are gonna be a bit tricky to get back afterwards.

I would normally recommend formatting a pc once every year for speeding up the box and getting rid of all the bloatware that clings to it after some good use.

[Hitesh]

Formatting is the way to go if you're up shit creek without a paddle, just remember that your profile is normally stored on C:\ drive within the Windows installation - if you format, remember to back up any pictures, music, documents, videos and so on, because as long as they are on the drive you format, they are gonna be a bit tricky to get back afterwards.

I would normally recommend formatting a pc once every year for speeding up the box and getting rid of all the bloatware that clings to it after some good use.

Once a year isn't needed at all! I'd say it should only be done if absolutely necessary. General tidy and cleaning is what you need. Running programs like CCleaner is great and having Spybot Search and Destroy along with an antivirus works well for me. Added to this, you should do a de-fragment once a month! The windows tools are just as good.

I haven't had to reformat once on my laptop or my main PC and have been using the tools mentioned above and it keeps my PC running smooth!

Thanks Hitesh, that C Cleaner is great. Will hold off formatting it for a bit I think.

No worries! Glad to be of help. As mentioned above, try doing a de-fragment of your hard drive, although if you have Vista it should be done automatically so no worries there. I also use a program called Smart Defrag which can be run to do a deeper defrag. More info here

Edited 4 August 2009 by Hitesh

[haraven]

Crap Cleaner is nice and handy tool, but even tho you can clean the registry with certain tools it is a db, it grows and starts having lots of unfinished threads and keys, in my experience a format to get the OS back to scratch, patch it, get your software on, defrag and you are back on track. . Not saying that I reformat all my pc's once every year, but I normally end up doing so if one of them has any issues instead of spending hours trying to locate the issue. The defragger that comes with Windows isn't all that great in my opinon. I use atm Ultimate Defrag and Auslogic Registry Defragger, they are both ok.

Having a look at msconfig to look what's in the startup is also a nice way to see what bloatware is lying around there stealing resources.

Also, choosing a good anti-virus is of great importance if you are to have good performance on a pc.

ESET NOD32 for the win!

[AoWW]

Apologies in advance to Katy for hijacking her thread, but in light of the direction it's heading - and those replying - it seems a sensible place to ask my question...

I've just got a new laptop and want it to remain virus / bug-free for as long as possible. What anti-virus software would people recommend I install on it? Anything else I should do to protect it as far as possible? (It's vista - and I currently use Nod32 which I've always been pretty happy with - should I stick with that?)

I also want to transfer my documents, music, pics etc from my current laptop, (and transfer my favourites from firefox) but not any nasty memory-hogging additions. I've got an external hard drive - is it going to be easiest to just copy 'My Docs' to that, then copy them onto the new machine? Anything obvious I've missed, or other advice?

[Hitesh]

Crap Cleaner is nice and handy tool, but even tho you can clean the registry with certain tools it is a db, it grows and starts having lots of unfinished threads and keys, in my experience a format to get the OS back to scratch, patch it, get your software on, defrag and you are back on track. . Not saying that I reformat all my pc's once every year, but I normally end up doing so if one of them has any issues instead of spending hours trying to locate the issue. The defragger that comes with Windows isn't all that great in my opinon. I use atm Ultimate Defrag and Auslogic Registry Defragger, they are both ok.

Having a look at msconfig to look what's in the startup is also a nice way to see what bloatware is lying around there stealing resources.

Also, choosing a good anti-virus is of great importance if you are to have good performance on a pc.

ESET NOD32 for the win!

CCleaner has a way of doing this too!

Apologies in advance to Katy for hijacking her thread, but in light of the direction it's heading - and those replying - it seems a sensible place to ask my question...

I've just got a new laptop and want it to remain virus / bug-free for as long as possible. What anti-virus software would people recommend I install on it? Anything else I should do to protect it as far as possible? (It's vista - and I currently use Nod32 which I've always been pretty happy with - should I stick with that?)

I also want to transfer my documents, music, pics etc from my current laptop, (and transfer my favourites from firefox) but not any nasty memory-hogging additions. I've got an external hard drive - is it going to be easiest to just copy 'My Docs' to that, then copy them onto the new machine? Anything obvious I've missed, or other advice?

Spybot Search and Destroy is a good tool to have running, it picks up on any system changes which you can accept or reject. Very handy tool! CCleaner is good to use as mentioned above. I am currently using Avira Anti-Virus which has been good in a few reviews done recently and is up there amongst the free anti virus apps. That's pretty much all you need to keep you PC maintained. Just make sure you don't install stuff you are unsure about etc.

With the data transfer, using the external is pretty much the best way as you can copy the bits you need and then move them to the relevent folders. As mentioned in the Firefox thread, use MozBackup to back your profile up and keep the add ons. You can then remove the ones you don't want via Tools > Add Ons.

Mods: Maybe best to move this to the PC Help Sticky thread?!

[haraven]

Apologies in advance to Katy for hijacking her thread, but in light of the direction it's heading - and those replying - it seems a sensible place to ask my question...

I've just got a new laptop and want it to remain virus / bug-free for as long as possible. What anti-virus software would people recommend I install on it? Anything else I should do to protect it as far as possible? (It's vista - and I currently use Nod32 which I've always been pretty happy with - should I stick with that?)

I also want to transfer my documents, music, pics etc from my current laptop, (and transfer my favourites from firefox) but not any nasty memory-hogging additions. I've got an external hard drive - is it going to be easiest to just copy 'My Docs' to that, then copy them onto the new machine? Anything obvious I've missed, or other advice?

In my opinion you are good with NOD32, it is known for being among the best out there - fast, reliable and is very kind on resources. Some people want a little extra protection by installing Spyware Search and Destroy or AD-Aware by Lavasoft. Firefox with AD-blocker is a nice tool. Personally I prefer Spyware S&D with tea-timer, but it's a matter of taste.

Personally I have turned off the UAC on my Vista pc's (the user account controller), but for safety it is nice to have. It is the one that "bugs" you asking for permissions when something is about to install.

It is essential to have a firewall, there are many out there, ESET has a good one, while a free one is ZoneAlarm. In a few cases if you are on a internet connection behind a router with a built-in firewall, the one that comes with Windows should suffice - it will at least give you less trouble that a few ofthe others since they will take some time to tune.

There are several other nice to have programs, like for instance "Secunia" which will make sure all your programs are patched to the latelst level, it is free. However, the more you throw at it, the slower it will appear because all these programs actually to eat some resources.

It comes to have "careful" you are when surfing, or simply using common sense and not click at the wrong file. A patched browser will help you a long way. The fastest browser currently is Google Chrome. I use that one a lot along with FireFox which is a personal favourite. I use IE a lot also, especially in my job, since I have a lot to do with Microsoft in my line of work

Finally, yes I would just dump all your stuff in "My documents" and export your favourites to the external USB disk and transfer it over to the new one. Make sure you haven't placed stuff other places on your harddisk on the old computer, have a search for *.jpg / *.jpeg / *.doc / *.avi / *.mp3 and see if anyone is placed on a place you were not aware of.

Sorry for long and blabla post, but it looks like you got most of it covered by yourself there m8.

[haraven]

CCleaner has a way of doing this too!

Ok, I'll give it to you, CrapCleaner is a nice and nifty little tool Maybe we should make a list of all the neat little programs we've come across during our years of traversing the internet. =)

Many nice proxy-programs, the programme "Super" is tremendous for file conversions, Virtual DAemon for mounting ISO's, WinRAR - no pc of mine without it! the list goes on.

[Hitesh]

Ok, I'll give it to you, CrapCleaner is a nice and nifty little tool Maybe we should make a list of all the neat little programs we've come across during our years of traversing the internet. =)

Many nice proxy-programs, the programme "Super" is tremendous for file conversions, Virtual DAemon for mounting ISO's, WinRAR - no pc of mine without it! the list goes on.

Yeah, ill meet you half way and agree on that idea. I was thinking something like that too when replying to the previous post.

WinRAR is def one thing that goes everywhere with me! I keep a copy of the installation on my USB and Emails just in case too!

[AoWW]

Hitesh and haraven - thanks for you replies. A few suggestions there that I wouldn't have considered but sound a good idea. I'll look into them in more detail.

Thanks again.

[stez]

When that happened to me, it was the power supply unit. I had the lights that flashed but nothing happened. Got a new power supply for about £12 and was back to normal.

I reckon it's gonna be that cos sounds exactly the same as what happened with mine.

I didn't bother getting it checked out first cos power supplies are so cheap I just thought I'd try a new one, and it worked. (so if you know how to change power supply unit I'd just risk buying one of them)

is it the 'big' silver box into which the power cable plugs and has the 1 - 0 on/off switch (on the back) on it?

[Hitesh]

is it the 'big' silver box into which the power cable plugs and has the 1 - 0 on/off switch (on the back) on it?

That's the one!

If you look online for the manual, or better still find the manual that came with it, and it should give you a guide on replacing/removing the PSU.

Edited 5 August 2009 by Hitesh

[stez]

That's the one!

If you look online for the manual, or better still find the manual that came with it, and it should give you a guide on replacing/removing the PSU.

cheers me duck, like with the motherboard, would i be best replacing like for like, or will any (decent) one do. as the one that's on the pc, is looking like 25-30 quid (not the 12 quid advertised by el empty ) and not many places (in the uk and non-ebay) seem to have my model available.

Edited 5 August 2009 by peter_tork

[Hitesh]

cheers me duck, like with the motherboard, would i be best replacing like for like, or will any (decent) one do. as the one that's on the pc, is looking like 25-30 quid (not the 12 quid advertised by el empty ) and not many places (in the uk and non-ebay) seem to have my model available.

Sorry, only just read that back and didn't mean to sound harsh about it. I meant it as in it would be less hassle than trying to find it online! Anyway, before I dig a bigger hole than the one i'm standing in...

It depends on how much overall you will spend and how confident you are in repairing/upgrading it. You will have to check to see if the specs on the new mobo you are looking for are compatible with your existing components - ie. The processor socket fits the mobo, the ram type is the same, generally DDR2 nowadays etc. Without knowing much about the existing components/mobo, its hard to say how much/which one to go for!

If you think that you can replace the mobo along with all the components without much hassle and for a decent price than go ahead Id say. But if all off the hassle plus the cost is going to be similar to buying a new one then is it worth it?? At least with a new one, someone builds it for you, you get all the stuff tested and installed and you get a guarantee of at least a year! However, there is good fun involved in building one yourself and you get some decent satisfaction out of it if you do manage to fix it! Either way, there are plenty of guides and assistance through here and via google!

Edited 5 August 2009 by Hitesh

[DB11]

I stop looking in the thread for a few days and miss loads

[the_bowman]

Ok, Microphone/Sound problem

I'd been using my Audio Input to record some sound from my pc, changed it to Stereo Mix in the sound panel etc.

However, now I can't seem to record anything

Mp Laptop doesn't seem to pick up and sound from either a microphone or the stereo mix, but I don't think I changed any settings, but is there a way to reset it all? I changed the sound scheme back to windows default, but I don't think that's it.

Much Thanks