> From: Chad Cooper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Hi Ronn, > OK, I can see that you have put a lot of effort on this. I feel real bad > because I think this is a lost cause. Your registry is very corrupt, and it > won't come back. Most likely the corruption started some time ago, and it > culminated into this mess. > This is my advice as someone who has been there many many times, and makes > his living at fixing bad computer problems. > > 1> Accept your losses and move on. Your time spent on this is not worth > it.(Think about it- at even 10$/hr you are most likely into this about 10 > hours. Your wife is probably getting pretty upset.)
Depend on the value of the $oftware packages involved. > 2> Chalk up your experience of buying a computer from a vendor without > rescue disks, licenses as a learned lesson. Always use a cd burner to back up every single file in your system, at least every six months, and do the same in triplicate for anything YOU have created, like art, programs, data, etc. > 3> Pay the blood money to Microsoft and buy XP. XP will have all of the > drivers you need. If you want I will send you a copy of XP that does not > require registration (I know its wrong, but it fixes your problem.) The > alterative is cracking the case, and trying to figure out who makes each > card you don't have drivers for, downloading them, and hope that works. > A caveat to this is you do need a beefy computer for this. If you don't have > one, I would consider Windows 2000 instead. Otherwise, in the long run, XP > is by far the most stable product MS has done. It may even fix your CD-ROM > recording problems. If you're going to give micr$haft more money, get something that isn't so bad, Windows 2000. Then apply the service pack, and windows update patches. > 4> Most software will rewrite its registry information to the registry once > activated. You just have to re create icons. This is as simple as dragging > and dropping. If you do a fresh install, this is not so bad from the > perspective of the installed software. Drivers are a different issue. Not really. Some software will just magically work like that (visual C++), but most won't (visual Basic). > 5> The windows\inf directory is where the driver information files are > located (*.inf) The drivers themselves are not stored here. > > 6> Once you do a clean install, you will find your computer runs much > faster. If a miracle happens and your do restore the regisry or parts of it, > you can count on annoying problems until you do a clean install. The only way to make run better and faster is 98lite (www.98lite.net) with the windows95 shell. > So there it is ... the professional and personal recommendation from the > Nerd From Hell. Take for what its worth. As I always say, There is nothing > that can't be fixed with a 10 lb sledge. Sometimes it takes a sledge. > Good Luck. But back up your personal files first.
