Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler - Complete Re-install of Windows.

Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support | Complete Re-install of Windows.

DVA9733
First Officer, B747-400

Joined on April 29 2011
Everett 250 Club
Online Six Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Eight Century Club

"Northwest 238, contact departure.... G'day!"
Minnetonka, MN USA

816 legs, 2,270.3 hours
663 legs, 1,835.4 hours online
752 legs, 2,071.4 hours ACARS
8 legs, 15.2 hours event

Posted onPost created on October 06 2012 17:37 ET by Shane Vanhoven

Hey all,
While taking a trip to the computer store to get a new graphics card, the guy that was helping us said that the performance of the computer would be improved if I just reinstall windows because it would wipe out all the files and clean out the computer. Obviously that would mean I would need to back-up all my FS files so I don't have to Re download everything when I get back up and running. I am looking for any advice on how to go about backing up all my files. Are there better ways to do this than others? Can I just delete files that aren't being used from my "Add Or Remove Programs" in the control panel?

Any help is much appreciated.
-Shane

Shane Vanhoven

First Officer, B747-400

DVA455
Senior Captain, MD-88

Joined on April 29 2002
Century Club

"Aquatone"
Shelbyville, IN

132 legs, 255.8 hours
79 legs, 158.6 hours online
29 legs, 52.9 hours ACARS
2 legs, 3.8 hours event
276 legs, 632.7 hours total
23 legs dispatched, 11.3 hours

Posted onPost created on October 06 2012 17:54 ET by Ryan Watkins

I would never recommend that someone reinstall an OS simply to smooth things out. You should periodically run the disk cleanup tool and defrag your drives, and the frequency would depend on what you do with your system. I run mine on a weekly schedule and have no issues.

You should go through and look at installed programs and get rid of stuff you don't need/use anymore, that much is a good idea, but reinstalling Windows? I don't think so. You'll need to back everything up, and then spend a lengthy amount of time running all the updates and reinstalling programs. It just isn't worth it if the OS is working fine. Now if you've got other major issues, then there are times when I would say yes.

You might want to look at a utility I like called CCleaner. I know alot of people don't like it, but it works great for me at home. I do not use it on my network at work. It's free and you can find it at cnet or download.com. I also use defraggler and I've replaced the defrag utility Windows ships with.

All in all, I don't think you should reinstall the operating system if it's stable. A reinstall in my opinion is a last resort. Whoever made that recommendation was taking the lazy way out.

Ryan Watkins (DVA455)

Posted onPost created on October 06 2012 17:59 ET by Ryan Watkins

By the way, if you really do want to reinstall anyway, which is your choice, you can automate the process so you don't have to sit there and play 20 questions with the setup utility, although 7 is a much smoother process than XP was. You can email me if you need help with that.

Ryan Watkins (DVA455)

DVA6497
Captain, B747-400

Joined on January 15 2006
Everett 250 Club
Triple Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary

"RLTW"
Kerkrade, Limburg NL

366 legs, 574.8 hours
14 legs, 20.0 hours online
365 legs, 568.9 hours ACARS

Posted onPost created on October 06 2012 18:04 ET by Ken Tucker

Windows always need a good periodic cleaning. rimshot

I was gonna post about my latest PC build adventure shortly but will offer some timely advise here. Deleting the programs within Windo$ doesn't always completely remove it from your system. Take a look at all the removal programs claiming to do just this, for example. There are still remnants in the registry, which has to be read at boot, and they can still cause problems, even after being "deleted". Simply backing up the Program Files directories will not work, either, as those pesky registry entries will not be in place after an OS reinstall.

I've tried to reload every 12-18 months, as a rule, even though, as an IT dude, I am diligent about what programs I load on my PC. Even so, Windoze will suffer performance drag over time as more and more "kludge" builds up, so to say, and you will notice an immediate perceived performance increase after reinstall. Just remember a couple of things:

1. It'll take AT LEAST four to eight hours for the lay-tech person to reload a base OS, drivers and patches;
2. Plan on another one to four hours to get the various MSFS stuff on, configured, registered and running;
3. Have the networking/wireless drivers for your system on removeable media (thumb drive, CD, floppy, whatever) for installation if the OS don't pick them up so you can then connect out to get the remaining drivers, updates, whatever.

As for backing things up, I have several internal and external hard drives and networked storage I use for these. However, most folks would benefit from, at least, having another HDD in their system for local backups. Then keep the CD/DVD in archival storage on a shelf, in case you play kickball with your PC!! I use a SureSync from Software Pursuits at work to to take care of synchronizing data stores across networks and, because I liked it so well, I bought it for my personal use at home. It's scheduler works better than me in remembering to do those periodic backups in order to keep the data secure.

Finally, I use Acronis True Image Home as my OS backup software. Once I had a stable OS load, with all patches, I made a snapshot of that build with Acronis and that is stored in a separate Acronis partition from which I could reload that POINT IN TIME snapshot back to my boot drive. Therefore, I now no longer have to endure the hours of tedium in reloading from a raw HDD, though this isn't quite a "bare metal backup". Just boot into the partition, restore that image and pick up from there. This is just one technique, of many, but it works for me. smile

FWIW, hope this helps and good luck.

Cheers!!

Ken Tucker

Captain, B747-400

Posted onPost created on October 06 2012 18:55 ET by Shane Vanhoven

Thanks guys! Another reason I would benefit I think is I am currently running Windows XP and I would install Windows 7. I am prepared to spend a bit of time installing updates. I also haven't defraged my computer in like a year just because the first time I did it, it didn't seem to do anything.

Shane Vanhoven

First Officer, B747-400

Posted onPost created on October 06 2012 21:15 ET by Ryan Watkins

Defragging does have a performace impact, and I recommend doing it. If you're going to install 7 (good choice), be sure to run the readiness analyzer prior to actually doing it to identify any issues you'll need to address beforehand, like hardware or incompatible software you may need to patch, etc. I had a client come to me with a failed installation because his motherboard manufacturer didn't have drivers for the new OS. You can get the tool here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=20

Ryan Watkins (DVA455)

Posted onPost created on October 07 2012 18:02 ET by Shane Vanhoven

ok So I installed Windows7 successfully and when I started FS2004, I couldn't change any of the display settings in-game (resolution, etc). I also can't make it full screen and the quality sucks and the FPS sucks. I am 100% regretting my decision to reinstall windows.

Shane Vanhoven

First Officer, B747-400

Posted onPost created on October 07 2012 18:46 ET by Ken Tucker

All video drivers installed correctly? FS9 patched up, too? Details, details and I didn't say it was easy... smile

Cheers!!

Ken Tucker

Captain, B747-400

Posted onPost created on October 07 2012 20:24 ET by Shane Vanhoven

Yep I reinstalled Video drivers. it worked thanks

Shane Vanhoven

First Officer, B747-400

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