Starting all over again...

[lvirden]

Hello! I have been an owner of a Sony Vaio Vista Home Premium laptop for a number of years.

At the end of last year, after a Windows Update, my laptop began to display a problem booting up - the process would begin, but never make it to the login screen.

Eventually, it would drop into a program in the system which attempted to recover the startup files. The first time this happened, it took quite a while, but eventually, after the system restored to a point before the update, it booted up.

A couple of weeks later, I attempted to run the windows update again, and after a day, the system stopped booting up and attempting to back up to a previous restore point failed to work.

Eventually, I had to take the laptop into a shop and have them reload Windows, losing all my programs, etc.

Now I am about to get the machine back. What I want to do is try a fresh start. I'd like to take some introductory precautions - something I think of as "best practices when starting with a new computer".

So, I am coming to this forum to ask readers for pointers to things that really are "must dos" before beginning to use a computer for the first time.

For instance, I know that I want to get a good program to deal with virii, malware, etc. I was thinking the new version of Microsoft Security Essentials - it seemed to be pretty good before the system died . I was also using Malware (something) as well as avast and a few others from time to time. Perhaps running multiple security programs was one of my problems...

I will of course turn on the Windows firewall. I need to pick up a new external drive so I can set up things for backup - though, along those lines, I was doing backups for quite a while, until the backup drive filled up. Surely not everyone just keeps buying new backup drives every time they fill one up. But I wasn't able to figure out how to set up backups so that as things filled up, older backups were replaced with newer ones.

When I first got the laptop, it came with no manual - no list of recommendations on how to start. What help it did provide was in the form of Sony software - which unfortunately is now going to be gone (I have to presume).

So that's my story here at the beginning. I've had people recommend upgrading to Windows 7 - but that's more money on top of the money it cost me to recover things. I've had people recommend upgrading to Linux - and that is a consideration as I am already fluent in the use of Unix. These, however, are secondary to getting the machine secured, back up disks created, boot disks, and whatever else should be done on a machine before moving forward.

Suggestions or recommendations on web classes, books, articles, journals, etc. are desired.

Thank you for your time.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Heya, welcome to the PCM forums.

Windows updates many times causes more problems than it solves. Now it is possible that something on your machine could have caused the updates to go bad and screw the OS up, but I've also seen cases of perfectly running machines being killed by Windows updates. Unfortunately, to update or not to update is kind of a Hobson's choice: on one hand, if you leave the updates set to automatic (which is what M$ nags you constantly to do), you don't even know what's being downloaded and installed and the chances of something messing things up, though not sky high, do exist; on the other hand, if you don't update at all you are leaving your system open to attack, for Windows has more holes than a mosquito net and there're people out there who just make it a living to exploit those vulnerabilities. In addition, sometimes hardware drivers and the occasional program require that a certain service pack be installed in order to properly install and run. What to do then?

The solution is to put yourself in control of your own computer. Disable Windows updates. Yes, I know I've been told not to suggest that here to the average user, but nevertheless it's high time that the average user becomes power user and starts taking the management of his computer into his own hands and does it seriously. Most of the problems that I see are caused by wanting the machine to do everything for us, all is set to automatic and then when things break we don't even know what or why.

So, disable Windows updates. Thus reducing the load on your system RAM and preventing updates from messing things up. Now, grab a calendar and mark on it a weekly date for you to manually go to the Control Panel and click on Windows Updates and check for updates yourself. Manually. Windows will check for updates and display a list of what's available. Go through that list and decide for yourself what to install and what not. Alas, the list can get quite long, so to help make things easier, just make sure you get all the security updates and high priority updates (most Important updates are by default checked, so just scroll down that list and read the brief description of each, then leave them checked, unless there's one you don't want). The others you can install at your own leisure.

In the Optional updates, it's different. None of them are checked by default. So just go through them and see if you want/need them. As a word of advice, don't grab drivers updates from Windows updates. If you need to reinstall or update a driver (and you only need do this if you are experiencing issues with that particular hardware [newer DOESN'T always mean better]) go to the manufacturer's website and grab the driver from there.

Once you've selected whatever updates you want to install, hit OK and leave the machine alone so that the updates are installed. Although, M$ tells you that "you can continue working whilst updates are downloaded and installed in the background", don't. Some data transfers over the Internet done by another program can conflict with Windows updates (point in case MSE, read below); so just leave the machine alone and go have a cuppa or do something else.

Now, M$ has just started to distribute MSE through Microsoft Updates. I recommend that you manually download the antivirus from its own site: right here. Don't get it using Windows Update. The reason is that MSE won't be the last update to download, yet as soon as it's downloaded it'll install and then immediately try to update its definitions. When it does this it immediately collides with the other updates and you get the error that some updates couldn't be installed. Then you'll have to run the updates again. (Imagine if you leave the updates set to automatic! Preventing this problem requires human input; now you see how updates can mess things up.) Of course, you can prevent this problem by clicking the Stop button when MSE starts to download the definitions (once again, human input needed), but why bother? Just download the antivirus separately as I suggested.

If you've experience in Unix, and unless you have to have Windows for work or something. Save your money and get a Mac. Yes, I know, sounds lame, but this is no fanboy talking. I use both OSes and updates causes very little problems on the Mac. Mac OS doesn't nag you about things or lambasts you with pop-up balloons when you try to take control of your system, it practically has no security issues, no antivirus needed, and it has the power of Unix running under the hood, all you have to do is fire up the console and have fun.

Contrary to what many people think, Vista is not that bad of an OS. Some of us are power users and prefer it to Windows 7. I ran Vista Home Premium 32-bit for about a year, with updates disabled (I did my updating the way I suggested above), for both gaming and design, and experienced zero problems. The OS never crashed, never BSOD'ed on me, and I had the machine running 24/7 without reboots.

But hey, if you can't resist peer pressure andor if you definitely have to punish yourself and buy Windows 7, wait till the first service pack is out. It should be soon.

Now, regarding your backups. Most external HDDs from the most important brands such as Seagate and WesternDigital come with backup software already. They follow different schemes, so you have to read the manual on those ones when you buy one. Unfortunately, such software is pretty basic and, for instance, in the case of WesternDigital's, it backs up only the contents of My Documents, My Music, My Videos, etc. Basically only what is under your account folder under %systemroot%\Users. And it doesn't let you set a time for back ups either. So, if you have data in other partitions or in a location outside of Users, you're SOL and have to back that up manually. There are some free backup programs, or you can look at purchaseable products from Acronis, they've some good gems there. (Again, Apple's Time Machine beats these pedestrian backup software that ships with external drives hands down).

Speaking of Acronis, at this point in time, what with viruses, poorly written windows updates and other maladies, your best line of defense is good backups andor disk imaging. Because in the Windows world, the question is not if your PC is gonna be broken, but when. (Happens to all OSes actually, as all hard drives eventually die, it's just more common on Windows for reasons I won't go into right now lest this post becomes a dossier.) So, get yourself a copy of Acronis True Image Home and make drive images so that you can restore your OS to a running point should disaster happens. Sure, you can do a nuke and pave, but the benefit of an image is that it restores the OS with all your apps and personal settings, so that you don't have to reinstall the programs and customise the OS again.

Personally, I do all my backups manually. I use very little automatisation because I want to be in control. Not because I am a control freak, but because I am a thinking human and know what I need my machine to do for me. Machines don't think. I also organise my folders and files differently, so I have tons and tons of stuff outside the OS partition and definitely not inside the Users folder.

[lvirden]

Thank you so much for your feedback. I really appreciate the tips.

Disable Windows updates.

It is good to know that what I have been doing is not unusual. In my case, I don't have internet access at home - my only access is through my once a week or so visits to the local library (where I can get free wi-fi).

Once you've selected whatever updates you want to install, hit OK and leave the machine alone so that the updates are installed.

This is something that I am terrible at - I hate sitting there in the library while the computer is crunching. I don't walk away from the machine because, frankly, I'm afraid it will be gone when I return.

I also have had problems where the updates process fails due to timeouts.
Recently I was trying to install a program and it told me that my machine wasn't up to date on the updates - but I'd applied all that windows update had provided to me. When I looked at the update history, however, I noticed several that indicated they had failed when the software had attempted to install them. There was no option available to tell the software to "re-install that patch".

I recommend that you manually download the antivirus from its own site

I have been doing just that. I have had several issues with the optional software installed by updates - IE 9 refused to run, windows defender would crash any time I tried to run it, etc. So I had decided to just directly download MSE. I always wondered how much more free software was available through the MS download area but was just too hard to find because of the massive number of things on the site...

Save your money and get a Mac

.

In an ideal world (where I don't live), where I had plenty of disposable income and nothing in particular going on in my life, I would do just that. For many years, Apple computers were the only ones in the house. I still have not purchased a Windows machine - several were given to us. In those cases, I have generally replaced whatever windows was on the machine with a Linux.

In the laptop's case, originally it was given to me new, as a gift. So I left the original OS on it so that it could be sent back to the vendor for fixes. The warrenty has expired, and now the original OS is gone, so I am thinking about going ahead and moving any personal files restored onto the machine onto an external HDD and then replacing the OS.

I know that Linux isn't MacOS - there's a lot to like about the GUI of MacOS. But when I am working with limited funds, and have a piece of hardware, then I am going, at least at the current time, to get the existing piece working. Then I will see what happens if there is a tax return or whatever later in the year. I do agree that the Mac is nice. I have several consulting friends who like using the Mac because they can run virtual machines of Windows, Linux, or MacOS on the same machine, making it much easier to provide support to their customers.

Contrary to what many people think, Vista is not that bad of an OS. Some of us are power users and prefer it to Windows 7.

I used Vista for 2-3 years, and it was okay. It certainly was better than the Win95/Win98/WinMe that I had used previously. I've only seen Win7 - but I know that at work, that is coming, and so I was thinking that it might be worthwhile to run it at home just to become more familar with the OS.

I ran Vista Home Premium 32-bit for about a year, with updates disabled (I did my updating the way I suggested above), for both gaming and design, and experienced zero problems. The OS never crashed, never BSOD'ed on me, and I had the machine running 24/7 without reboots.

I surely wish that had been my experience with Vista. I had ongoing problems of all sorts, and while I am able to bear up under Vista, I never really cared for the 10 minute boot up to login time frame I had, or the 3-4 minute shutdowns, and the weird prompting me to perform something as administrator when I was running as administrator, as well as the times when it just refused to take an action even when I was logged in as administrator, etc.

buy Windows 7, wait till the first service pack is out. It should be soon.

That's pretty good advice. The more I think about this, the more I think that, once I can get the data off the laptop, the more I think I will just replace the OS altogether.

Most external HDDs from the most important brands such as Seagate and WesternDigital come with backup software already.

After seeing most software that comes out of the box on a Windows machine, I also assumed - perhaps falsely - that the software that came on those hard drives was, in general, pretty worthless. Most times the software that I see coming with a piece of hardware seems like "adware" or some kind of crippled version of a piece of software. I never really thought of using it.
I had been using the Vista "backup" software. But it always seemed to just keep adding to the backup device without an apparent method to keep things to a set amount of space.

your best line of defense is good backups andor disk imaging.

That seems like good advice. Things like this I know are out there, but I am just amazed that I seem to have a tough time finding good "here's what you have to think about" type articles for the first time owner. The very concept of backup is going to be foreign to many people - having a recipe for getting started seems like such a good idea.

the benefit of an image is that it restores the OS with all your apps and personal settings, so that you don't have to reinstall the programs and customise the OS again.

I read a mention recently of someone who recommended creating a virtual machine image of the OS and then running that, with changes, updates, etc. occurring to that, and then saving the new image as a new name. Sort of the system restore points, I guess, but it seemed like a way to test things out without too much pain, though I would assume resulting in slower performance.

Of course, in my case, performance isn't a critical factor. The primary use for the machine is email, web surfing, managing some ipods, and playing the occasional non-online game. So perhaps the virtual approach wouldn't be all that bad.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Well, you know, one of the reasons why Vista and I got along so great was that the first thing I did upon installation was to disable and send to hell that stupid UAC. Sure, sure, I'm not "protected", big deal. I set my account with full administrative rights and never had a complaint from the OS when trying to run something. The UAC was rewritten for Windows 7 and is now less intrusive and you can set the level of protection (level of aggressiveness if you ask me), yet I still don't care for it. It's not really needed, although I can understand its uses. Mac OS also has warnings and for some operations it will ask you to confirm by entering your password (rather than by clicking a stupid OK button which many people just got trained to do without even reading the warning to find out what it was about), a la Linux, but it's nowhere near as aggravating as Windows'.

Boot times have always been an issue, maybe I didn't experience that problem because I hardly ever turn the machine off or reboot it. But now that you mention this, it brings me to another piece of advice I was thinking of giving you: run msconfig and use it to uncheck all unnecessary programs that are starting along with Windows. Kill all software updaters, these ones are worse than Windows Update (at least Windows Updates is quite necessary). Especially laptops, these machines come loaded with tons of crap right off from the factory. This problem is only getting worse and will get worse forever, because now pretty much every single program you install wants to update itself automatically. Again, if it's running fine, why update it? Update only when it's really NEEDED. So, go ahead and kill all HP updates, Sony updates, Adobe updates, iTunes helper, Apple update, et cetera. The only thing that must be left to automatically update is the antivirus.

Also note that by disabling Windows Updates you will never run into the problem of the OS trying to install updates when you're shutting the machine off, thus lengthening the shut down time and, if it has no internet connexion andor you really, really need to get going and shut the machine off a lo bruto, increasing the chance of a botched update botching the whole OS.

[glc]

I recommend that you do not completely disable Windows Updates. Enable them, but set them to notify you only. If you disable them, MSE will not update.

[quartet-man]

I always hated when it had updates to install when I would shut down at work. What I did was shut down without installing if I didn't want to wait around for a ton of updates to install. Later, when I had more time I would let them install.

[Nuclear Krusader]

I dunno, G, but I have Windows Updates disabled and MSE is updating just fine. This in Windows 7 Pro 64-bit.