OT. Tech advice needed.

As I mentioned the other day, I made the mistake of taking my laptop to
a "professional". It still is not right, and I have my suspicions that
this guy is either incompetent or makes sure the things are not fixed
right in order to ensure repeat business.

Anyhow, I have been thinkng that perhaps I should just wipe off the hard
drive and start over. I do have the original discs for Windows XP Home,
and for the programs I use; for the programs I downloaded, I do have the
serial numbers etc. Also, I have a device I bought when I bought the
laptop around five years ago, called "PC Relocator". I used it to
transfer everything from my then desktop to the new laptop, then when I
bought the new desktop I used it again. I feel I could probably use it
to transfer stuff from this desktop to the laptop IF the laptop were
wiped. (I tried to use it to get my various stuff from here to there
after the "repair" but it said I had already used it.)

I have checked on Google, and there are several tutorials on how to do
it, but I don't know whether I should do that, or just take the machine
to Office Depot and have them wipe it for $29.99.

p.s. As this laptop is five years old, and weighs 8.5 lb without the
plug-in power pack, I have also been considering buying a newer lighter
one. The problem there is I want to stick with XP Home until the next
program, which will supersede Vista, comes out. I looked at a couple of
netbooks, but none of them has a telephone jack - which I sometimes need
if I am staying with friends who don't have WiFi or broadband. Also,
very few of them have cd drives. Now, I suppose I could buy an external
one of each, but that is more stuff to carry, and to buy, so I might be
better off buying a smaller laptop, but, where to get one with XP?
Buying one from Dell seems to be the only option.

I freely admit to being undereducated here - it is simply "not my field".

Any suggestions from the knowledgeable ones?

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Regarding purchasing a new one: have you tried Tiger Direct? That's
where we almost always get our PCs. They have XP- and Vista-ready
machines. I have not looked at laptops. Have no interest. But they
carry an enormous selection, many "to order", which my new one is.

We simply bought a new hard drive and started from scratch. There is so
much junk that accumulates on a computer and clogs things, that I'd
format and start over. Formatting is easy. Getting everything up and
ready again is the hard part. As long as you have Serial numbers -
especially for XP - that should do it.

And, of course, back up your data if you can. :~) We have a 150gig
external USB for just that purpose. Saved my hide this time around.

Dianne



Olwyn Mary wrote:
As I mentioned the other day, I made the mistake of taking my laptop to
a "professional". It still is not right, and I have my suspicions that
this guy is either incompetent or makes sure the things are not fixed
right in order to ensure repeat business.

Anyhow, I have been thinkng that perhaps I should just wipe off the hard
drive and start over. I do have the original discs for Windows XP Home,
and for the programs I use; for the programs I downloaded, I do have the
serial numbers etc. Also, I have a device I bought when I bought the
laptop around five years ago, called "PC Relocator". I used it to
transfer everything from my then desktop to the new laptop, then when I
bought the new desktop I used it again. I feel I could probably use it
to transfer stuff from this desktop to the laptop IF the laptop were
wiped. (I tried to use it to get my various stuff from here to there
after the "repair" but it said I had already used it.)

I have checked on Google, and there are several tutorials on how to do
it, but I don't know whether I should do that, or just take the machine
to Office Depot and have them wipe it for $29.99.

p.s. As this laptop is five years old, and weighs 8.5 lb without the
plug-in power pack, I have also been considering buying a newer lighter
one. The problem there is I want to stick with XP Home until the next
program, which will supersede Vista, comes out. I looked at a couple of
netbooks, but none of them has a telephone jack - which I sometimes need
if I am staying with friends who don't have WiFi or broadband. Also,
very few of them have cd drives. Now, I suppose I could buy an external
one of each, but that is more stuff to carry, and to buy, so I might be
better off buying a smaller laptop, but, where to get one with XP?
Buying one from Dell seems to be the only option.

I freely admit to being undereducated here - it is simply "not my field".

Any suggestions from the knowledgeable ones?

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Piggybacking on Dianne's recommendation, I can also highly recommend
newegg.com if you go the new PC route. Their prices usually can't be beat,
and their customer service is top notch. I've purchased computer parts from
them several times. In fact, I just re-built this desktop with all brand
new parts (except the hard drive) from newegg just last night! I usually
compare newegg, tiger direct, and microcenter.com for whomever has the best
prices, and it's usually newegg. I like to build, re-build, and fix PC's as
a hobby. I'm a geek. I like microcenter too because they have an actual
brick & mortar store fairly close to me and their sales clerks actually know
what the heck they are talking about (unlike Best Buy--never get PC advice
from those 15 year olds). All three are highly reputable online stores. A
quick search on newegg shows they sell 6 Lenovo PC's that come with XP
(albeit the professional version), ranging from $550-$950. I've never used
XP Home, only XP Pro. Pro has everything that Home does, plus a few other
features geared towards business users, such as enhanced security features.
Also, if you do end up buying a new computer, XP Home does not support dual
core processors which are common now, and XP Pro does. I'd buy a Lenovo
over a Dell any day.

If you want to take a conservative route, XP has a "repair" option on the
CD. This will fix any missing files that may have been removed that are
integral to the functioning of XP and it will not delete or harm any of your
documents or other programs. You might want to try that first before
completely throwing the baby out with the bathwater (but I completely
understand doing so--that's how I ended up rebuilding this one!). I'm not
familiar with "PC Relocator", but depending on who your ISP is, they may
also offer an online backup service for you that is included in your
service.

$29.99 isn't too expensive if you'd rather not have the hassle or worry of
doing the wiping wrong if you choose that route. Too bad they won't
reinstall all your old programs back on there for that price too!

HTH,
Jinx

"Dianne Lewandowski" wrote in message
...
Regarding purchasing a new one: have you tried Tiger Direct? That's
where we almost always get our PCs. They have XP- and Vista-ready
machines. I have not looked at laptops. Have no interest. But they
carry an enormous selection, many "to order", which my new one is.

We simply bought a new hard drive and started from scratch. There is so
much junk that accumulates on a computer and clogs things, that I'd format
and start over. Formatting is easy. Getting everything up and ready
again is the hard part. As long as you have Serial numbers - especially
for XP - that should do it.

And, of course, back up your data if you can. :~) We have a 150gig
external USB for just that purpose. Saved my hide this time around.

Dianne



Olwyn Mary wrote:
As I mentioned the other day, I made the mistake of taking my laptop to a
"professional". It still is not right, and I have my suspicions that
this guy is either incompetent or makes sure the things are not fixed
right in order to ensure repeat business.

Anyhow, I have been thinkng that perhaps I should just wipe off the hard
drive and start over. I do have the original discs for Windows XP Home,
and for the programs I use; for the programs I downloaded, I do have the
serial numbers etc. Also, I have a device I bought when I bought the
laptop around five years ago, called "PC Relocator". I used it to
transfer everything from my then desktop to the new laptop, then when I
bought the new desktop I used it again. I feel I could probably use it
to transfer stuff from this desktop to the laptop IF the laptop were
wiped. (I tried to use it to get my various stuff from here to there
after the "repair" but it said I had already used it.)

I have checked on Google, and there are several tutorials on how to do
it, but I don't know whether I should do that, or just take the machine
to Office Depot and have them wipe it for $29.99.

p.s. As this laptop is five years old, and weighs 8.5 lb without the
plug-in power pack, I have also been considering buying a newer lighter
one. The problem there is I want to stick with XP Home until the next
program, which will supersede Vista, comes out. I looked at a couple of
netbooks, but none of them has a telephone jack - which I sometimes need
if I am staying with friends who don't have WiFi or broadband. Also,
very few of them have cd drives. Now, I suppose I could buy an external
one of each, but that is more stuff to carry, and to buy, so I might be
better off buying a smaller laptop, but, where to get one with XP? Buying
one from Dell seems to be the only option.

I freely admit to being undereducated here - it is simply "not my field".

Any suggestions from the knowledgeable ones?

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

On May 29, 7:03*pm, Olwyn Mary wrote:
*The problem there is I want to stick with XP Home until the next
program, which will supersede Vista, comes out

Unfortunately, there isn't going to be a direct upgrade path from XP
to Windows 7 (at least that's the current "word on the street"). I
needed to upgrade my laptop which has XP and was going to wait for
Windows 7 to come out before I read that in several usually reliable
tech newsletters I just yesterday received my new HP laptop with
Vista and I must say that I am not having the problems I was expecting
to have in getting used to the new OS.

Dorothy

Dianne Lewandowski wrote:
Regarding purchasing a new one: have you tried Tiger Direct? That's
where we almost always get our PCs. They have XP- and Vista-ready
machines. I have not looked at laptops. Have no interest. But they
carry an enormous selection, many "to order", which my new one is.

We simply bought a new hard drive and started from scratch. There is so
much junk that accumulates on a computer and clogs things, that I'd
format and start over. Formatting is easy. Getting everything up and
ready again is the hard part. As long as you have Serial numbers -
especially for XP - that should do it.

And, of course, back up your data if you can. :~) We have a 150gig
external USB for just that purpose. Saved my hide this time around.

Dianne

Thank you, Dianne. After I get some more advice as to which laptop
would be best for me, I shall certainly look there.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

Jinx Minx wrote:
Piggybacking on Dianne's recommendation, I can also highly recommend
newegg.com if you go the new PC route. Their prices usually can't be beat,
and their customer service is top notch. I've purchased computer parts from
them several times. In fact, I just re-built this desktop with all brand
new parts (except the hard drive) from newegg just last night! I usually
compare newegg, tiger direct, and microcenter.com for whomever has the best
prices, and it's usually newegg. I like to build, re-build, and fix PC's as
a hobby. I'm a geek. I like microcenter too because they have an actual
brick & mortar store fairly close to me and their sales clerks actually know
what the heck they are talking about (unlike Best Buy--never get PC advice
from those 15 year olds). All three are highly reputable online stores. A
quick search on newegg shows they sell 6 Lenovo PC's that come with XP
(albeit the professional version), ranging from $550-$950. I've never used
XP Home, only XP Pro. Pro has everything that Home does, plus a few other
features geared towards business users, such as enhanced security features.
Also, if you do end up buying a new computer, XP Home does not support dual
core processors which are common now, and XP Pro does. I'd buy a Lenovo
over a Dell any day.

If you want to take a conservative route, XP has a "repair" option on the
CD. This will fix any missing files that may have been removed that are
integral to the functioning of XP and it will not delete or harm any of your
documents or other programs. You might want to try that first before
completely throwing the baby out with the bathwater (but I completely
understand doing so--that's how I ended up rebuilding this one!). I'm not
familiar with "PC Relocator", but depending on who your ISP is, they may
also offer an online backup service for you that is included in your
service.

$29.99 isn't too expensive if you'd rather not have the hassle or worry of
doing the wiping wrong if you choose that route. Too bad they won't
reinstall all your old programs back on there for that price too!

HTH,
Jinx

Thank you, Jinx. You do realize, don't you, that (giggle) I only
comprehend about one-third of what you are talkng about. I am a
needlewoman, a cook and a writer. I am NOT a geek! Darn it. Life
would be so much easer if I were.

Unfortunately, the "system restore" option is not available to me. That
clown wiped my hard drive and put on a totally strange system, without
many of the things I use, but with, apparently, all of his favorite
stuff, and then intimated that he had done me a great favor. Grrrrrrrrr

How would you like a free weekend in the Big Easy in return for fixing
my stuff??????? The guest room is available this week!!!!!

As I said, I would like to clean off that computer again, install
Windows XP Home, then copy everything I have on this desktop over to the
laptop, I just don't know how to do it and would need absolute beginner
instructions.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

wrote in message
...
On Sat, 30 May 2009 22:24:33 -0500, Olwyn Mary
wrote:


As I said, I would like to clean off that computer again, install
Windows XP Home, then copy everything I have on this desktop over to the
laptop, I just don't know how to do it and would need absolute beginner
instructions.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

Are you using a router ? If so you can easily shift anything between
the two computers. With Vista I must admit, it is made even more
simple to do so than it was in XP - but in fairness to XP, there were
not too many routers in general use when it - XP- came out.

You can also use an external hard drive, depending how large you want
it, less than $100. You plug it into your computer and then tell it
what you want backed up on to it. In case of fire and flood you can
grab that and always have your valuables on it and very portable. Also
you can sync it with the other computer and pick the files off on to
the other one.

I bought an USB connected external hard drive after my last disaster, when I
lost a lot of files and pictures. I admit that I hadn't been as careful as
I should have been to back up important things to a disk.

I now have my computer set to back up automatically to the EHD every day.
Hopefully I won't ever need it, but it's a comfort to know it's there.

Lucille

wrote in message
...
On Sat, 30 May 2009 10:31:13 -0700 (PDT), MamaKitty
wrote:

On May 29, 7:03 pm, Olwyn Mary wrote:
The problem there is I want to stick with XP Home until the next
program, which will supersede Vista, comes out

Unfortunately, there isn't going to be a direct upgrade path from XP
to Windows 7 (at least that's the current "word on the street"). I
needed to upgrade my laptop which has XP and was going to wait for
Windows 7 to come out before I read that in several usually reliable
tech newsletters I just yesterday received my new HP laptop with
Vista and I must say that I am not having the problems I was expecting
to have in getting used to the new OS.

Dorothy


I think one can still test out Windows 7 in beta but I haven't heard
that it is significantly more desirable than Vista (Vaster)

I have not had problems with Vista Home but I understand the 64 bit
edition doesn't care for older software. That would be a disadvantage
for me because I hate going to find drivers for same and that
apparently is the only way.

Vista is okay, I just liked XP better. Fortunately my mini came
equipped with XP because Vaster is too much for the minis with the
atom processors, so I should be able to keep an XP around until they
cremate me with it lol That said, I am besotted with the mini but it
would not do (for me) as a main computer, too small. I also have a
regular laptop, Dell XPS which I now use as main and it's great. I
have a wireless keyboard and mouse set up for it.

I daren`t get a wireless mouse - I`m prone to wandering off with things and
would soon forget where I`d left it!

Pat

"Pat P" wrote
I daren`t get a wireless mouse - I`m prone to wandering off with things
and would soon forget where I`d left it!

I am so grateful for the page function on my cordless phone so I can hear
where I left it this time. Do you suppose they could come up with a mouse
that squeaks when you push the space bar???

Dawne

"Dawne Peterson" wrote in message
...

"Pat P" wrote
I daren`t get a wireless mouse - I`m prone to wandering off with things
and would soon forget where I`d left it!

I am so grateful for the page function on my cordless phone so I can hear
where I left it this time. Do you suppose they could come up with a mouse
that squeaks when you push the space bar???

Dawne


If they do, save me a place in line to buy one.