driver backups

[Char Jackson]

In Char Jackson typed:

No I don't, but you do.

I see that you didn't understand the context. I'd ask you to read the
thread again, but I have little hope that it would help.

 

[BillW50]

In Char Jackson typed:

Admitting it is the first step. Bravo!

I always admit it. It is you the space cadet, who is always afraid to
take a step. ;-)

 

[BillW50]

In Char Jackson typed:

You realize that none of that made the slightest bit of sense, right?
Would you like to read it and see if you can explain what you were
trying to say? Just take your time so you get it right this time.

Yes, it flew right over your head again. Sorry.

Let's say you and I both need the same Intel 945 video driver. Although
I also have an Intel CPU, while you are using an AMD processor. When we
both install the same driver, the driver files will be different. Thus
while we used the same driver install, but the end result wasn't the
same.

Now if we both backup those drivers with a Driver Backup tool. You and I
couldn't swap our Intel drivers saved by the Driver Backup because they
won't work. But they were both installed by the same driver install
nonetheless.

Although when you or I use our own Driver Backup to install our drivers,
it restores them exactly like it was originally. So the order in which a
Driver Backup restores them doesn't matter. As the end result is always
the same. This isn't true of driver installs however. As if you don't
install them in the right order, some drivers won't understand what
hardware is really there and will most likely install files that may
work, but not tailored made for better performance for your given
hardware capabilities.

 

[BillW50]

In Char Jackson typed:

You are so confused. When one driver gets hosed, which is a rare
situation to start with, it's not faster to get out the driver backup
program and run it, hoping that the driver you need has been included
in a previous backup and further hoping that the restore goes well.
What is faster is to just do a straightforward install of the driver
from a legitimate source and be done with it.

I'm confused? What multiple Universe are you in now space cadet?
Everybody in this one was talking about comparing Driver Backup tools
vs. individual driver installs when you need to do all of them.

 

[BillW50]

In Char Jackson typed:

I see that you didn't understand the context. I'd ask you to read the
thread again, but I have little hope that it would help.

No, actually I revised it later so space cadets like you could
understand. You better go back and follow the thread. And when I used
Forte Agent 2.0, that was easy to figure out how to do so.

 

[BillW50]

In Char Jackson typed:

I would not trade my experience for yours. No way, no how.


I hate to be the grammar police and very rarely go there, but I just
have to ask how long you intend to torture us with your poor grammar?
The sentence above looks like it was composed by a third grader.

You obviously have opinions and wish to share them, which is
outstanding even when you're completely wrong, but the poor grammar
really takes away from your message.

Ah I have explained this one for decades, yet you still don't get it. My
most recent attempt to explain was here:

From: BillW50 <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Subject: Re: Chkdsk/Scandisk
Date: Mon, 14 May 2012 20:03:53 -0500

That is partly way I run Windows 7/8 too. Another is too make
sure I am not messing out on anything. And I have been
running Windows 7 since June 2009 and I can honestly say
today I am not missing anything if I didn't run
Windows 7/8 at all.

That is partly *why*... Another is to make sure I am not
*missing* out...

I must be the world's worst proofreader. I got through half of
this paragraph below before I even knew anything was wrong. :-(

Arocdnicg to rsceearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't
mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny
iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the
rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll
raed it wouthit pobelrm. Tihs is buseace the huamn mnid deos
not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

My mind races through information so much faster than most people that I
poll much of my data banks at one time. Thus to compose one single
sentence, my mind thinks of a zillions of different ways to say the same
thing. And I process the best way to say it at the moment. But while I
am typing, the processing is still continuing (much like Windows 7
Search). Thus the sentence gets updated many times as I am typing. It
can often happen as I am typing word by word too. Thus a word could get
changed as it is being typed out also. Thus when I proofread, my mind
replays what I was processing at that moment in time and it all then
makes perfect sense. So sue me.

 

[BillW50]

In Char Jackson typed:

And there you have it. We're talking to people who have heard
something or read something, but have no actual experience.

There are some who knows based on the knowledge that they hear without
any actual experience. Not everybody can do this, but some can. For
example, take a great salesman who can sell crap to almost anybody and
make it sound like you can't go on living without this. Many of those
seen on TV things that are sold are a good example (although not saying
all of them are crap). Smart and gifted people usually have all of the
pros and cons already figured out even though the salesman never
mentioned any of the cons. And they know this even without trying it.
And just because people like you can't do this, doesn't mean that others
also cannot.

 

[Char Jackson]

In Char Jackson typed:

I'm confused? What multiple Universe are you in now space cadet?
Everybody in this one was talking about comparing Driver Backup tools
vs. individual driver installs when you need to do all of them.

What thread were you reading?

 

[BillW50]

In Char Jackson typed:

What thread were you reading?

All of them, Char. And I am still trying to figure out what other
universe you were reading from besides this one space cadet.

 

[Char Jackson]

My mind races through information so much faster than most people that I
poll much of my data banks at one time. Thus to compose one single
sentence, my mind thinks of a zillions of different ways to say the same
thing. And I process the best way to say it at the moment. But while I
am typing, the processing is still continuing (much like Windows 7
Search). Thus the sentence gets updated many times as I am typing. It
can often happen as I am typing word by word too. Thus a word could get
changed as it is being typed out also. Thus when I proofread, my mind
replays what I was processing at that moment in time and it all then
makes perfect sense. So sue me.

You can't claim to be smarter than everyone else and still be unable
to compose a simple sentence.

The THINGS that you say make you look ignorant, arrogant, and
completely uninformed. The WAY you say those things reinforces all of
those things. You're sending a consistent message, but it's probably
not the message that you'd like to send.

 

[Char Jackson]

That's part of the beauty of it, grasshopper. Of course, that assumes
you are keeping your backups up to date.

With your admitted aversion to change, I imagine the backup you made
in 1997 is still "up to date".

 

[glee]

snipped Char's reply

My news server has not loaded BillW50's last reply to me, so I have to
tag my reply to him here:

What is absurd is your claim that "most people who work with this stuff
on a daily basis will stay far away from such helpful applications.
That is because they usually charge by the hour and don't want to get
the job done too quickly."

Obviously you don't work on computers for a living. Very few shops or
techs will charge by the hour for such work anymore.... there are set
charges for different procedures. The faster we can get the work done,
the better, in that respect. That goes for big depots like Geek Squad,
small computer repair chains in a geographical area, and most of the
many techs I know in my area and around the country, including my own
shop..... we do not charge by the hour for the majority of our work
unless we are on-site, and on-site work requires that we get done even
faster. We don't use so-called driver backup programs because they are
far less reliable than using driver installers.

Additionally, one of the reasons a driver can need to be reinstalled on
an otherwise working system is due to what Chris Quirke calls
"bit-rot"... where the driver files themselves can become corrupted on
disk over time. Backing up such files and then restoring them leaves
you with the same damaged files. Doing a fresh install of a driver from
the installer program gives you uncorrupted driver files. Techs with
any sense will always use the installers, not a driver backup program,
because it saves time in the long and guarantees the driver will be
installed correctly on that system. Your claim in other replies that
the installer might install the wrong file for your processor, shows
your apparent lack of understanding of how driver installers work.

 

[glee]

snip
Experienced people always run into more problems than the
inexperienced ones.

Now that's funny. No, they may discover bugs and run into problems
while working on *other people's computers*, but their experience should
lead to LESS problems on their own computers. If your own computers are
always having issues, you are either lacking in experience and/or are
misconfiguring your system, unless you are beta testing on a production
machine.

 

[Char Jackson]

In Char Jackson typed:

Yes, it flew right over your head again. Sorry.

Let's say you and I both need the same Intel 945 video driver.

No, let's not, because that isn't the typical scenario. The typical
scenario is that you make a backup of your installed drivers so that
you can reinstall one or more of them later, if you need to.

The scenario is unusual and rare, and the point has been made many
times that it's better to install a driver the 'proper' way rather
than to use a program to do it.

Get it now?

 

[glee]

Oh I see... sometimes for forget that some of you have never been
there. And by the same token of the above trying different builds of a
video driver, you can end up with old and new parts of the video
driver in play. And this usually ends up in a screwed up mess.

Although I have from time to time turned it out for the best. One
example was trying to get a SiS video driver to work with Microsoft
Flight Sim (MSFS). I found three available. One older that came with
the video card (1), a middle version from Windows Update (2), and the
latest and greatest from SiS website (3).

None of them would work correctly by themselves with MSFS. Although I
discovered if you installed them in a certain order like 3, 1, then 2,
you ended up with parts of each build all working well together with
MSFS. That was lucky, usually it just goes from bad to worse.

You don't have the slightest idea where I've "been". I've dealt with
such driver issues for years on mine and client's computers. They are
not all that hard to resolve, once you find the best driver.... unless
none of the drivers available work well, which happens. My comment was
that you have missed the point of the previous replies. You are going
off on tooting your own horn instead of responding to the statements
that were actually made. It's just tedious.

 

[BillW50]

In Char Jackson typed:

You can't claim to be smarter than everyone else and still be unable
to compose a simple sentence.

No Char...

The THINGS that you say make you look ignorant, arrogant, and
completely uninformed. The WAY you say those things reinforces all of
those things. You're sending a consistent message, but it's probably
not the message that you'd like to send.

In Char Jackson typed:

You can't claim to be smarter than everyone else and still be unable
to compose a simple sentence.

No Char... just today alone there are many examples where things just
went over your head.

The THINGS that you say make you look ignorant, arrogant, and
completely uninformed. The WAY you say those things reinforces all of
those things. You're sending a consistent message, but it's probably
not the message that you'd like to send.

Yes to a space cadet, I am sure. But I recall back in the days when
engineers actually wrote the manuals. And you wouldn't believe all of
the complaints from the common people how much those manuals were
impossible to read. But when I read them, they made perfect sense to me
and I loved them. It wasn't all of the technical stuff that confused
them (since the engineers stayed away from that, thinking that others
could follow non-technical better). But it was the grammar they just
couldn't grasp.

So what was the solution? Somehow companies came up with their solution.
They hired professional writers to write the manuals instead. Yes the
grammar was perfect, but lots of useful information was lost in the
translation. Now the manuals only describe basic things like how to
point and click and all of the really interesting things are totally
missing.

 

[glee]

Nah, I'm using my 1982 VIC-20 tape backup here.

LOL! Finally, some real humor! Thanks, Char and Bill in CO

 

[Chris S.]

My news server has not loaded BillW50's last reply to me, so I have to tag
my reply to him here:

What is absurd is your claim that "most people who work with this stuff on
a daily basis will stay far away from such helpful applications. That is
because they usually charge by the hour and don't want to get the job done
too quickly."

Obviously you don't work on computers for a living. Very few shops or
techs will charge by the hour for such work anymore.... there are set
charges for different procedures. The faster we can get the work done,
the better, in that respect. That goes for big depots like Geek Squad,
small computer repair chains in a geographical area, and most of the many
techs I know in my area and around the country, including my own shop.....
we do not charge by the hour for the majority of our work unless we are
on-site, and on-site work requires that we get done even faster. We don't
use so-called driver backup programs because they are far less reliable
than using driver installers.

Additionally, one of the reasons a driver can need to be reinstalled on an
otherwise working system is due to what Chris Quirke calls "bit-rot"...
where the driver files themselves can become corrupted on disk over time.
Backing up such files and then restoring them leaves you with the same
damaged files. Doing a fresh install of a driver from the installer
program gives you uncorrupted driver files. Techs with any sense will
always use the installers, not a driver backup program, because it saves
time in the long and guarantees the driver will be installed correctly on
that system. Your claim in other replies that the installer might install
the wrong file for your processor, shows your apparent lack of
understanding of how driver installers work.

Another Super +, if I may.....

Chris

 

[Chris S.]

You can't claim to be smarter than everyone else and still be unable
to compose a simple sentence.

The THINGS that you say make you look ignorant, arrogant, and
completely uninformed. The WAY you say those things reinforces all of
those things. You're sending a consistent message, but it's probably
not the message that you'd like to send.

I have to say "Super +" again.

Chris

 

[BillW50]

In glee typed:

You don't have the slightest idea where I've "been". I've dealt with
such driver issues for years on mine and client's computers. They are
not all that hard to resolve, once you find the best driver....

Did I claim otherwise, no!

unless none of the drivers available work well, which happens. My
comment was that you have missed the point of the previous replies.
You are going off on tooting your own horn instead of responding to
the statements that were actually made. It's just tedious.

Tooting my horn? I can't toot your horn since I don't know your horn.
Like Char stated, I can't speak for him and I didn't. Nor can I speak
for you other. I *can* only speak for myself. But being as slow as you
are, it might take awhile for that to sink into your head.