K
Kurt Schmidt
I apologize if this is not the place to post this and ask for pointers.
About 3 weeks my XP Pro computer started reporting that I could not log onto
the system as soon as the Welcome screen showed up and even before I
attempted logging on. I could still log on into one of the Safe modes with
no problems. To make a long and painful story short if not less painful,
after following the automated instructions as well as spending a lot of time
with the so called Technical support my OS is, I am told, a toast. I was
advised to backup all the files I would need (I have a lot of backups, but I
am not sure if all the apps settings are backed up) and reformat the drive
and reinstall everything (XP and apps) from scratch (the good old "reformat
and reinstall" school of technical support).
What I find very, very frustrating is that all my files, aplication and
data, other than some mysterious part of XP (pro) are fine and untouched, so
if nothing else with the backups I SHOULD, I feel, be able to reapply the OS
and be on my merry way. Every other OS that I tried allows that, XP cannot
be that far behind times!
So here are my two questions: Given what you know, and I'll gladly supply
more info, is there a way to resurect/reinstall the OS without loosing all
the apps and all the settings it took me over a year to get just the way I
like it? If this is really not possible, what do I need to make sure to
have the freshest backup of from your average XP in order to restore as much
as feasible to the new systme -- and is there a way to identify what files
various applications need for their settings?
About 3 weeks my XP Pro computer started reporting that I could not log onto
the system as soon as the Welcome screen showed up and even before I
attempted logging on. I could still log on into one of the Safe modes with
no problems. To make a long and painful story short if not less painful,
after following the automated instructions as well as spending a lot of time
with the so called Technical support my OS is, I am told, a toast. I was
advised to backup all the files I would need (I have a lot of backups, but I
am not sure if all the apps settings are backed up) and reformat the drive
and reinstall everything (XP and apps) from scratch (the good old "reformat
and reinstall" school of technical support).
What I find very, very frustrating is that all my files, aplication and
data, other than some mysterious part of XP (pro) are fine and untouched, so
if nothing else with the backups I SHOULD, I feel, be able to reapply the OS
and be on my merry way. Every other OS that I tried allows that, XP cannot
be that far behind times!
So here are my two questions: Given what you know, and I'll gladly supply
more info, is there a way to resurect/reinstall the OS without loosing all
the apps and all the settings it took me over a year to get just the way I
like it? If this is really not possible, what do I need to make sure to
have the freshest backup of from your average XP in order to restore as much
as feasible to the new systme -- and is there a way to identify what files
various applications need for their settings?