Alas, at last I need a reinstall...

[llama_man]

Well, after 14 months without grief, my XP installation is finally borked.
Somehow a trojan managed to get past 2 firewalls and Norton 8O and now I can't shift it (Norton and TrendMicro fail to kill it, even in safe mode). Given up and will do a reinstall this weekend.

Anyone got any tips on how to configure my system now I'm doing a fresh install? I've heard some people suggest having Windows on a separate partition to your program files, since then reinstalling windows is "less of a chore" next time. But I don't get this - after reinstalling windows, don't you need to reinstall the other apps anyway to get the registry entries? Me is confused.

I keep all my media files (music, photos, movies, etc) on a separate harddisk so they're ok.

 

[pat]

But I don't get this - after reinstalling windows, don't you need to reinstall the other apps anyway to get the registry entries? Me is confused.

I keep all my media files (music, photos, movies, etc) on a separate harddisk so they're ok.

yes, you have to reinstall everything. but having a partition for Windows and another for data is like having 2 hdd. you only flush the problematic partition instead of the whole drive.

 

[llama_man]

OK, so there's nothing to be gained by having a separate partition for program files? I thought people were talking cr*p, but nice to have confirmation from an expert

I'll just wipe my C drive and start again then...

 

[pat]

OK, so there's nothing to be gained by having a separate partition for program files? I thought people were talking cr*p, but nice to have confirmation from an expert

I'll just wipe my C drive and start again then...

well, if you C drive is more that 80 gigs, then you have are wiping much more than necessary for OS and apps. My main drive is 320 gigs, and the second one is 250 gigs. If I had only 1 partition on my main drive, I would run into backup problem if I had to format it. but having a 70 gigs C: partiton, and some other for data and other stuff make thing easier

 

[llama_man]

I currently have a 80Gb drive for windows and apps (well, games if I'm honest), and a second 250Gb disc for music, photos, movies etc (well, p0rn if I'm honest).
I also have a spare 40Gb disc that I thought was broke, but it turned out to be a corrupted file. Might stick that one in the download box...

 

[_WW_]

I currently have a 80Gb drive for windows and apps (well, games if I'm honest), and a second 250Gb disc for music, photos, movies etc (well, p0rn if I'm honest).
I also have a spare 40Gb disc that I thought was broke, but it turned out to be a corrupted file. Might stick that one in the download box...

What I would do with all these drives:
80Gb - C partition of 15-25Gb for Windows and apps. Use the rest of this drive for reserve space or temp backup for documents, work stuff and other junk like downloaded files.
250 Gb - With a clean drive I would create a 1st partition of 4Gb for the swap file and use the rest as you are.
40Gb - Great drive space for recoding DVDs before burning.

 

[pat]

I currently have a 80Gb drive for windows and apps (well, games if I'm honest), and a second 250Gb disc for music, photos, movies etc (well, p0rn if I'm honest).
I also have a spare 40Gb disc that I thought was broke, but it turned out to be a corrupted file. Might stick that one in the download box...

What I would do with all these drives:
80Gb - C partition of 15-25Gb for Windows and apps. Use the rest of this drive for reserve space or temp backup for documents, work stuff and other junk like downloaded files.
250 Gb - With a clean drive I would create a 1st partition of 4Gb for the swap file and use the rest as you are.
40Gb - Great drive space for recoding DVDs before burning.

Fear is 1 game that takes mor than 4 gigs on the HDD. if one has 2 or 3, like this, 15-25 gigs will be short, because if you ever need to defrag the hdd, you need a certain amount of free space. right, at minimum...40 gigs,

 

[llama_man]

This is all academic now, since I've done the reinstall and I don't own Partition Magic!

I stuck with my previous set-up: Windows and apps on the 80Gb and random stuff on the 250Gb. Th only point I can see to having applications on a different partition to Windows is to save time when you reformat, but since I only do this about once a year it's not a big hassle. It also saves me having to guess how much space I need for apps - I usually have anything up to 10 games installed at a time, and these days most take up 2Gb or more!

But this time I fixed my page file size (at 4092Mb) so it won't get fragmented. On my last install it ended up in about 6 chunks, which can't have helped very much.

 

[pat]

This is all academic now, since I've done the reinstall and I don't own Partition Magic!

I stuck with my previous set-up: Windows and apps on the 80Gb and random stuff on the 250Gb. Th only point I can see to having applications on a different partition to Windows is to save time when you reformat, but since I only do this about once a year it's not a big hassle. It also saves me having to guess how much space I need for apps - I usually have anything up to 10 games installed at a time, and these days most take up 2Gb or more!

But this time I fixed my page file size (at 4092Mb) so it won't get fragmented. On my last install it ended up in about 6 chunks, which can't have helped very much.

With 80 gigs, you won't have to worry about how many space remains.. And when you have more space, then you can keep small utilities installed even if you don't use them a lot. It always time consuming to try to retrieve from your media or the internet the small app that would gladly save your problem.... If you have the space, keep the tools near. And games too ..

 

[llama_man]

Yeah, I still have my old PaintShopPro 4 trial ! Sure, it lacks features, but it loads quickly and doesn't time expire. I only use it for cropping photos anyway.

 

[pat]

Yeah, I still have my old PaintShopPro 4 trial ! Sure, it lacks features, but it loads quickly and doesn't time expire. I only use it for cropping photos anyway.

There is no do it all software.. you always need some feature of one, some from another.. and having room for them all make things simply.