[triadtechtalk] Win98: Saving a good copy
- From: brian <brian99@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: triadtechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 09 Jul 2006 13:49:58 -0700
As mentioned in an earlier posting, I am planning on using Win98 until
2007 when Vista is released.
At that time I would get a new computer with Vista pre-installed.
In the mean time I am trying to keep Win98 in good shape until then or
even longer.
Langa mentions backup, reformat, and reinstall Win98 if it is to be
continued to be used;
And in another post he also mentions Reinstall Win98 W/O Reformatting.
(See Langa clip 1 and Langa clip 2 below.)
As some of you may recall, Armando mentioned a while back that I could
do a reinstall of windows to solve some of the problems I was having. As
the time I hesitated since I was worried I may cause more problems that
I would potentially solve.
However, when Langa mentioned reinstalling Windows with out
reformatting, I began thinking it may be worth a try if it is not to
difficult and the down side issues are not too great.
So I am considering giving this a try and hope I could get some advise
before deciding what to do. especially since Chuck's earlier advise was:
"don't try to fix it if it aint broke".
These are the few questions I could think of that may have a bearing on
the issue:
1. Is this a good way for me to get a cleaned copy Win98 on my computer?
2. Is it a process that I could do without too much possibility of
having something go wrong?
3. Could I use Nero Express 6 the program that I now have installed,
that has an "burn Image to disk" as an option, to make the
"self-contained backup" that Langa mentions?
4. When Langa says, "the new Windows setup will know nothing of what's
already on the drive.", what exactly would be lost and would have to
reinstall?
5. I have windows now on the C: drive but have taken the swap file and
placed it in a separate folder: C:\WIN386.SWP, will that matters?
6. Are there any precautions or warnings that may apply?
Thanks for the suggestion, comments, and help.
BRIAN
-------------------
Langa clip 1:
That said, yes, you can keep Win98 running cleanly, almost indefinitely:
The very best way I know to try to preserve Win98 is to do one final
grand mal cleaning:
In shorthand form, you'd
1. reformat, reinstall, and then
2. run Windows Update iteratively until all relevant updates are in place.
3. Run a good Registry cleaner,
4. Defrag the system, and
5. Then make an image backup of the newly-installed, "perfect" setup.
Store that image in a safe place.
Then, in the future, if your Win98 setup gets munged when updates
and downloads are no longer available, you can always restore
the image, and get your Win98 back to that just-installed, perfect
setup again.
--------
Langa clip 2:
http://tinyurl.com/ehox2
9) Reinstall Win98 W/O Reformat
One of the nice attributes of Win9x is that you easily can do "in situ"
(in place) reinstalls without having to reinstall everything else.
Naturally, you'll want a full backup first. In your case, with an
unbootable OS, a self-contained backup option like BootIt (which can run
from a floppy; and access most CDRs on its own;
Once your files are safe, just run the Windows Setup CD again, and have
it reinstall in exactly the same place and manner as the original setup.
If prompted about formatting the drive, say no.
If the simplest method doesn't work, a variant is to bail out to DOS and
delete the \Windows directory/folder. You can then reinstall to a
newly-created \Windows directory, and the setup should go smoothly
without affecting any of your user files. This more drastic approach
does require that you reinstall your other software, though, as the new
Windows setup will know nothing of what's already on the drive.
But the good news is that you probably *don't* have to reformat and
start over, from scratch!
Other related posts:
