Guess what Windows did to me.......

[RayP.]

Windows installation Wizzard made a mistake installing my ISP,got a notice from them(after turning off the "auto" features and picking "notify me" option)that there were 13 times they had to play around to get me connected,gave me a site to click on for report,report gave the 13 instances and solution was that they "have no solution",I down loaded this Vista version of my ISP,going to order a disk and do an uninstall/re-install and see what happens.

Ray.

Information

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[jon_norstog]

Ray,

You got to ditch the Vista. M$ is already putting it into its forgotten works and you should too. Can you score an XP pro disk? Try that.

Another good hit is take the plunge with Ubuntu or Fedora Linux. It's free, there IS a learning curve, but once your up on it you'll never want to go back.

good luck!

jn

[John Sukey (Deceased)]

Keep in mind this system is the product of a jackass who contributes heavily to the Brady campaign.

[TDH]

One note about Windows XP---- DO NOT download service pak 3. I know of 2 instances where it crashed computers past recoverability and have heard of hundreds of others. Cost of 2 new computers and monitors and tons of lost material.

[Youngblood]

When your HDD gets trashed you only need to wipe & reload the HDD, not purchase new systems & monitors, silly.

In addition, large-capacity exterior USB2 HDDs and backup software are pretty cheap these days ... and they sure can save the day.

[CTMC(ret)]

+1 on that, Youngblood!

[Youngblood]

BTW, the XP Service Pack that gave me fits was SP2.

Back in 2003(?) I ordered it on CD since I did not have DSL at the time. I carefully followed the pre-install directions listed on the website ... and it promptly hosed my game system (I was not about to try it out on my Primary ).

After getting DSL in '05 I decided to give the DL version a try, this time using one of my laptops.

Again, Hose-o-rama.

Again, Thank God for a Back-Up Strategy!

So I waited until last year after I built the new Primary (Vista) box and successfully DLed the Vista SP1 package (quite frankly, after my experiences with XP SP2 I was nervous).

Since all went well with that (thinking that, perhaps, MS had tweaked some things in their DL/Install programs) I decided to give XP SP2 another try ... and this time it worked on all 4 of my XPPro systems (2 home-rolled boxes & 2 laptops), with only one, minor, easily-recoverable glitch on one.

And the day after I did that, what popped up but XP SP3 ... so I charged ahead and all 4 updated smoothly. WHEW!

[Jim K]

When your O/S fails, you normally do not need to scrap anything, just reload the O/S. Your data files should be untouched and the FAT is on the disc and also should not be touched by reloading the O/S. Of course if the HDD suffers physical damage, all bets are off, but that rarely happens with modern hardware.

One quick and easy way to save files, either to free up space on the HDD or as a backup, is to use flash cards. Fairly inexpensive and fast. Most folks think of them in connection with digital cameras, but they will store any files, not just pictures.

Jim

[Sunray]

Delete the connection and start over. It's in 'My Network Places' then 'View Network Connections' in XP. And machines don't make mistakes.