er well my comp is acting a little erratic

[zrolimit88]

hey guys just wanted to let you all know my rig has been acting a little erratic just lately. nothing to do with my graphics card OC.

for instance if you right click on say a *.jpg then go to "open with" it will automatically try and open the file in notepad no matter what kind of file it is. i tried this with a *.doc file type and a few others and the same thing happens.

anyways this and some other little things like random crashes with IE7 although that might be because MS IE7 is crap and unstable. but hey im used to it and its what i use instead of opera browser. but that and the fact the my rig is a lot slower than it used to be. and also cluttered up with tons of programs i rarely use. strange as i only have a few games installed and i play all of those when i have free time.

in addition to these issues my comp sometimes will not start properly. it will POST ok then when it comes to getting into the windows log in screen it just stays blank and my monitor goes into standby mode as if there was no signal from the comp. the HD light does flicker a tiny bit but i get nothing. so i do a cold boot and after a couple of failed attempts i get back into the log in screen and i type in my password and bingo windows loads up.

another issue is that after typing in my password and windows starting up itll take a good few minutes to load things before i can actually start to use the computer. i remember a time when id type my password and in less than 60 seconds my comp was ok to do a task. so after all these things mounting up over the last year ive decided to take the plunge and do a full system recovery. its been 2 years since my last one. and this will be the 4th one since jan 2003. i usually reinstall windows every 12-15 months.

this time after i get XP back on the machine im only going to install a real small amount of programs and all of these ill install on the other partition keeping c:\ for the os.

ill include a couple of pics of my new toy. a western digital elements mini ext. HD. its completely USB 2.0 compliant and doesnt require a seperate power source taking all the juice it needs from the USB port. its £39.99 here so roughly $80 in your money.



so anyways must go, gotta blitz my rig! ~grins~
wish me luck
adios

[screwballl]

looks good... may want to do a small user article write up with your experience with this backup drive...

[gvblake22]

Please resize your images to less than 800x600, 1024x768 is too large per the Forum Rules.

As for your computer issues, have you tried running some adware/spyware and antivirus scans to get rid of the junk? There are a lot of basic system maintenance operations that you can do to clean up your computer and keep it clean.

[zrolimit88]

ok well i still havent rebooted my system yet. the system recovery disk is in my bootable CD drive. im just talking to a good buddy on msn right now.

all my files are backed up on the new ext. USB 2.0 HD. i have a partition which is my E:\ that will remain untouched by the system recovery process but all programs on that will need to be reinstalled as the paths ect. wont be valid anymore. theres alot of personal files and stuff on there already.

my HD is partitioned into 2 drives each is around 55GB. the WD ext. HD is 160 GB and the other external HD my flat mate and i use for our mass downloads is 500 GB. so i have a reasonable amount of storage. i can also archive to single layer DVD -R.



++ edit +++

yah i run registry mechanic and ad-aware 2007 as well as kaspersky internet security 7.0. i keep all my stuff patched and up to date. i dont go to dodgy websites and i dont randomly download files without knowing where theyre from and whether its a trusted source. i also dont allow active X scripts to run in my browser unless im in a legitimate site in which case ill allow it. i do try and run a clean and tidy system. anyways ill just resize those pics and re post them ok. sorry about that.


do you guys think Capper will want me to do an evaluation/review on this particular ext. HD??? if i get the ok then ill do a write up and post up my results on the forum. i have a good camera (sony DSC W200 12 megapixel) to take pics ect.

[screwballl]

just write it up and create a new post in our User Reviews section which is not posted immediately, they review all of them first and try to help get it ready for prime time...