Re: Can't open Xy in XP -- A thousand THANK YOUS!!!

[J R FOX jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxx]

--- Judith Davidsen  wrote:

> I found myself spending an additional four weeks
> trying to figure out why
> I couldn't open files: because I had to reinstall a
> whole slew of
> programs. Just trying to remember what programs I
> used to have...I know
> I'm still missing some.
>
> At this stage, the tweaking is so fast and furious I
> can't imagine how
> to keep track of what I've done. A desirable tweak
> to A seems to have
> undesirable effects on X--or had I been fiddling
> with O just before
> that when the phone rang?
>
> So, if your protocol would help me retrace my steps
> to figure out what
> I've done, I'd definitely love to see it.

Judith,

I don't know what Patricia's protocol happens to be,
but what I'm doing now is sort of like the "Changelog"
that gets included with many new releases of software,
listing bugfixes and new features introduced since the
prior version. I'm trying my best to keep this up to
date, listing all changes to all important partitions.
 It is more of a chore in my situation, given the
plethora of partitions and multiple operating systems.
 But it is the ONLY good way I can think of to do
this. Otherwise, in a disaster recovery scenario,
I'll never know what may be missing. Some things
surely will be missing, unless I'm using a partition
image backup that was made immediately prior to the
disaster -- unlikely.

Without this file, I would not have known for sure if
the Registry backup I had on hand would resolve the
problems created by installation of the D-Link
software. Or what else I might need to add back
*after* doing the restore.

I maintain this file with Xy. It is a good idea
to keep a current copy of the file *somewhere else.*
Even a floppy will do.

Sample excerpt below.


Jordan

-------------------------------------------------
N: (W2K Maintenance Partition)
===============================

3/22/05 Updated AC'97 drivers to WDM_a370 (also in
J:); seems to cure BSOD issue.
{4/3 -- However, sound is _not_ working, in J: (Oops
-- it works; sound was muted in Windoze Media Player
!}.
4/14/05 Replaced Moz 1.7.3 with Moz 1.7.6. Not sure
if all plugins are represented, but those that are
there seem to work.
4/14   Used NewsAgentFree, for the first time in 6
months. Indexes updated.
4/18   Several MS security patches & updates applied
(about 6).
4/18   Installed drivers for D-Link G120 wireless
Nic.
4/19   Installed ACELP.NET audio codec.
     (This likely went away in the 5/3 Registry
rollback.)

5/3/05  Used ERDNT to roll Registry back to 4/15 --
only way to get rid of the D-Link software.
     It is now off the desktop, out of the
SysTray, & no longer shows up in Add/Remove.
     The 4/18 applied MS security patches still
seem to be in effect. Bill says this is likely.

5/3   Replaced Moz 1.7.6 with Moz 1.7.7. Updated
ERUNT & RegOpt to v. 1.1h.

5/12   Win Media Player is corrupt. Uninstall &
replacement needed.
5/17   Replaced Moz 1.7.7 with Moz 1.7.8. Some
extensions either won't install or won't work.



To Do List for N:

  Backlevel WMP to 6.4 Classic
  Ad-Aware progr. update. Thorough AV and Spyware
scans long overdue.
------------------------------------------------- 

BTW -- and I meant to mention this earlier -- many
thanks to Robert for touting the benefits of ERUNT.
XP has its own Registry rollback function built-in
(though you have to set periodic Reference Points for
it), but if you're using something pre-XP, this task
falls to some outboard utility. ERUNT does the job
quite well, and it's free.