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skymama

Need Geek help, please

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theonlyski

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Portable hard drive, and if you have spent more than a coulple of hours on something, another portable hard drive.



We have a server and it's backed up on Carbonite also. Think that's enough?


What's a server?

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2001-10-13/

Sadly reminds me of one of my higher ups.[:/]

At a place where I worked in the 90's, there was a server that kept crashing outside of normal 8-5 hours. No one could figure out why until someone working late saw the night cleanup worker unplug the server so she could plug in her vacuum cleaner.:S
"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

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night cleanup worker unplug the server so she could plug in her vacuum cleaner

The same thing happened to one of our mainframes in the 1980's -- obviously that cleaner left Houston

Wendy P.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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skymama

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Password protect your work computer and NEVER let a kid touch it.



I'm not allowed to. I work for my Dad at his house and he wants the grandkids to be able to use the computer when they visit. I keep telling him to get a computer just for the kids. Maybe he will this time now that I've lost an entire day of productivity having to mess with this.


:|

Just do it anyway.

It's easier to get forgiveness than permission in many situations and I doubt daddy would fire his little girl. ;)

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normiss

YOU try disobeying a direct order from a Marine Lt.
;)



Tell the Marine that letting kids play with a work computer makes as much sense as emptying the file cabinets and giving the files to the kids to play with.:S
"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

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and I doubt daddy would fire his little girl.



You've obviously never met my Dad. :ph34r:
She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

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in that case, get acronis, or some other cloning software. do a complete reformat and reinstall everything. it will take a little while, but you should be able to get it done in a day or two. then clone it to an external, i use a small laptop hard drive from one that took a dump. i would recommend partitioning the hard drive with around 40-70 gb for the os, and the rest for data. and before you put any data back on it, clone it.

this makes it easier to backup manually, if you choose. all you have to backup is the data drive, and you can just copy the whole drive to the other external, and even leave it running all night if you want, no touch. and if it ever happens again, all you have to do is clone it the other way. all computers need the os reinstalled sometimes, at least in windows, and even linux benefits from it. over time, the registry gets messed up and a clean install will take it back to like new. trust me, it is well worth the day or so you lose when the next time it happens, and it will, all you have to do is restore everything. acronis takes about 10 to 20 minutes depending on the size of the drive and the speed of the system.
_________________________________________
Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes

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skymama

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Portable hard drive, and if you have spent more than a coulple of hours on something, another portable hard drive.



We have a server and it's backed up on Carbonite also. Think that's enough?


:)
Here's the thing;

"You have a server," do you have people too take care of these issues? Not being sarchastic here but: your the one asking for help on this forum, so how is your server helping you out or is it creating more work? Carbonite isn't going to help your "LOCAL" PC if your local pc is messed up. Do you have another pc that can access the carbonite web site? Last I heard this too can be a real pain.

The point is once a local pc has or is full of stuff it needs to be reformatted and then a clean install. There is no product nor is it worth the amount of time to go thru the regestry and every little directory to find bits of stuff that these programs leave behind. If it says free >>> RUN. If it says "Registry Cleaner" >>> RUN. If it says >>>>"clean my pc >>>> RUN.
All of these types of programs leave stuff behind and on a pc with sometimes over 500000. files it's difficult to find all of the malware crap left behind.


The only time I personally don't reformat is in the case someone tells me that they have information that they have not backed up and they need to get it if possible. Frequently with a system that won't "BOOT" under these circumstances I remove the hard drive and read it on another machine as the first step! This is actually very simple to do...

After reading the files I want to save , after putting the infected hard drive back then sometimes I try to figure out the malware and sometimes remove programs , changes etc., but the issue is the amount of time spent trying to restore a pc manually as compared with the factory reinstall procedure!

Many malware changes are now going after the "HIDDEN" factory partition, they do this because most factory purchased pcs' no longer come with "RESTORE" disks. This is a cheep trick by most all of the manufacturers to the customer because the disks cost about 40 bucks and sometimes more to get,...


I mention all of this because most of the free games and software sites infecting millions of pcs' do more than just have an additional directory that "appears" to be easily deletable. Trust me there are hundreds of subtle changes all over your operating system files designed to track your usage habits, they have advanced far beyond "cookies."

Now granted if he went to a site that just wants to play / purchase a game,...it may not be such a big deal, all the game manufacturer wants is some information and to make it a little difficult to remove their game! They want to sell their stuff not get a rep as a host designed to infect your pc. Even so the changes to the vidieo settings, etc can and frequently reek havok.

But if someone did a search for free programs, I guantee you ended up offshore and your pc is loaded with crap.

What if your server goes down? What if carbonite has a hair across it's ass that day?

It is far better to save your data, word files, or excel, etc., JUST THE DATA FILES, to a portable hard drive that you control. That way your portable drive with everything on it can be left behind at a friends house, or someone else can neglect to return it, or you can just plain old forget where yo put the thing.

I run ito this same type of argument when people start dicussing "RAID" arrays, >>>>>

And my answer is "Have you ever tried to rebuild a RAID ARRAY?"

They frequently don't rebuild!

if you have any type of time invested on a computer back up everyting of importance on a portable hard drive or write your information to a dvd, and then check the dvd to make sure it was transfered correctly.

I used to hear the following comment daily:

"I knew I should have backed up my stuff,...[] but it's such a pain,..."

C

Good luck with the little Demonioid, watch out if it comes back,....
But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

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We've convinced Dad to get a cheap laptop to have around for the Perp to use and we won't link it through the company network. Finally!

To answer the question, Normiss usually handles our computer problems. He was asleep when I was having to deal with the issues (he's been working nights), so that's why I asked you all. The only reason I'm allowed to be on dz.com during the work day is because you all have been so helpful over the years, so thanks for that! B|

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

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The only reason I'm allowed to be on dz.com during the work day is because you all have been so helpful over the years, so thanks for that! B|



You need a new boss.
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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