Hello, for the members that are good with computer skills ( as mine ran out, some time ago!)

When you get your new computer with Vista, the first thing you do is make a copy of vista, it fits on a couple of DVD's disks.


Now what if the computer will not boot, into anything but a blank screen, I guess you can hit a couple of f3's or f8's ( or whatever it is to make the computer boot from the dvd.) ( or maybe go to the safe mode-somehow)

Do you just put in the disks labled 1st Vista back up, fllowed by 2nd vista back up-if there are 2 ?


Thanks for any help, I just don't know how to use these if ever needed. ( my computer training ended several years ago, and I don't like the trial and error method, as it could cause worse problems)

Thanks for anyone with uncomplacated instructions. ( if thats possible)

Hello Straw,

If you're willing to re-format your hard drive, that might get you back up and running with a fresh start.

If you have an original Vista DVD just use that one.

Now - don't get me started on overclocking!

BEST!

Thanks for responding, the manufactures don't give original vista discs with the computers anymore, but they let you make one copy, before the option is disabled.

The computer is not broken, but I have a friends who's is, and I just got to thinking what if it happens to me, where do I start.

I did work in the computer field several years ago, and I know when you bring your system to a repair tech, *many of them look through your saved stuff, looking ( or hoping) for nasty pictures or anything intresting to them.

That is my experience, *while working with techs and repair people, not all are the same, but it almost like an invasion of privacy( imo) & (IME)when you bring a cpu to a repair place. That why I like to know how to do minor repairs myself.
I have financial info, spread sheets, living will, insurance info, bank account numbers, and items like that I don't want viewed, as I am sure a lot of people do.

Thanks again.

Maybe I could just buy an external hard drive, load vista, and if I ever have a problem I could just have everything backed up, and use the external drive for everything?

Sounds like a good plan, one we should all do, and that media is cheap now.

When you put in the copied vista, it may give you the option of trying to simply fix the problem if it can. That works sometimes, other times you loose some data, or get prompted to re-install everything (re-format) in which case it's like getting a new computer.

It's a really good idea to get an external drive (they are really cheap these days) and backup your important data. You don't have to backup Vista, that's pretty easy to reinstall, but you probably have a lot of data, photos, music, etc. that you don't want to lose.

An alternative is to use a service like Carbonite.com - I do both, I use Carbonite for an online secure backup of my important data, and an external drive as a second backup of my most important data and files.

I need to find a good backup process. For my computer data, all my digital videos and my music. Home burnt DVDs just don't last that long.

You Could Try One Of The Online Data Backup Services Like Mozy Or Carbonite. Or You Could Get A Terabite External Hardrive And Back Everything Up On That..
Here Are Some Options For The Online Data Backup Services..

www.mozy.com
www.backup.com
www.carbonite.com
www.onlinebackupvault.com
www.ebackitup.com
www.carbonite.com
www.ibackup.com
www.datadepositbox.com
www.amerivault.com


Hope This Helps!!!

DREW

One thing to remember is the difference between a good online backup service like Carbonite (which I use) and a backup drive. I made a bad mistake - want to keep others from the same mistake!

Carbonite monitors the folders and files you tell it to backup, and when you make a change, it makes the same change. That means that if you delete a file in a backed up folder, Carbonite ALSO DELETES THE FILE IN THE BACKUP!!!

So - I had some photos being backed up in Carbonite. I thought, I need to make some space, so I'll delete those on my HD - after all, they're on Carbonite, so I can always go get them when I need them. Imagine my surprise/depression when I realized Carbonite had also deleted them! (It will keep them for 30 days in order to be able to recover them if you have a computer problem, but after that they are gone.)

So use Carbonite to keep files backed up and safe - no worry about an HD going bad, etc. But if you want to store files that you AREN'T keeping on your computer's HD, use a separate backup HD. (I use a couple of small Seagate 500 gig drives that are easy to carry around - cheap, small, and I back up on both so I have two backups.)

FWIW

OP:

I'll answer your question as I interpreted it. Once you put in the Vista CD, it'll boot automatically - but that is depending on whether you have it configured to check for CD first, or to boot straight from the HDD.

If it doesn't boot first

1) Go to the BIOS settings
2) Find 'boot priority' or something similar
3) Add boot from CD/DVD to be the first priority
4) Add HDD to be second
5) Save BIOS, Reboot and enjoy.

IF you can't find the settings on your BIOS, give me a shout - by PM if you want - and I'll direct you

In regards to Online Backup Services

I strongly recommend you do not use these for sensitive information - such as bank details, wills and anything you consider important.

Rather, you should just buy a cheap external HDD, and create a Truecrypt [encrypted] partition on there. There are several guides online how to do this, and it is REALLY EASY . Also, if you have super sensitive information (from the state etc) you can create a hidden partition inside of it, which allows you to have the advantage of Plausible Deniability

I second the comments on Truecrypt - I have that on every computer I own. Once you figure it out it is very easy and quite secure.

cg0000 - I wrote an article once on online backups like Carbonite. They claim that the info you store on their sites is securely encrypted between you and their servers, and it appears that is true. That said - I agree, you are better off storing anything that you absolutely, positively don't want anyone else to ever access on an external HDD that is encrypted. But I would add - use TWO HDDs and make TWO backups. HDDs will go out. I also like to make backups of my critical stuff on DVDs in addition to the HDDs.