# Backup Your Data



## Scott Bushey (Dec 10, 2004)

My harddrive crashed. 4 month old computer........I believe the baby sitter did it; but who knows??? I'm down for 3-4 days waiting on the recovery discs from HP.


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## fredtgreco (Dec 10, 2004)

Uggh. That stinks.

My mother's computer HD just died the other day. Prompted me to get Acronis True Image


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## Scott Bushey (Dec 10, 2004)

The HP has a 'ghost' prog; Unfortunately, I never made recovery discs. Lesson learned.


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## fredtgreco (Dec 10, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Scott Bushey_
> The HP has a 'ghost' prog; Unfortunately, I never made recovery discs. Lesson learned.



Oh no!

Will you lose all your data then?


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## fredtgreco (Dec 10, 2004)

Here is a good set of reviews in PC magazine regarding backup programs and online backups:

http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1738,4798,00.asp

I recommend either Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image


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## Scott Bushey (Dec 10, 2004)

Fred,
I have 2 harddrives, so I didn't lose everything. I did lose about 6 mos of photo's of Zoe though.........Needless to say, Tina is upset.
Matt uses Ghost; he highly suggests it.


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## fredtgreco (Dec 10, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Scott Bushey_
> Fred,
> I have 2 harddrives, so I didn't lose everything. I did lose about 6 mos of photo's of Zoe though.........Needless to say, Tina is upset.
> Matt uses Ghost; he highly suggests it.



Any chance some of those pics were emailed to anyone?

Is there anyway to try and get the data off?


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## AdamM (Dec 11, 2004)

I am thinking about purchasing an external USB hard drive mainly for the purpose of backing up the digital family photos, a few docs and storing some MP3's. Do you guys think this is a good plan to use for backups?

[Edited on 11-12-2004 by AdamM]


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## dkicklig (Dec 11, 2004)

> _Originally posted by AdamM_
> I am thinking about purchasing an external USB hard drive mainly for the purpose of backing up the digital family photos, a few docs and storing some MP3's. Do you guys think this is a good plan to use for backups?
> 
> [Edited on 11-12-2004 by AdamM]



I've heard of several people doing that and their quite happy with it.


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## AdamM (Dec 11, 2004)

[I've heard of several people doing that and their quite happy with it.[/quote]

Thank you.


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## fredtgreco (Dec 11, 2004)

> _Originally posted by AdamM_
> I am thinking about purchasing an external USB hard drive mainly for the purpose of backing up the digital family photos, a few docs and storing some MP3's. Do you guys think this is a good plan to use for backups?
> 
> [Edited on 11-12-2004 by AdamM]



Adam,

Circuit City had a couple of nice Maxtor and Western Digital External Drives for good prices:
http://tinyurl.com/3kvw8

you could probably get something good for about $125.

Another nice option is to spend $60 and get a conversion kit. It takes internal drives and converts them to external. You would do this if you had an extra internal drive or saw one really cheap - I saw one 160GB the day after Thanksgiving for $30 after rebate.
http://tinyurl.com/6xcnl


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## JohnV (Dec 11, 2004)

My son downloaded Limewire as part of a school project he was working on. And now I can't get rid of it. There is no "uninstall" with it. I can't even find it on the Add/Remove part of the Control Panel. But it runs automatically unless I manually turn it off by exiting the program from my toolbar. I have the same problem with Kapersky antivirus, which I tried for the fun of it a while back. Can't lose it. I am forever infected, it seems.

I am not at all enthused about my HP. Is there any way at all to stop the constant borrowing of files to run programs? It messes everything up. I can sometime play an entire game of Solitaire before the screen changes when I go from edit mode to read mode on the PB. And I have High Speed connection. 

Maybe a crash would be easier.


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## fredtgreco (Dec 11, 2004)

> _Originally posted by JohnV_
> My son downloaded Limewire as part of a school project he was working on. And now I can't get rid of it. There is no "uninstall" with it. I can't even find it on the Add/Remove part of the Control Panel. But it runs automatically unless I manually turn it off by exiting the program from my toolbar. I have the same problem with Kapersky antivirus, which I tried for the fun of it a while back. Can't lose it. I am forever infected, it seems.
> 
> I am not at all enthused about my HP. Is there any way at all to stop the constant borrowing of files to run programs? It messes everything up. I can sometime play an entire game of Solitaire before the screen changes when I go from edit mode to read mode on the PB. And I have High Speed connection.
> ...



John,

Limewire is a spyware type program.

You best bet is to try and run a spyware remover. If you tell me what spyware/antivirus/uninstaller programs you have, I could probably send you some stuff to help you clean up your computer. Let me know.


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## alwaysreforming (Dec 11, 2004)

John,
I had a similar problem some time back. My computer got infested with "something," I have no idea what; but I monkeyed around with it for a couple of weeks, tried spyware remover programs, etc.

What finally put the computer back to its former self was using the "Restore" feature, where you pick a date in the past and the computer removes everything that wasn't on it at that point.

You should try this. It just might fix everything.


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## JohnV (Dec 11, 2004)

Because of my financial situation, due to my losing my means of living because of illness, I have no antivirus program except my own careful care of how the computer is used. I use TrendMicro to find and remove any viruses that make it to my computer. I also use Ad-aware 6.0 with all the updates for spyware programs. 

To remove any viruses I always turn off the System Restore program before I run TrendMicro, and afterward turn it on again. But often the only way to remove viruses it to delete files. That's OK with me, since the only files I really want to save that aren't backed up on disk are documents, records of Puritan Board discussions, articles I need to read or have read and need reference to, or my own articles. 

I try not to let my computer be vital in any way; that's my real protection. Everything I need from the computer is on disc. And it all fits on twenty five floppies easily. I run TrendMicro often, and whenever I suspect anything. 


[rant mode=on]
I run Windows ME. Or try to. The computer has 20 gig, but thinks it needs to borrow files from other programs so that files aren't "needlessly" duplicated. Its got 20 gig, what's the worry? Man, I could store the library of Congress on this harddrive, and they worry about duplicated files? Obviously this computer is made to be infected sytematically, and that's the problem. HP thinks that all I'm going to do is look at porno and listen to Rock, watch stupid music videos, and play games. This computer is not made for reading Augustine, Calvin, Anselm, and the Puritan Board. [rant mode=off]


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## fredtgreco (Dec 11, 2004)

John,

I have to run out for a few hours. I will put together some old versions of Antivirus, spyware removal and other programs I have and don't use anymore and send them to you.

I'll send you an email in a few hours.


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## daveb (Dec 11, 2004)

John,

In case you're interested, this is a free anti-virus program. I use it at home and it seems pretty good.

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/


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## JohnV (Dec 11, 2004)

Dave:

I'll try it. I've tried various free programs, but find that they gum up the works, and that in the end I was better off doing as I had been without it. That's how I got Kapersky, and now I can't get it off, though it is turned off permanently. Again I supposed that the problem was the borrowed file approach this computer uses, so that everything works slower when you add something like this. I even had a free Norton try-out for a time, but I erased that really quick. It made my computer so slow that I could run around the block faster than it could change pages. I would be virus free, but the viruses seemed like a better option to me. 

However, I'll try it all the same. It can't hurt. If I can't remove it afterward, and it becomes a problem, then I'll just reprogram the whole system again. I've done that a few times now. When I do that I sometimes get a free trial of MacAfee again. I like them the best, because this computer originally came with it, and I had it for some time. So this computer is geared for it. I also get to retry Blue Squirrel for free too, a page printing program that saves ink and paper.


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## JohnV (Dec 11, 2004)

OK. Got it installed. Thanks Dave. I'll let you know how it works. I won't be impressed it all it does is tell me that I have a virus, and "Good luck!" It also needs to be able to remove them.


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## ChristianasJourney (Dec 11, 2004)

Sometimes the Symantec website will give you manuel instruction to remove a virus even if you don't have Norton. Also, keep watch in your local sale papers, it's not terribly unusual for some office supply stores (Staples, Office Depot, Office Max) to put a software program on sale, and then offer a rebate which brings the price down pretty close to $-0-.

[Edited on 13-12-2004 by ChristianasJourney]


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## JohnV (Dec 11, 2004)

Janice:

I've used that site a number of times, when I get really stuck on a particular virus.


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## JohnV (Dec 11, 2004)

> _Originally posted by alwaysreforming_
> John,
> I had a similar problem some time back. My computer got infested with "something," I have no idea what; but I monkeyed around with it for a couple of weeks, tried spyware remover programs, etc.
> 
> ...



Christopher:

I use that a lot. As long as I remember to turn the System Restore option on again after running TrendMicro. 

I ran my new virus program; it's installed now. And it removed a couple of trouble spots, and lets the computer run normally. So far so good.


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## turmeric (Dec 12, 2004)

John,
Of course you know the trick of not actually using an email program - just getting email off the browser? Netsky32 killed my Outlook program and I just left it that way and use the browser.


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## daveb (Dec 12, 2004)

> _Originally posted by JohnV_
> I ran my new virus program; it's installed now. And it removed a couple of trouble spots, and lets the computer run normally. So far so good.



Good to hear.


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## JohnV (Dec 12, 2004)

Meg:

I've got three e-mail programs. Originally I had a "subscribe for life for $10" Internet program. It allowed me to get a hotmail account. But, life was short, and the program was renewable at $20/mo. Cheap enough, but only allowed me some 50 hrs. That's enough for me, but not everyone else using this computer. 

In the meantime there were those free ad-driven I-net accounts, until they too began to cost evey month.

Then came High Speed. And with it an e-mail account. So I had two. But this one can only be accessed through Outlook. So, because it is attached to my server, it is automatically virus protected, just like hotmail. No worries there. 

Now I also have a g-mail account. And it too is virus protected. 

My kids use MSN messenger, which is virus protected, I believe. So the only danger I have is in attachments (with which I am very, very strict) due to new viruses, and in programs which put tracers in my computer system. So I always run Ad-aware to ward that off. It works well. I keep it updated.

But now this Limewire, which is a ready conduit for all kinds of viruses, and works even when you think its off, comes with an irremovable program, it seems. I just want to remove it. 

Now I have David's program, and it seems to work fine. I just got an e-mail from Fred, and the program ran a quick check on it. It was good, Fred; don't worry. And its not slowing my system down. I hope it works until I get Limewire off. But, if it does work well, I might just keep it on. I need a program like that so that I can do homework on the music I do for my friends at a local home for the handicapped. I'll see.


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## fredtgreco (Dec 12, 2004)

John,

I sent you a Gmail.


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## govols (Dec 12, 2004)

Spybot Search and Destroy is also an excellent one and it is free.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download


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## ChristianasJourney (Dec 12, 2004)

I was somebody looking for an external hard drive???

May I suggest overstock.com. I've never really bought anything from there, but it seems like they have good deals, and they do have a little bit of that type of stuff.


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## JohnV (Dec 12, 2004)

> _Originally posted by fredtgreco_
> John,
> 
> I sent you a Gmail.



I got it Fred. But I can't do the "rename" thing on the file. It's probably because its late and I'm running on autopilot. I'll give it a go tomorrow. Thanks. Many thanks.


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## Scott Bushey (Dec 16, 2004)

Well I rec'd my restoration CD's last night from HP; they didn't work. The hard-drive is toast! I will now wait for a new hard-drive............


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