Holy Crap that was really unpleasant. I haven't done a system reinstall in years and hope I don't have to do one again for a while. It only took two days. Only.
On the up side, I ended up losing very little data: just my stash of old emails, and that only because Microshaft is so paranoid about having their software copied that they locked the Windows folder, where the mail is stored, out of the total system backup I did before I wiped the C drive. My drive is partitioned, so the D drive wasn't even touched, but I had to reload all my programs. And that gave me a nice opportunity to do some weeding, including a lot of the old reference programs I'd been using when I had dial-up. So I've got a lot of space on my internal HD now, and a new anti-virus program that has already caught two beasties PC-Cillin missed. And it's free! Bless Mrs. Hamill for recommending Avast!
On the down side, I've lost the copy of Word 2003 I had through AKRF, which means I have to buy a new one. I love giving money to Microsnot. Not. Could have been much worse though. And at least I don't have to wait until the 6th to have Intertubes on my desktop again. And everything is more or less back to normal, otherwise, except for my Advanced Font Viewer, for which I've lost my registration. I think I probably have a few fonts to reinstall, too, and my monitor color to reset, but I think everything else is working now. Phew.
I sympathise. I installed Office 2003 on Monday and spent Tuesday with it 'loading down updates' (in a loop). Now I am getting two of all my emails.
Posted by: quirkyartist | January 23, 2008 at 04:47 PM