Smudger Snippets: Restore
Created | Updated Sep 5, 2010
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
A System Restore.
Well here I am again, back to square one after doing a complete system restore on this laptop computer, which was a lot more work than I thought, as after you have finished it you have to put everything back onto it. Luckily I had transferred everything that was on this laptop to my external hard drive, which Mk2 bought me as a birthday present last year. Everything was going well and I was slowly getting everything back in order, until it came to my web-cam. I downloaded and installed the driver it needed for the sound, while I was downloading some other stuff I needed.
It was while I was in the process of going that, when one of my mates from an ex service I use, who lives in Canada, gave me a call up on MSN Messenger. Well, it wasn't really "a call" like we normally have through our web-cams, where we can see and talk to each other in real time, it was the typing screen that popped up, you know the one where you type to each other.
Anyway, I asked him if he ever got his web-cam working, as the last time we talked he only had sound and no picture, so he suggested we try it out. It was then I noticed that I had no sound on mine, but did have a really clear picture. So I told him that I would have to go and sort the problem out, and would call him up when I had finished, and set about finding out what was wrong.
It turned out that the driver I had installed from that download was the wrong one for my computer, so I plugged in the external hard drive, and transferred the original over, and installed that, and that was it, problem solved. I should have done that in the first place really, as the problem would never have occurred.
The one I needed was a 60.1 Realtek; I had assumed that it was on the driver disc I had installed earlier. There are so many documents and programs you have to reinstall it's easy to forget the odd one. I think after the last three evenings I have eventually finished installing it all back again. Even the list of "My Bookmarks" took me ages to do, as I seem to have too many sites on my listing.
I only wish that we did not have to do these system restores, and I can think of a hundred reasons why not to do one, but the fact is we have to do them every few months, depending on how much you use your computer. Otherwise it will eventually stop working altogether. The first sign that your computer needs a restore is, your computer starts running slower than normal, and no matter how many "clean outs" 1you give it, it never improves the speed.
Then you will start to notice that the screen freezes more often, and that some of your documents and programs start to disappear, that's when you know you it needs a restore. All it is really is emptying the hard drive, and cleaning it of all the clutter, back to factory settings you might say, then put everything back onto it. You will notice the difference when it's finished, but I think the next time I do one, I will make a note of all the programs that I remove, before I transfer them over to the external hard drive.
The whole thing is like one of those jobs you keep putting off because you know it's going to be frustrating and upset everything in the process, a bit like decorating your house really - you know it will look great when it's finished, but you don't really want to start doing it. Ah well, I am off to call my mate in Canada now, and try to pretend that it was easy to do, but I think he will know that I am only kidding myself.
