Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   Whiterabbit-uk
   Games Guru

   Hi Cop mum, unfortunately, there's not much you can do if you have to reinstall windows unless you know some tricks regarding the registry, that I can't talk about as it would jeopardize the whole project.

   The point of the project is to give you an extended play with all the games, (and applications) that is until the dreaded problems that mean you have to reinstall windows or do a full format, (which destroys the registry, though if you're lucky enough to be able to just repair your windows installation the registry should remain intact. The worst that can happen though is a hard disc failure. There's no reason to worry though, especially if you keep your machine in tip top health. Plenty of cooling to ensure the computer doesn't overheat, and regular clean ups of useless stuff, preferably manually as opposed to using a proprietary cleaner. Also don't use uninstallers if you wish to keep the registration details in the registry.

   I retired my oldest machine once I'd got around 150 games from the giveaway project as it was full of other 'bought games as well anyway and was getting rather full. I've added new fans and HDD coolers to ensure the drives don't overheat. :) I never add anything else to that one apart from new scores when I decide to play a game, lol.

   The computer is worth far more for just the games and some of the applications that I find useful but not enough to want to buy the applications than the hardware it contains. That's one of my ways of keeping the games for as long as possible, though my favorites I will buy anyway as i want the ability to be able to transfer them from computer to computer etc.

   Posted 16 years ago #
2. 

   copmom
   Member

   Whiterabbit.. you can private message me if you'd like! I'm familiar with the registry.. have had to 'fix' things in it quite often! (I'm LOL because of you calling me Cop mum.. you must be in the UK! Right?) Would doing a complete backup on an external hard drive save the day for me?? Have a 300 gig external.
   I spent the better part of last night undoing a whole bunch of old DOS games on my old 233 machine that's over 10 years old .. one of the grands messed it up and it wouldn't boot past the start up screen. Finally fixed that, but took all the oldie games off since it's was win95/upgraded to win98 and not too friendly to DOS and SLOW! Also still have my 733 as a back up to this machine. Gee, this is getting old too.. over 2 yrs.
   Did get a whole bunch of the oldies on a link someone put in the forums a few days ago that work fine on this one. WinXP SP2, like biomenace, cosmo, duke nukem, etc. My old favorites!
   As for keeping my machine in top top health, I do vacuum out the inside of the tower periodically for the fans and power supply (we do have dogs), run spyware programs, anti virus, and all that.. SO, once again, would a backup to the external HD solve my concerns??

   Posted 16 years ago #
3. 

   Whiterabbit-uk
   Games Guru

   Hi copmom,

   Sorry for the name change. Yep, I'm a UK resident at the moment (we're thinking of emigrating to Aussie land once the medico legal battle over my compensation has been resolved - hopefully before my eldest starts secondary school - he's in year four at the moment, so we have two more years before the decision is out of our hands as I don't want to disrupt the childrens education once they have started their secondary education, though I know kids are versatile I still think the wrench would affect them too much).

   Anyway how do I PM you? I've checked in my profile, yours and the messages link at the top of the page, but it seems like only the moderators have this facility as I can't find any links that allow me to PM you? PM me if it's possible, so that I can reply to you. :)

   I know what you mean about the kids messing up the computers. Only yesterday one of my kids or their friends have changed the password to log onto one the computer so now I can't log on. U&nfortunately it's one that only has the administrators profile, so i can't even get in via a back door, so i'm going to have to disconnect the disc, and instal windows onto another disc, then format the one that the password has been canged, which is a little annoying as I've only just reinstalled most of the games that the family play on it.

   In answer to you question about backing up onto an external drive. That works only so long as the windows registry from the computer you installed the games onto remains intact because the most important part is the registry entries, which aren't easy to find ;) though you can always create a mirror image using acronis or another back up utility. I've been looking into saving the restore points but so far have not got around to seeing if that works after a full install as I never get around to saving the restore points onto a disc, and then when I do reinstall windows, which has been quite often recently because of all the building I've been doing, I forget to even try. Most of the applications I find very useful and use I've bought as I do like to get the upgrades, though wih the games this is not as important as they rarely get upgraded.

   Posted 16 years ago #
4. 

   BuBBy
   Teh adnim

   PM is available only between admin/mod and users.

   Posted 16 years ago #
5. 

   copmom
   Member

   Aha.. thanks BuBBy for answering that. I thought we could because when I log in at the top it says: You have no new messages. Oh well! So, Whiterabbit.. no pm's here!
   And Whiterabbit, you're right, the important things I do have on the original program disks/cd's, etc.
   As for your moving and legal battles.. those things DO take an awfully long time, so don't hold your breath!
   Oh boy, right now my stomachs growling.. have a 'fasting' blood lab later today around 1PM and that means nothing to eat/drink and I'm hungry! *-)

   Posted 16 years ago #
6. 

   Anonymous
   Unregistered

   You could always PM Jason (BuBBy) or I and we will pass the message on.

   Posted 16 years ago #
7. 

   copmom
   Member

   Thanks Lee! Hear that Whiterabbit? There's help for us yet!

   Posted 16 years ago #
8. 

   Anonymous
   Unregistered

   Yes as long as it is a serious question and within the bounds of reality.

   I don't have the lotto jackpot winning numbers, if I did I keep that to myself.

   Posted 16 years ago #

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