ScriptUO
Casa de TrailMyx => Hardware Design => Topic started by: Ultima on May 25, 2011, 12:52:20 PM
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Am I in the right forum!? ;)
What all do I need to do? Format etc.....
I'm using an an existing hard drive that I Wiped with CCleaner. Is that drive considered formated now and ready to load an OS onto?
I'm going to try and put Win 7 on...is NTSF the correct format?
Any feedback or pointers in the right direction will be appreciated!
I'm learning as I go....Trial and error! :)
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I'm using an an existing hard drive that I Wiped with CCleaner. Is that drive considered formated now and ready to load an OS onto?
Usually the OS installation will offer you the opportunity to format the drive, I don't think CCleaner is the same as formatting.
I'm going to try and put Win 7 on...is NTSF the correct format?
NTFS
You can do it!!
X
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12x is correct on the above two questions CCleaner is not what you will need to do an actual true format. If you are installing a new OS for a CD it will havea utility for formating the drive if you boot from the CD and NT File system is what format the new windows 7 will be using.
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I recently bought this utility for cloning hard drives. Works great!
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/index.html
I used their free utility for migration. It worked so well, I bought the full product.
They have several good utilities.
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I successfully installed Windows 7! Hooray! BIOS was giving me a little trouble not reading the CD-ROM to load windows but I worked it out.
What should I be installing first. I'm going for AVG, CCLeaner and Malewarebytes and google chrome.
Anything else that makes the top priority list or any other advice from the Guru's here before I load the EC Client and surf the web?
What am I forgetting? Remember I'm broke and a soon to be starving student. ;)
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Really just AVG. The other ones are for when things have already gone wrong and you are trying to recover. If you have a fresh install, then you are pretty much golden.
I'm still a Firefox fan, so although Google Chrome is becoming more of a possible favorite.
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Thanks TM! I'll leave off the other two for now (CCleaner and Malwarebytes)
Video Drivers and direct X then off to patch for the EC Client.
What about the BIOS...should I search for the latest?
And what was the verdict on Windows 7 or do I need to sift through those threads?
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The typical rule of thumb for BIOS, is "if it's working, then don't patch" I've killed my MB by patching. Only when you have weird function should you patch your BIOS.
Otherwise, you are right on with the priority. Video drivers and DirectX. Make sure Windows is patched fully first.
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First off, congratulations!
Second, go to www.ninite.com and it will have the latest versions of all the free software you need! Only pick what you want to install and it will create an easy to use installer that will silently install ALL of those programs!
Here's what I recommend:
Chrome (browser)
VLC (media player)
Flash/FlashIE
Java
DO NOT DO .NET (let Microsoft install it as part of windows updates)
Paint.NET (if you want a good photo/image editor)
Adobe Reader
CutePDF (for generating PDF's of anything you want to print instead of wasting paper)
Microsoft Essentials
AVG
Dropbox (if you want, I can send you a referral so we both get more space! this is for storing all your important files and having them auto-backed up)
ImgBurn (if you ever need to burn ISO files of DVDs or such, many people won't need this)
CDBurnerXP (if you want to burn data and/or music CD's)
7zip OR WinRAR (either one works, I use WinRAR)
Make sure you run all of your Windows Updates as well (there will probably be tons of them!)
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But First make sure you have all the patches from Microsoft
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Also
hide the taskbar with win 7
i found this which is really sweet.
http://www.aviassin.com/taskbareliminator (http://www.aviassin.com/taskbareliminator)
i hit control t and the taskbar goes away completely. I hit control t again it iy comes back!
Fabulous for Windows 7 users!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Also
hide the taskbar with win 7
i found this which is really sweet.
http://www.aviassin.com/taskbareliminator (http://www.aviassin.com/taskbareliminator)
i hit control t and the taskbar goes away completely. I hit control t again it iy comes back!
Fabulous for Windows 7 users!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ugh! I can't stand not having it on my screen! Just get more screens so it's out of your way!!! ;D ;)
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Ugh! I can't stand not having it on my screen! Just get more screens so it's out of your way!!! ;D ;)
hehehehehehe - you and Bill Gates!
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Welll if your broke and student .. our probably going to need an office equiv.... www.openoffice.org is decent. ALthough i still use office 2000 :)
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If you're a student you can actually get MS Office for next to nothing but I can vouch for OpenOffice, even though it's owned by Oracle now, it is an excellent productivity suite with MS Office file compatibility. Some people are unhappy with the whole Oracle thing though and many are hopping onto LibreOffice (http://www.libreoffice.org/download) which I hear great things about but have not yet had a chance to download and use.
Browser - I can't get on the Chrome bandwagon, I just can't do it. Firefox here although I have no bad feelings for IE and use it a lot still.
Image Editing - Gimp, hands down. The clear leader with an extremely extensive list of add-ons also freely available (see how many Gim posts Cerv has made in Cool Links)
Multimedia player - VLC for sure
Archiving/Compression - you MUST use 7zip!
Text editor - Notepad++ with no question
Although I own Office 97, 2000, 2003, and 2007 I don't even have it installed on my new PC anymore. I'm straight opensource now other than the very few games I play. It's kind of neat to be able to do so much for so little!
X
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Well i carn't live without these .. but you might not need them
skype - older version latest crashes to much for me.. ver 4.2 (international family)
Trillian - again old version v3 basic (free)
If I was doing a fresh install i probably would look for a substitute for Trillian... as i don't like the direction they took which is why i'm using an old version. Same with Skype i'm sure Microsoft is going to make changes on that when they take full ownership
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I came to like Pigdin when Trillian was acting wonky. Works well in Linux too.
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Ah right, forgot about both Pidgon and Skype - have both of those loaded as well.
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I also like IrfanView as an editor for graphics
and screenhunter 5 free for screen capturs.
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Thankyou everyone for providing good references and feedback! I'll be looking into some of those programs one by one.
Bad news is my activation key didn't work. I ended up borrowing my friends Win 7 Disk and since we both had Dell I though the OEM might work but looks like it's digitally encrypted for each specific computer. Win 7 loaded up with everything without asking for a product key so I thought I was in the clear.
So now I'm not sure what to do...
It's kind of a bummer that if you buy something you really don't have a hard copy or any type of "ownership" over it. Like what happens with these student/digital downloads. It's that computer and that computer only. What if I my hard drive dies.
Looks like one of my hard drives may be going bad so I'm hesitant to actually buy Win 7 key or the 'Family Pack'. And the other one I reinstalled on has issues which is why I had to attempt and reinstall.
This has been a good thread and I'll bookmark it for future refernce when I figure out what route I'm going to take.
Thanks guys I do appreciate! 8)
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Thankyou everyone for providing good references and feedback! I'll be looking into some of those programs one by one.
Bad news is my activation key didn't work. I ended up borrowing my friends Win 7 Disk and since we both had Dell I though the OEM might work but looks like it's digitally encrypted for each specific computer. Win 7 loaded up with everything without asking for a product key so I thought I was in the clear.
So now I'm not sure what to do...
It's kind of a bummer that if you buy something you really don't have a hard copy or any type of "ownership" over it. Like what happens with these student/digital downloads. It's that computer and that computer only. What if I my hard drive dies.
Looks like one of my hard drives may be going bad so I'm hesitant to actually buy Win 7 key or the 'Family Pack'. And the other one I reinstalled on has issues which is why I had to attempt and reinstall.
This has been a good thread and I'll bookmark it for future refernce when I figure out what route I'm going to take.
Thanks guys I do appreciate! 8)
So what's going on, you can't actually login to the computer now?
The activation key was probably already registered by your friend so you would have to call MS and "move" it (although OEM can throw a twist in that process). You can easily download other activation keys, even directly from Microsoft, but you do need to own a license eventually or install a crack which is not appropriate discussion for these boards.
Windows 7 is a PITA like that. If you can get to a DOS prompt you can typ "slmgr /rearm" which should buy you a little time at least.
X
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So what's going on, you can't actually login to the computer now?
The activation key was probably already registered by your friend so you would have to call MS and "move" it (although OEM can throw a twist in that process). You can easily download other activation keys, even directly from Microsoft, but you do need to own a license eventually or install a crack which is not appropriate discussion for these boards.
Windows 7 is a PITA like that. If you can get to a DOS prompt you can typ "slmgr /rearm" which should buy you a little time at least.
X
Yes the activation key is registered to my roommate who still needs it. So no moving it around, he was just being a nice guy in trying to help me out. It was worth a shot.
It didn't always used to be this way. :-[
I can still login and access my PC however under System Information it states it will activiate in 3 days or activate now which I tried and says invalid license/key. So the countdown has begun....
I googled what happens when the activation timer expires and I think the consensus is you get a black screen of death asking for the license key. :o
It's really a bummer because I was already liking the look and feel of Windows 7.
I'm looking at all these programs and they're so damn expensive and on top of that it's like a one shot deal. Madness...
I understand these companies (Microsoft in this case) want to protect themselves from theft however once "I" buy something from them "I" should be able to use that product in perpetuity on any computer I want.
Am I preaching to the choir?
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Do the rearm I mention above. You just need a valid key at some point and away you go. You buy one copy you can use it on one machine at a time, you can move it if you change PC's. I believe it has to do with the CPU, not the hard drive although I may be "mis-remembering".
Slmgr is the microsoft activation management utility, although I've only used it on Windows 7 Pro so not positive this is applicable to Home. Give it a whirl, you are usually allowed 5 rearms.
slmgr /rearm
X
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Well u can always go back to using winxp pro... its still a decent os.
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I think I actually got the EC client running under Linux. I just wanted to see if it was possible, then I deleted it. ;)
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WAIT BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE!!!
Getting a valid key is quite simple!!! First, open the activation dialog, choose the Activate By Phone option...it should give you a number to call. You will need his original product key (no worries, both his and yours will be activated fine afterwards). When prompted, provide them with the product key (or activation key or whatever it tells you to give them) and when they ask how many computers it is installed on, simply say ONE. You will then be provided with a key that you enter into the activation dialog box. Click OK/Apply/Whatever and you're both good to go!! I've done this a million times with multiple versions of all different Microsoft OS's and it's actually quite painless.
If you want to know what this technically is doing, here's the details. Microsoft allows 1-3 activations to process regularly. After it hits the "limit," you simply need to call them and follow this process. This is because someone may be reformatting their computer once a year and they would have exceeded their max. for activations. As long as you tell them it's only on 1 computer, they'll generate a new key for you every time. I have my personal copy of Win7 64bit installed on 6 computers (simultaneously and all receive windows updates perfectly fine) and my 32bit copy on 10+ computers (that's the one I let friends use if they need a free copy).
If you have any problems, just post here!
Make sure you do this before the activation period ends! Otherwise it will be a pain in the butt!
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My roommates Win7 installation disk came with a labtop where Win7 was already installed I'm not sure if that makes any difference. I'm not seeing a Certificate of Authority (multi-color label) that contains a product key anywhere on his labtop. My two Dell desktops have the COA label but I don't see anything on his labtop. I'll ask him when he gets back.
Good to know that if I was to end up buying Win7 I could reactivate on another computer if I had hard drive failure. I've had problems with both my computers and I'm not 100% sure if it's the hardware or the software. So that does instill a little confidence in me.
I'm going to have to buy Microsoft Office for school which is why I want to make sure I have a stable virus free computer going into my school term. I'm attending school to study in PC Applications (Excel, Word, Database) to get Associate of Science Degree in 'Microcomputer Applications'. The goal is to get some skills to get into an office environment. Perhaps get certification in several of the Microsoft Application to better sell myself to a prospective employer. Job market is still crazy guys, it's been bad for years now. I thought things would have improved just a little but it hasn't which is why I'm headed back to school.
I'm also have tempted to look into IT and working as a computer tech but I'll be starting from ground up. Hey I installed the hard drive and it was fun messing around with the stuff. It'd be nice to take an introductory class to see where I have the most aptitude. Many of the classes I want to take aren't part of my school curriculum. CAD, Quickbooks, Compter Tech IT Class...I'm wanting to take those classes as well and get well rounded but I have to do all my undergraduate work.
I'm scheduled to take Microsoft Excel 2007! I don't understand why they're offering those courses when it's 2011-12 and there is Excel 2010 out there. Kinda ticks me off. I want to get schooled on the latest and most current programs!
Enough rambling...
Thanks again all of you for the solid input.
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I've done this before without issue. Sometimes when my BIOS updates, it forces Microsoft and their blood-leechs into action.
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No luck on the Win 7. However I just found a Windows Vista CD with a code. I knew it was around here somewhere....
Win 7 will have to wait. :-[
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The end result was me formatting and reinstalling Windows Vista on both of PC's! Thanks again to everyone who chimed in on this thread to offer up advice.
Both the Classic Client and the EC Client are patching normally and working.
It was good to learn about some of the other programs you guys are using and support.
TM your willing to vouch Pigdin and that it's secure?
ICQ is really bad...you get someone trying to add you every few minutes!
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I hate ICQ with a passion, but love the underlying service. I still prefer Trillian like EN does (the older version), but Pigden does a pretty good job. As for security, who knows. I don't do anything over ICQ that really requires any security anyhow, so I never really cared. I care more about the service getting hijacked and spammed.
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ICQ Tip: Always put yourself as Invisible unless you're transferring a file (in which case you're required to be Online I believe). Then add all your friends to your Invisible list so they can see you, but the spammers can't! Works great for me!