PC Restore question.....

Question

Hello..guys........I have a Dell Dimension 8400,3.2 Prescott,2 GB,500 GB,XP Home SP 2 the pc was pruchased in January 2005......   right now my shut down times have become painfully slow.........it almost takes 15 minutes for the pc to shut down........i m not joking..........I plan to use symantec pc restore to fix the problem....i hope it works......     Hard disk 1: 160 gigs,partition C,windows is installed here...... Second physical hard disk ( installed later ) : 400 gigs.......f and g partitions......       I have heard that when i use pc restore,all the data that i have added later gets erased.........   My question is....:   Do I have to remove the SATA connectors and power connectors of the second hard disk before i start the pc restore function.........? or will the pc restore erase data only from the hard disk which the pc was originally shipped with.......?     Thanks......cheers......

dg1261 · Answer

'I have heard that when i use pc restore,all the data that i have added later gets erased.'   That statement is somewhat broad and misleading.  PC Restore replaces the second partition of the primary hard disk.  It does not touch any other partitions on that disk or any other disks.     'Do I have to remove the SATA connectors and power connectors of the second hard disk before i start the pc restore function.........? or will the pc restore erase data only from the hard disk which the pc was originally shipped with.......?'   PC Restore affects the 'first' hard disk in the system.  That means the one the bios sees as being first, regardless of which one was originally shipped with the system.   You'll probably be okay either way, but temporarily disconnecting the second hard disk is such a simple safeguard, why would you tempt Murphy's Law by leaving it connected?

twl845 · Answer

You mention that your pc takes 15 minutes to shut down. Shortly after I bought my 4600, I installed Norton AV 2005. After about 3 weeks I noticed that my shut down time was getting longer and longer. It went from 23 seconds to about 50 seconds. Then one day as I shut down and waited for it to finish shutting down, I got the blue screen of death. After that I got the blue screen every time I shut down. I called tech support, and after he tried a few things he wanted me to reinstall windows. Luckily I refused, saying reinstallation isn't a fix all. I clicked on my Dell solutions center on the main menu, and found a page that suggested that the problem might be Norton trying to scan the floppy disk drive, and I should uninstall Norton to see if that clears it up. I did and it did. No more long shut downs, and no more blue screen of death. Another example of Norton creating more problems than it fixes. I have since installed ZoneAlarm Security Suite and have no problems.

Fixit_Sam · Answer

No, in fact after a format/reinstall, you will have to reinstall drivers, reinstall all apps, restore backed up data....... whereas after a PC Restore, all you have to do is update Windows and restore backed up data.

Sam.

Message Edited by Fixit_Sam on 10-06-2005 04:41 PM

robin1265 · Answer

Thank you guys........by the way i have NIS 2005 antispyware edition installed in my computer..........so that might be causing the shutdown delays.......

i m seriously thinking of buying the " Zone labs internet security suite " NIS always has a lot of processes running in the task manager........

and also.......will the symantec pc restore and a reformat/reinstall have the same effect...?

Cheers.....

Message Edited by robin1265 on 10-06-2005 04:33 PM

Fixit_Sam · Answer

Hi,   I think the data on 2nd HD should remain intact, but for precaution sake, you should disconnect the cables from the 2nd HD prior to running the PC Restore.   Sam.

robin1265 · Answer

Thanks.....buddy.......

dragondad33 · Answer

Zone alarm is a fantastic program. I agree with you in the respect that Norton 'sometimes' does create more problems than solutions, but deleting and uninstalling your anti-virus to 'fix' a problem isn't too smart. It takes longer to shut down your machine with it, for the fact that it's scanning Every portion of your hard drive, to ensure that you don't have a virus, which will contaminate all other files when you least expect it. It doesn't matter which anti-virus program you have, they will all slow your PC. The best way to speed up your PC and keep your anti-virus is to download, and make a copy of, some type of startup program, which will alllow you to start a selected group of programs, instead of everything you have recently downloaded, such as Download Accellerator Plus, ICQ,...etc. This type of program will not only speed up the bootup and shutdown progress, you have control over what is running in the background. If you were to hit 'CTRL-ALT DEL', you would see all of the processes that are running in the background, without your knowledge, and without even touching a key. Also, try cleaning up your hard drive, and doing a defrag every now and then.

twl845 · Answer

ZoneAlarm doesn't slow anything down, and it's a leaner app. As long as your not online, you don't have to worry about uninstalling your AV. There's nothing for it to protect when you're off line.

Windows General

PC Restore question.....

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