I've introduced Terril to my "standard tech"

[Terril park]

Paul,

in my experience, Micro$haft is not as bad as the people who use their products.

For example, the typical (l)user will install WinXP dump every shit on it, and never bother their ass about doing updates like applying an SP (Service Pack). They don't bother doing even the least amount of maintenance and when the system gets hosed, then of course it is Micro$hafts fault.

Now OK MS has done its part at times to blacken their own name, two memorable occasions were SP6 for WinNT and of course Vista - the Edsel of Operating Systems .

I personally have had Win2K Pro and then WinXP Pro as my workhorse OS for the past eight or so years. I have had my systems up and running 24/7 for all that time, and very rarely have I had to reboot for reasons other than Hardware/OS/Application upgrades/updates.

I follow very simple and to me obvious rules, and I cannot say that I have much sympathy for those who complain about MS for the main part, because they shoot themselves in their own foot.

What really annoys me though is the sheer incompetence of what is known as "Tech-Support" by most companies.

Ask Salescritters or Marketroids and they consider Tech-Support as a post sales expense, and when it comes to the corporate trough, they have their snouts in it so deep that they begrudge Tech-Support the few pennies they receive. These same morons also begrudge the IT department of their own companies the resources to keep the corporate infrastructure going.

With regard to Tech-Support however, when I had an influence in it, I taught my boys that it was actually pre-sales and most certainly not post-sales.

The reason? Well if someone buys our product and has problems with it, and we do not get the problems solved what chance do you think that someone will buy the next version? No matter how much advertising is done for a new version, the customer remembers the shit they had with the previous version and they will not buy it. That bias will be carried forward to other versions down the line for years afterwards.

I always drilled it into my boys that it is very difficult to build up a good name, but it is very easy to lose it.

I digress, if you want me to post the simple rules for keeping the system alive, then I have no problem doing so. I know I must be doing something right, because I have no reason to whine about MS making my system unstable.

One thing which might be beneficial is if, before I post, I send you a draft so that you can look at it with a jaundiced eye and help me revise it so that it is comprehensible to someone who is not technically minded.

This is an interesting parallel. Senior policy re SCN is " Deliver what you promise."

This of course is a universal policy which it seems you are applying.

The green on white is not all bullshit. Selecting the important points is not easy.

 

[Nec_V20]

Terril,

This is an interesting parallel. Senior policy re SCN is " Deliver what you promise."

This of course is a universal policy which it seems you are applying.

The green on white is not all bullshit. Selecting the important points is not easy.

weird how we can find common-ground isn't it?

I would object though if you were trying to subsume my observations to Scientology per se, but drawing parallels with regard to different points of view can be a very rewarding endeavour with regard to a peaceful coexistence.

As it says in my sig line (translated), "There is, and we have all witnessed it in this house, a normative power of the factual. There is however no fact replacing normative power of the polemical".

BTW if you don't mind then I'd like to post the finished document (of which I have posted Parts One and Two above) in the "Tech outside the CoS" area. I find the irony just too delicious to pass up.

 

[Nec_V20]

Terril,

BTW here is the perfect song for the McCain Presidential Campaign

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G4O5AMSevc

 

[Terril park]

Terril,



weird how we can find common-ground isn't it?

I would object though if you were trying to subsume my observations to Scientology per se, but drawing parallels with regard to different points of view can be a very rewarding endeavour with regard to a peaceful coexistence.

As it says in my sig line (translated), "There is, and we have all witnessed it in this house, a normative power of the factual. There is however no fact replacing normative power of the polemical".

BTW if you don't mind then I'd like to post the finished document (of which I have posted Parts One and Two above) in the "Tech outside the CoS" area. I find the irony just too delicious to pass up.

Please do. I'll forward it to the FZ.

 

[Nec_V20]

Terril,

Please do. I'll forward it to the FZ.

I suppose the four days I spent getting your box in shape could be described as "What's true for me is now true for you"

 

[Nec_V20]

Please do. I'll forward it to the FZ.

It would be nice if you gave some input into what you don't understand.

I can only write it - YOU can make it better. That's why I asked Paul to help me in the first place. He has really done a "bully job" to quote Teddy Roosevelt.

 

[Mojo]

Hey Nec,

I have two systems/hard drives. One is XP the other win 2000 NT (pro edition).

Can I put both hard drives in one case?

The idea of a back up drive is appealing. Two other questions,

#1. If I just re-format the one drive (win2000) do I need to install XP on it to use it as a back up drive? for the XP drive?

#2. If I no longer have my original XP OS disc (which I don't), can I just copy the whole XP drive/data over to the re-formatted drive, then erase everything on it but the XP OS, and go from there?

If these questions seem stupid to you, I apologize. They're at minimum embarrassing for me. Lol.

Mojo

 

[Nec_V20]

Mojo,

there are a few different ways to sort that out.

1) You can have both OS on the same hard-drive and you can choose which one to boot from.

2) You can have them on separate hard-drives in the same system and choose which one you want to boot from

3) You could get yourself VMware and install various Operating Systems to run at the same time including for instance Linux under WinXP. I've set up an entire virtual corporate network on my single PC with VMware (running three instances of Win2K Server one instance of Netware 5.1 and one instance of Linux all at the same time.

If you just want to copy over the WinXP Pro OS from one drive to the other, then that is quite easy to accomplish. Take the drive out of your Win2K box, and whack it into the WinXP box and jumper it to either run as a slave on the primary IDE interface or leave it as master and connect it to the secondary IDE interface.

With Acronis Disk Director you can quite literally copy your WinXP boot partition from the one drive to the other. No hassle no mess.

Another way of doing it without Acronis would be to wipe out the partition(s) on the Win2K drive with the Windows Disk Management (click on Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management) then create a new Primary Partition and format it with NTFS.

When you have done that then click on Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Backup and make a backup of your WinXP installation. Then just restore the backup to the new drive. What you have to back up are the "Windows" directory, the "Documents and Settings" directory and most importantly make sure you have put a check in the "System State" box at the bottom of the backup selection.

If you have any hassle, then you can give me a call on Skype (my username is Nec_V20) and I can walk you through it. If you don't have Skype then you can get it here http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/download/skype/windows/ It costs you nothing, and you can call any other Skype user for free. Also it is completely anonymous.

It's a hell of a lot easier and more convenient with Acronis Disk Director.

I'll be going into that later in the document I'm putting together (look back a couple of posts).

Even the first two parts should be useful to you though.

 

[Nec_V20]

BTW, with regard to the document I am creating or with regard to a computer problem anyone is welcome to Skype me and I will try to talk them through a problem.

The thing is I cannot tailor the document to suit all levels of expertise.

I know that I slag (l)users, but that is just fun. I don't make fun of people who may not be very technically minded and who get in contact with me, be it via the board, a PM or Skype (my Skype address is Nec_V20.

Skype would be the best bet, because then I can explain things in a lot more detail. It's free and anonymous.

The easiest way is to click on the little green Skype button in the header of my post.

 

[Terril park]

BTW, with regard to the document I am creating or with regard to a computer problem anyone is welcome to Skype me and I will try to talk them through a problem.

The thing is I cannot tailor the document to suit all levels of expertise.

I know that I slag (l)users, but that is just fun. I don't make fun of people who may not be very technically minded and who get in contact with me, be it via the board, a PM or Skype (my Skype address is Nec_V20.

Skype would be the best bet, because then I can explain things in a lot more detail. It's free and anonymous.

The easiest way is to click on the little green Skype button in the header of my post.

This asshole really knows his tech. Its truly a golden opportunity for anyone with problems. Besides, it keeps him so busy he can't insult me.

 

[Nec_V20]

Terril,

Besides, it keeps him so busy he can't insult me.

Nothing could ever keep me that busy.

You know that you will always have a special place in my chain-locker .. er .. rendition location .. er .. shit what's the word I am looking for oh yes the lump of granite that pumps my blood (which thanks to you still has the red cells battling against the brandy).