having trouble with viruses on my computer, decided to start over fresh, need to save all the programs on my computer
2006-12-14 00:41:37 · 4 answers · asked by freddy m 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Other - Computers
If you are formatting your hard drive and want to save the pograms, you can use cds or a second hard drive or a large jump drive, however, if you expect to just save the folders and files onto removable media and then transfer them back and have the programs work, you're going to find it won't. All you need to save is the installation files of the programs and your documents and settings folder....if you don't have the install files saved to your hard drive, you'll either have to download them or re-install from the original source (cd). XP has built-in file and settings transfer, Nero does a good job of backing up files and folders as well as compressing them, you could just do a "copy to" or if you have one available, install a second hard drive as a slave, and copy the files over to that...then reinstall windows, and you can partition the hard drive to have one partition for the operating system and one for programs and files....that way no matter how many times you have to reinstall, you don't need to reinstall any programs.
Either way, you need hardware that allows for the backup to be run, either a cd or dvd burner, a large jump drive (at least 2gb) an external hard drive, or a second hard drive.
2006-12-14 00:56:38 · answer #1 · answered by Helping Since 1969 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the Virus is in one of the programs you are saving, then you are saving the Virus as well. Back-ups need to be done when the machine is healthy, then you re-install the healthy version if you encounter problems. There are free virus scanners I would try first, but if nothing works you are going to need installation discs. If it is Windows XP, then you also have restore points that you can use as an option. Restore the PC to an earlier date b4 you started to have the problems.
2006-12-14 08:49:29 · answer #2 · answered by Brian R 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First, get a CD Burner (If you can afford it, one with CD-RW capabilites so that you can re-erase your data if you need to refresh your computer again).
Secondly, get a software package such as Nero which can burn your files to the CD (be sure to make it a Data CD while using the program).
Third, make sure you get CD's that are label-friendly, some of them react badly to magic marker scribble.
2006-12-14 08:46:20 · answer #3 · answered by Matthew M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do you have a CD or DVD burner if so, then you need a Cd or DVD burner software where you can get for free. go to download.com and you should find something good.
2006-12-14 08:45:26 · answer #4 · answered by cobo6 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋