# It's Spring Out



## cdru (Dec 4, 2003)

You can always tell when it's spring out. The grass starts growing. Birds start chirping. You notice your next door neighbor's daughter "grew up" over the winter. Oh yeah, you get to do your bi-annual (if not more frequent) reload of Windows XP.

It had been going so well. Really no problems since I won it last October. I've noticed the system has become progressively slower the past couple of weeks. Last night it was almost to the point that it wasn't usable. I decided to do a reboot, chkdsk, and a defrag. Now it boots, but just sits there refusing to log anyone in. Of course things like this always seem to happen right in the middle of big projects...


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

Just out of curiosity, do you wipe the disk and do a fresh install or a repair?


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## cdru (Dec 4, 2003)

I've done both. My day job use to be a system administrator and we'd try repairs as they were usually quicker. If that failed, then wipe and do a fresh install. At home, I prefer to do clean installs. Repairs may fix the problem, but it still leaves all the other digital entrails from past programs lingering around. 

The only problem is I have to backup all my files that I don't want to lose, which means I get to spend the evening swapping drives in and out. I'm hoping that the files on the drive are still intact and it's just a registry fubar or something recoverable with a fresh install to a spare drive.


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

Yep, I agree. I prefer fdisk and a fresh install for the reasons you stated. The last time I re-installed XP I had to call MS and get a *40* digit one time activation code and explain to the CSR I was just putting in a new drive.


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## cdru (Dec 4, 2003)

That's why I like my corporate license copy I got when I was still in college. $5, never having to worry about (re)activation, and I can install it on as many of my own computers as I want.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

I do mine more like monthly  I’m real anal about my computers and have to have them a specific way. On this computer, the machine has to go from off to fully booted up in 25 seconds or less and the status bar on the Windows XP slash screen must take 3.5 ‘trips’ or less. If at anytime both either of these conditions are not met F10 gets hit . In the year and a half that I owned this computer I’ve probably done about 30 destructive factory restores. It’s like clockwork in 2 hours and 15 short steps.

After the restore is complete, I:

1)	Take start menu, theme, control panel and login prompt back all back to classic
2)	Set my wallpaper, screensaver, Clear type and resolution
3)	Change folder properties to display folders, not tiles, make the Control Panel, My Docs and My Pics expandable
4)	Remove all the preloaded crap like Norton, MS Works, Quicken and such
5)	Remove Windows Components such as MSN Explorer and Games
6)	Reboot
7)	Install SP2 from CD
8)	Run Windows Update
9)	Install Office 2003
10)	Run Office Update 
11)	Run Windows Update again
12)	Install my other programs like the Macromedia suite, Etherpeek, DVD X Copy Platinum and such
13)	Reboot
14)	Load My Docs and Pics from my flash drive on to the hard drive and my MP3s from my master DVD
15)	Defrag


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

Why not just Ghost the drive from whatever you consider a "good" point.

Then, when Ghosting it back to "run", do your updates, and Ghost it back.

Should save you a bunch of time.


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

Steve, have you ever considered getting a life? :lol:


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## zmark (Apr 18, 2005)

I've never understood why people have to constantly reinstall windows. I haven't done a reinstall in 4 years, and everything on my machine is fine. What are you people doing to your boxes that constantly screws them up?

Total wipe/reinstalls should never be considered a normal part of owning a computer.


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

zmark said:


> I've never understood why people have to constantly reinstall windows. I haven't done a reinstall in 4 years, and everything on my machine is fine. What are you people doing to your boxes that constantly screws them up?
> 
> Total wipe/reinstalls should never be considered a normal part of owning a computer.


Occasionally cleaning out spyware etc. and then running a cleaner to get rid of the "leftovers", followed by a defrag usually does it for me.


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## cdru (Dec 4, 2003)

What do you use your system for zmark? If it's a fairly static system, then I would agree. However, mine isn't. My jobs, hobbies, and interested require the installation (and normally removal) of applications on a fairly regular basis. Upgrading a program to the latest version often leaves digital entrails from prior versions littered around. Power failure, system crashes, toddlers pushing the power button, etc all can fubar a registry. This doesn't take into account spyware/adware/viruses/trojans/etc.

It's not so much that we HAVE to reload the system. It's that we often chose to as it can be quicker and lost performance can often be restored. We probably could keep meticulous documentation about exactly what we do with the system, and try to roll back changes...but there isn't any fun in that.

Think of your computer like your car. Even with meticious care, eventually your car will start to lose performance. Sure you can do a complete tear down and rebuild the engine, testing each piece to make sure it's within spec, eventually get it close to what it was originally. Or you can just drop a new engine and be done with it. Replacing the engine may be a little drastic, and potentially more expensive. But on the other hand it can be quicker (and time=money) and you have a brand new machine. 

Similarly, reloading the computer is like dropping a new engine in there. Yeah there is the hassle of getting things reinstalled just the way you want it. But usually when you are done, it's remarkable how much quicker your computer seems. 

Plus, like a shade tree mechanic, some people enjoy doing it. My guess is that Steve doesn't mind tinkering around with his system.

In my case, my symptoms were extream lag when accessing files on my main drive. This was to the point where performance dropped to about 1/10 of what the drive was originally. To be honest I didn't know exactly what was causing it. I knew the conditions that the drive started to slow down, but the actual reason was a mystery. I was going to run a defrag using DiskKeeper to see if it was a fragmentation issue as a often do things with thousands of relatively small files and fragmentation can become a problem. Kicking it off, it does a chkdsk to verify everything was in working order. It found a few hundred files files that had invalid security descriptors. Repeating the chkdsk several times, each time would bring up more errors. Eventually, the system would boot, but not login to any user account.

I eventually got it to a semi-stable state last night and I'm in the process of cleaning up files to do par down the backup file size. Then I'll pull my backup and data drives, blow away my main drive, and start over. It's a soothing experience becoming one with your machine again.


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## JohnGfun (Jan 16, 2004)

Danny probably rigged it to fail on you!


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

SimpleSimon said:


> Why not just Ghost the drive from whatever you consider a "good" point.
> 
> Then, when Ghosting it back to "run", do your updates, and Ghost it back.
> 
> Should save you a bunch of time.


Thought about it, I even have Ghost, never did it though, maybe next time I'll make an image



Bogy said:


> Steve, have you ever considered getting a life? :lol:


No, but one of these days I just might consider it 



> I've never understood why people have to constantly reinstall windows. I haven't done a reinstall in 4 years, and everything on my machine is fine. What are you people doing to your boxes that constantly screws them up?


Nothing. I don't get spyware, I don't get viruses, but occasionally something will happen when it takes longer then the 3.5 trips on the status bar, and being the obsessive compulsive anal guy that I am, that is completely uncalled for. I'm the same way when it comes to desktop, start menu and user interface.

-The default Windows Wallpaper 
-The bouncing Windows logo screen saver 
-Three icons on the desktop and only three, My Computer, Recycle Bin and Network Places/Network Neighborhood, in that order 
-All programs accessible from an almost folderless start menu. I don't need every program to have it's own folder, with the program, help files and Uninstaller and other nonsense. Suites of programs have their own folders for organizational purposes. 
-Cascading Control Panel and My Documents Folder in Start Menu. Used the hack at annoyances.org to achieve this in NT, 95, 98. 
-No quick launch 
-In XP, Classic Theme, Classic Start Menu, Classic Login Prompt, Classic Control Panel, Explorer and My Computer icons are represented by icons not those stupid tiles or thumbnails. 
-All computers have the same programs installed except for programs that serve no purpose on other computers. My 100 MHz IBM running NT 4 with a 4X CD-ROM drive has no use for DVD X Copy, and Office 2003 won't run on anything less then WIN2K SP3, so I have Office 2000 installed. Other then that and a few other instances like that all of my computers have the exact same look and feel&#8230;Simple, boring, professional.

I have a lot of problems I need to work out and as Bogy suggested a life would help as well 

When I'm working on other peoples computers I can deal with their customizations, except for if it's XP I have to change it back to classic for the time being. I cannot put into words how much I hate the default XP user interface and start menu, don't know why I just do.


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## stonecold (Feb 20, 2004)

Ah it is spring yet again with summer fast approaching it means one thing.


Verizon has some how managed to foobar someones dsl I know. It is like clockwork with these people if it not my dsl they are screwing around with it a friend or family members they then it yet another hassle.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

stonecold said:


> ...Verizon has some how managed to foobar someones dsl...


Stonecold, it's FUBAR, not "foobar", as you say. Each letter in F.U.B.A.R. stands for a specific word, and as such, are not arbitrarily interchangeable with other similar (not simular) sounding letters. The same applies to S.N.A.F.U. Both terms had their origins in the military and were, out of necessity, created to convey precise meanings having to do with complex military operations and the status thereof. As such, it's important to maintain the integrity of these terms in the interest of national security.


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## Raymond Simonian (Nov 22, 2002)

What word begins with each letter in F.U.B.A.R. or what is the general meaning of it?


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## Laverne (Feb 17, 2005)

Raymond Simonian said:


> What word begins with each letter in F.U.B.A.R. or what is the general meaning of it?


Hmm....GOOGLE might have come in handy here.  (It did for me... :shrug: :sure: )

from: whatis.com



> FUBAR
> 
> FUBAR is an acronym that originated in the military to stand for the words "f***ed up beyond all repair." This is often softened to "fouled up beyond all repair" in reference to hardware. The programming and documentation equivalent is "fouled up beyond all recognition." Sometimes the last word is "recovery" or "reconciliation" or "reason."
> 
> ...


HTH! :grin:


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## cdru (Dec 4, 2003)

And SNAFU is Situation Normal, All Fricked Up.


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

Laverne: That FUBAR pre-dates the VAXes - you can find them in schematics for PDP-11/34's as well. VAXes needed to support Unibus for compatibility with the old PDP-11 class machines.

I have no idea what important piece of information never made it into my brain because THAT piece was occupying space...


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

cdru said:


> And SNAFU is Situation Normal, All Fricked Up.


"Frick" is not a word, nor is it a substitute. Once again, in the interest of national security, I must insist that pc euphemisms not be deployed when defining critical military acronyms.

To be precise, the acronym *SNAFU* stands for *S*ituation *N*ormal - *A*ll *F***ked *U*p.


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## JohnGfun (Jan 16, 2004)

stonecold said:


> Ah it is spring yet again with summer fast approaching it means one thing.
> 
> *Verizon has some how managed to foobar someones dsl* I know. It is like clockwork with these people if it not my dsl they are screwing around with it a friend or family members they then it yet another hassle.


Mine Too!


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## Laverne (Feb 17, 2005)

djlong said:


> Laverne: That FUBAR pre-dates the VAXes - you can find them in schematics for PDP-11/34's as well. VAXes needed to support Unibus for compatibility with the old PDP-11 class machines.
> 
> I have no idea what important piece of information never made it into my brain because THAT piece was occupying space...


I have no idea what you just said. I was just quoting from the site I found, to which there is a link toward the top of my post.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Using *SNAFU* and *FUBAR* in the same sentence:

The SNAFU is FUBAR.

_(Laverne, I can't believe our literary talents in metasyntactic variables have come to this..._ :whatdidid)


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

This place is so educational.


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## Laverne (Feb 17, 2005)

Nick said:


> Using *SNAFU* and *FUBAR* in the same sentence:
> 
> The SNAFU is FUBAR.
> 
> _(Laverne, I can't believe our literary talents in metasyntactic variables have come to this..._ :whatdidid)


I don't even know WTF metasyntactic variables are! :shrug: 

But I will say my mother uses the word SNAFU all the time. I bet she has no idea she is cussing! !devil12: :lol:


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## Laverne (Feb 17, 2005)

In my never-ending quest for knowledge, I managed to find this:
metasyntactic variable



> metasyntactic variable: n.
> A name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion, or any random member of a class of things under discussion. The word foo is the canonical example. To avoid confusion, hackers never (well, hardly ever) use 'foo' or other words like it as permanent names for anything. In filenames, a common convention is that any filename beginning with a metasyntactic-variable name is a scratch file that may be deleted at any time.
> 
> Metasyntactic variables are so called because (1) they are variables in the metalanguage used to talk about programs etc; (2) they are variables whose values are often variables (as in usages like "the value of f(foo,bar) is the sum of foo and bar"). However, *it has been plausibly suggested that the real reason for the term "metasyntactic variable" is that it sounds good*. To some extent, the list of one's preferred metasyntactic variables is a cultural signature. They occur both in series (used for related groups of variables or objects) and as singletons. Here are a few common signatures: ....


There are also links to the definitions of "foo", "bar", and "foobar".


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## stonecold (Feb 20, 2004)

Nick said:


> Stonecold, it's FUBAR, not "foobar", as you say. Each letter in F.U.B.A.R. stands for a specific word, and as such, are not arbitrarily interchangeable with other similar (not simular) sounding letters. The same applies to S.N.A.F.U. Both terms had their origins in the military and were, out of necessity, created to convey precise meanings having to do with complex military operations and the status thereof. As such, it's important to maintain the integrity of these terms in the interest of national security.


yes I know it FUBAR

some say it F**k up beyond any repair and I heard other varitations

But the *nix people tend to like to say Foobar
when using examples mv foo /home/nick/bar


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## cdru (Dec 4, 2003)

stonecold said:


> yes I know it FUBAR
> 
> some say it F**k up beyond any repair and I heard other varitations
> 
> ...


The foobar and unix is due to the programming/scripting nature many unix admins are. foo/bar/foobar just get used as generic variable names.


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