Before Formatting Your Laptop/Desktop Computer

I recently formatted my laptop and I wanted to make sure that I was ready by making a list of all the things I need to do before formatting. But still, I forgot to do something else. Now, I want to make a list of them all to make sure that next time, it won't happen again.

1. BACKUP!!! How many times do I have to reiterate this? (Sorry. I think my former job has something to do with the attitude here.) I'm not angry, I just want to make sure that this item would get into you (or me) and will never be forgotten. I didn't forget about backing up. In fact, I would usually backup files from the My Documents folder because that's where most of my files are located.

2. List applications to be installed. Go to your Add or Remove Programs window. This can be accessed through the Control Panel window. Then list all the applications that you need to install. Skip the applications you haven't used for more than 6 months. If you haven't used it that long, there's a bigger chance you will never use it again.

3. Installers and drivers. Locate where you keep all your installers and drivers. This includes installers for applications, operating system, printer, scanner, etc.

4. Links. If you frequently surf the net, chances are, you've got your favorite links bookmarked on your browser. Include this item to backup. For Internet Explorer, your Favorites folder is in the following path:

{Windows Directory}:\Documents and Settings\{User Name}\Favorites

The bookmarked pages are stored differently from browser to browser. Refer to your browser's Help file for assistance.

I forgot to backup the last item so, "Yay me!" Now, I'm missing some of my favorite sites to visit.

I think I got everything covered now. I'll just look this list up the next time I'm formatting which I hope is not anytime soon.

If I forgot to include something, please let me know. We'll update this post.

Lola Techie

I am not promoting their products but I would like to commend them for really catchy ad concepts.



I think I should teach my Mom how to use the internet...

Spammers

Technically, I do not know what the exact word to call them without cursing. I have nothing against marketing but I think what they do here is just plain dirty. It is possibly a virus the send to people out there hidden in a link. They will send it through chat. You will probably receive it from one of your friends. Now, this link of course you will click, which is a big mistake. Because, without your knowledge, you will be sending the same message, with the same link to all of your contacts in your Yahoo Messenger, AOL or Windows Live Messenger. It is just annoying!

Anyways, my sister went online at almost 3 AM in the morning (No, don't ask me why I'm still up!) so I asked her why she is up (when she's already finished BOF - this is another story). Then she sent me a similar message with the link. I know at that instance that she might have clicked the link some time ago so I immediately changed her password. I'm not sure if that's going to help at all. I just got pissed by the incident.

After changing the password, I logged into her email account to look around if there are any damage done to it. It surprised me to see a different name in there that I thought I logged into the wrong account. I checked and saw the account is right but her Profile has been changed. Her name became Andrea Maddox, 20, from Norfolk, Virginia with the nick ShoppingFlower2k8. This is probably not his/her real name but it's just amazing what people would do to market their product or damage your computer - whatever their intention is.