Do Win files really deteriorate over time? Why no Win System disks?

[johnnief]

You know, when you talk to the triage person at most tech stores you hear the same thing, "over time your computer has a hard time finding your windows files and you have to refresh your operating system." It is as if they are saying the the magnetic information loses it magnetism or the hard drive loses track of the full file (which I have to think is intact-unfragmented and unlosable.) They generally say this when your driver needs to be reinstalled or some .dll can't be found that worked fine the day before and you haven't added anything or changed your system (intentionally) in weeks.

So, the response to some tech issues is just, "refresh your system" or "reload the drivers."

That brings me to point number 2. I have a laptop with recovery disks. Of course, I have a label on the bottom of the computer that shows my key to my legit copy of Windows XP Home. But, the recovery disks will rewrite over my system and data. They restore an image. So, they are unusable for repairing or refreshing Windows.

That means that I have to go out and buy a second copy of Win XP H, even though I apparently own a copy. This seems wrong and unfair. Why should I shell out $200 for XP Home (if I have to pay, I should at least get Pro, but that will not refresh my system) if I already own a copy. I just don't have the disk.

This is frustrating.

Thanks

Johnnief

 

[patio]

Contact the laptop manufacturer and request a WinXP CD...
The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

If they will not provide you with one they may be able to furnish instructions for burning an image of your hidden XP partition that will work.

patio. 8)

 

[Nodsu]

No, hard disks do not deteriorate. It is Windows' internal logic (or the lack of it) that fails to cope with the ever-increasing complexity of the system. The "refresh" means getting rid of the jumbled up registry and all kinds of accumulated system files and start over.

 

[johnnief]

Thanks

Thank you.

 

[gbhall]

Windows can do a shuffle

Actually, XP does shuffle it's own important system files around - if you let it. There is a built-in optimisation system which is supposed to ensure the most-used files are kept together and are de-fragmented. I can't help thinking this is a pretty stupid idea, as you can possibly get a blue-screen in a faulty application exactly as Windows is doing some shuffling - resulting in a corrupt system file.

Turn the feature off. Sorry I can't remember offhand where it is....

 

[iss]

You can create your own XP disk from your recovery disk that you can use to do repair installs.

http://www.easydesksoftware.com/recovery.htm