Partitioning, Backing up stuff etc...

Solved part of problem no. 2 - got my OE e-mails (don't need that address book), just need to figure out how to save my mozilla contact list .... I might just do without it... those people will all e-mail me eventually

(weird combination, I know!)

You should have the option when you install XP to select and/or add a partition. If not or you can't find out how, just get a Windows 98/ME bootdisk.

• Boot off of the disk.
• Type in fdisk at the A: prompt.
• Select the option to delete your current partition. Of course once this is done all your data is gone, so back-up first.
• Add two new partitions.

I usually have at least 3 partitions on mine. C:/Windows D:/Programs E:/Data .

I am not sure the answer to Mozilla.

The answer to Q3 is probably.

Megan, I recommend PartitionMagic to partition: http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic

Here's information on upgrading to XP: http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/howto/story/0,24330,3356317,00.html

Backup information: http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/howto/story/0,24330,2162034,00.html

You don't need PartitionMagic if you are going to install a new OS and wipe your hard drive. If your OS is already there, then PM is a good, although expensive, option. It allows you to resize partitions on the fly in a non-destructive way. Fdisk works fine but it destroys any data that is already there.

Well, it wouldn't let me add a partition in the installation process for some reason.... (it says to press "C" to add a partition, but when I did that nothing happened... oh well...)

XP sure is different - do you get used to the fancy chrome and everything? I just switched it back to classic mode... much more comfortable.

Now I've got another problem - when i had winME my computer was configured to shut down automatically (I mean, after the "it is now safe to turn off your computer" screen it would just turn itself off). Because of that my shut down button was kind of tricky - I guess it was set so that you couldn't just turn it off using that button while still in Windows. WinXP isn't doing this, and since the button won't work I have problems getting the darned thing to turn off. Is there any way I can fix this?

Megan, most new motherboards make it where you have to hold in the power button for 4-seconds before it will cut off.

Okay, but is there a way to set it to turn off automatically? there must be...

How are you finding XP?

Quote: Originally posted by Megan
Okay, but is there a way to set it to turn off automatically? there must be...

Nope, not really a way around it. Just press and hold for 4-seconds and you are there.

Quote: Originally posted by The Webmistress
How are you finding XP?

It's certainly a much more extensive operating system than anything I've used before. One thing that bugs me is that it's configured for multi-user support, which would be great when more than one person regularly uses the machine but can be annoying otherwise. Like when I want to FTP out of my documents I have to go through a much longer path (it's under something like users/megan/documents & settings/my documents rather than just my documents).

Another thing I find odd is that MS seems to think that people *really* like to use their comptuers for viewing and manipulating photos. If you put in a CD, for example, a pop-up comes up giving you several options (open in Windows Media player, explore this CD, and then two or three options having to do with pictures). It's also got a new "view as a slideshow" option in explorer, which seems to come up by default when viewing a folder with a lot of graphics files (annoying!).

It also has a new sidebar in explorer, giving you other options with options like crate a new folder, things like that. One of these options is "publish to the web" which seems to only want to let you publish to MS communities (or maybe there's a way to set up other servers, I don't know)Another part of this sidebar that appears at the top, again for folders that contain a lot of graphics files, has four options having to do with photos (print, view as a slideshow I think, print the photos, and have prints made - probably at some sort of MS-afiliated place, haven't checked that out yet).

Anyway, I find all these options having to do with photos particularly odd - it seems to be a very strong emphasis within the OS. Or maybe other people really do have a lot of photos stored on their computers ... I don't know many people who do.

maybe it's because of all the emphasis Macs seem to place on photos