Crappy software and OS rot.

My OS rot is getting to the point where I need to wipe everything and start from scratch, which is pretty much an all day job.

For the future, does anyone know of an XP app that totally saves your systems state so you can truly restore it when you find you've tried a really crappy piece of software (again...)?

I've found that XP's System Restore points are pretty much useless. I suppose I could use Ghost and make an image, but that's a PITA.


Hmm, thinking out loud here about another idea, perhaps I could boot off a clean OS on another drive and try new software there, and keep a Ghosted image somewhere else to wipe that OS whenever I try new software.

Any other suggestions short of switching OS?

I use ghost and an external drive.

Step 1. Install OS and every single patch.
Step 2. Ghost Image (In case something breaks in Step 3)
Step 3. Install core applications (Office, Photoshop, VLC, Firefox) and patches
Step 4. Ghost Image


Then when I need to I can easily roll back to my 'master image' without having to reinstall the service packs and core software again.

Although Ghost is a wonderful option its a PITA to image a drive before every crappy software load.

I ALWAYS load any new software on my resident VMware machine. I keep my base XP load fairly clean with only necessary apps like office and such. All my "toys" are used on a Virtual machine and therefore free from rotting my Rig.

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Originally Posted by [AK]Brorlis

Although Ghost is a wonderful option its a PITA to image a drive before every crappy software load.

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Ya, I only worry about preserving my master image. Any software I load afterward can usually be simply reinstalled. The big job is always the OS and all the damn patches.

No doubt...

Both of those sound like damn good ideas, thanks. Now I just have to get the motivation and time to finally do this.

Kinda funny that I've been planning on trying iTunes to manage my music just before I did the deed, just because of the horror stories I've heard about it taking over your machine.

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Originally Posted by [AK]Sonic Boom

Kinda funny that I've been planning on trying iTunes to manage my music just before I did the deed, just because of the horror stories I've heard about it taking over your machine.

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I use iTunes and love it. Thats the one piece of software that I don't have problems with.

Well, now I can play around with it on VM this weekend... ;-)

Speaking of OS rot, is Linux as susceptible to this as Windows?

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Originally Posted by [AK]Clay

Speaking of OS rot, is Linux as susceptible to this as Windows?

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OS Rot = Windows