Using Windows Vista: The MVP Way

[gxsaurav]

I was like you guys not using any AV for years and years of windows usage. But things changed last year. With the advent of Flash drives its very very essential to haf an AV and also update it.

To protect my computer from Pen drive viruses, I just did 2 things

1) Disabled autorun from Control Panel

2) Right click on the pen drive & select open, if it is infected by virus then the default double click action will be either install or something else but not "open". Simple as that...

Agreed that NTFS is not that much prone to frag. as FAT32, but its not fully immune either.

Truat me, it will make no difference.

I'd say, make partitions like these:

1) windows - has only the default windows install and nothing else

2) software - install all the 3rd party and software other than windows on this partition

3) data - houses your "My documents/Documents" folder and all the folder inside the Users folder (Vista). This helps a lot coz if windows misbehaves you can safely format it without hafing to worry about taking backup of your data

4)media - houses all your audio/video files

5)temp - houses the pagefile and the temporary files.

Why make so many partitions??? Just make a C drive & D drive & make folders like I did in D drive.

You may need software like tweakui/vi to change the location of "music/pics/videos" etc. to the other parittion.

Nope, just right click on the folder in "C:\Users\<user name> & go to location tab, then "move" the folder.

 

[blueshift]

this is huge and good. Very much needed.
Thanks GX.

 

[ravi_9793]

But isn't it something (being fast and secure) everyone expects when they've paid for an OS!!!

Chill dude

Yes..you are right.We expect these when we pay.And thats why Microsoft always provide updates. But after all we need to add, to make our work easier and comfortable. As like Add muncher, some people like ads, some people dont like ads.If you dont like than install Ad Muncher, else dont.And same for others.

 

[infra_red_dude]

To protect my computer from Pen drive viruses, I just did 2 things

1) Disabled autorun from Control Panel

2) Right click on the pen drive & select open, if it is infected by virus then the default double click action will be either install or something else but not "open". Simple as that...

You don't get the point. Only worms can be stopped. Virus who inject code into executables will not be affected in anyway by doing that.

Truat me, it will make no difference.

It does dude. A lot. Fragmentation is bad!

Why make so many partitions??? Just make a C drive & D drive & make folders like I did in D drive.

Only reason is to segregate data and not mess up things. Suppose the "D" drive (in your terms) goes kaput; then you lose your data/music/video/downloads everything!

But if you had separate partitions for all these a corrupt partition means only data in that partition is lost, rest is safe.

Nope, just right click on the folder in "C:\Users\<user name> & go to location tab, then "move" the folder.

Doesn't work in XP (except My Documents); only in Vista.

 

[gxsaurav]

You don't get the point. Only worms can be stopped. Virus who inject code into executables will not be affected in anyway by doing that.

Hmm....point, never been affected with anything like this. Ok, Install AV but disable.

It does dude. A lot. Fragmentation is bad!

Ok..then like I said just install some defragmentor.

Only reason is to segregate data and not mess up things. Suppose the "D" drive (in your terms) goes kaput; then you lose your data/music/video/downloads everything!

Your choice

But if you had separate partitions for all these a corrupt partition means only data in that partition is lost, rest is safe.

Why would partitions curropt?

Doesn't work in XP (except My Documents); only in Vista.

What is this thread about?????

 

[iMav]

arre wtf both of u are discussing ...

 

[infra_red_dude]

Ok..then like I said just install some defragmentor.

Yeah of corz defragmenter is reqd. I only suggested a few ways to reduce fragmentation.

Your choice

Of corz, my choice! Was just giving a suggestion.

Why would partitions curropt?

HDDs/Partitions can go bad any moment.

What is this thread about?????

Sincere apologies! I thot since whatever's in this thread could be applied to most of Windows versions hence I posted

 

[iMav]

HDDs/Partitions can go bad any moment.

abey tu engg hai na? kya behki behki baatein kar raha hai

 

[infra_red_dude]

abey tu engg hai na? kya behki behki baatein kar raha hai

Bhaiyya experience hai.. ek baar nahi.. kain baar and most of the times on Windows-only computers! and hence suggested the segregation. Thats all

 

[shantanu]

chill !! well infra is right, in XP nothing can stop the virus from spreading from the pen drive, until Autorun is disabled from gpedit.msc, and prevent access to the registry editing tools is also enabled, now i just type the drive letter into the address bar, i dont know if it makes a difference, but my system is never infected that way.. if by mistake also i double click or even right click and explore, many times the virus spreads.. and now not only brontok- there are many others too which do wonders.. but in vista nothing gets infected.. no pendrive virus works.. so its cool..

with the drive thing.. i too have 40 40 65 100 250 partitions.. and i keep all my data separated..

gx : you might only be doing the casual thing but some guys here and me too are doing lots of work which makes it impossible to create that kind things as you told.. it gets messy... , while your method might suit to 90% people and bring some betterment..

and yeah HDD partitions can really go bad any moment.. as i have bad experiences that ways.. but then its also only a probability...

 

[piyush gupta]

^^
mod

Shall we declare this thread as a MS vs OOS war

 

[shantanu]

no piyush surely not.. this isnt any war, its just discussion, if anyone fights he goes to misery...

 

[Krazy_About_Technology]

yaar pen drive viruses had given great problems to me too in my "XP days". On Vista i dont have such problem, and NOD32 antivirus is superb, it doesn't slows down the system a bit. One of my relatives still use Xp and even on my advising again and again to not double clicking on pen drives in My computer, he always forgots. So what i did, i removed icons of all the drives except for the non removable ones from my computer using tweakui. then i created a batch file on desktop with

start c:\windows\explorer.exe h:

now his double clicking habit is intact and the problem is also solved. Of course the drive letter must be changed to reflect anybody's system config and perhaps you would have to make a new batch file for every drive you use simultaneously, but its not that of a common senerio in my openion. Otherwise you can do that too.

 

[iMav]

hdd partitions never go kaput 1 fine morning ... they will fail by giving u sufficient indications like slow access time; comp hanging; booting issues - look out for such things if it happens more than twice its time to get a backup

 

[shantanu]

IMAV : you cannot gurantee any hardware.. one fine morning i switched on my PC and what.. my hdd didnt worked out.. it was gone . gone for ever.. if you can give me a wriiten note on a stamp paper claiming that no hdd can go kaput like, even a new brand new sealed hdd can go kaput that ways.. you cannot gurantee man ... no one can.. its not often i agree, but it does happen...

 

[alsiladka]

hdd partitions never go kaput 1 fine morning ... they will fail by giving u sufficient indications like slow access time; comp hanging; booting issues - look out for such things if it happens more than twice its time to get a backup

Sometimes even a slight spark can result in doom for your Hard drive. Sometimes if you were doing some file writing function and the electricity supply suddenly gets distrupted, you may face a HD crash on the restart or at the same moment.

 

[gary4gar]

Like One always say "worst disasters, comes at worst possible time"

so you can't predict a HDD failure. so you should go for incremental backup scheme.

 

[iMav]

Sometimes even a slight spark can result in doom for your Hard drive. Sometimes if you were doing some file writing function and the electricity supply suddenly gets distrupted, you may face a HD crash on the restart or at the same moment.

in that case even ur partitions go

@shantanu: in that sense i agree u cannot guarantee anything ...night before yesterday my dad met an uncle and they talked the guy was like ya im getting better and im fine .... yesterday morning the man went kaput during his morning walk ... in that case yes .... but the chances are 8 out of 10 times the hdd gives u clear signs of failing ... infra uv done probability figrue it out a i suck at maths

PS: this is a stupid point of discussion ... i have multiple partitions for my data and it is arranged that way .... doing that is always better ... end of story

 

[praka123]

@imeow:what an analogy humans and harddrives?aur kuch nahi mila tumhe?

 

[Kenshin]

in that case even ur partitions go

@shantanu: in that sense i agree u cannot guarantee anything ...night before yesterday my dad met an uncle and they talked the guy was like ya im getting better and im fine .... yesterday morning the man went kaput during his morning walk ... in that case yes .... but the chances are 8 out of 10 times the hdd gives u clear signs of failing ... infra uv done probability figrue it out a i suck at maths

PS: this is a stupid point of discussion ... i have multiple partitions for my data and it is arranged that way .... doing that is always better ... end of story

Test of hypothesis

Yeah hdds are unpredictable...I lost one 3 yrs ago....My sis shut down the pc...next morning it din boot...Hdd crashed...I still don't know the reason