[Leica] Computer Help

[john.nebel at csdco.com (John Nebel)]

Tina,

I read through the thread, sorry to hear what happened but it need not be as 
disruptive in the future.  Free clonezilla (clonezilla.org) will produce a 
bootable CD that can backup or restore a windows disk to/from another device 
such as an USB disk or flash drive.  By default it compresses the backed-up 
data 
and names it by date so you can periodically save copies without overwriting.

If the PC is in warranty and breaks, you can restore your data.  Old enough 
to 
be out of warranty, buy a duplicate refurbished machine (no one says "used" 
anymore), in my case it was $150.

If you have a large-sized PC, add another internal disk and periodically 
clone 
the operating system to that so you have an alternate boot disk.

A similar strategy works for Macs although the old hardware is not cheap, 
Macs 
are more forgiving about booting the operating system on differently 
configured 
hardware.  In the Mac case a GUI-based cloning tool is called "Carbon Copy 
Cloner".

Both of these programs have saved me and others around here much time.

Best,

John

Tech footnote

Clonezilla is a standard Linux with a question/answer interface to simplify 
the 
cloning process. It will work with FAT/NTFS/HFS/ext* disks directly and 
perform 
a block-by-block copy of unknown file systems.

On 4/25/2011 7:55 PM, Tina Manley wrote:
> LUG:
>
> This is driving me crazy.  Yesterday an automatic Microsoft update rendered
> my computer totally worthless.  It went back to the original configuration
> of Windows 7 with none of my screen savers, no programs loaded - just a
> bare-bones version of a new Windows 7.  I used Restore to go back before 
> the
> update.  All seemed good.  Screensavers are there, programs listed,
> documents and photos where they should be; HOWEVER, nothing works.  When I
> click on any program at all I get this message "The application has failed
> to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect.  Please see
> the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for 
> more
> detail."  That is totally Greek to me and I've put it up on several Windows
> and Microsoft forums and nobody else seems to know what it means.  I've 
> come
> to the LUG expertise as a last resort.  I do (did) have everything backed 
> up
> with Acronis, but that is one of the programs that refuses to run, even 
> from
> the restore CD.  Before I totally tear all of my hair out, is there anybody
> out there who has the slightest idea how I can fix this?
>
> The day when all of my computer programs can be cloud-based will be a great
> day (maybe).
>
> TIA
>
> Tina
>