I'm Baffled!

[Danny99]

My girlfriend's old Dell Inspiron is extremely slow and she was told if you uninstall Windows and re-install it, it would fix it. Being the technical newbie I am, I said sure and attempted to transfer all her files from her laptop to my external hard drive.

All the files are moved, but none of hers will open. Mine will open, but the drive keeps coming up saying it has an error and then it vanishes or it won't open anything.

The Dell is running Vista, my desktop is running XP, and there is no difference on my MacBook.

Any insight?

 

[Amaris]

Her files are protected files. You'll have to take ownership of them to open them. So here's what you do:

Restart Windows in Safe Mode and run as an Administrator.
If you're using XP Pro, disable Simple File Sharing.

And now I'm copying from the source so I don't have to type it, lazy person that I am:

How to take ownership of a folder

You must have ownership of a protected folder in order to access it. If another user has restricted access and you are the computer administrator, you can access the folder by taking ownership.

To take ownership of a folder, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
3. Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
4. In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you want to take ownership of the contents of the folder, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
5. Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message: You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?
   All permissions will be replaced if you click Yes.
   
   Note folder name is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of.
6. Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and its contents.

 

[arch101]

You really need to get a MAC

 

[Amaris]

You really need to get a MAC

Macs are nice, but since this is a Windows issue, and he has a PC, there's no need to throw it away and purchase another computer over a simple problem. I mean, honestly, what kind of answer is that?

"The windshield wipers on my Chevy Impala aren't working."
"You need to buy a Toyota."

Eh?

 

[scotpens]

You really need to get a MAC

Macs are nice, but since this is a Windows issue, and he has a PC, there's no need to throw it away and purchase another computer over a simple problem. I mean, honestly, what kind of answer is that?

Judging by the smiley, a facetious one.

 

[Amaris]

You really need to get a MAC

Macs are nice, but since this is a Windows issue, and he has a PC, there's no need to throw it away and purchase another computer over a simple problem. I mean, honestly, what kind of answer is that?

Judging by the smiley, a facetious one.

Maybe it's facetious, maybe not. I've been on both sides of the table when it comes to the PC vs Mac stuff (a silly little fight to say the least).

 

[spooky spice]

You really need to get a MAC

I wish I could afford one...

Can someone tell me why my puter regularly grunts and farts like it's doing something, but it's not actually doing anything? I'm worried someone has hacked it...

 

[Amaris]

You really need to get a MAC

I wish I could afford one...

Can someone tell me why my puter regularly grunts and farts like it's doing something, but it's not actually doing anything? I'm worried someone has hacked it...

It could be anything from a large paging file, to not enough RAM, to low hard drive space. Then there is random HDD seeking, spinning up and spinning down of hard drives or optical drives, ... you know, when you think about it, most desktops are really noisy.

 

[Lindley]

I'm worried someone has hacked it...

The odds of anyone taking a particular interest in your computer to the extent of even trying to hack in are remote, unless you run a major corporation or country.

However, there is a possibility that a virus could automatedly "recruit" your computer to be part of a botnet. Sort of like SETI@Home except without your knowledge. Definitely run spyware and virus checks regularly.

 

[Albertus]

I think the advice your friend was given was probably to do a clean install of the Vista operating system.

Here is a link on how to do that: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Installing-and-reinstalling-Windows-Vista#section_3

You can't just copy Windows Vista or any other operating system to another hard drive like you would a pic or document. When Windows installs it needs to rebuild itself so it knows where all the devices - graphics card, keyboard, mouse, monitor etc - are attached to the mainboard.

You will need to backup all personal files - pictures, documents, music, video etc - that she has created or downloaded onto her machine as well as any programs she wants to keep as Vista may wipe her harddrive clean before it reinstalls.

Albertus

 

[arch101]

You really need to get a MAC

Macs are nice, but since this is a Windows issue, and he has a PC, there's no need to throw it away and purchase another computer over a simple problem. I mean, honestly, what kind of answer is that?

"The windshield wipers on my Chevy Impala aren't working."
"You need to buy a Toyota."

Eh?

Actually, if you ARE saddled with an inferior GM product, then I would recommend that you...well, you see where I'm going with this.