Quick Windows sanity check tools ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John7
  • Start date Start date
J

John7

Hi,


When Windows got damaged due to:
- disk / file corruption
- malware or it's removal
- bad driver(s)
- update flaw(s)
- other causes
it is always had to tell when to decide that after some hours of reparing,
a complete re-install is the better option.

Can you advice (MS / 3rd party) tools that provide a quick (partial /
overall) Windows sanity check?
Tools that check essential Windows structures.


Kind regards,
John7
 
Hi,


When Windows got damaged due to:
- disk / file corruption
- malware or it's removal
- bad driver(s)
- update flaw(s)
- other causes
it is always had to tell when to decide that after some hours of reparing,
a complete re-install is the better option.

Can you advice (MS / 3rd party) tools that provide a quick (partial /
overall) Windows sanity check?
Tools that check essential Windows structures.


Kind regards,
John7

"Tools that check essential Windows structures"

Description of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 System File Checker
(Sfc.exe)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310747

'System File Checker gives an administrator the ability to scan all
protected files to verify their versions'
 
When Windows got damaged due to:
- disk / file corruption
- malware or it's removal
- bad driver(s)
- update flaw(s)
- other causes
it is always had to tell when to decide that after some hours of reparing,
a complete re-install is the better option.

Can you advice (MS / 3rd party) tools that provide a quick (partial /
overall) Windows sanity check?
Tools that check essential Windows structures.
Click to expand...


In my view, reinstalling is usually a mistake. With a modicum of care,
it should never be necessary to reinstall Windows (XP or any other
version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG 3.11, Windows 95, Windows
98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and now Windows Vista each for the
period of time before the next version came out, and each on two or
more machines here. I never reinstalled any of them, and I have never
had anything more than an occasional minor problem.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical
support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to almost
any problem they don't quickly know the answer to is "reformat and
reinstall." That's the perfect solution for them. It gets you off the
phone quickly, it almost always works, and it doesn't require them to
do any real troubleshooting (a skill that most of them obviously don't
possess in any great degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You have to
restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all your
programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and application
updates,you have to locate and install all the needed drivers for your
system, you have to recustomize Windows and all your apps to work the
way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may
have trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs?
Can you find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data
backups to restore? Do you even remember all the customizations and
tweaks you may have installed to make everything work the way you
like? Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to solve
that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are few and far
between; reinstallation should not be a substitute for
troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only after all
other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person have failed.

And perhaps most important: if you reformat and reinstall without
finding out what caused your problem, you will very likely repeat the
behavior that caused it, and quickly find your back in exactly the
same situation.

If you have problems, post the details of them here; it's likely that
someone can help you and a reinstallation won't be required.
 
John7 said:
Hi,


When Windows got damaged due to:
- disk / file corruption
- malware or it's removal
- bad driver(s)
- update flaw(s)
- other causes
it is always had to tell when to decide that after some hours of reparing,
a complete re-install is the better option.

Can you advice (MS / 3rd party) tools that provide a quick (partial /
overall) Windows sanity check?
Tools that check essential Windows structures.
Click to expand...

Something like Acronis True Image will give you peace of mind. Setup
your system just the way you like it and then create an image. If ever
you get in trouble you can just restore from the image(it's what I
do-works well).
 
Max Wachtel said:
Something like Acronis True Image will give you peace of mind. Setup your
system just the way you like it and then create an image. If ever you get
in trouble you can just restore from the image(it's what I do-works well).
--
Virus Removal http://max.shplink.com/removal.html
Keep Clean http://max.shplink.com/keepingclean.html
Change nomail.afraid.org to gmail.com to reply by email.
nomail.afraid.org is for use in USENET-feel free to use it yourself.
Click to expand...


Thanks Max,


I use Ghost but plan to move to Acronis True Image.

The initial question was to find (partial) Windows Sanity Checkers that help
in
deciding wether it is worth while to attempt repairing a corrupted Windows
setup
or to re-install from fresh and migrate the data.

Some customers tend to discuss abouts costs of unsuccessful repairs when,
after all,
a re-install proved necessary.

John7
 
Ken Blake said:
In my view, reinstalling is usually a mistake. With a modicum of care,
it should never be necessary to reinstall Windows (XP or any other
version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG 3.11, Windows 95, Windows
98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and now Windows Vista each for the
period of time before the next version came out, and each on two or
more machines here. I never reinstalled any of them, and I have never
had anything more than an occasional minor problem.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical
support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to almost
any problem they don't quickly know the answer to is "reformat and
reinstall." That's the perfect solution for them. It gets you off the
phone quickly, it almost always works, and it doesn't require them to
do any real troubleshooting (a skill that most of them obviously don't
possess in any great degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You have to
restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all your
programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and application
updates,you have to locate and install all the needed drivers for your
system, you have to recustomize Windows and all your apps to work the
way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may
have trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs?
Can you find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data
backups to restore? Do you even remember all the customizations and
tweaks you may have installed to make everything work the way you
like? Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to solve
that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are few and far
between; reinstallation should not be a substitute for
troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only after all
other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person have failed.

And perhaps most important: if you reformat and reinstall without
finding out what caused your problem, you will very likely repeat the
behavior that caused it, and quickly find your back in exactly the
same situation.

If you have problems, post the details of them here; it's likely that
someone can help you and a reinstallation won't be required.
Click to expand...

Thanks Ken to share your view with me.

Your story holds true for my systems as well.
Unfortunately, most customers are not as tech savvy as we are. Occasionally
they
succeed to mess up systems quite badly by stupid and/or unintentional
actions.

In general I disagree with most helpdesk's easy route to re-install Windows
etc.
On the other hand, to avoids discussions abouts costs of unsuccessful
repairs when
a re-install proved neccessary, it would be great to have some tools that
quickly check
Windows' internal structure. I searched but found nothing.


Kind regards,
John7
 
Thanks Ken to share your view with me.
Click to expand...


You're welcome. Glad to help.
Your story holds true for my systems as well.
Unfortunately, most customers are not as tech savvy as we are. Occasionally
they
succeed to mess up systems quite badly by stupid and/or unintentional
actions.
Click to expand...



It happens, I know. And if the system is messed up badly enough, there
may be no other reasonable choice besides reinstallation. But my
experience with most people who post messages about reinstallation
here, is that that's not the situation.

In general I disagree with most helpdesk's easy route to re-install Windows
etc.
Click to expand...


Yep! Note the paragraph quoted above, beginning "It's my belief that
this mistaken notion stems from the technical support people at many
of the larger OEMs.
 
It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical
support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to almost
any problem they don't quickly know the answer to is "reformat and
reinstall." That's the perfect solution for them. It gets you off the
phone quickly, it almost always works, and it doesn't require them to
do any real troubleshooting (a skill that most of them obviously don't
possess in any great degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems...
Click to expand...

Ken, thanks! You've just given me a good idea. I'm in one of these
"larger" organisations, and reinstall is the mantra. The help desk
actually charges (our manager) a significant price for each help ticket
opened. I'm going to propose that we should get a rebate for every
"re-install" solution proposed and acted upon, proportionate to the
scale of the effort. An OS would cost the most; perhaps a day's work.
Reinstalling something with no settings/data might be costed at 30 minutes.

That should put the help desk people off suggesting reloads!
 
Thanks Max,


I use Ghost but plan to move to Acronis True Image.
Click to expand...


You may want to look at O&O DiskImage
http://www.oo-software.com/home/en/products/oodiskimage/

I'm a very happy user. You download an ISO file that you write to CD
and you have a O&O DiskImage boot CD that run the entire program,
create and recover images. Then download the installer. Option to
buy an additional all-in-one (boot + installer) CD. It sees my
external Firewire HD where I keep the backup images.


Many, many people are very satisfied users of Acronis True Image.

But I had problems using it. Especially with verification of Full
Hard Drive images, where you can not select what to skip.

The worst thing was, when a verification failed, the backup just
stopped AND absolutely no details on what caused the failure. Other
backup programs I've used verify the entire image/backup then give you
a report at the end WITH details. Hopefully Acronis has corrected
this in their latest version.

With O&O DiskImage I have never had a problem. I use the O&O
DiskImage Boot CD so I get a full image of my hard drives INCLUDING
those folders that are skipped (like System Volume Information) if you
run O&O from the desktop. This is a true Disaster Recovery backup
because I can write the Full Hard Drive image to a blank hard drive
and it will boot.
 
Ken, thanks! You've just given me a good idea. I'm in one of these
"larger" organisations, and reinstall is the mantra. The help desk
actually charges (our manager) a significant price for each help ticket
opened. I'm going to propose that we should get a rebate for every
"re-install" solution proposed and acted upon, proportionate to the
scale of the effort. An OS would cost the most; perhaps a day's work.
Reinstalling something with no settings/data might be costed at 30 minutes.

That should put the help desk people off suggesting reloads!
Click to expand...


They also tend to forget about a Repair Reinstall, the 2nd Repair
option when booting to the Setup CD. The Repair option AFTER you
select to install Windows AND it sees you already have Windows
installed. That Repair option launches a Repair Reinstall that keeps
you settings and apps as is. All you have to do is reinstall all Win
Updates.

This method is a problem if you have installed SP3 since you likely do
not have a WinXp SP3 Setup CD. By the way, I have one for personal
use only, the OEM WinXP Pro SP3 CD via Amazon.
 
SPAM-SPAM-SPAM

Tecknomage said:
You may want to look at O&O DiskImage
http://www.oo-software.com/home/en/products/oodiskimage/

I'm a very happy user. You download an ISO file that you write to
CD
and you have a O&O DiskImage boot CD that run the entire program,
create and recover images. Then download the installer. Option to
buy an additional all-in-one (boot + installer) CD. It sees my
external Firewire HD where I keep the backup images.


Many, many people are very satisfied users of Acronis True Image.

But I had problems using it. Especially with verification of Full
Hard Drive images, where you can not select what to skip.

The worst thing was, when a verification failed, the backup just
stopped AND absolutely no details on what caused the failure. Other
backup programs I've used verify the entire image/backup then give
you
a report at the end WITH details. Hopefully Acronis has corrected
this in their latest version.

With O&O DiskImage I have never had a problem. I use the O&O
DiskImage Boot CD so I get a full image of my hard drives INCLUDING
those folders that are skipped (like System Volume Information) if
you
run O&O from the desktop. This is a true Disaster Recovery backup
because I can write the Full Hard Drive image to a blank hard drive
and it will boot.
Click to expand...
 
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