Hi,

Remember I mentioned a possible slight overheating problem my computer was having - shutting down with no warning whatsoever?

Well it's getting worse, so bad in fact that I've hurriedly backed up everything I can think of, all "My Documents", then everything I could find in Prog' Files/Daz/Bryce5.5 - presets first, then everything else while the computer still lived.

What I want to know is - what have I forgotten?

My husband is very kindly loaning me his laptop while mine is undergoing surgery in London. (where it's still under its 3yr guarantee/waranty thingie) He's now repartitioning his hard drive - just so I can get my stuff onto his laptop - isn't he a sweetie!

I can get to my laptop - briefly before it dies on me - so I need to know what else I should save before delivering it to the repair place...

So any thoughts?

I am not sure what else you can or should save, but I would be deleting any sensitive info such as bank account info and the likes if you have that on there. You just never know.

Donno, How good are you at actually putting things in My Documents?

Just a few thoughts: Plus! files and themes you may like.

Office Clip-Art you downloaded from Microsoft will load into the program directory.

If you bought a program like UVMapper they send you a registry key to load into your registry and make it full instead of the demo version. Even Though you can download the demo you need this key to make the program run in full mode. Depending on what mail you use this could be in C:mailattach or somewhere else. In fact, it's possible if you use eudora or something that your entire inbox and outbox are in programs instead of my documents.

email address book, favorites

I used Windows back-up as well as saving MyDocuments and Bryce, so I now have all my favourites (bookmarks) in Firefox showing nicely on my husband Ian's laptop - which I'm using now until "Sicky" gets better.  Email is web-based hotmail, so no probs there... Bank is secure access only - I don't keep any details on such access on the computer in any files.

Anything else?

I myself went trough the "overheating hell" during 2 years ; my old laptop (2,2 Ghz) sounded like a vacuum cleaner when I tried to render things and it crashed more and more often...until I managed to buy a new laptop. (Dell Inspiron 6400 Double Core Centrino) Now it's  like a beautiful dream to render; the processor keeps a temp about 25 C  ( when I do an intensive rendering) instead of 70 Celsius as on the old one; I just can't believe how large the difference is...I you have the possibility then buy a new baby with a Centrino Proc. so that it won't overheat and crash any more!

Sob, sob!  This IS a new laptop. it's only just over a year old.  It's a... Clevo D900 shell,  Pentium IV - 3.6 gig processor, It's got 2 gigs of memory, a Ge Force Go 6800 express 256 MB graphics card and a 17" widescreen, and its ... its... shiny! 

Wail!

At least it's still under the 3 year warranty, not for parts - that was just the first year, but at least I'm still covered for labour.

Quote - from electroglyph, Donno, How good are you at actually putting things in My Documents?

Um... is 40 gigs good or would you say a little excessive?  :blushing: > Quote - Just a few thoughts: Plus! files and themes you may like. Office Clip-Art you downloaded from Microsoft will load into the program directory.

If you bought a program like UVMapper they send you a registry key to load into your registry and make it full instead of the demo version. Even Though you can download the demo you need this key to make the program run in full mode. Depending on what mail you use this could be in C:mailattach or somewhere else. In fact, it's possible if you use eudora or something that your entire inbox and outbox are in programs instead of my documents.

  S'okay, my email is web-based, so it's all stored somewhere else, got UVMapper, but only classic as I'm pretty hopless at that, so no point in buying the pro version.... themes.... well only here at Ro'sity really.

Don't really bother with clipart, too busy with Bryce, and Cinema, and Wings, and Hex2......

I save all the serial numbers in a file (and have it on paper), keep the original CD's for programs where I can get them. And usually go through the Device Manager to find the names of add-ons like Network cards, video chips, etc (you can probably ignore a lot of that with laptops). Back up all data files (natch), documents, etc. I've lost a hard drive before, and that cured me..;)

I've got most of the original CD's with me, but installing Cinema will have to wait for Sunday night, when I get back home - where the serial numbers are for that.

I was hoping to get Bryce5.5c installed today... like... now. (sniff sniff)

I did find this: br_ap001_cUP-99

And I was wondering if that's the update to version c?

I have Bryce5 CD here and it has the serial number on the sleeve... so that's okay... unless I need a newer serial number for version c update???

Yes, That's the latest Bryce update. You can also download it direct from DAZ no problem.

Bryce 5.5c Update.

Are there any other applications or programs that you downloaded? Bantam Grass is still barely on the web but well hidden. How about Zenith lighting? If you have it and saved all your Bryce presets you should be allright.

I've had about 3 crashes and a couple of intentional upgrades that lost me some favorite games. Castle Wolfenstein ran quadruple speed when I jumped the hard drive from a 286 to 386. Ken's Labyrinth, Moraff's Dungeon, and MonsterBash all got wiped or wouldn't work when systems jumped to 16 then 32 bit. AfterDark was killed when windows went to ActiveX display. It never hurts to think carefully about what might be gone.

you may want to put your IE bookmarks into a zip folder i know theres some links that are hard to come by so back them up just incase

Yes i agree, zip all your bookmarks/favourates and put them on disk. If you can also find outlook/outlook express folder and back up the files in there that are for the folders in your email client i have forgot the file extension on them but you'll know them because they will have folder names like Inbox and so on.

Back any images you have saved on your hdd up that you might need this is one thing i try doing as you never know when you may want to use one for a background image or for getting an idea from.

One more thing: various settings for programs. Like if you have logins and passwords in various files. They are either in Program Files/program folder or in Documents and Settings/(your windows login)/Application data and so on. Not to mention program settings, if you've modified the interfaces and so on. Probably in INI files (except desktop.ini, of course). Little programs and textures you've downloaded?

The Windows Back up saved all my favourites, bookmarks etc, and all the things I've downloaded went into "Downloads" or "DownloadPrograms", I don't think there's much else - since I'm now on Ian's laptop, took the sicky to London yesterday.

And things look much the same, slight roundaboutation to find some things, but mostly normal otherwise.

So if I HAVE forgotten anything, it's too late now!

Did anyone mention backing up the registry? (right now I'm holding down the alt-s key on another computer so Dr.webb will skip some zip files so I'm a little distracted.)

Hope it gets well soon Fran.

Just heard back from them - cost will be £229.13 that's $431.222, but it'll be ready for me to collect tomorrow - pretty quick! 

Problem was the motherboard was cutting out.  So that's just the cost of the new motherboard, I'm covered for everything else.