There has been some talk on here about re-formatting you hard drive and re-installing your operating system (Windows, Linux or Mac) to solve relatively simple problems. The expression “using a sledgehammer to crack a nut” springs to mind. After a few years of installing and un-installing software and to do a bit of a spring-cleaning this may seem like a good idea but not for every problem that arises.

I am a big fan of Norton Ghost and on many occasions it has got me out of jail and as recently as last Friday. I was introduced to Ghost when it was a lovely little programme initially written by Murray Haszard from New Zealand. It fitted nicely on a floppy disc. The version I knew and loved booted into a DOS interface and you could navigate to a previously saved image of your C:/ drive and restore it as if going back in time. No PC techie worth his salt was without it.

Symantec/Norton now produce Ghost with all its bells and whistles and I’d never move beyond the version I have, Ghost 2003. After that and like so much software it gets too convoluted. If you can, try and get your hands on Ghost 2003 or earlier. If you are using a version after that and like it fine… Just my opinion.

Every month I make a (Ghost) backup saved to my external hard drive. If trouble arises, like it did last Friday, I do format the hard drive, install Windows, install Ghost and revert back to the last saved image of my hard drive so instead of going back to square 1, I only need go back to a copy of my hard drive that in this case I made on 18th February.

It saves a LOT of time and also you should still have all your favourite applications, programmes, bookmarks and passwords from your preferred browser.

Hi,
Got to agree with you about Norton. I always use Norton system works. This includes ghost, anti virus and a whole lot of other useful things. The Ghost now works automatically, you put in how far you want to go back, this will depend on the space you have on your hard drive. I had it set to go back 30 days, if you have problems with your computer it will tell you the first safe point to go back to, you can select this or go back further.
Tried to get Norton over here in Udon but just got a blank look, got System Works when i was last home in Aug. last year, 55GBP it cost me at trade price.
Cheers Doug