More Techy Questions!!

[Saxif]

Hey Folks,

I want to delete everything in my Temp Files folder, the route is ...

C: Users -> Mr Roberts -> App Data -> Local -> Temp

I deleted everything in my old Temp folder on my old pc, but this one has folders labelled with long strings of letters that look like codes, it also has several programmes like Nero and EA Download Manager in it (this is the main reason I want to deleted the folder as it keeps trying to instal).  I guess I could copy paste the contents and then delete it, just wanted a heads up about any problems I might encounter.

Cheers,

Sax.

[Lasiien]

pfft blatant postfarming imo ;-)

Shouldn't be a problem really, anything that is in temp should have only been used during the install and would not form part of a program anymore. Though EA download manager is can be pretty nasty as it burrows itself into your registry etc because of all the digital rights it's trying to protect (though really this is nothing new, it's the same with Steam and pretty much every game you've bought on DVD has securom also).

I realise this is a slight aside but it's still on an EA footing and related to their crappy download manager, as when they released spore the EA CEO defended DRM (specifically securom) by saying:

?I think that, in general, a year and a half ago EA was pretty well hated -- and I think for good reasons," he says. "Today, you?d be hard pressed to go to a forum and not see a lot of people defending EA and its products.?

"Everyone gets that we need some level of protection, or we?re going to be in business for free,? Riccitiello says. But he sees a lack of understanding among ?a minority of people that orchestrated a great PR program. They picked the highest-profile game they could find,? he says. ?I respect them for the success of their movement.?

??I'm guessing that half of them were pirates, and the other half were people caught up in something that they didn?t understand,? he says. ?If I?d had a chance to have a conversation with them, they?d have gotten it.?

....sigh, so we're either pirates or just plain dumb.... and this is why you have to put up with stuff like that constantly trying to install itself/burrow its way onto your pc and then finding you cant remove the crap either. Brilliant eh ?

[Cernos]

Anything in your App Data -> Local -> Temp directory and C:\Windows\Temp directory is totally safe to remove.

The best way to delete temporary files and all the other unwanted crap that builds up is an aopplication called Ccleaner. It's free and a wonderful tool. I've used this for a long time on several different computers and it always does a great job of cleaning a system of unwanted crap, plus allows you to examine and manage your startup applications and remove any unwanted ones (a lot of crudware builds up here too).

Get it from: http://www.ccleaner.com/

[Saxif]

Cool, thought so, cheers guys.  Will check out your link when I get home Cern, sounds like the kinda thing I want on my pc tbh

Sax.

[Saxif]

Whilst I was dling this I caught myself wondering if it best to put it into C or some other partition?  I have my OS in C, games in another and music/photo's in a third.  Where do you put small programmes like this?  With games or with OS?

Sax.

p.s I know with a modern machine it will make no noticeable difference but if your gonna do something you might as well do it right

[Cernos]

If it is partitions of a single physical drive it doesn't much matter, they're all being read off the same physical drive anyway and in reality are all jumbled up on the disk once it gets fragmented. To keep things tidy you might as well stick applications on C along with the OS.

Personally I always have my OS, applications and games on my primary hard drive, designated as C. Then I have a second hard disk designated as drive D for all my data (files, photos, music etc). The advantage of this is I can move my data to another computer easily if I need to just by removing that hard drive. OS, applications and games get upgraded, uninstalled, reinstalled etc. Data is usually retained across multiple computers over time, so it's best kept separated physically. Finally I have a third hard disk as a backup disk, either fitted internally or externally. This usually just mirrors the contents of my data disk (I don't bother backing up my OS disk, if it falls over I can just reinstall because my data is divorced from it).

Several times I've built a new machine and just brought my data disk across from the old machine - because the data disk doesn't get thrashed like the OS disk does it tends to last a lot longer or doesn't matter if its a bit old and slow (long as its big enough is the main thing).

[Saxif]

How do I get my pc to boot from a disc and not a HD?

I never got round to sorting my broken HD out, so am doing it now.  I formatted it and am now trying to run EStools a Samsung utility programme, it tells you to reboot the system from the disckette (I am using a CD instead).  I hit delete on restarting get into the bios options, goto advanced and boot priority and then choose my CD/DVD drive and disable all other options but it keeps booting up normally using my Western Digital drive.  Any idea's on what I am doing wrong?

I tried to create a 2nd ES Tool disc but you need Nero (or a similar programme) to open it up, and although I used a free trial to do that the first time I am not going to pay for a programme I don't need (I feel Scan should provide me with a copy tbh). 

So am I making a fundemantal error?

Sax.

[Lasiien]

If you have an award bios trying hitting f8 for boot menu instead of going into bios. That's how i select to boot from cd

If you don't have an award bios then i don't know as each bios varies i think, though what you are describing sounds ok to me.

[Cernos]

The boot priority thing via BIOS should work. Perhaps the CD you are trying to boot from doesn't have a proper boot sector.

When you go through the boot process watch the CD/DVD drivbe light and listen to the drive. Before you boot from hard disk, does the CD/DVD drive light flash at all and possibly spin up briefly too? If it does, then the problem is with the disk not actually being bootable. If it doesn't then something is set up wrong in BIOS.

What are you wanting to use ESTools to do? There's probably a way to do it from within Windows anyway.

[Saxif]

Worked the problem out.  The disc was fine but I selected "boot from cd/dvd drive" and then hit esc - esc - esc and it give you a option to save changes, I hit "ok".  If you do the same thing but goto the actual "save and continue" option it actually boots from the CD/DVD drive.  So basically I got it to work.

EStools is a utility programme from Samsung that detects when their HD's have errors on them, so you're right Windows does the same thing as when ever I have that drive hooked up Windows keeps telling me it has errors and I should immediately start the back up process.  Also whatever software comes on a mobo also recognises the Samsung drive is fooked and a special page comes up before the machine boots up telling me its "bad".

Scan wanted me to format the HD and re-run EStools, it returned the same problems as before, matching what Windows, my Mobo and HD Tune all tell me, now I hopefully won't have to jump through any more hoops to get that old HD replaced!

Sax.

[Cernos]

Ah glad you got it sorted. Yes, if you make any changes in BIOS you have to save on exit or you lose them. Hopefully you'll get your refund/replacement now.