Daave
Sun May 04 09:04:27 PDT 2008
"Big Al" <BigAl@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:akiTj.2823$zw.61@trnddc04...
> Watching these messages for months, people have bantered around these
> terms. I use the word restore meaning a restore like Acronis
> backups. But have never used (and hope not to) the other two. I read
> a MS KB article on clean boot but no luck. Yes it explained it but
> missed enough 'whys' for me.
Clean booting is for troubleshooting. Is it possible you are confusing
"clean boot" with "clean install"?
> Could someone who uses and prescribes these tools explain what they do
> to your system. Just how much is altered and why do you want to use
> them.
The confusion stems from the fact that one word can have more than one
meaning.
Restore:
1. System Restore, which restores the registry and some other settings
to a previous state. Useful if something in the operating system got
corrupted. it does not (generally) affect your data or programs. See:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx
and
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/getstarted/ballew_03may19.mspx
2. Restore PC to the state it was when it was first purchased. This is
accomplished by either booting off a Restore (or recovery) disk or a
hidden restore (or recovery) partition. (Similar to performing a clean
install, which is mentioned below.)
3. Restoring an image of your hard drive or partition (s). This is part
of a backup strategy. You can use software such as Acronis True Image to
make an image of your drive (this image can be saved to another hard
drive or perhaps a series of CDs or DVDs). Then if there is a serious
problem (e.g., your drive is not bootable), you may use the software to
restore your image.
Repair:
1. You may repair (or restore!) certain files using System File Checker:
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/howto-24.html
2. It is also possible to repair a program using Control Panel | Add or
Remove Programs.
3. You may perform a Repair Install, which is basically reinstalling
your operating system, but your data and programs remain intact (not
considered destructive):
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
Clean Install:
Instead of performing a repair install, you may opt for the clean
install, which *is* destructive. That is, you wipe the entire hard drive
(thus erasing all data, programs, etc.) and start from scratch. This is
similar to "restoring your PC" mentioned above:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
Clean Boot:
This is used to troubleshoot:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434
Finally, there is also something called the Recovery Console!:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/en-us
Hope the above helps to clear up some of the confusion1