JustDave

A few posts lately have complained that the latest beta of ISD is buggy and causing problems. Gang, beta releases are, by definition, buggy and unstable. The reason a developer releases a beta app in the first place is to get it out of the lab and onto more PCs, exposing it to real world conditions. Putting the program into the hands of normal people is a guaranteed, surefire way to expose the limitations of, and problems with the software. In return, the developer usually wants to know of all problems encountered so he/she can fix and improve the software. If you choose to run beta software, you’re essentially agreeing to risk your data, your time, and your sanity, in order to assist the developer in testing the software. If you’re willing to take that risk, at least take a few extra steps to protect your system. And yes, I learned these the hard way. :neutral: For registry or operating system cleanup/optimization apps… 1. Create a system restore point. Often an issue inadvertently raised by a beta app will rear its head immediately as, or just after you run the software; a simple restore may set you right. 2. Do a complete backup of the registry. If a system restore alone doesn’t take care of it, that plus a restoration of the registry usually will. 3. Review the items the software proposes to “cleanup” or “optimize.” If you’re not familiar enough with the registry or operating system to really know what you’re looking at you probably shouldn’t be running a beta program in the first place. Better to find and use a known good, known safe application. 4. Create a restore point and a fresh registry backup every time you make significant changes to your system. Yes, it’s tedious, but so is reinstalling Windows. For HDD maintenance/defrag apps… 1. Create a system restore point and do a complete backup of the registry. Same rationale as above. Depending on the type of damage a system and/or registry restore might get you back up and running. 2. Backup the drive you’ll be working on. As in create an image of the entire drive. That is, unless you really don’t mind losing everything on the drive. 3. Don’t work on your boot drive until you’re certain the software is safe. If the app goes south on a data drive you can often recover at least some of the content. If it takes your boot drive down you can’t do squat. (Actually, if you backed up your drive per step 2 you can completely recover either your boot or data drives, it's just easier to recover the data drive.) 4. Always run in manual mode until your certain the software is safe. You want to be able to explicitly control what the software is doing and when. You definitely don’t want beta software firing up in the middle of the night and automatically defragging all 4 hard drives. 5. Create a fresh disk image whenever recreating new content is more hassle than making another image. Yes, it’s tedious…