Images are more important than ever

Now that we learned that a Repair/Install of an SP1 system is impossible or very difficult ( Repair Install ), it is more important than ever that people are being encouraged to image frequently.

I keep about 10 current images and stash away another set of older images all the way back to the initial installation. It is also a good strategy to keep images on 2 or 3 different disks and even use 2 different imaging programs - just to be on the safe side. The day you need an image to get yourself out of a tight spot, you will applaud yourself for these measures.

Thanks for the suggestion I updated the title.

It's not impossible, I'm in the process right now in VirtualBox using the installer I created HERE with an SP 1 ISO from MS TechNet.

I do agree that images are very important and I use them myself.

How to Do a Repair Install to Fix Windows 7

click to enlarge

I'm confused; I think. After installing SP-1 can I use built in Windows 7 back up to a dvd??

It can also be done by slipstreaming the SP into the ISO.

I agree that's probably a bit beyond the average user, but frankly, I think alot of the time, so is creating system images, or even backups! "Joe Average" who know's nothing about computers, is in my experience, unlikely to take any sort of backup at all. Just my tuppence worth.

1. I understand that a slipstreamed .iso does not work
2. Imaging (win7 backup as Layback Bear calls it) is really no rocket science. Everybody should be able to do it.
3. The morons that do not make provisions to be able to bail themselves out, should go to the Geek squad and pay thru the nose
4. People that know nothing about computers and are not willing to learn the basics (and imaging is part of the basics) should not use computers or pay thru the nose - LOL

whs said:

1. I understand that a slipstreamed .iso does not work

Ah fair enough, didn't know that :)

As for parts 2-4, I completely agree. It's not difficult, and everyone SHOULD both be able to do it and actually do it. Frankly even my girlfriend, who manages to break a computer as soon as she looks at it figured it out the first time I showed her.

The point I was making was that unfortunately Joe Average doesn't do these things. How many times do we see someone who has installed 12,000 (ok I'm exaggerating a little) toolbars that they never use and then wonder why their browser is slow? How many people just let everything put itself in startup and then wonder why it takes 30 minutes to boot?

There is a popular TV show over here called "The IT Crowd" in one of the episodes the non technological minded manager had loads of popups appearing all over her screen, and her response was "I like it like that"

The sad thing is, comedy or not, it's not too far away from the truth.

I think we agree. I always hope that our modest efforts here help to educate people. I am always shocked to see people in my computer club that have used Windows since 3.1 and still have no clue about the most elementary things. They are coming to my classes trying to learn something, and my first PC was Vista - but at least they are trying.

I agree that images are vital. I had to do a restore myself lat Thursday following some BSODs and sfc reporting unfixable corruption and BSODing itself. Had to go back two images before sfc ran clean, fortunately I image twice a week with Win 7 and Macrium so only had to go back a few days and recovered virtually all data files from a daily data backup.

YOU CAN'T HAVE TOO MANY BACKUPS.