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#51
I don't save work to my C: drive; that's why I'm able to get by comfortably with only 128GB, even with a humongous hyberfil.sys file. I routinely do a system image every week on Friday after running my scans. I also make an image just before making any system changes (such as yesterday before dealing with the Avast bug) so I'm not likely to lose any settings, etc. I backup my data daily (more often if I dump something critical into my computer). Using a folder/file syncing program for backing up data is much faster and more efficient than imaging. I even save and backup deleted data.
Btw "if it works" is a key phrase. I've never been able to get System Restore to work on any of my Win 7 machines; it was hit and miss on XP.
I did!
Based on high recommendations from a thread in this forum I decided to give Panda a try about 6 months ago on one of my backup PCs.
When I read that post above I was sweating bullets as I turned it on. Started up into Safe Mode, uninstalled Panda, cleaned up, and restarted. All was cool.
Avast is now installed on that box and the birds are singing.
Repeating my self again.
One can make backup and should but to me that is no reason not to use Restore Points. I choose to use both. Backup and Restore Points both have there place but don't replace each other.
I used System Restore with XP; most of the time it worked but I don't consider "most of the time" to be very reliable. In Win 7, I've never got it to work on the three machines of mine I've actually used (one desktop, one notebook that needs a new Wi-Fi card, and the note book I'm currently using when traveling; I have a third notebook but I haven't fired it up yet). Using Macrium Reflect, I have yet to have a verified image fail to restore (and only one image ever failed to verify; I just reran MR again and that image verified). There is no way to verify a restore point. Because of my lousy track record with System Restore in Win 7, I turned it off and shrunk my pagefile to 800MB.
Want to hear about another sneaky one i found LF ?
Recently one of my test systems started having a 1-2 second delay before the mouse would move on reboot.
The delay was on the Windows logon screen where i click on the User.
I had recently updated this OS to the latest Avast free, latest MBAM paid, and any other programs i found out of date...
So I looked though Avast settings and found Enable Hardware-assisted virtualization was checked in troubleshooting settings.
I unchecked that, and that fixed my 1-2 second delay problem.
Why should this be checked if Avast Virtualization is not installed, and show a warning if unchecking it ?
This is why i don't recommend Avast for folks I help, there are too many settings scattered around that can make a difference.
Other AV's are simpler imho ... Panda or MSE ...
I still use Avast on 2 systems, been using it for many years, it just gets very complicated/confusing to make sure all settings are "correct".
I checked another system with Avast that didn't have the mouse delay.
I unchecked the Enable Hardware-assisted virtualization because to me this setting seems inappropriate if Avast virtualization is not installed, and on my Test Box it did cause a "minor performance issue".
It may never make a difference on any particular system, but I prefer it unchecked in case it might cause some other problem updating to a new Avast version later on...