repair install

Your linked (5 times) tutorial is this page: Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7
The last clean install tutorial you linked (post # 49) is this page: Clean Install Windows 7

I was using the tutorial numbered 1649 (as viewed in the address bar) and had not returned to the tutorial numbered 219487 (as viewed in the address bar) by the time I posted a progress, observations, and questions update. I knew that I had not completed tutorial numbered 219487 yet. I loaded browsers to communicate more easily in this thread before proceeding. I was going to continue in step #12, which addresses startup programs and services, but paused to answer your questions before proceeding.

After returning from household duties which are demanding my attention right now I will proceed with step #12.

All steps in the tutorial have been completed. Two large program installations (Office Professional Plus 2010 and Visual C++ Express 2010) with updates have been completed. Smaller programs remain to be installed, and recovery of saved files is in progress. Some of the files are dependent upon programs which have not been installed yet. May I have a reply to post #65?

I'd use free Macrium - Image your system to get most flexibility in what you can image and where you can reimage it.

Keep your LAN driver as well as all other installers in Downloads folder (rightclick on Start menu to show it there) so you have them for reinstalls.

To upgrade this installation to Pro use Windows Anytime Upgrade - How to - Windows 7 Forums.
Make sure you need the extra features which most users don't.

Macrium is the backup program I was thinking of looking into.

The LAN driver that I found useful is still on my flash drive at present. I'll transfer it. Are there any drivers in C:\Windows\... or some other path that I need to take care to save separately?

Are all the installers going to be exe files, or do I need to look for msi or other file extensions also as I continue to use the new OS?

The features of Pro I was looking at were:

accessing more RAM, which is no longer a selling point since I found that I am limited to 8GB on this machine

remote desktop connection -- I guess something free like Logmein would be a good alternative.

XP mode -- I guess VMWare or VirtualBox would be a free alternative. However, reading the documentation for both leads me to believe that both of them are better suited to development and deployment in larger networks than my home network. Am I missing something here?

If the above is correct, I can save the money by using free third party programs, right?

Returning to the subject of drivers, was the method I used as explained in post #65 the optimum strategy? Can you recommend a better way?

thanks,
drpepper

Yes TeamViewer works flawlessly for me connecting all around the world, and never fails. There are many free virtual players and plenty of help for them here.

You only need to back up the drivers which you had to import because the installer or Windows Update didn't supply them. A good place is Downloads, where I keep all of the program .exe's and installer .iso's. Then I link them and my other User folders to Skydrive to keep them in the cloud and sync'd on my other machines.

All of this is free and better than the paid software.

This is the excerpt about drivers from post #65 that I am referring to.

There were a few issues with the lan driver which I overcame. I found drivers in two different locations within Lenovo Support. One was under Windows 7 64-bit. The other was under Windows 7 Home Premium. This one included both 32-bit and 64-bit drivers. Windows could not use either of them, claiming that the files were corrupt. I explored device manager>network adapters and found that I have Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter. I Googled "Broadcom network adapter drivers" and chose a driver to download. This resolved the problem. I would like to know if there is a better way than I used.

When encountering driver problems in the future, is there a better way to find and install the proper driver than the way I used?

No, if there are drivers still missing in Device Manager after all Updates are installed then import them first from the OEM Support Downloads webpage.

If you have a corrupt file you should download another. Don't use the OEM''s Download Manager - just download them to your desktop or Downloads folder, rightclick to Unzip, then run Setup as Administrator, or browse into the folders from Device manager until it picks up driver.

gregrocker,

First ... Thank you for hanging in there with me. I appreciate your answers to my many questions. I am pretty sure I frustrated you in the process. I know what it takes for me to learn and understand; so I doggedly pursued understanding. We covered quite a few topics which were new to me, and I have learned quite a bit. I am confident that I could repeat the process successfully using my memory and notes taken during the process without outside help.

I have spent a few days improving my file organization. I had to rebuild libraries from scratch because when I started using Win7 libraries were a new concept to me. The resulting initial libraries were not very useful.

The bottom line on the tasks completed is that I have many improvements. My freeze at log in problem is gone. About a gazillion reboots and cold boots have proven this. I have gained about 43GB of HDD space. Customizing my computer is complete and functioning to my liking. Cold boot times range from 20-30 seconds.

I welcome any closing advice and comments before I mark this thread as solved.

drpepper

Save externally a Win7 backup image so you can recover what you have now in 20 minutes if Win7 becomes irreparable: Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

Win7 imaging will restore only to the same offset (position on HD or its replacement). If you need to have more flexibility on what and where you can reimage use free Macrium - Image your system.

Maintain a Clean Boot as shown in Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7.

Watch closely what you download to not allow any freeloader intrusion whatsoever.

Scan monthly with Malwarebytes, CCleaner and Puran boot-time defragger unless not much is found to clean up, then less often.

I have a created both Win PE and Linux versions of the Macrium recovery disc. I know that was not needed, but I wanted to observe the process for both. A full image is saved with Macrium to an external drive. I have had to leave a couple of Logitech programs enabled in the start up programs. I find it to be a nuisance to manually activate my wireless keyboard and mouse without these programs enabled at start up. This is the closest to a true clean boot that I find useful.

Other than that I have completed all tasks. I will mark this thread as solved after you let me know that you have nothing to add.

drpepper