Before we start, there was an article in the Wilmington paper the other day that said Oak Island residents and guests were one step closer to sunbathing on pristine beaches this summer. I read this with interest, as just two days before that I walked the beach and the rocks were so numerous that in some places it was like walking on solid paved rock rather than sand.
The article described a new machine that had been purchased to sift the sand. My hopes were raised until I read further that the machine could not be used during turtle nesting season, and that all work this season would have to be done before May 1. Good luck. Secondly, the machine only works on dry sand. Well, anybody who has been out there recently realizes that there has been quite a bit of erosion of the new sand, and the distance between the high tide line and the dune line isn't very broad any more. The rock problem is on the wet sand where people swim, play and walk - not the dry sand. I just don't see a solution here.
* I made it a matter of pride in the past to never have to reinstall Windows. I always considered problems to be fixable, and Windows XP now has some ability to fix its own files if they get corrupted. Windows also has the System Restore feature, which take you back to a previous (hopefully working) level of Windows.
There are many people who believe that you should reinstall Windows every year or so anyhow, just to get rid of the junk that accumulates. I agree in general with this, but it is often easier to just buy a new PC. I do believe in the old adage that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
But I have had reason to re-think my stand on reinstalling Windows recently because the amount of junk software out there (poorly written web pages, viruses, spyware, etc.) is becoming overwhelming. It has come to a point where I look at time when I service any PC these days. To try to clean up spyware or viruses, I usually give it about 1-2 hours - if I can't fix the problem by then you are probably better off just reinstalling Windows and starting with a new clean slate.
So, you should be prepared in case this eventuality happens to you. Some tips:
Partition Your Hard Drive: Partitioning dates back to older days when the size of hard drives exceeded the maximum size that software could support. By using partitioning, you can split up your hard drive into small pieces, each of which would get its own drive letter. But you can also use partitioning for other purposes - in this case, having Windows in the C: drive (called a System Partition) and creating a D: drive to store all your stuff. If you have to reinstall Windows, you can format just the C: partition and reinstall - your data on D: is left alone. If you hard drive is not partitioned, there are utilities such as Partition Magic that can do it on the fly. Of course, back up your data before doing any partitioning.
But there are some issues involved in partitioning. If you have a physical hard drive failure, you still will probably lose data on both partitions anyhow. Also, many programs (wrongly) insist on keeping their data inside \Program Files, which is by default on your C: drive. You can change this, but I have seen some problems doing it and don't recommend changing it. If you reinstall Windows, you have to reinstall your applications anyhow, so having the \Program Files folder on another drive still doesn't save you anything.
Have A Backup Strategy: I can't tell you how many times I tell a client that their hard drive has failed, or that we have to reformat and reinstall Windows, and ask for their backups. What I get instead of their backups is a blank stare. There days, everyone should have a backup strategy, even if its just saving your email and passwords. Most people don't even know where their data is, much less how to back it up. That is a disaster waiting to happen - you have been warned!
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport - Oak Island area. You can visit his Website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail questions or column ideas to him at bsc@bobseidel.com. For specific inquiries, please call Bob Seidel Consulting, LLC at 278-1007.)