Lhadatt said:
It's not a knee-jerk reaction. My basic policy for a machine from a vendor like Dell is to reinstall upon receipt of the box. Their images are so jacked up with garbage that ultimately a fresh install is faster and more reliable.
You know, I actually agree with you about this. I hate OEM pre-installs. 90% of OEM-preload software is useless crap that just clogs up the machine. For my machines, I always nuke and start fresh.
That said, a fresh install is really traumatic for most users who don't know what they're doing, which is why I think a fresh install is NOT something that should be the first thing on the list of solutions to try.
First, all their drivers get reverted to the inbox drivers (if there IS an inbox driver). You're expecting someone who doesn't really know what they're doing to:
a. Realize what the computer is talking about when it doesn't find a driver it needs.
b. Presume the OEM has shipped the drivers in a state where Windows can install them. Most OEMs ship a recovery CD which can't be used to just restore the drivers.
c. If the OEM hasn't shipped the drivers, you're expecting the user to be able to locate the IHV's web site and download the right drivers (if the IHV even still exists).
It gets even worse if they don't have broadband, don't have a network card, or the network card they do have doesn't have in-box drivers.
Second, all their apps are gone, and have to be reinstalled. If a user doesn't know what they're doing, how are you going to expect they can remember where they got every little widget they liked and reinstall them all. Does a novice user know how to get their IM history recovered? Does a novice user know how to make their email program reload their mailbox again? (Hell does a novice user even remember their email password?)
Third, you've just undone all the security patches and service packs they may have already deployed on their machine through Windows Update. Asking a novice user to fresh install their machine is an instant recipe for a virus infection, unless the user is smart enough to yank his network cable during the install, turn on the firewall before plugging it back in (if he even knows what a firewall is), and re-download SP2 before doing anything else. Unless, of course, you expect him to understand what slipstreaming is, or he is lucky enough to have a slipstreamed SP2 disk already.
My point is a fresh install is usually like nailing an ant with a nuclear weapon. Sure, it might get the job done, but it whacks everything else the user cares about. Sometimes the net result after hours of work is a computer that doesn't work half as well as it did before, for reasons that the novice user can't figure out.
I did point out that I was mainly spouting my opinion, but in my experience it's just simpler to do it that way. I'm all for master hackery, but come on.
In my experience, 90% of Windows problems are due to
a. some simple setting that's easily fixed once you know where it is.
b. spyware/malware.
c. a retarded 3rd party app that screws up windows.
d. a retarded 3rd party driver that screws up windows.
e. bad hardware.
In almost all cases, troubleshooting is fairly simple, if you understand how the system actually works.
I did Google for the autoexec error, but came up with nothing.
You must not have tried very hard, because I searched for
"autoexec.nt error" on google, and the VERY FIRST HIT was:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324767
SYMPTOMS
If you try to start or install an MS-DOS-based or a 16-bit Windows-based program on your Windows XP-based computer, you may receive an error message that is similar to one of the following:
16-bit MS-DOS Subsystem
path to the program that you are trying to start or install
C:\Winnt\System32\config.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.
16-bit MS-DOS Subsystem
path to the program that you are trying to start or install
config.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.
16-bit MS-DOS Subsystem
path to the program that you are trying to start or install
C:\Windows\System32\Autoexec.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.
Although you may be prompted to quit the program or ignore the error message, either selection makes the program quit.
CAUSE
This issue may occur if one or more of the following files are missing or damaged:
Config.nt
Autoexec.nt
Command.com
And the solution is to reinstall the files from the CD, which the article walks the user through in painfully precise detail.
For an OS to have such an achilles heel (well, one of way too many) is rather stupid design
First, command.com is not a core part of the OS. It's a 16-bit backwards compatibility subsystem, intended for apps which hardly anyone uses anymore. If something is wrong with it, the rest of the system doesn't care. So it's clearly not something worth clean installing the machine over.
Second, the autoexec error is blindingly obvious. It even points you to exactly which file is wrong. In fact, Ecrofirt (to his credit) pretty much came up with a workable solution
himself, 13 posts down in this thread.
Ecrofirt said:
The computer runs solid with everything except this. Are you suggesting that there's more problems that I'm unaware of, being that it's 'hosed'?
I was thinking about replacing c:\windows\system32\autoexec.nt with the one on my old PC, but it seems as though the file doesn't exist.
-- perhaps you should be placing the blame on those who constructed the stack of cards that is Windows, rather than the people who work with it daily and are so bloody sick of having to construct needlessly complex fixes for incredibly inane and easy to prevent problems.
I'm not assigning blame, I'm merely saying that I think the vast majority of cases in which tech support suggests reinstalling don't actually require a reinstall.
Quite frequently (and I'm not blaming the people that work there) tech support is forced to maximize the rate at which they close cases so they can look good on a quarterly expense report.
Hence, the knee jerk "Shut up, stop bugging us, just reinstall it, it's all Microsoft's fault anyway."
In my experience, Windows (NT/2000/XP/2003) is NOT a stack of cards, and is NOT that difficult a platform to support. All it takes is to know what you're doing.
Regarding Ecrofirt, my recommendation remains unchanged: unless there is something else wrong with the machine, don't reinstall.
I DO think he should grab some anti-spyware/anti-malware scanner (ad-aware maybe), scan his system and make sure it's clean, then install SP2.
).