muttering old bag

[jennywren]

I made the mistake of getting a new lap top moved everything over BIG mistake I have to trasfer to the old laptop to scan ect simple because I can't rember where all the program disc are, and as I put things away for christmas I've not a hell chance of finding them, what made me think this was a good idea. Can you get the drivers of the web, mind you to late now but I'm not a nice person to live with at moment the so my husband says as I'm muttering all the time

[John G]

Hi Jennywren,
If you have gone from xp to vista your driver discs might not work - type in you printer or scanner model number into google and search for the specific driver for your operating system. I did the same with my scanner and soon found the right driver on the internet.

I've got a few printers that are not compatible with vista so i'm stuck with my XP computers now until i've researched a bit more on windows 7

Cheers John

[JSR]

I can't rember where all the program disc are,

It's for this reason that, several months ago, I started using "portable" apps wherever possible. These are apps that you don't install to the C: drive. You can run them off a USB stick or SD card without installing them.

If my computer ever fails on me, I can just slide out the SD card, pop it in another computer, and carry on with minimal downtime.

Some apps can't be made portable and so, until I find an equivalent, I have the installation files on the SD card as well. The same goes for all important drivers. I call it "my life on an SD card".

About a month back, I decided it was time to wipe the computer and start from scratch. Normally it would take me the best part of a day to set everything back up the way it was, but this time it took barely an hour (and most of that was just reinstalling Windows and tweaks).

Not being tied to one specific computer is a liberating feeling. When I leave my computer behind somewhere, I just take out the SD card and pop it in my wallet. If the computer ever got nicked, there's no personal information on it because it's all on the SD card.

[Paul]

very good idea. but what kind of portable software r u using J?

[John G]

Excellent idea JSR - never even crossed my mind, i'll have to look into this a bit more.

Cheers John

[JSR]

very good idea. but what kind of portable software r u using J?

Most of what I'm using comes from here: http://portableapps.com/ All the software on that site is free (either open source or freeware).

In addition, I look for other apps that can be run portable. Such as -

• My office app is Softmaker Office which comes with a built-in option to install to a portable drive - http://www.softmaker.com[/*7as3yxxx]
• I'm slowly moving over to Scribus as my DTP software because that can run off the SD card. It's a little bit slow and clunky but it's okay for basics - http://www.scribus.net/[/*7as3yxxx]
• A quick and easy photo app is FastStone Image Viewer - http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm This won't replace a big app or GIMP (which is portable, too) but it is quicker and quite user friendly.[/*7as3yxxx]

[jennywren]

I went to the web site, I have a cannon scanner and got the drivers of there I was so lucky. The laptop has windows seven which is better than vista, but as we have now finshed with orders, (we are not taking any more,) till Jan 5 were we start again with a small order of 105 mugs, but at least there wiill be no xmas thursdays and sundays to do, thank god. but will look in to the small apps things thanks everybody

[Justin]

Most of what I'm using comes from here: http://portableapps.com/ All the software on that site is free (either open source or freeware).

Just download the PDF reader, worked a treat from my USB Stick! Also downloaded the portable version of Thunderbird, took me a few minutes to configure it but that was my fault not the software. Again, works well from the USB stick

Justin

[JSR]

Most of what I'm using comes from here: http://portableapps.com/ All the software on that site is free (either open source or freeware).

Just download the PDF reader, worked a treat from my USB Stick! Also downloaded the portable version of Thunderbird, took me a few minutes to configure it but that was my fault not the software. Again, works well from the USB stick

Justin

A lot of the apps are handy that way. I used to use Thunderbird Portable and Firefox Portable but recently switched to Seamonkey Portable (it's a little bit kinder to my netbook).

I also look after a few websites, so there's Filezilla Portable for FTP.

Other useful apps include VLC Portable for video and Audacity Portable for audio-editing. I also use 7-zip and Infrarecorder quite frequently, and I use Toucan Portable for my backups.

It's handy that, once you've configured the apps the way you like them, you'll never need to configure them again. Normally installed apps put your configuration data in cryptic locations in the registry or hidden away where it's a pain to find them for your backups. But if everything's on the USB stick, you don't ever need to worry again.

Most proper portable apps are also designed to limit the number of writes to the USB stick (removable drives have a limited number of writes and are generally slower than a good internal drive, so limiting the number of writes saves both money and time). It's still a good idea to backup your USB stick from time to time in the event of a failure.

All I do is use Toucan Portable to mirror the lot to a duplicate drive. In my case, I use an SD card in the SD slot of my netbook - so I backup to a duplicate SD card in a USB card reader. If my card ever fails, I can just swap it out with the duplicate and carry on as though it was the same card.

Marvellous!

[jennywren]

Just to let everybody know I still a muttering old bag I'm still finding things that I have'nt got or not running as smooth as possible, also when I put in photo shop the layout is basic and I can't rember how I set it to so it goes how I like. I'm sure I'll still be muttering till the new year. Maybe I should go from jenny wren to muttering old bag. What image would I use.