Comments on: If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It http://www.cyprich.com/2007/09/24/if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it/ Occasionally Relevant Insights from a Software Builder Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:52:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Johan Cyprich http://www.cyprich.com/2007/09/24/if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it/comment-page-1/#comment-12596 Johan Cyprich Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:27:05 +0000 http://www.cyprich.com/2007/09/24/if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it/#comment-12596 Its always a good idea to backup your Windows drive when you install software which may cause problems. A good program for doing this is <a href="http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Drive Image XML</a>. It can backup and restore Windows partitions, but you'll have to create a bootable Windows CD with something like <a href="http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">PE Builder</a> to restore your boot partition. If you backup your Windows partition, you can install any application and if it damages your computer, you can restore it to its previously working state. Its always a good idea to backup your Windows drive when you install software which may cause problems. A good program for doing this is Drive Image XML. It can backup and restore Windows partitions, but you’ll have to create a bootable Windows CD with something like PE Builder to restore your boot partition.

If you backup your Windows partition, you can install any application and if it damages your computer, you can restore it to its previously working state.

]]> By: Ted http://www.cyprich.com/2007/09/24/if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it/comment-page-1/#comment-11279 Ted Sun, 30 Sep 2007 06:37:02 +0000 http://www.cyprich.com/2007/09/24/if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it/#comment-11279 I subscribe to the policy of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." While it's true that newer versions of software contain cool features and important fixes, sometimes they come at too great of a price. Take, for example, Windows Media Player. We're up to, what, 11 right now? I'm still using 6.4! Why? The newer versions of Windows Media Player is filled with just too much unnecessary features that hinder performance and clutter up the user interface. The same holds true for a lot of software. And there's also a possibility that upgrading to a newer version could seriously mess up your computer. A week ago, I was feeling that my ZoneAlarm firewall was a little outdated - even though it still worked just fine, so I downloaded the latest version. I uninstalled the old one and installed the new one. It asked me to reboot. I did, and Windows never started up again, except in Safe Mode. I'm fairly competent with computers (I built and configured my own from scratch), but I just couldn't fix what ZoneAlarm screwed up. I had to reinstall Windows. That's not to say I'm completely against new software. If I were, I'd still be using Windows 95. But I am against upgrading unnecessarily when whatever you have still works. In other words, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I subscribe to the policy of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” While it’s true that newer versions of software contain cool features and important fixes, sometimes they come at too great of a price. Take, for example, Windows Media Player. We’re up to, what, 11 right now? I’m still using 6.4! Why? The newer versions of Windows Media Player is filled with just too much unnecessary features that hinder performance and clutter up the user interface. The same holds true for a lot of software.

And there’s also a possibility that upgrading to a newer version could seriously mess up your computer. A week ago, I was feeling that my ZoneAlarm firewall was a little outdated – even though it still worked just fine, so I downloaded the latest version. I uninstalled the old one and installed the new one. It asked me to reboot. I did, and Windows never started up again, except in Safe Mode. I’m fairly competent with computers (I built and configured my own from scratch), but I just couldn’t fix what ZoneAlarm screwed up. I had to reinstall Windows.

That’s not to say I’m completely against new software. If I were, I’d still be using Windows 95. But I am against upgrading unnecessarily when whatever you have still works. In other words, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

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