What would YOU have done?

[low-standards]

Ok, I'm running Windows XP Pro and have been for about 2 months with great results.
Last night I decided, "hmm, lets go to the Windows update site and update as necessary." So I did so and all "critical" updates were installed. Of course I thought nothing of it until I woke in the morning.
Right before windows started to load I got an error message stating something like..ummm.."\Windows\System32\Config\System is either missing or corrupt. Boot from original installation disk and press 'r' to run repair console and try to repair the file yourself."

What the hell!, I yelped and woke my wife up. So I rebooted thinking "Windows will be Windows." Nope, same error message. So I went ahead and booted from the CD and went to the recovery console. I know I don't know much about DOS and I am no computer guru, but the recovery console should be called the "examination" console. As all I could do mostly is view files and rename, copy, delete them. I went through all of the commands and NONE of them allowed me repair my "system" file that was corrupted. (I thought it was corrupted as I found it to be in it's directory) Anyway, I tried the /rebuild command on the system file but couldn't as the PC told me that I had to run chkdsk first. I did so and chkdsk reported NO problems with my configuration! Long story short, I spent the better half of the day re-installing windows and all of my games and stuff.

I probably could have avoided this if I had system restore on, but I choose not to as my slow *** PC needs all the resources it can get.


What would you have done?

I ask so I may be prepared for a future occurance.

[godzakka]

I have been considering just turning off Windows updates entirely, and now I am sure I am going to do it (right now too). There. I have heard bad things about the second patch and Windows Media Updates. Most of the "critical" updates are ways for MS to get into your computer. In fact, I am planning on reinstalling Windows onto a new HDD and starting over, to keep the system healthy and free of WinXP BS.

[kenrippy]

hmm I always take the critical updates....but then again I do have system restore enabled

[netoerixx]

I too shut off my system to constantly update my system alone, I like to do those kinds of things myself. Its a control freak Issue ! Anyway I usually do what the computer tells me to do to avoid such huge errors. To prepare yourself for this kind of problem I would recommend burning everything important to you on CD. Make constant back-ups. CDS are so cheap thats its almost impossible not to. If you get a program back it up... Back everything up, even your favorites. I can't stress this enough. And when you finally reinstall your system, the more you do it the more easier it is... You get into a whole process. I usually format my system like every two months cause my HDD's get filled up with junk. Having extra HDD's to keep all my stuff on such as movies and music also helps... Dedicate one drive to O/S and programs and the other to stuff you download, programs, movies, etc. etc. you get the jist...

[ThAz]

Been there done that . Do a reinstall and turn the damn autoupdate off.

YEAH i Broke 500