It has nothing to do with intelligence/cleverness, but with experience and knowledge of the subject.
On the other hand if you don't try and mess things up, you (or anybody else) will never get the experience. After all it's just a computer, you can always restore an image or reinstall everything.
So try anything you want, but before get some insight of what you wanna do!
Well that's my attitude too ddelo.....if I mess things up.....I simply do a reinstall...which I have mastered thankfully.
Amazes me how some people go the local 'computer shop' when their pc crashes. The guy then keeps it in his shop for a week after spending a couple of hours doing a simple reinstall....then rings them to tell them their computer has been 'fixed'.....and that'll be Ł50 thank you very much. The customer having had to wait a week....assumes the guy has really had to work on their pc.
How do I know this ?
It happened to me with my first pc.......long long ago....and was charged 50 quid. A friend who just happened to work in the shop had told me "Oh, your pc is fixed".......5 days before I actually received the phone call to collect it.
That same friend was the one who did the reinstall on my pc, but his boss had said.....give him a call in a few days time.
A clean reinstall, or do you restore an image? If you have not done so already, sounds like you'd enjoy exploring the possibilities making a system image offers. Macrium Reflect Free is one of the best tools for this.
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect | Windows 10 Tutorials
Oh, please Follow Bree's advice and get Macrium Free if you don't already have it...highly recommended if you like to "play" and use it before ALL M$ Cumulative updates to your External Drive too... I also let it run a scheduled backup every 3 days incase something other than me ruins win10 :)
*** make sure to make the Rescue Disk it is imperative to a rescue***
Brink has a Tutorial on Drive Manipulation and suggests using Minitool Partiton Wizard (MTPW) or Easeus too,
Convert MBR Disk to GPT Disk in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials
Made the decision to stop 'experimenting' with USB sticks re Windows 10. After all the installed version of Windows 10 seems to work well....apart from the odd problem (usually of my own making).
I often use the quote "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"...so I'm gonna practice what I preach.
I have tried Ubuntu (on a stick) in the past and quite like it...up to a point....possibly because it's similar to Windows in many ways, although you could 'not' call me an "Ubuntu convert".
Milton
@ Kbird
Whenever I buy a new pc, I ALWAYS make the rescue disks a top priority....and advise my friends and neighbours to do the same whenever they buy a new computer. If they don't feel it's within their capabilities....I offer to do it for them.
No, you'll be back. I sense an inquisitive mind that can't resist experimenting. After all, if you don't break it, how can you learn by putting it back together again?
But first - master the skill of making system images. If you can't put Humpty back together again, then just restore a system image. Your system will be back to exactly how it was when you made the image. No one will ever know you've been playing (again).
Come on Milt you know you want to play around with computers :) just play safe :)
The rescue disk I was referring to in this case is the One for Macrium Reflect , it will allow you to re-image a Drive from a Backup ( an image is like a snapshot/pic, of the HDD the moment you make it, so no full reinstallation of Win10 and all your Progs. needs doing again) and 20 minutes later your Computer is just like it was a day or two ago ( assuming a backup every 3 Days as I do). A generic backup disk made on another Computer MAY work but it is best to do it to a USB Stick ( or a CDRW ) so you can refresh it with each new Version of Macrium. Macrium's rescue Disk is actually a good use for Old 2-4GB USB Keys if you have one, as the Disk is only 220-250mb usually. It also has a very handy side application , it can fix Windows Boot Problems too , and it what I use after I clone an OS drive to make sure it boots properly. Cloning Drives is Macrium's secondary function after making backup up Images actually and is very handy to have.
KB
You've got the "inquisitive mind" bit right Bree, but I'm going to try and use it in a slightly different way. You may notice I've become a fairly regular visitor to Ten Forums, so I intend to try and learn from "the masters" here.
Milton
@ Kbird
I'm artistic by nature and I could spend evenings drawing portraits, then on a whim.....I bought a computer......a Commodore 64 (stop laughing) and I was hooked. I would spend hours entering code from computer magazines. The computer screen became my drawing pad.
To put it in a nutshell......you guys KNOW how to drive the Windows 10 car....I consider you all as "driving instructors" to us lesser mortals.
See you're back already ...I had the same feeling as Bree :) , here's a couple of Macrium Tutorials to look over....
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect | Windows 10 Tutorials
Use Macrium Reflect Rescue Media to Fix Windows Boot Issues | Windows 10 Tutorials
No one person can master Windows, it's too big. I was in IT support before I retired and thought I knew quite a bit about Windows. I enjoyed the challenge of solving problems. But since joining TenForums I have learned so much more than I knew before.
It's a big place here and there are so many 'masters', each with in-depth knowledge of a specialist area - and happy to share that knowledge. Here the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.
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