How-To: Save Your Computer from Virtually Anything
by Omni on Sep.08, 2009, under Useful Programs
If you have been prone to mess around with your computer, but are not truly an expert, many times, things can and will go wrong. Being the hacksar I am, even I make mistakes. Recently, I had undertaken the challenge of trying to install a Hackintosh’d version of OSX on my laptop, but not being very knowledgeable about the Mac OS, you can only imagine how badly I messed up. Long story short, my laptop would simply not start any operating system.
Keep reading for the full story.
If you have ever made some huge mistake with your computer, whether it consists of messing with some registry entries or just plain switching your active boot drive (like me…), there is one thing that you should keep in mind. Always have something on hand to undo your mistakes.
In my case, my panacea was Hiren’s Boot CD. This absolutely amazing boot CD contains over 100 different rescue programs and other utilities that are a godsend when something goes awry. It has partition managers, MBR fixing wizards, EVERYTHING. I mean, it even comes with a mini version of Windows XP that you can run straight off the CD.
To use it, just download the ISO from this page (for some reason the official Hiren site doesn’t have a download mirror), burn it to a CD using some software (I’m partial towards ImgBurn), and then just pop it in your disk drive on boot. It may ask you if you want to boot from CD or hard drive, and you can make the right decision. If it doesn’t, try changing your BIOS settings (usually it’s either F2, F8, or F10 – depending on your computer – to get to the BIOS options). Make sure to edit the boot order to have your CD drive first (before your primary hard drive). Then, it should work fine.
Explore Hiren’s Boot CD and see all the magic it can do. Word to the wise, though, make sure you have at least a slight idea of what you’re doing (just so you don’t mess anything up even more). The internet and Google is your friend.
Did you like what you read? Be sure to get the latest posts emailed straight to you or subscribe to our RSS feed for the latest posts.
October 5th, 2011 on 12:44 am
Another of my favorites. You’ve provided excellent info and how-tos on so many useful programs. Sure do wish this site had been around when I was first learning my way around!
January 11th, 2012 on 9:04 am
We are very close to losing our historic freedoms.