How to recover from ZA Pro uninstall

[bdxyz]

I was having problems running an application and it was recommended to uninstall ZA Pro to see if it was conflicting. Bad idea!

I am running Win NT4 and on reboot I lost system files and now the system is looking for programs that were deleted a year ago. Lost monitor configurations and programs that do run need to be reset or re-installed.

At this point I have only done the first step of the uninstall, I have not deleted the directory and files recommended on the ZA website. I am hoping that I can reinstall and recover some of the pointers to my original settings.

Am I hoping for too much? I don't know if I should select install or upgrade on the new install. It sounds like upgrade will keep more files on the drive. Or maybe I need to follow the directions and complete the uninstall and then reinstall, or just reinstall without deleting and hope files remain.

Hope that makes sense. I am kind of in shock at all of the work it is going to take to find drivers etc to bring this computer back. Don't want to make the situation worse by reinstalling incorrectly.

Thanks for you suggestion, Bob.

 

[james33]

Dear bdxyz,
Usually an upgrade doesn't overwrite old preferences and most programs (including ZoneAlarm) seem to adhere to that ideal.
I can't say for certain what will or won't happen because I don't know for certain what has gone wrong and what files have been deleted on your computer.
I would only suggest that when you have your system up and running again to your satisfaction that you install a program like Powerquest's Partition Magic to create 2 partitions on your Drive and then use another program like Powerquest's Drive Image to copy a compressed Image of your c:\ Drive on to the second partition so that you can return (at least) to your original configuration if the same happens again.
(If you update your Image each time you install any new programs then even less of your work will be lost).
Along with that, use a program like SecondCopy (see

http://www.secondcopy.com)

to back up your DATA on a daily basis and you almost have a foolproof backup...
I'm sorry if this seems like suggesting you bolt the stable door after the horse has bolted, it is only that, like yourself, I have learnt through bitter experience.
HTH
Regards Jim
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