Quote:
My Dominions 3 directory is inside the Program Files folder.
|
Stop right here... here is your mistake. Over the years the safest way to run anything on a Windows computer (including XP, 98, 95, NT, 2000) is to partition your main hard disk in two, leaving a place for windows and associated stuff ("my documents" and other useless folders, drivers... and a second disk for data and programs like games.
Of course, you have to leave significant place for the OS (about 10 times the minimum requirement written on the box) so the disk doesn't get full. For Vista I decided on 50 Gb, for the OS only.
If you do that, and save all your important data you gain the following benefits :
- you have control of what you do.
- you can reinstall your OS without having to reinstall anything, except for drivers and the like.
- you second data disk is 'clean'.
- you can easily create a backup for your OS.
The only "downside" is it takes about 20 more seconds for every install of a program because you do not place it randomly in the default folder...
Actually, that should also work with Macs and Linux systems, but I got only little experience with those, so I can't really tell.
About vista : the main problems with it in my opinion is that it gives too much eye candy to the 'average' user and nothing that looks or sounds like a real useful improvement, and that for 'security reasons' you can't do what you want where you want without altering significantly the system... another problem is that people's memory is short, the exact same remarks had been made about XP in the past, and now everyone clings to it like it's an excellent OS or something... it never was.