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OMGWTFBBQ · Dec 4, 2003, 01:28 PM

Okay, let me start by saying I'm new to the Mac, more familiar with Windows and Unix.

I was noticing that my Safari was behaving in a way that I wasn't entirely thrilled with - in hopes of resolving said problems, I acted on the advice of someone else and upgraded to the newest development release of Java 1.4.2 from Apple.
Sure, I saw that they said "hey there, this will probably break everything if you install it, and then you can't uninstall it either there smart guy."

So I went ahead and installed it with abandon and sure enough, it helped out a lot with my Safari issue.

Unfortunately it has broken my Eclipse, and some P2P programs.

I'd like to go back to the 1.4.1, but apparently in order to do such a thing, I have to do a clean install of Panther.
I've only had my AlBook a month, so there isn't a ton of stuff on here - but I would still rather not lose all of my settings and such.

What is the best/easiest way to reinstall, but retain my settings that I have now (address book, bookmarks, files, preferences, etc)? Or is there actually no way to do it and I have to just wipe it and then start over from scratch (obviously backing up the files) and reinstalling the programs?

I just want to know how big a hassle it is - that way I can determine if I am more willing to do that, or just wait until 1.4.2 becomes the OS X standard and everything works with it.

Dale Sorel · Dec 4, 2003, 01:35 PM

"Archive and Install"

OMGWTFBBQ · Dec 4, 2003, 01:48 PM

Excellent! The only experience I have had with installing was when I opened the brand new laptop up, started it up, and then walked out and bought Panther for it.
I then upgraded it which just wiped over the existing stuff - no sweat since all I did was turn it on and some initial configuration just to get it going.

So, with that said - the "archive and install" you mentioned is helpful in that I know what those words mean individually, but in the context of what they mean here, I am more lost.

That is in quotes, so I assume that is actually perhaps an option when reinstalling?
Or are you telling me "back up your stuff and reinstall"?

When doing the "archive and install" does that retain settings? Do you have to reinstall programs?

Sorry, like I said, I'm new to Macs - or at least new to installing anything on them.

wataru · Dec 4, 2003, 01:53 PM

Originally posted by OMGWTFBBQ:
That is in quotes, so I assume that is actually perhaps an option when reinstalling?

Yes. Just start the install process and you'll see. Watch for the "options" button at the bottom before you actually install.

OMGWTFBBQ · Dec 4, 2003, 02:05 PM

Great! Thanks guys - I am at work and don't have the CDs with me, so I didn't try anything out.

I apologize if that was an obvious question - I had already done the stupid act of installing the Java update without reading/thinking into it more - so I didn't want to wipe out a month's worth of settings on this thing.