Amber! I have an idea for you.

[Hermie]

I don't know if you already did this, but I've had to re-install programs again and such, so I came up with a fast way go get back in buisness. If you download programs, instead of opening the file, save it. This is the installer file. You can copy this onto a backup CD, flash drive, or whatever you use, then just upen the file when you need to install it. I've done this with all of my programs, and it cuts recovery times drastically for me, and I don't even need an internet connection to do it!

Don't know if you thought of this, but I thought I'd let you know in case you don't. ^^

[Joe3210]

This is a great idea for anybody else for that matter.

[Goatmon]

Who the Hell just opens a program instead of saving it?  I don't want to believe that this is a common practice.

Also, this probably didn't need it's own thread, nor is it really the ideal place for it.

[Damaris]

Actually, I think it's quite a good, practical idea that most people probably overlook because it's too simple.  The idea of saving all my downloaded .exe files to a disk never occurred to me, and would have helped me quite a bit, as my computer just bit the big one too.  Thankfully, I'm not an artist, and have access to a laptop, but that didn't make the file recover process any less annoying.

[Mao]

Jeeze, I've always thought of this as common sense. 

[Jairus]

Hm... well, I'll start doing this, I guess. Plus, I've got an external hard drive for my backups, so it's not like saving the installer file will take up extra space on my computer.

[Goatmon]

Jeeze, I've always thought of this as common sense. 

Thank you.

[Ghostwish]

Jeeze, I've always thought of this as common sense. 

Thank you.

Makes you glad you're not the only 'nerd' around, eh?

[AmigaDragon]

Jeeze, I've always thought of this as common sense. 

But over the past couple (or more) decades, common sense has become less and less common (in any part of life, not just computer usage).

[Lego3400]

If it's something I can get again for free and is quite easy to get again, I'll just open it. If it were something that I had to pay for, I'd likely save it. I've never downloaded anything I've had to pay for though.

[Jer-oh-me]

I've had to deal with a lot of computers that decided they had the flu, and having a disk with all the programs that were downloaded and then used to install would probably be helpful for diagnosing. So yeah, I like this idea, though I'd not ever put them on disks.

[Darkmoon]