Dear Group, I've not updated my system with Synaptic for far too long and i read in one of the posts that it's recommended to get a new up to date ISO and use that instead.
Can you point me to a how-to so that i can install a new download of PCLinux over my old one whilst leaving all my files and settings intact please.
many thanks
If /home (with all your normal users' home directories) is on a partition of its own, you should just remember not to let the installer format that /home partition when you reinstall. The same goes for any data partitions you have: make sure that they are not formatted.
If /home is not on a partition of its own, you have to back up everything on it before your reinstall so that you can restore it later.
You will lose all system-wide settings in /etc and /usr, but there will probably be much less of them than your personal settings in /home/<yourname>. On the other hand you will have to reinstall all applications you've added to the system.
(There shouldn't be any configuration files under /usr, but there will be a few anyway.)
The important thing is that you back up all the
data you want to retain - at least everything that isn't on your separate home or data partitions. Restoring your settings and reinstalling a number of programs is usually far less time-consuming than you'd think; when your own data are gone, they're gone.