Does "OS Transition" software exist?

[MamasBoy]

Profile: I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate (x64) Service Pack 1 (build 7601) on a Dell Studio XPS 9100 with 24 GB of  DIMM RAM. Due to consistent .dll error messages(primarily mssprxy.dll), Dell Support technicians have advised me that my .dll problems are the result of software corruption of an unknown source, and have advised me to format my local hard drive and re-install Windows 7.

Question 1: Is there software I could use to make the OS transition less onerous? In other words, does software exist that would catalog my current programs so re-installation wouldn't be the nightmare it currently is? (I've already purchased Recover Keys)

Question 2: Does diagnostic software exist that I could use to confirm the Dell analysis?

Question 3: I don't know what I was thinking when I purchased 24 GB of RAM. How can I determine if it's all being used?

(Thank you in advance. This is a very helpful forum. I urge visitors to actively support it)

[Paul Keith]

There are image backup software like ShadowProtect. You need a much larger external storage though.

There are also some Linux operating systems like Mint that has a pre-installed Backup software like Mint Backup which basically just monitors and copies files you want. These can't tweak with installed software though.

[rjbull]

Question 1: Is there software I could use to make the OS transition less onerous? In other words, does software exist that would catalog my current programs so re-installation wouldn't be the nightmare it currently is? (I've already purchased Recover Keys)

Not sure if this's what you mean: Bits du Jour has periodically offered programs that claim to be able to (relatively) painlessly migrate your application software between OSs, so you don't have to reinstall as such and set eveything up again.  I haven't tried them.  One of the ones they mention is PCmover.

[MamasBoy]

Thank you. I'll look into PCMover.

[Curt]

Don't do it!    ...at least not yet.

Please first tell if you have the installation DVD with SP1?  

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By-the-way-Info about the mssprxy:

Static Linking:
mssprxy.dll is statically linked to the following files:
RPCRT4.dll, msvcrt.dll, API-MS-Win-Core-ErrorHandling-L1-1-0.dll, API-MS-Win-Core-Interlocked-L1-1-0.dll, API-MS-Win-Core-LibraryLoader-L1-1-0.dll, API-MS-Win-Core-Memory-L1-1-0.dll, API-MS-Win-Core-Misc-L1-1-0.dll, API-MS-Win-Core-ProcessThreads-L1-1-0.dll, API-MS-Win-Core-Profile-L1-1-0.dll, API-MS-Win-Core-SysInfo-L1-1-0.dll, OLEAUT32.dll

This means that when mssprxy.dll is loaded, the above files are automatically loaded too. If one of these files is corrupted or missing, mssprxy.dll won't be loaded.

http://www.win7dll.info/mssprxy_dll.html

[Carol Haynes]

If it were my computer I would get a copy of a Windows 7 SP1 Ultimate 64-bit DVD from somewhere and do an in-place upgrade (borrow one or download an ISO and burn one - they are easy to find on the net with downloads direct from the MS servers). That should update all the Windows files.

Just insert the installation DVD while Windows is running and follow the instructions when they appear on screen (or open the DVD drive and start setup.exe).

You will need to use the license code for Ultimate (on the box and supplied by Dell if it was preloaded).

Alternatively ask Dell to supply you with an SP1 disk (assuming they supplied the machine with Ultimate installed) - which means you won't even need a license code.

[40hz]

+1/w Carol.

Reinstalling via in-place upgrade of W7x64+SP1 is likely to be the easiest way to cure that problem assuming Dell is correct in it's diagnosis.

You could also try reinstalling the service pack itself first to see if that catches the gremlin. You can download the service pack directly from Microsoft here.

Note: It's a 1GB download, so if your web connection isn't up to it I'm sure some fellow DCer could snail mail you a copy. If you're in the USA, drop me a PM with where to ship and I'll be happy to send you a disk.   )

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re: 24Gb of RAM:

I'm not sure what you were thinking either! Wow!!!

FWIW, I doubt you'll ever come close to using anywhere near all of that. Probably not even half unless you set up something like a half dozen extremely robust virtual machines.

As far as monitoring how much is actually being used, any 64-bit capable memory monitoring utility should be able to keep you posted about what's going on under the hood. Windows built-in task manager will also give you memory usage and stats if you look under the performance tab.

I personally like the oddly named SysInfoMyWork utility when I occasionally want to peek at how much memory and CPU is being used. Can't vouch for how well it works with a 24Gb machine since I've never had one however.

Luck!