Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Install A Fresh Viewer

Hear ye, hear ye, gather around for the second technical sermon by The Much Honored Bock McMillan, laird of Southern Charm and prince of Cascade Falls, nowadays a.k.a. The Sublime TechMaster General of All Things concerning SecondLife.

So quoth the laird:
You've been in SecondLife a good while now and have most likely gone through loads of viewer updates or even changed viewers a couple of times. All the while you have been fiddling about and messing around with your viewer settings until you have completely forgotten what you did, where you did it or even why you did it.

You probably think - like I did - that every time you uninstall a viewer and install a new one it´s a virginal and completely fresh install. Well, the thing is it isn't a fresh installation at all because all your fiddling about and messing around with the previous viewers have been saved on your computer. 

To get a fresh installation this is what you must do in Windows. All of those who belong to "The Holy Sect of Mac", sometimes also known as "The Latter Day Church of Job" must find your own way.

1. Uninstall your viewer (this is best done from the Control Panel - Uninstall a program).

2. Click on the Start-button in the lower left corner of your screen (see symbol). When you click the Start-button a menu appears with a search field at the bottom.

3. in the search field type %appdata%

4. Press enter. After you have pressed enter a new menu appears over the Start-button which contains a folder named "Roaming"

5. Click on the Roaming folder. When you do that a box appears containing loads of different folders.

6 a. Look for and delete the folder named "Second Life" or the name of the viewer you were using.

6 b. While you are at it you might as well also look for and delete any folder with the name of any of the previous viewers you have used; Firestorm, Phoenix, Emerald, Viewer 2.0 or whatever they have been called.

6 c. Go to your [username]/AppData/Local folder and in that folder look for and delete the folder named "Second Life" or the name of the viewer you were using.

Do not worry, none of your Inventory in SecondLife will be lost. That is all stored on the Linden Lab computers.

7. Empty your Trash.

8. Reboot Windows (which means restart your computer, Ars taught me that)

9. Download and install your new viewer

10 Congratulations, you now have a fresh start in SecondLife!

So endeth the second - and probably last - sermon of the Sublime TechMaster on All Things SecondLife. Please note, the TechMaster was taught this trick by the formidable Ewa Aska, owner of Vadstena Castle.
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I was too uninspired for anything else today, so I share my acquired knowledge instead.

10 comments :

  1. -Get a Mac! -Click "download new viewer", the system downloads dmg and open it the drag the SL-Icon to the map containing the old version, system asks you if you want to replace the old version with the new one + klick yes - the system erase the old one completly and install the new one.
    -It takes five times longer to write about it then doing it.

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  2. A better advice is to stop using worthless viewers! The only one worth using besides LLs own was Kirstens (which never gave anyone those kind of problems).

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  3. Well, my two purist friends, then it seems that this is not an advice any of you would need.

    Although I do still believe it could be of some help to some of the other 19.999.997 other less than perfect users like myself.

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  4. Always a great idea! And try to run one viewer at a time-- do not install a mess of them on your drive. The problem is a current viewer may download an incompatible texture or instruction file. Way to go Bock with your computing tips!

    Bock- one more thing -- I recommend that you use this software for uninstalling any program. It picks up old files that Windows might miss:

    http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for that great tip too, Eddi, do you mean it will make my computer work almost like a Mac?`;)

    I will give it a try of course, as I always do when you recommend something!

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  6. Thank you for this great tip Bock! I have noticed a difference since following your instructions.

    I look forward to more from you in the future!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I didn´t meant to hurt your feelings. I misunderstood you, I thought you thought it was very difficult. Eddie's advice with an uninstaller is very good. It is important that "all" linked files are renewed.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey Jamie, thanks for reading and commenting. You are always welcome back! I am also happy my post was helpful. ;)

    Vanadis, my friend, you did not in anyway hurt my feelings. I had already anticipated you would comment about how much better the Mac is, as you can see in my post. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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