setting up a new profile

To complete the shift to my new profile, I will have to do the following:
* change location of Documents, Pictures, Music, Video and Downloads folders to winDocs drive;
* display selected desktop widgets (clock, calendar, weather, RSS feed, CPU and memory monitors);
* import Chrome favourites file to IE;
* import Le Monde RSS feed to IE then set up RSS feed widget;
* install Google Chrome (has to be installed for each profile) and set as default browser;
* install mkv2vob (has to be installed for each profile);
* Control Panel > Appearance & Personalisation > Personalisation > Change screen saver > check "On resume, display logon screen";
* select the "bubbles" screen saver;
* check that closing lid 'does nothing' and that 'sleep' does not follow 20 mins of inactivity;
* import (previously saved) Chrome bookmarks to Chrome and Firefox;
* [install/add wireless printer and scanner;]
* pin Chrome, Gmail, uTorrent, Dreamweaver and Fireworks to taskbar
* move Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos and Downloads from old main profile to new profile folders (on WinDocs);
* import Dreamweaver site info (Documents/site_info/) - ah, englesaxe, tradstone;
* set up virtual machines (for each: create new > choose existing vmc);
* set up default folders for uTorrent and mvk2vob (see directories.txt in Docs);
* enter port forwarding info in uTorrent config;
* add 'englesaxe' and 'comics' to Favorites (by drag and drop), in Libraries;
* set up bluetooth connection to 2730;
* set up periodic backups to a new folder (win7_backup) on portable hard drive, excluding 'video';
* do initial backup; delete old backup;
* delete old main profile and rename new one (nickname capitalised);

dual boot with Ubuntu 10.04

The time has come to cast off Vista and replace it with Ubuntu.

This article has some valuable tips: How to dual boot Vista with Linux .

1 Firstly, boot into Ubuntu and go to Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal. Then, type in sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst;
2 save the list as a text file on winDocs (C drive);
3 boot into Windows 7 and open EasyBCD;
4 go to "Bootloader Setup" and select "Reinstall the Win7 Bootloader", then "Write MBR"; this puts the Win7 bootloader back into the MBR, but the machine will only boot into Vista;
5 go to "Add/Remove Entries", click the NeoGrub tab and select "Install NeoGrub"; this adds the "NeoGrub Bootloader" option to the Vista bootloader;
6 choose Configure - this launches the NeoGrub menu.lst file, location at C:\NST\menu.lst; use Notepad to open the file, and then paste in the boot entries from the text file saved above; save and exit, then reboot the machine.

The system will come up with two boot options. Select "NeoGrub Bootloader" and then the Linux boot options will load. Choose the relevant option and the system boot into Ubuntu.

Alternatively, I use Grub as the Bootloader until I decide to remove or replace Ubuntu, in which case, I then follow steps 1-4 above to reinstate the Windows 7 bootloader. This has the advantage of a single list for all choices, rather than two.