OT: Why I still use Win98se <long and Whiney>

Last night I had a very regretable evening. A friend of my son came down from Alaska for a vacation. Unfortunately for me, Sunday was his last full day here, he was driving back sometime Monday morning. So about 5pm my son shows up with his friend and wants to know if I can clean out his laptop for him...it was full of virus and spy programs. Well like a dork, I agreed. I have a cd with copies of Spybot and Adaware and AVG burned into it just for such occassions. I ran Spybot without any updates just to get a feel for the system. Then I did the same with Adaware...ooooh man...did that open up the devil's toolbox. The un-updated new version of Adaware(v1.05) has a problem with one paticular toolbar/spyprogram. BlazeFind is a tricky little program in- that it changes the name of a file inside the windowsXP registry. So when Adaware removes the BlazeFind trojan...the improperly named file gets left behind. Ok here comes the nasty part. Adaware automatically creates a restore point when you get ready to exit and restart your system. Then XP,I'm told, does the same as you reboot. Ok, Adaware restarts your system and it comes to a stop at the logon screen. You can't logon..it won't say why, the Desktop flashes onscreen for just a brief instant as XP tries to log your user on. But it can't because of the supposedly missing file that BlazeFind altered. No problem, I thought, I'll just use those dos boot options that XP has and restore the last good save. As we now know, the last retore INCLUDES the altered registry entry so even restoring won't help. Alright, I think..SAFE MODE will save the day...wrong again..I can't logon in safe mode either. I then spent a goodly chunk of time tracking down the problem with several long Google sessions. I found this problem attacked Adaware last summer and caught them by suprise. They have fixed later versions of thier spybot updates to avoid this mess, but they had little info on how to UNDO something that had already been messed up. Several users found a solution, using the XP recovery Console..(more research to findout what that was). I tracked down my son's college version of the XP install disk and followed instructions to get to the recovery console. EVERYONE agreed this is the simple part. Well...XP wanted an admin password. The Laptop owner said... "A WHAT?" He had bought the laptop with XP installed and had no clue about any passwords. So more internet sluething..ahah! linux programs that erase admin and all other passwords from XP...<dloading, burning, trying trying trying> those didn't work either. I even tried hooking the laptop up to my LAN and entering his system via my son's XP. <PASSWORD YOU NIMROD> Finally in desperation I went to his own SONY VAIO recovery disks..but these had one HUGE drawback. The Sony recovery disks don't just re- install windows...they ERASE the BOOT drive, AND THEN re-install to the original Storebought state. I called him and informed the Laptop owner of his options. Go home with a broken computer or let me wipe out the boot drive and redo everything..(everything that is except his updates, his user-installed programs, his ISP stuff.) So he said go for it. He had left after about an hour for a farewell dinner with my Son's family. So I began the long process of re-installing XP...that CDROM/DVD drive sure was slow. After about an hour the process was completed...or so I thought..Next I had to grab his APPLICATION recovery disks and install those(the stuff included when the laptop was sitting on the Store Shelf. another hour crawls by. I finally get into XP and get updates for Spybot and Adaware and AVG. Those are progressing when the owner calls back and says he has TONS and TONS of digital photos scattered all over the computer. KEE-HRIST! I said. "Why didn't you tell me that before?" So now I've spent close to 6 hours detoxifying his Laptop and all I managed to do was destroy about a third of several year's worth of Alaska photos..At least he had saved the bulk of them on his D drive. If this had been Win98, I could have have at the very worst, just re- installed Windows and not lost any other data on the boot drive. GAWD what a pathetic recovery system Sony and Microsoft cobbled together. Now I fully know I was at a disadvantage due to his lack of password knowledge, and his general poor internet habits that messed up his system in the first place(nearly 500 spyprogram listings the first time thru and 4 or 5 trojans) But DANGIT!! Adaware should, by now, have had a nifty little boot disk to fix this<they didn't>. Windows should have had SOMEWAY to logon after a file was corrupted. And this Bozo should have had burned CD's of his photos a long long long time ago AND known about his freekin passwords. Sony's website was no help...If I wanted to talk to a human, I had to use a credit card and pay 20Bucks in advance. Thanks alot... I've noticed over and over again..that the XP systems I've seen just seem to run slower(even on beefier systems than mine)...the Windows don't SNAP OPEN like my win98se windows do..(I'll bet there is a tweek for that..but I haven't seen it yet--there always seems to be Harddisk access before anything happens) The easy LAN connection was neat, but it did me ZERO good since I couldn't get access to the laptop remotely. This is a overly long and wordy whine and I appolgize for taking so much time...But this event has convinced me even more, that until 98 is dead and buried by MS, I'm sticking with it... dave henrie Pee-oh'd...or why no good deed goes unpunished.

Like most things, XP is only as good as the person who sets it up. XP on all of my current PCs is snappier than anything you could possibly imagine. A clean install is usually pretty slick aside from the windows & menus animations/fading - that's one of the first things I turn off. I also usually give System Restore the boot too and stick with my trusty copy of Norton Ghost instead. My XP install also boots twice as fast as any Win98 installation mainly thanks to a little known MS utility called 'Bootvis' which lays out all of the files loaded during startup in sequential order on the hard disk for maximum performance. It also optimizes drivers so that some of them initialise at the same time as others preventing any holdups. Fantastic prog. Naturally, if you install a bunch of rogue software over time (like most newbies do) XP will start to do strange things or even fall over completely but this is also true of Win98 and even Linux. Having a ghost backup lets you try some very daring things to find out what works and what doesn't. After a while you get a very clear picture of what sort of stuff to avoid. http://ghost.radified.com/ghost_1.htm <--- A must read for any half serious PC user.

Dave Henrie wrote: (Long story quoted in full to illustrate average M$ problem)

Quoted text (88 lines)

> Last night I had a very regretable evening. A friend of my son came > down from Alaska for a vacation. Unfortunately for me, Sunday was his > last full day here, he was driving back sometime Monday morning. So > about 5pm my son shows up with his friend and wants to know if I can > clean out his laptop for him...it was full of virus and spy programs. > Well like a dork, I agreed. I have a cd with copies of Spybot and > Adaware and AVG burned into it just for such occassions. I ran Spybot > without any updates just to get a feel for the system. Then I did the > same with Adaware...ooooh man...did that open up the devil's toolbox. > The un-updated new version of Adaware(v1.05) has a problem with one > paticular toolbar/spyprogram. BlazeFind is a tricky little program in- > that it changes the name of a file inside the windowsXP registry. So > when Adaware removes the BlazeFind trojan...the improperly named file > gets left behind. Ok here comes the nasty part. > Adaware automatically creates a restore point when you get ready to > exit and restart your system. Then XP,I'm told, does the same as you > reboot. Ok, Adaware restarts your system and it comes to a stop at the > logon screen. You can't logon..it won't say why, the Desktop flashes > onscreen for just a brief instant as XP tries to log your user on. But > it can't because of the supposedly missing file that BlazeFind altered. > No problem, I thought, I'll just use those dos boot options that XP has > and restore the last good save. As we now know, the last retore INCLUDES > the altered registry entry so even restoring won't help. Alright, I > think..SAFE MODE will save the day...wrong again..I can't logon in safe > mode either. > I then spent a goodly chunk of time tracking down the problem with > several long Google sessions. I found this problem attacked Adaware last > summer and caught them by suprise. They have fixed later versions of > thier spybot updates to avoid this mess, but they had little info on how > to UNDO something that had already been messed up. Several users found a > solution, using the XP recovery Console..(more research to findout what > that was). I tracked down my son's college version of the XP install > disk and followed instructions to get to the recovery console. EVERYONE > agreed this is the simple part. Well...XP wanted an admin password. The > Laptop owner said... > "A WHAT?" He had bought the laptop with XP installed and had no clue > about any passwords. > So more internet sluething..ahah! linux programs that erase admin and > all other passwords from XP...<dloading, burning, trying trying trying> > those didn't work either. > I even tried hooking the laptop up to my LAN and entering his system > via my son's XP. <PASSWORD YOU NIMROD> > Finally in desperation I went to his own SONY VAIO recovery disks..but > these had one HUGE drawback. The Sony recovery disks don't just re- > install windows...they ERASE the BOOT drive, AND THEN re-install to the > original Storebought state. I called him and informed the Laptop > owner of his options. Go home with a broken computer or let me wipe out > the boot drive and redo everything..(everything that is except his > updates, his user-installed programs, his ISP stuff.) So he said go for > it. He had left after about an hour for a farewell dinner with my Son's > family. So I began the long process of re-installing XP...that CDROM/DVD > drive sure was slow. After about an hour the process was completed...or > so I thought..Next I had to grab his APPLICATION recovery disks and > install those(the stuff included when the laptop was sitting on the Store > Shelf. > another hour crawls by. > I finally get into XP and get updates for Spybot and Adaware and AVG. > Those are progressing when the owner calls back and says he has TONS and > TONS of digital photos scattered all over the computer. > KEE-HRIST! I said. "Why didn't you tell me that before?" So now I've > spent close to 6 hours detoxifying his Laptop and all I managed to do > was destroy about a third of several year's worth of Alaska photos..At > least he had saved the bulk of them on his D drive. > If this had been Win98, I could have have at the very worst, just re- > installed Windows and not lost any other data on the boot drive. GAWD > what a pathetic recovery system Sony and Microsoft cobbled together. > Now I fully know I was at a disadvantage due to his lack of password > knowledge, and his general poor internet habits that messed up his system > in the first place(nearly 500 spyprogram listings the first time thru and > 4 or 5 trojans) But DANGIT!! Adaware should, by now, have had a nifty > little boot disk to fix this<they didn't>. Windows should have had > SOMEWAY to logon after a file was corrupted. And this Bozo should have > had burned CD's of his photos a long long long time ago AND known about > his freekin passwords. Sony's website was no help...If I wanted to talk > to a human, I had to use a credit card and pay 20Bucks in advance. > Thanks alot... > I've noticed over and over again..that the XP systems I've seen just > seem to run slower(even on beefier systems than mine)...the Windows don't > SNAP OPEN like my win98se windows do..(I'll bet there is a tweek for > that..but I haven't seen it yet--there always seems to be Harddisk access > before anything happens) The easy LAN connection was neat, but it did me > ZERO good since I couldn't get access to the laptop remotely. > This is a overly long and wordy whine and I appolgize for taking so > much time...But this event has convinced me even more, that until 98 is > dead and buried by MS, I'm sticking with it... > dave henrie > Pee-oh'd...or why no good deed goes unpunished.

What you needed wasn't Blazefind Dave, you needed BLAZEMONGER (TM) (C) (look it up in the old Usenet archives ;) Ok... I know I shouldn't do this, but please gimme some leeway, being the underprivileged, much-neglected Mac minority here... Just a giggle, ok? (pause) <chuckle cough ..BWAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAH! ;) <Grins, ducks & runs> (Sorry, really REALLY couldn't resist ;) <G> Regards, Rudy -------------------- GPLRank: -24 PS. On my Repentium (GPL-only, OK, my real work I still do on a decent machine! ;) I'm still at 98se as well. Among other things, XP wouldn't support my Microsoft (!) Sidewinder wheel properly.... Says it all I guess.

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 17:55:43 +1000, Steve Simpson wrote: > but this is also true of Win98 and even Linux. Having a ghost backup lets > you try some very daring things to find out what works and what doesn't. > After a while you get a very clear picture of what sort of stuff to avoid. Another option might be dual-booting linux and dumping your boot drive to an image on the Linux side (ideally on a separate HD) from time to time. They compress nicely and you can keep as many "working revisions" as you like. It's a bit more hassle to set up initially, but you'll have the best of both "OS worlds": windows for gaming, linux for productivity. BTW and maybe on-topic, my son's getting on my **** at the moment because the upcoming "Lord of the Rings" strategy game only supports XP. Can sombody confirm or deny this? He's still on 98se, and I'd like to keep him there for as long as possible. All the best, uwe -- mail replies to Uwe at schuerkamp dot de ( yahoo address is spambox) Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) GPG Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says... <Xp problem snipped for brevity> Dave, did you try, bd040818.zip? This little program creates a floppy boot disk that allows you to get in and change passwords for XP. I've also got instructions in a text file if you are interested for the future because it takes a small bit of understanding before you do it correctly. Also, I have a this program, but I haven't tried it yet, but it may be useful in the future. RockXP3.exe RockXP allows you to retrieve your XP product key that you used when you installed Windows XP, as well as keys for other Microsoft products. This can come very handy if you need to reinstall but have misplaced or lost the CD cover with the serial sticker. In addition, the program also lets you save the product activation to a file, and enables you to recover usernames and passwords contained in the Windows Secure Storage. I could send all this to you if you're interested, though I would imagine a bit of Googling should locate them. :) -- Pete Ives Remove All_stRESS before sending me an email

Peter <[email hidden]> wrote in news:[email hidden]:

Quoted text (8 lines)

> > This little program creates a floppy boot disk that allows you to get in > and change passwords for XP. I've also got instructions in a text file > if you are interested for the future because it takes a small bit of > understanding before you do it correctly. > > Also, I have a this program, but I haven't tried it yet, but it may be > useful in the future.

I didn't use Peter Nordhalls util, but the one listed at the same site, EBDCD. That worked...at least it functioned...but did not get me into XP. dh

Uwe =?iso-8859-15?Q?Sch=FCrkamp?= <[email hidden]> wrote in news:[email hidden]:

Quoted text (8 lines)

> BTW and maybe on-topic, my son's getting on my **** at the moment > because the upcoming "Lord of the Rings" strategy game only supports > XP. Can sombody confirm or deny this? He's still on 98se, and I'd like > to keep him there for as long as possible. > > All the best, > > uwe

Buy him the Lord of the Rings:The Return of the King Extended Edition movie DVD. It will be years before that is finished viewing and win98 will be but a memory. (guess what I'm doing next month?) dave henrie

BTW and maybe on-topic, my son's getting on my **** at the moment because the upcoming "Lord of the Rings" strategy game only supports XP. Can sombody confirm or deny this? He's still on 98se, and I'd like to keep him there for as long as possible. All the best, uwe ------------------------------------- http://www.eagames.com/official/lordoftherings/thebattleformiddleearth/us/subpage.jsp?src=requirements&ncc=1 This page says, XP and 2000 only. Good luck mate, ZZ -- Richard "ZZ" Busch Member: Screamers Racing League oAo OaO MARA TransAm GPL Rank + 14.768 MoGPL Rank + 308.654 N2003 Rank -18.8060 ---------------- Remember racecar is racecar spelled backward -----------------

"Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... >snip< > Sunday was his last full day here, he was driving back sometime > Monday morning. So about 5pm my son shows up with his > friend and wants to know if I can clean out his laptop for him... > it was full of virus and spy programs. Hi Dave, 5-6pm Sunday night? Bad move here Dave, why didn't he ask you this when he arrived? You should know better Dave. > Well like a dork, I agreed. 'Cause your a nice guy Dave and allways willing to help out. :)) And that'll git ya in trouble. >Ok here comes the nasty part. Hmmm.... Let me guess, WinXP Home, Fat32 and all users with Admin privileges? > You can't logon..it won't say why, the Desktop flashes > onscreen for just a brief instant as XP tries to log your user on. But > it can't because of the supposedly missing file that BlazeFind altered. I just got done with removing some insidious spyware (only about 1/2 dozen toolbars) that I picked up when I was checking for old dead bookmarks (Gaming) :) that gave me the corrupt user logon after a couple of dialog boxes poped up saying my profile was corrupt. Part of the spyware program trying to reload I believe, but I was still able to log on (WinXP Pro Power User ) but the account was at the default users settings. This was also after serveral runs of SpyBot 1.3. Ad-Aware 1.05 & Webroot SpySweeper. All Updated before sweeps. You should see what these programs didn't find and left behind. After manually cleaning out the Admin Temp folder for all the spyware installers and going through the sweeper programs log files & manually cleaning the registry for entries missed, I am back to normal working conditions with this (coming up on an anniversary) 2 year old install of Windows XP Pro. 'Jist lost 'bout 4-5hrs. of my Sunday afternoon. These Sum's of Bitch's writing spyware just keep gitt'in cleverer. And this is was with a SpyBot inmune system, or so I thought. I've done this before quite a few times in the past couple of years and this *WinXP* system still keeps ticking. Never a BSOD. > No problem, I thought, I'll just use those dos boot options that > XP has and restore the last good save. As we now know, the last > retore INCLUDES the altered registry entry so even restoring > won't help. I think that there is a switch that let's you chose which registry backup to use. >Alright, I think..SAFE MODE will save the day...wrong again..I can't logon in safe > mode either. It is always handy to have several login accounts. I have five, 2 system Admins., 2 users privilege, & 1 power user accounts. heh and to know all the passwords... >snip< > "A WHAT?" He had bought the laptop with XP installed and had no clue > about any passwords. LOL again WinXP Home Fat32 all admin privileges. The fun way to surf the net. Am I right?

Quoted text (8 lines)

>snip< > Those are progressing when the owner calls back and says he has TONS and > TONS of digital photos scattered all over the computer. > KEE-HRIST! I said. "Why didn't you tell me that before?" So now I've > spent close to 6 hours detoxifying his Laptop and all I managed to do > was destroy about a third of several year's worth of Alaska photos..At > least he had saved the bulk of them on his D drive.

Try a data recovery program like Easy Recover Pro, and use a search for a formated disk. You'll be suprised at what you find and can recover. As long as you haven't done a DOD or Gusman wipe, the files *may* still be there. > If this had been Win98, I could have have at the very worst, just re- > installed Windows and not lost any other data on the boot drive. GAWD > what a pathetic recovery system Sony and Microsoft cobbled together. Not pathetic, you just don't wanna play by the rules. > Now I fully know I was at a disadvantage due to his lack of password > knowledge, and his general poor internet habits that messed up his system > in the first place(nearly 500 spyprogram listings the first time thru and > 4 or 5 trojans). Sounds like he was in need of a reformat anyways. Hell if I found that much stuff I'd do a DOD wipe and probably pull the DIMM out to make sure none of that sneeky shite is still hiding in memory. Paranoid ain't I? > But DANGIT!! Adaware should, by now, have had a nifty > little boot disk to fix this<they didn't>. Windows should have had > SOMEWAY to logon after a file was corrupted. There are bootable utility CD's that can do this. Michael K.H. Au-Yeung Super WinPE Plus 2004 Multi-Bootable All-N-One CD is just one that I have. But the password delete/recover is a little above my talents yet. > And this Bozo should have had burned CD's of his photos a > long long long time ago Everybody should start to learn computers on old Macintosh's, that'll teach them to backup their files hourly. he he he... >more snipage, I hope this comes out alright< > dave henrie > Pee-oh'd...or why no good deed goes unpunished. > Ah yer a nice guy Dave, you'll learn someday. :-o

Most laptops come (and have for many years) with that pathetic all-or-nothing recovery disc procedure--nothing to do with XP. Marc "Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted text (88 lines)

> Last night I had a very regretable evening. A friend of my son came > down from Alaska for a vacation. Unfortunately for me, Sunday was his > last full day here, he was driving back sometime Monday morning. So > about 5pm my son shows up with his friend and wants to know if I can > clean out his laptop for him...it was full of virus and spy programs. > Well like a dork, I agreed. I have a cd with copies of Spybot and > Adaware and AVG burned into it just for such occassions. I ran Spybot > without any updates just to get a feel for the system. Then I did the > same with Adaware...ooooh man...did that open up the devil's toolbox. > The un-updated new version of Adaware(v1.05) has a problem with one > paticular toolbar/spyprogram. BlazeFind is a tricky little program in- > that it changes the name of a file inside the windowsXP registry. So > when Adaware removes the BlazeFind trojan...the improperly named file > gets left behind. Ok here comes the nasty part. > Adaware automatically creates a restore point when you get ready to > exit and restart your system. Then XP,I'm told, does the same as you > reboot. Ok, Adaware restarts your system and it comes to a stop at the > logon screen. You can't logon..it won't say why, the Desktop flashes > onscreen for just a brief instant as XP tries to log your user on. But > it can't because of the supposedly missing file that BlazeFind altered. > No problem, I thought, I'll just use those dos boot options that XP has > and restore the last good save. As we now know, the last retore INCLUDES > the altered registry entry so even restoring won't help. Alright, I > think..SAFE MODE will save the day...wrong again..I can't logon in safe > mode either. > I then spent a goodly chunk of time tracking down the problem with > several long Google sessions. I found this problem attacked Adaware last > summer and caught them by suprise. They have fixed later versions of > thier spybot updates to avoid this mess, but they had little info on how > to UNDO something that had already been messed up. Several users found a > solution, using the XP recovery Console..(more research to findout what > that was). I tracked down my son's college version of the XP install > disk and followed instructions to get to the recovery console. EVERYONE > agreed this is the simple part. Well...XP wanted an admin password. The > Laptop owner said... > "A WHAT?" He had bought the laptop with XP installed and had no clue > about any passwords. > So more internet sluething..ahah! linux programs that erase admin and > all other passwords from XP...<dloading, burning, trying trying trying> > those didn't work either. > I even tried hooking the laptop up to my LAN and entering his system > via my son's XP. <PASSWORD YOU NIMROD> > Finally in desperation I went to his own SONY VAIO recovery disks..but > these had one HUGE drawback. The Sony recovery disks don't just re- > install windows...they ERASE the BOOT drive, AND THEN re-install to the > original Storebought state. I called him and informed the Laptop > owner of his options. Go home with a broken computer or let me wipe out > the boot drive and redo everything..(everything that is except his > updates, his user-installed programs, his ISP stuff.) So he said go for > it. He had left after about an hour for a farewell dinner with my Son's > family. So I began the long process of re-installing XP...that CDROM/DVD > drive sure was slow. After about an hour the process was completed...or > so I thought..Next I had to grab his APPLICATION recovery disks and > install those(the stuff included when the laptop was sitting on the Store > Shelf. > another hour crawls by. > I finally get into XP and get updates for Spybot and Adaware and AVG. > Those are progressing when the owner calls back and says he has TONS and > TONS of digital photos scattered all over the computer. > KEE-HRIST! I said. "Why didn't you tell me that before?" So now I've > spent close to 6 hours detoxifying his Laptop and all I managed to do > was destroy about a third of several year's worth of Alaska photos..At > least he had saved the bulk of them on his D drive. > If this had been Win98, I could have have at the very worst, just re- > installed Windows and not lost any other data on the boot drive. GAWD > what a pathetic recovery system Sony and Microsoft cobbled together. > Now I fully know I was at a disadvantage due to his lack of password > knowledge, and his general poor internet habits that messed up his system > in the first place(nearly 500 spyprogram listings the first time thru and > 4 or 5 trojans) But DANGIT!! Adaware should, by now, have had a nifty > little boot disk to fix this<they didn't>. Windows should have had > SOMEWAY to logon after a file was corrupted. And this Bozo should have > had burned CD's of his photos a long long long time ago AND known about > his freekin passwords. Sony's website was no help...If I wanted to talk > to a human, I had to use a credit card and pay 20Bucks in advance. > Thanks alot... > I've noticed over and over again..that the XP systems I've seen just > seem to run slower(even on beefier systems than mine)...the Windows don't > SNAP OPEN like my win98se windows do..(I'll bet there is a tweek for > that..but I haven't seen it yet--there always seems to be Harddisk access > before anything happens) The easy LAN connection was neat, but it did me > ZERO good since I couldn't get access to the laptop remotely. > This is a overly long and wordy whine and I appolgize for taking so > much time...But this event has convinced me even more, that until 98 is > dead and buried by MS, I'm sticking with it... > dave henrie > Pee-oh'd...or why no good deed goes unpunished. >

"Marc Collins" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:TdNod.33879 $[email hidden]: > Most laptops come (and have for many years) with that pathetic > all-or-nothing recovery disc procedure--nothing to do with XP. > > Marc I have heard of these 'recovery' disks for years. If I ever go the Laptop route, I'll pony up extra to make sure I get the full windows disks. I'm too much of a futz up to depend on half the product. dave henrie

Are there any good Linux GUIs, Uwe? I use Suse 9.1 on my second PC (mainly a web/file server) but KDE/Gnome etc seem very sluggish and bloated to me. What's a nice compact and fast distro?

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted text (14 lines)

> "Marc Collins" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:TdNod.33879 > $[email hidden]: > > > Most laptops come (and have for many years) with that pathetic > > all-or-nothing recovery disc procedure--nothing to do with XP. > > > > Marc > > I have heard of these 'recovery' disks for years. If I ever go the > Laptop route, I'll pony up extra to make sure I get the full windows disks. > I'm too much of a futz up to depend on half the product. > > dave henrie >

And some companies even charge you extra if you want the 'recovery' disks. <SARCASM>Nice ain't they</SARCASM> Btw Dave, the original program I told you about does allow you to change the passwords from a boot disk. I know, I've had to do it. 8-) -- Pete Ives Remove All_stRESS before sending me an email

"Peter" wrote...

Quoted text (9 lines)

> > <Xp problem snipped for brevity> > > Dave, did you try, bd040818.zip? > > This little program creates a floppy boot disk that allows > you to get in and change passwords for XP. I've also got > instructions in a text file if you are interested for the > future because it takes a small bit of understanding > before you do it correctly.

Jeez... that would have come in handy a couple weeks back. A guy from Tektronix head office came in and showed us some stuff. I wanted to copy a couple 100MB of reference material, but found USB keys didn't work on his Win2000 install (that should have clued me the IT staff at Tek headoffice were completely paranoid, but it didn't). So I chucked all of his network settings (after taking carefull note of everything) and configured his laptop to log onto ours. No dice... turns out his IT guys had set it up so it would only work with "their" settings... i.e. I had effectively shut this guy out of his laptop. Completely weird turn of events as he was able to work stand-alone before I changed his network settings and, eventhough I had changed his domain settings to ours, it kept saying their domain server was not available to validate his login (eh... like it wasn't when his laptop wasn't connected to their network earlier??). I could have used some forced entry there! Jan. =--- PS.: this "no domain server" error cropped up when booting to safe mode without network support... go figure!

"Peter" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > And some companies even charge you extra if you want the 'recovery' > disks. <SARCASM>Nice ain't they</SARCASM> > -- > Pete Ives > Remove All_stRESS before sending me an email That's because all the installation files are on a hidden partition nowadays. HP use to have a program that would create recovery disk's from these files in the hidden partition. As you know most new user's never RTFM, and.....

Peter <[email hidden]> wrote in news:[email hidden]:

Quoted text (7 lines)

> And some companies even charge you extra if you want the 'recovery' > disks. <SARCASM>Nice ain't they</SARCASM> > > Btw Dave, the original program I told you about does allow you to change > the passwords from a boot disk. I know, I've had to do it. 8-) > -- > Pete Ives

That is what the other program said too. I changed the passwords, I blanked the passwords...none of the changes took tho... dh

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 11:51:53 -0600, Dave Henrie wrote: > > Buy him the Lord of the Rings:The Return of the King Extended Edition > movie DVD. It will be years before that is finished viewing and win98 will > be but a memory. (guess what I'm doing next month?) hehe, I think he got most of them on DVD already, so now he's hot for the game! Poor kids these days, all we had back then was Pong. And three TV channels. Maximum. cheers, uwe -- mail replies to Uwe at schuerkamp dot de ( yahoo address is spambox) Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) GPG Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 07:36:13 +1000, Steve Simpson wrote: > Are there any good Linux GUIs, Uwe? I use Suse 9.1 on my second PC (mainly > a web/file server) but KDE/Gnome etc seem very sluggish and bloated to me. > What's a nice compact and fast distro? Hi Steve, I can only speak for myself, but I keep coming back to windowmaker. I've tried them all: KDE, Gnome, icewm, enlightenment, what have you, but windowmaker is a beautiful little WM that doesn't get in the way. As for a distro, I use Gentoo Linux which is highly customizable in near all respects that are of interest to my daily use of Linux. It's a bit more work to set up Gentoo initially, but you'll never have to re-install again. windowmaker: http://www.windowmaker.org/ Gentoo Linux: http://www.gentoo.org/ If you need more info, I'd be happy to help. All the best, uwe -- mail replies to Uwe at schuerkamp dot de ( yahoo address is spambox) Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) GPG Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 22:53:06 -0600, Dave Henrie <[email hidden]> wrote: [snip bad night]

Quoted text (9 lines)

> I've noticed over and over again..that the XP systems I've seen just >seem to run slower(even on beefier systems than mine)...the Windows don't >SNAP OPEN like my win98se windows do..(I'll bet there is a tweek for >that..but I haven't seen it yet--there always seems to be Harddisk access >before anything happens) The easy LAN connection was neat, but it did me >ZERO good since I couldn't get access to the laptop remotely. > This is a overly long and wordy whine and I appolgize for taking so >much time...But this event has convinced me even more, that until 98 is >dead and buried by MS, I'm sticking with it...

I have an arcade cabinet running MAME, and kind of went back and forth over using XP or 98se. The bloated size of XP you mention was exactly my concern on a machine that I wanted lean and simple to run old arcade ROMs. In the original install configuration on the cabinet with a Pentium 4 2ghz and 256 meg of RAM, XP took almost 2 minutes to get to the desktop. By going in and eliminating the unnecessary services that start automatically (which is nearly all of them), I have the machine booting into MAME ready to play in about 35 seconds. I've found XP to be very robust compared to 98se. I have a feeling that if your buddies computer had 98 on it, he would have been booting to a BSOD 4 months before you ever laid a finger on it. I still like the simplicity of DOS, but the thought of going back to 98 holds no appeal whatsoever. I think 98 is much more susceptible to doing weird things like slowing down and getting unstable over time for no apparent reason. I think the key to helping Masters Of Disaster like your friend is getting anti-virus software, Spybot in Immunize mode, and Firefox (which isn't victimized by Internet Exploder exploits) on a clean install to help prevent them from screwing it all up. Tim