B
Bob Bailey
1) Outhouse Excess user.
2) Top poster.
3) Quotations in the signature.
4) [MVP].
Conclusion:
Shit for brains.
1) Outhouse Excess user.
2) Top poster.
3) Quotations in the signature.
4) [MVP].
Conclusion:
Shit for brains.
W
Walter Bushell
The Ghost In The Machine said:
How do the manufacturers of the $250 clones stay in business? Even with
the reduced rate that doesn't leave a lot for hardware.
L
Lloyd Parsons
How many of them DO stay in business? I'd say those selling $250 clones are
very short lived.
T
TravelinMan
He's mistaken. Microsoft _used to_ get paid for every machine sold.
Since their DOJ loss, that's no longer the case. Manufacturers no longer
have to pay for a Windows license on computers sold without Windows.
B
BC
Me thinks I know a wee bit more about registry fixin'
than you. While in theory this sort of problem can
happen to Win2k, I've never seen it. WinXP, though....
The exact error was:
Windows XP could not start because the following file is
missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
Since the Dell 2400 didn't have a convenient floppy drive
to use, I took out the hard drive and attached it to a
Win2k system to manipulate the registry hive. That got
me nowhere fast except to an unknown Administration PW.
Since it was a spare PC that had been infected and cleaned
of worms before and had nothing important on it, I decided
the time would be better used to wipe it and reinstall.
The end result is that my friend wants me to do the same
for all his XP PC's -- the 2400 is now easily the fastest
workstation in his office despite it having the slowest
hardware.
Which I suspected would happen....
-BC
M
Mark Kent
["Followup-To:" header set to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general]
2 little things:
1. Make sure you have the activation information, or you could
be very embarrased as you run through your Microsoft Windows
reinstallation routine.
2. Please don't x-post.
Thanks,
BC said:
2 little things:
1. Make sure you have the activation information, or you could
be very embarrased as you run through your Microsoft Windows
reinstallation routine.
2. Please don't x-post.
Thanks,
G
gizmo99
He's mistaken. Microsoft _used to_ get paid for every machine sold.
The settlement with the DOJ came out in MS's favor. Now, instead of
getting license fees for 100% of the machines sold, they set a quota in
excess of projected sales and get fees on that. MS makes bulk
arrangements
in advance and it is up to the manufacturers to meet the quota.
100% is good, 120% is better.
The settlement with the DOJ came out in MS's favor. Now, instead of
getting license fees for 100% of the machines sold, they set a quota in
excess of projected sales and get fees on that. MS makes bulk
arrangements
in advance and it is up to the manufacturers to meet the quota.
100% is good, 120% is better.
B
BC
Mark said:
It's a done deal -- the Dell 2400 running Win2k is just
humming along -- this is no activation nonsense with 2k.
The owner really does want me to do the same on all his
other office PC's. Legally (and fittingly), though, I
think he needs to buy a Win2k upgrade license to go from
Home -- only XP Pro technically allows for retrofitting
earlier versions.
I think that it's shoddy design on a truly grand scale
to not being able to do a simple reinstall to fix XP.
I know that this is a carry over from 2k, but 2k was
geared towards office and professional use, whereas XP
is on all new PC's. Microsoft really screwed up royally
when they failed to add new useful recovery tools and
utilities to especially the Home version. I have friends
who want me to retrofit Win98 on their new PC's,
nevermind Win2k, after some brush with trying to fix a
seemingly minor XP glitch that ended costing them hours
and hours, including calling tech support. Win98 may
have stuttered and stalled a lot compared to XP, but it
rarely ever melted down like XP does, and you could
always reinstall and easly get your stuff off it, again
unlike XP.
That was unintentional -- I was just doing a reply to
an earlier posting.
-BC
F
foo
I highly doubt that. Your own words here belie the point.
I've seen it in any NT-based OS, I hate to say it. Registry
corruption is rare on a per-machine basis, but it happens.
You don't need a floppy - that's what the recovery console is for.
You get to that via CD. Or RIS.... a floppy won't help you at all
unless you have a FAT32 system, which in this day and age is very
rare. I'll assume you didn't know about the recovery console, as
that's a far easier method of doing what you needed to do.
And if you knew as much about the registry as you claimed, you'd know
that you use XPSP1 or later (or 2003) to look at and fix corrupted
registries due to the built-in capability of those OSs to fix common
registry issues immediately after loading said registry. (That's one
reason it's becoming pretty rare to have issues.)
But in any case...continuing on...
Sorry to hear that. Your password, if you followed MS's
documentation, would have been what it was when you initially set up
the machine, or when your vendor initially set up the machine.
Well, Microsoft's RIS can make setting up hundreds of machines as easy
as "Hit F10 (assuming a Dell with PXE-capable NIC), select Network
Card, press enter, fit F12, key in the admin name and password, and
sit back while the OS + all your apps are deployed automatically", but
that's up to you.
Sorry it happened, but you aren't troubleshooting this in a rational
manner. Why not try to find out what the problem is, before you
reformat, particularly if you believe this is hitting multiple PCs?
To do so, follow the MS article (make backup copies of the 4 main
registry files, then copy the originals from \repair into \config)
then boot up. Then take a look at the other 'bad' registry and figure
out what's going on. Use XPSP1 or later, or 2003, too.
B
BC
You arguing about this stuff belies your claim to expertise.
I renamed and saved all the hive files, and tried using the
copies, both ones in the Repair folder and the .sav ones in
various combos and got diddly squat done for my time. Since
I know XP to be an all-too-willing sucker of time (I'm
roughly responsible for about 1000 PC's in very, VERY varied
environments) and since there was no handy-dandy disk image
to reload, and since there was nothing worth recovering on
essentially a spare PC, the obvious solution was to wipe it
clean and and reload everything. Since the PC was also very
sluggish, that would also take care of some performance
issues. I also know from past mucho past experience that
Win2k runs about twice as fast as XP, so.....
As I said, I deal with a lot of PC's in a variety of
environments, some very PC hostile, and to be honest, I
wish Microsoft stuck with Win3.11, at least as a lightweight
alternative OS and just kept improving it. Of all the
flavors of Windows, XP and ME have been the big turkeys.
Duh. I know quite a lot about the half-ass Recovery Console,
but I wanted to run some scripts to automate the hive saving
and renaming, including a Microsoft-supplied one. Since the
Recovery Console inconveniently locks the CD drive and since
the 2400 didn't come with the floppy drive....
Get it now?
I originally opened the 2400 to attach a spare floppy drive,
but decided it would be easier to just pull the hard drive
to directly and much more conveniently examine it.
That was running SP1. Rare my ass. What a bloated, useless
piece of crap upgrade.
It was just when I tried a particular saved hive combo
that didn't work and the following Recovery Console then
asked for a different and totally unknown password.
Have I mentioned yet how half-ass the so-called "Recovery
Console"
That "deployment" thing is high-maintenance crock. Good
for virus app updates maybe. It's better to keep an
absolutely pure model and deploy images from that to
keep the PC's running clean and fast. Let people be
responsible for backing up their stuff. The time saved
from updating buggy, increasingly slow PC's is worth
the hassle of full reimaging.
Time has value to me. I know how long it will take to
do a full rebuild. I also know how much time can be
totally wasted fixing XP bugs. Being rational means
investing only so much effort and time before cutting
your losses. The important thing is to get thing up and
running. It's not a hobby, it's a business. And in this
case, my friend ended up with PC far, far faster than
what it was even when it was first unboxed. And he's
really, really happy with it. 'Nuff said. Including
about the quality of software coming out of Redmond
these days.
-BC
B
BC
Whoops -- I meant to say that it had already
been "upgraded" to SP2. Not THAT'S bloated
crap. And I understand some companies were
not pleased with some side effects of it....
-BC
been "upgraded" to SP2. Not THAT'S bloated
crap. And I understand some companies were
not pleased with some side effects of it....
-BC
A
Alias
BC said:
And your proof that it is "bloated crap" is? I haven't had a problem with it
on three machines. In fact, they seem to run smoother and faster since
putting SP2 on them. The question is, how did you install SP2?
Alias
E
ELVIS2000
Sort of like the "articifical limits" of the iBook to justify the
higher price of the Powerbook? I'm thinking specifically of the video
mirroring?
And other software vendors must give you everything? Limited free
shareware should just give you the whole thing because it is
"artificial"? Are you nuts?
E
ELVIS2000
Support? LOL! Hardly worth the $60, I I believe you are wrong
anyway. Wouldn't know -- never needed MS support.
B
BC
On 250 floppies. Are you hinting that there was
another way?
I've seen no improvement whatsoever with SP2. No
noticeably decrease in infection rates, no noticeable
decrease in the rate of critical updates against
hacks. There is that new Security Console, but initially
it didn't recognize F-Prot as an antivirus program. An
update eventually fixed this but you have to wonder
what the hell Microsoft was thinking -- that people only
use McAfee and Norton? The built-in firewall still sucks
compare to the better free ones.
The only update I've seen worth the bother is the beta
of their new AntiSpyware app. I know they bought it, but
still it's surprising that it works as well as it does for
a Microsoft product. You still should have something
like Ad-Aware or Spybot as well if you're really nervous
about this stuff.
By the way, there is this one very clever bug that's starting
to appear that seems unremoveable by normal means:
it loads up even in Safe mode and can't be deleted. I
know a guy who got it (I forget its name.) I'm going to test
to see if Recovery Console can be used to get rid of it,
but it's absurd to have to do this. Again, this points out
the serious design flaws in XP.
As far as SP2 problems go, here are a sample:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117990,00.asp
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,119265,00.asp
http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/09/7/folder_redirect.html
-BC
another way?
I've seen no improvement whatsoever with SP2. No
noticeably decrease in infection rates, no noticeable
decrease in the rate of critical updates against
hacks. There is that new Security Console, but initially
it didn't recognize F-Prot as an antivirus program. An
update eventually fixed this but you have to wonder
what the hell Microsoft was thinking -- that people only
use McAfee and Norton? The built-in firewall still sucks
compare to the better free ones.
The only update I've seen worth the bother is the beta
of their new AntiSpyware app. I know they bought it, but
still it's surprising that it works as well as it does for
a Microsoft product. You still should have something
like Ad-Aware or Spybot as well if you're really nervous
about this stuff.
By the way, there is this one very clever bug that's starting
to appear that seems unremoveable by normal means:
it loads up even in Safe mode and can't be deleted. I
know a guy who got it (I forget its name.) I'm going to test
to see if Recovery Console can be used to get rid of it,
but it's absurd to have to do this. Again, this points out
the serious design flaws in XP.
As far as SP2 problems go, here are a sample:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117990,00.asp
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,119265,00.asp
http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/09/7/folder_redirect.html
-BC
B
Bob Bailey
1) Remove Windoze XP.
2) Install reliable software.
3) Amuse yourself reading about Windows defects.
F
foo
How so? People argue about anything in here. I also don't claim
expertise - I simply doubt your claim, that's all.
Well, if you'd used what was in repair, you'd get what you had when
the OS was set up or when you did your last NTBACKUP.
No test has ever borne that out outside of some *very* contrived
circumstances. Take 2 similar machines, put either OS on, and most
won't tell a difference. Certainly not 2x the speed.
Win3.11 was a POS. Multitasking was only as good as the Mac's
(cooperative!) and no real protected memory space. Horrible.
You don't put those scripts in your core image?
Sounds good.
Sorry you feel that way. Most people don't, outside of COLA, that is.
And it does, in fact, fix the registry when you load it up.
It did exactly what you told it to do, so I fail to see the problem.
Keep the four hive files together at all times - don't mix 'combos'.
How so? Do you know what RIS is?
Sysprep works fine too; RIPREP is essentially RIS + Sysprep to get the
core OS plus all your programs on there. Familiar with RIPREP? It
works on a RIS server.
With a roaming profile and centrally stored data, reimaging doesn't
need to cost the user anything like what it did in the old days.
F
foo
Sufice to say many others disagree with you and have seen massive
improvements - a better security baseline, a more stable system
overall, countless fixes to issues or vendor flaws, and overall a much
better system. There are many user-enhancements too, including System
Center (updated required from some vendors) and Windows Firewall,
which is an excellent tool for the majority that had nothing before.
Let me guess - it runs as a service, and installs a hidden filter
driver, so when you look at it in services, it never shows up. Safe
mode shows the same thing because it adds itself to the criticalboot
section of the registry, hence it will start up (and mask itself) even
in safe mode. Is that about right? (I'm guessing - tell me what this
new 'clever bug' is.) Hackerdefender and similar tools have been
around for ages...
K
kurttrail
Suffice it to say that many people think GWB is the best thing since
indoor plumbing. Doesn't mean sh*t.
As for MS's minimalist firewall, it is better than using nothing, but
there are much better firewalls out there.
Just more unnecessary bullsh*t running it the background.
Yep, like using leaves is better than using your hands to wipe your ass.
Though most of us prefer using toilet paper, and some even go a step
further and also use babywipes too.
--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com/mscommunity
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"
B
BC
It was a spare PC -- I had nothing to do with it in its
prior life, and neither did the owner -- it came with some
assets he bought
Not so long ago a lawyer client got a new XP Dell and found
that one of his proprietary apps wouldn't work on it. I
wiped his hard drive, put on Win2k, and the proprietary
app worked. He had noted the time it took to do certain
things in XP and discovered that they were taking half
the time in 2K. Granted that a lot of this can be
attributed to the extraneous apps that comes with new XP
PC's, but XP is larger than 2K and larger usually always
means slower.
It's ironic that Win95, once thought to be a big bloated
OS, can now be entirely stored and run from the memory
that comes with new PC's. Win98 as well in some.
That was over 10 years ago and do believe that if Gates
and company simply improved it year by year, it would been
evolved into a nice little all-purpose lightweight OS, sort
of CE on steroids in 1/2 the space.
You don't put those scripts in your core image?
Umm, it wasn't my PC....
Tried that on the the very first go round. My complaint is that
it's an ancient emulation of DOS and everything has to be typed
in line by line. Would it have killed them to include a couple
of management apps to make is easier to explore, diagnose and
fix things?
"Risky Intranet Stuff"
RIS needs ADS and ADS is just a half-ass version of NDS. It's
absolutely amazing how little progress had been made in large
network management since Banyan's old SteetTalk system from
the 80's.
That's the only app that really needs regular updating,
both in the program and virus sigs.
Sysprep works fine too; RIPREP is essentially RIS + Sysprep to get the
core OS plus all your programs on there. Familiar with RIPREP? It
works on a RIS server.
With a roaming profile and centrally stored data, reimaging doesn't
need to cost the user anything like what it did in the old days.
Roaming profiles were always just another way to slow
down a network. And there is *no* substitute for a full
reimage to reclaim an increasingly sluggish PC.
You must have noticed how XP PC's slow down far more than
the previous versions of Windows, especially in the first
6-12 months of use, even if no new apps are added.
You have any theories for this? I think it's the updates
but I'm not sure. Clearing out junk and temp files and
doing a full defrag doesn't seem to help much. Ya think
2.4 Ghz P4 PC's should be at least moderately fast, in
theory at least....