JayScore
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Posts posted by JayScore
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I'm with keeping both machines separate, and transfer by USB disk, at least for a while until you decide that XP isn't the nightmare you've read it is. My wife's laptop came with Vista- turn thrice and spit on a frog. At first, I hated its controlling, fascist, Dalek approach to user-unfriendly. I'm getting used to it now, though, and it's all just about experience. Familiarity brings comfort and understanding. I've only recently given up 98 and gone wholly to XP, and that's what I did for long time. (I only made the change because some of the programs I needed to use, wouldn't work with 98. I've still got the CD, though - just in case. Security blanket. See Linus in Charlie Brown.)
This thing about truDOS, though. I used, and still use, DOS's utilities for many things including alphabetisation of text files as Word's was/is simply wrong - for the UK, anyway. Surely booting into DOS from a floppy is truDOS - it loads that DOS version's COMMAND.COM. Only when XP has actually booted does DOS become pretend.
If this wasn't the case, then one could not reformat, fdisk, and install Windows.
XP is fine. But if you, like me, want to use proper man's DOS occasionally - rather than a nagging, girly Graphical User Interface, create a boot floppy, and shove it in the slot before you hit the ON button. That's how I do it. As the floppy is disappearing, at least from laptops, you'll have to figure out how to make the machine boot from CD or USB stick. Makes me shudder.
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Cat lady: "The last time the guy said it was clogged up with hair so I wrapped the new one in saran wrap."
I believe this. Over the years I've messed about with lotsa stuff, and I've been asked to look at various items including a few vacuum cleaners. Two people who complained that theirs were no longer sucking up had replaced the paper filter bags with plastic bags.
Another woman whose valve TV had ceased to function had vacuumed the inside, removing and cleaning all the valves, and shoving them back into any base that fit.
I also believe the hairs. I was doing removals, and the owner had a couple of dogs. The larger pieces of furniture up against walls had up to a one foot high column of hair behind them.
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English text reads from left to right. Unsurprisingly, much of the text or buttons and menus on webpages are to the left. So why is the scroll bar right across the other side of the screen? It's illogical. Why not on both sides?
It's tedious using a full size setup sliding right across the screen, but using a fingerpad on a laptop is a nightmare. It takes about 6 slides to get the cursor to the scrollbar - six more opportunities for accidental clicktaps, and off it goes elsewhere.
Do right to left languages have their scrollbar on the left?
Anybody heard of a tweak which will add a scrollbar to the left of the page?
Didn't know where to put this. IE does not appear in the forum group MSoft software products.
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Hola,
Sorry about the delay. Been offline. My mobo was a HP pull. It had everything onboard except a LAN. I was using a DLINK card. Shortly after my last post, Windows ' Found New Hardware came up. It was referring to the LAN card. Why it had suddenly lost it since last boot, I don't know, but nothing I did ever made it visible to XP again. The drivers did nothing; install with card in or out. I remembered I'd had a lot of trouble with it when I first got it. I had to seek help, MSFN and DLINK - who failed to answer any of my mails. I very quickly got another mobo with LAN onboard. That mobo died, and I reused the HP. After hours of trying to make the LAN card work, I lost my temper, yanked it out - power still on, slapped it against the case, rammed it in again, turned off, and walked away to calm down.
The next day I booted, and the thing worked! No Found New Hardware, no need to install drivers. It just worked straight away. Maybe I frightened it. That was about two months ago. When it died this time, I tried the angry bit, but this time it didn't work. I've now reverted to an older PII mobo with LAN onboard. It's a bit slower, but reliable. Then, it gets worse, When I hooked everything back up, the C: drive refused to work. It had just died. So, I had to return to my previous C: 6.6G.This drive already had XP loaded on from last time. Which is handy as reinstalling XP on the other drive required reactivation. Pain.
Now it gets curiouser. Despite a different hard drive, mobo, different installation of XP, the same unclickable screen requiring Ctrl/Alt/Del twice happens. I expected that problem to have gone. I 'm certain it wasn't happening when I changed the drive last time. XP Security Centre is still there.
I'm still interested in following up, but I'm leaving for the UK tonight, and I won't have access to this machine for about a month. So I could not answer any questions. But if you return to this thread and you have any ideas, please do post them.
While in the UK, I'm going to try to get a new mobo, and maybe a bigger hard drive. This will require a reinstall, and I'll be interested to see what happens then.
Again, apologies for the gap, and thanks for the responses so far.
Running cmd.exe echo username responded by giving my current username. Buuuuut... The username presented is not the same as presented everywhere else. The first letter of the surname is lower case, whereas everywhere else it is upper case. Mean anything, Poirot? If this is relevant and turning your cogs, remember I don't want any bootup screen, and installed without choosing any login inf, and no passwords, in order to go straight to the desktop. Only me and the wife use the machine, so security is irrelevant.
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Hola Idontwantspam (Me neither. My mail.com gets tons from Russia. Good job they got good filters.)
Anyway, thanks for responding.
Running cmd.exe \ net user:
Administrator (computer name) Guest
HelpAssistant SUPPORT_388945a0
The command completed successfully
("Guest" just hangs alone, nothing follows it.)
---------------------------------------
1st registry entry:
dontdisplaylastusername REG_DWORD 0x00000000 (0)
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2nd registry entry:
(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
(computer name) REG_DWORD 0x00000000 (0)
HelpAssistant REG_DWORD 0x00000000 (0)
IUSR_ REG_DWORD 0x00010000 (65536)
IWAM_ REG_DWORD 0x00010000 (65536)
NetShowServices REG_DWORD 0x00000000 (0)
SQLAgentCmdExec REG_DWORD 0x00000000 (0)
TsInternetUser REG_DWORD 0x00000000 (0)
VUSR_ REG_DWORD 0x00000000 (0)
Boot's changed again since posting. It now starts with a two-tone blue screen with just two lines of text near the top "Microsoft Windows, Build... Service pack2... 1 system processor... [memory]" (About 40 seconds)
Then a black screen with a few lines of text in the middle, "Checking C:... D:" (5 seconds)
Many tray icons have gone including Windows' firewall\security centre.
And when the "dead" screen appears, I have to Ctrl\Alt\Del twice to get the small window. Wierd.
I bet some of the above actually means something to you, doesn't it. Gibberish to me. Took me a while to find HKLM. I aint got HKLM. Oh yeah. Duh. Big fiesta here last night, so I forgive me.
Got two headaches now.
J.
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Hola,
Got a curiosity. Just booted, and the logon screen, where I know from other's machines there should be piccies and usernames, came up with all the usual, but no piccy, no name and nothing at all clickable.
This is doubly curious because when I install I make sure that I do not enter any passwords, and so go directly to the desktop. Obviously this is why I got no piccy and username. I swear I made no changes to the system before I shutdown earlier. So why the sudden appearance of this "dead" screen? It was straight to desktop last boot.
The only way to logon from this screen is to Ctrl/Alt/Del, which brings up a small window, with my username, and with password field empty. I don't have to enter a password, just click OK, and off we go. Anyone else met this? Is there a way to get back to my original boot up - straight to the desktop. (I don't want to have to enter any passwords, ever. I look forward to an installation button that says, "This machine has no passwords, no individual users or administrator, no "Are You Sure" messages, and no clicking thirteen OKs to install a program.")
(Not urgent, I'm going to do a reinstall soon as last time I changed to NTFS - out of curiosity, and it's buggering up my access from DOS. I can see A: and C:, but all others are invisible. So back to FAT.)
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XP refused to remove the files, so I booted into DOS, and deleted those files that I could find. Subsequent reboot of Windows, despite not removing Registry entries, was fine.
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AHAview.
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Very much alive. Couldn't live without it. Use it every time I reinstall the OS, and frequently use it to boot into DOS to delete files that Windows (XP) won't let me. Booting from CD makes the CD drive A:, and I then cannot access the CD(?) As for copying files to transfer, no, for that I use my USB flashdrive.
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I call it my bluedisk, because it (my first) is blue. I even have a subdirectory on d: named bluedisk. My new black one (disk/MP3 player) I call my bluedisk, the black one.
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Just discovered the Tips and Tweaks section on the home page, here. There is an article about hiding and limiting access to hard drives. Maybe it'll be useful to you. I'm interested, but I haven't tried it, yet. Also, it doesn't say how to make them accessible again without going back into the registry.
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No. Not externally, presumably by the USB's own power. Just a cheap extension lead with a few electronic components, really. The device works with a straightforward, single socket extension lead, of course, there being no electronics involved.
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I always leave my tobacco and papers on my bedside table, and the wine in the kitchen, so I have to keep getting up.
Cheers.
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Just a quickie which might help someone. I have an IDE to USB setup. It never worked. Then I removed the four-port USB hub and plugged the disk's USB cable into the USB port direct. Bingo. Can't get Windows to format the drive, though.
Cheers.
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I think this "common sense" bit needs explaining. We seek info, we go to the site, if it's a dodgy site, and something nasty is picked up, the user is not to blame, or necessarily without common sense. If you're talking about sex sites, OK, but expected good sites and offered progs can hold problems. For instance, that free weather bar offered by Google, is, I think, dodgy. I accidentally clicked to accept installation. I managed to stop it installing fully, but it dumped three shortcuts on my desktop - one for "Sexy chat". They were all internet shortcuts. Then I ran Spybot and it found 5 new "threats" - all tracking cookies, one of which had 139 entries. They were not there before - I had checked immediately before going online.
Nowadays, you can do nothing without any given program wanting to access the internet. Installation programs on cover disks often actually aren't - they are just internet shortcuts to the real installation prog. I only know this because Zone Alarm tells me. Most users without a firewall - that they can actually use - won't have a clue. And why does Word want to go online? I'm only typing a letter. And the plague of automatic updates - always defaulted to On, is further wresting control from the user.
I've only ever had one virus, and that was 20+ years ago, but, according to Spybot, I am regularly picking up Spyware. I don't do any obviously dodgy sites. Funnily enough, I don't suffer from pop-ups either.
One post mentioned Agnitum. I tried the freebie, and discovered that it held a list of all my visited sites - the full history, which, try as I may, I could neither edit nor delete. I emailed them for an explanation - it seemed a bit daft, a security program that would remove history from Windows, but maintain its own - they did not reply. Dodgy?
Most users don't know what others are up to, and cannot be expected to, which is why we come here, and buy magazines.
A list of clearly-written basic guidelines for safe-surfing would be welcome, so that common sense can be the gift of all. So would a list of the dangers. What's the difference between spyware and malware, and do we need different progs to clean them up? And if they are just modified cookies, how come they're getting past our firewalls?
I've got an old version of Zone Alarm and AVG, and use Spybot after a session. I've also got an image of my C: drive which I reinstall immediately if I'm worried, and from time to time generally.
Cheers.
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Excellent, taking the time to supply all this is appreciated. More please.
XP has starting pausing at boot to tell me my password will expire in x days. I don't want it to, thank you very much. Know a tweak to turn this off? (Daft thing is, I aint got a password. I made sure I didn't get that nonsense when I installed. There's only me and the wife use the machine.)
Occasionally I get the "Your disk needs checking..." thing at boot. OK, don't mind that, but why no keypress choice to actually begin the checking, instead of only to stop it? Bit daft, having to wait for the countdown. We hate slow boots, don't we.
Cheers.
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Hola,
I've gone back to June 05 on this board, and not found it. I've also seached long on the net, and only found the question but no solutions.
How can I permanently delete My Documents from the left pane of Explorer (XP)?
Preferably, I like to remove all references to it forever, everywhere. I've never used it, ever. I store none of my own files on C:. I always have had two hard disks, and only ever store my own files on D:.
My Docs was a nuisance on 98, but it's so in-your-face on XP, and so sticky. Drives me crazy. I do wonder if there's an ulterior motive - a common, readily accessible place that hackers can go straight to to see what you're doing, and let Bill know, perhaps. There's got to be a reason for its forceful, sticky presence.
And which insulting, condescending, twerp at Microsoft thought we couldn't create our own directory with that name, and those useless sub-directories? Shows what they think of us, eh.
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Found it!
Just pulled back the rubber cover and the pin fell out. I knew it. So it was that bloody Conceptronics connector.
The pin is actually spade-shaped. First thoughts are I'll shove the pin back in and hold my soldering iron on it for a few minutes, see what happens. There's a fair bit of solder on the spade end, so it might flow enough to give a contact. Don't know if I'm going to waste any more time with the Conceptronics connector cable, though.
Still like to know if that pin is important, and what its lack might cause.
God, the time I wasted.
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Hola,
Ta for the replies.
That link is heartening. A fiddler after my own heart. The silver paper's a good idea. I wish I hadn't binned the other drive. I could've plucked a pin, and shoved it into this one with a dose of silver paper beneath it.
The hole in the plastic is actually more of a slot, and the pins are obviously cross-shaped. It is definitely not in the connector, and I've scanned the floor, no joy. I just hope it hasn't fallen onto the one of the mobos. Better give them a shake.
I've checked my other drives, and that pin exists on all, including other Seagates, and the connections on the underside clearly show a path into the rest of the PCB. I've got an old parallel-cable external drive case. I'll hammer a needle in and see what happens - nothing to lose. If it works, I'll leave it there, and I'll let you know.
Cheers.
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Hola,
I recently wasted days trying to get an IDE to USB cable to work. It never did, and during that time the process killed the two disks I bought the bloody cable for. The first death was because after centuries of trying I had the disk balanced on my knee, plugging in this and that in fevered desperation and frustration, and it finally fell off my shaking knee, onto a tiled floor, which killed it. The second drive's death depends on your answers.
The 2nd drive had been used successfully, and long-term, in two machines, both as a master and a slave. It didn't work with the IDE to USB cable, ever. Obviously, throughout the process, I re-installed it in each machine attached to the IDE cable. It worked, it worked, it worked, then it started causing hang ups (98SE and XP).
I tried everything. Then I noticed a gap in the rows of pins on the IDE interface that rang an alarm bell.
So. This drive now has a pin missing which I believe has been pulled out by the aforementioned cable. I need to know if this is the case, and what effects this missing pin might cause.
Upright position. Power cable to the right. From the lower pin-run, from the correct central missing pin, move up, and to the left, one. This pin is missing.
For the "correct, central, missing pin", there is no hole in the plastic. Whereas, the space for my "missing pin" has a hole - no pin. It is the tenth pin from the left of the upper row with the power supply to the right. Well, it would be if there was a pin there.
The connector is a Conceptronics IDE to USB CIDE23U.
Pinout info, gentlemen and ladies, please. Whereas I expect a response from youse lot, I do not expect Conceptronic to get involved, but I'm also posting this because Conceptronics website, and its FAQ files (3), yep, three, honest, three - they didn't even have the imagination to imagine what could imaginably happen, go for a brainstorm with the techies, and invent a few scenes, is laughingly appalling, and I am very, very annoyed. That's Conceptronics, for those with failing ears. Conceptronics, in case you missed it. I've been building machines since 1991, and I cannot prove that they are rubbish (this, "rubbish", was not my first choice of adjective, my vocabulary is much wealthier), and that their equipment has caused this problem. A-A-R-R-G-G-H-H-H. That was me being annoyed.
I am going to bed now. Don't even think of calling me. But do think Conceptronics.
God, but I'm pi**** o** ( how sad that we adults feel obliged to prissily hide our normal, natural, real, and usually acceptable language in these posts in case we offend some 200 year old ex-nun. Christianity, you have a lot to answer for.)
Best regards,
Jay.
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Just a few points.
Win98 for old, slow machines, or those with limited memory, or for users who can't afford to upgrade.
Perhaps, but none of those are the reasons I still use 98.
I still use real DOS occasionally. I sometimes use it to delete files that 98 and "Restart in MSDOS Mode" won't let me. I also used it extensively to write a food dictionary because Word's sort is wrong, while the DOS Sort is good, just a bit limited (I'd love a really good, fancy bells and whistles Sort - anyone know). I believe 98 is the last to give real DOS, and anything that removes control from me is a distinct no-no.
I fiddle a lot, and I have often needed to use SYS.COM, and a couple of other commands. I know some are not supported in ME. I assume they're not supported in subsequent OSs either. Again, more loss of control - why did they remove useful stuff?
I think 98 is the least controlling, that it was written to some degree with the hobbyist in mind, more in keeping with the spirit of the time - it is just a WIN95 upgrade. (I've still got my WIN95 CD. I also had DOS 3.3 (better SORT) on floppies for a while until they all refused to read. Floppies are crap, aren't they.)
I think XP is far too wordy - compare the Start/Find screens. It's definitely too hand-holdy.
Win2000 seems to refuse to do anything - it's got a no-can-do personality. Doesn't like these drivers, doesn't support that thing. When I was using public terminals, I refused to use 2000, I could get nothing done.
I know 98 fairly well, and I can tweak it, and modify it to suit me.
Lazyness, too. When I'm reinstalling, I have it, I don't have the others. And once installed, I don't think much about upgrading (?). I justs gets on and does the things I gots to do. When I'm using a wordprocessor or a photo manipulation program, or a drawing program it don't really matter what the OS behind it is.
It seems to me from reading the net stuff that installing XP is not as straighforward as 98, so that, too, puts me off. (When I use other PCs running XP I get alarmed at the amount of crap that's on them. Is that because it IS difficult to do a clean install? I don't know.)
The net is littered with dire warnings about the flakiness of ME.
Like everyone, I suppose I'll have to upgrade eventually, unless linux (Tin Hat, as far I'm concerned) gets its arse into gear, or I die before that becomes necessary.
Why do all pop-up boxes always sit right in front of the work area, or appear as far away from the mouse-pointer as possible? There are few mods I'd like to see made to 98, though. Which is why I hope it eventually becomes public domain - one can have harmless little fantasies, OK.
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Most things subject to Copyright laws; books, plays, etc., are subject to time limits, after which they become Public Domain, unless, of course, they affect National Security. It seems to me that Microsoft's stunning - in terms of speed - production of "New" Operating Systems - and their versions, plus the fact they have now ceased support for 98, is an indication of "corporate release by declaration" - my term. If a product is deemed to be obsolete by its manufacturers, indicated by no further support, then they should be required, under modified software copyright laws, to hand it over to those who wish to use it. Any bolshy WIN98 enthusiast lawyers out there want to have a go?
Course, they could defend their hoarding using the National Security approach, and they may have a point. You wouldn't want the defence of your country in the hands of WIN98, would you. Mind you, if the world's hawks were allowed to use/modify it to control their missile systems we'd all be a lot safer. "War's cancelled, got to reinstall WIN98PE in all the silos, keeps booting into DOS, sorry."
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I know it's a bit of an old post, but we do search retrospectively. And I want to agree with hankjrfan00 and Steven W, and add stuff.
Best things I've ever done - I am talking about WIN98SE, here, where regular FDISK/FORMAT/reinstalls are common.
Get two hard disks - always - safer than partitions. Put the OS, and Program Files on the smaller drive (C: (Master IDE1)), and put all your important files on the larger (D: (Slave IDE2) (So you can boot from a CD set as Master IDE2))), along with copies of ALL your installation CDs. I'm using a 10Gig D: - tiny by modern standards, so you won't lose much space.
Name the directories/folders CDWIN98, CDOFFICE2000, CDNERO, etc. Not only will you never again have to go rummaging for the CDs, but installations are seriously faster. So much so, that when I get a new installation CD for anything, I automatically copy it straight to D:\CDXXXXX, and then install. WIN98SE itself fair blisters along, and that dreaded reinstall that used to make your heart sink when you knew you really had to do it, is no longer a problem. (Your CDs will last longer, too.)
Oh yeah. Make notes - in sequence, save them, and print out prior to the reinstall. Include which card in which slot gave probs, CDKEYS & serial numbers, and tell yourself to COPY DESKTOP, MYDOCS, ETC. TO D: BEFORE REFORMATTING 'COS YOU KEEP FORGETTING!! You will eventually correct something that went wrong during installation, but you won't remember how you solved it six months down the line.
If you're short of space, remember you don't need everything on the CD. Delete all the unnecessary language files, all the separate driver folders for ME, 2000, XP, all the instances of Adobe Acrobat and other bundled software and trialware that you never install, such as all the naff, limited album and editing programs that come with scanners and printers. Some may kick up a fuss, but enough won't. To be really careful with space, for hardware - cards, USB/parallel/com devices, all you actually need are the WIN98 drivers. Copy the drivers folder from the CDs to D:\DRIVERS, and just point to them when Windows says its found a new device -
\DRIVERS98\MATROX500
\DRIVERS98\YAMAHAXG
\DRIVERS98\EPSONC66
etc. - saves a lot of clicking, too.)
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The next day I booted, and the thing worked! No Found New Hardware, no need to install drivers. It just worked straight away. Maybe I frightened it. That was about two months ago. When it died this time, I tried the angry bit, but this time it didn't work. I've now reverted to an older PII mobo with LAN onboard. It's a bit slower, but reliable. Then, it gets worse, When I hooked everything back up, the C: drive refused to work. It had just died. So, I had to return to my previous C: 6.6G.
Taskbar
in Windows Vista
Posted
Hello,
Vista. Taskbar got topic; PUBLIC. Right click does not give either Remove or Delete.
How can I remove this typical Vista nonsense?
Why is Microsoft so controlling?
Ta.