CharlotteTheHarlot

On day one of the Windows 8 RTM comes signs of trouble in paradise ... Is 'Metro' now a banned word at Microsoft? ( ZdNet ) Exclusive: Microsoft's Metro branding to be replaced 'this week' according to internal memo ( The Verge ) Could Microsoft be reducing usage of the word 'Metro'? ( Fanboy Central ) Report: Metro rebranding to come this week ( Fanboy Central ) Microsoft Halting Use of the Term ''Metro'' ( Tom's Hardware ) Microsoft replacing Metro branding, denies trademark dispute ( TechSpot ) Memo: Microsoft's 'Metro' UI to Get New Name 'This Week' ( Tom's Hardware ) Microsoft dumps Metro from Windows 8. Sadly, just the name. Someone else says they own it. ( UK Register ) Thurrott -- WinInfo Short Takes, August 3, 2012 ( WindowsItPro ) Microsoft Unceremoniously Dumps the Name 'Metro' ( Maximum PC ) Meet the Interface Formerly Known As Metro ( Maximum PC ) Microsoft Looks to Drop Metro Brand ( PC World ) Microsoft Dropping 'Metro' Name in Windows 8 ( PC Magazine ) The first two links appear to be the primary sources for most of the other reporting. Mary Jo Foley at ZdNet says this: "I've heard from a few sources that they believe Microsoft is stepping away from "Metro" because of a possible copyright dispute with some other entity. I asked Microsoft on this and received a no comment." She later updates her article with this: "Update: A spokesperson is now saying the reason for this Metro de-emphasis is not related to any litigation. (I asked if it is related to any kind of copyright dispute that hasn't yet gone to litigation and was told there would be no further comment.)". Ruh roh. She again updates with this: "Update: Tom Warren at The Verge said he has seen an internal Microsoft memo that indicates that "discussions with an important European partner" led to the decision to "discontinue the use" of the Metro branding for Windows 8 and other Microsoft products. A replacement term is supposedly going to be suggested imminently, possibly by this weekend. " Oh dear. What is going on up in Redmond these days? I find it impossible to believe that legal was not all over this for the past three years, there is no way they woke up this week and started looking around to see if the most visible name for their next-generation paradigm shifting OS was an infringement waiting to happen. It also makes me wonder if in fact BING was ever researched for infringement ( ~cough~ Terabyte ) before launch. That deceptive statement: "not related to any litigation" really should bother people. It is a dishonest political denial of the kind we expect from a lying politician using a technicality. It is exactly what I would expect from a company that has lost its way and is no longer to be trusted. Yeah, there is no litigation, yet. Ah well, in the spirit of freedom and benevolence. let it be noted that I hereby renounce all copyrights and grant Microsoft a royalty and attribution free right of use for these potential replacements! I do not want, nor will I accept any renumeration up to and especially including a free copy of Windows 8. I hope that others will follow my lead and agree to these terms when they suggest their own replacement names for Metro! Microsoft : Tiles! Microsoft : Retro! Microsoft : Metrosexual Microsoft Windows 8 : Sesame Street Edition Microsoft Windows 8 ME : Metrosexual Edition Microsoft Windows 8 ME : Monopoly Edition Microsoft : TWAIN ( This Was An Infringing Name ) Microsoft Windows 8 SP : Steaming Pile Okay, here are ideas from others ... Windows : Vistro ( credit: claassenandre ) Microsoft : Window ( credit: Larry Crapbeans ) Windows : Last Edition ( credit: c2423 ) Windows 8 : Judgement Day ( credit: LinkOfHyrule ) Windows : Titanic ( credit: David D. Hagood ) Windows : pOS ( credit: Zombie Womble ) Windows 8 ME : Mojave Experiment ( credit: gothliciouz ) EDIT: added a bunch more links, and a few more names ;-) Microsoft Windows 8 : RTM ( Realizing The Mistake? )

( ~Yawn~ ) Well, might as well list a roundup of the articles announcing the Windows 8 RTM ... Releasing Windows 8 - August 1, 2012 ( Microsoft Official Destroying Windows Blog ) Windows 8 has reached the RTM milestone ( Microsoft WindowSteamBlog ) Microsoft Finishes Windows 8 ( Thurrott ) Windows 8 goes gold, will hit MSDN and TechNet on August 15 ( TechSpot ) Microsoft confirms Windows 8 has hit RTM ( Fanboy Central ) Windows 8 Goes RTM: Last Milestone Before October Release ( Tom's Hardware ) Microsoft's Windows 8 Reaches RTM Milestone Today ( Maximum PC ) Microsoft RTMs final Windows 8 and Server 2012 code. Shuts the gate on final changes. ( UK Register ) Microsoft's Windows 8 Released to Manufacturers ( PC Magazine ) Microsoft Calls Windows 8 Complete, But Analysts are Concerned ( PC World ) Microsoft Releases Windows 8; Windows Store Open for Business ( PC World ) Windows 8 takes big RTM step toward consumers ( CNet ) Conspicuously absent ... Raymond Chen ( Who has really hardly mentioned Windows 8 much at all. Hmmm. I wonder why. Anybody know? ) So far there appear to be no real leaks of the RTM to the general public (no doubt Lenovo is being a little more careful this time). The only unanswered question left for me is whether the Microsofties made any last minute concessions to the unprecedented criticism and feedback about the Start Menu and Aero Glass. I think this is the important unknown, because it was the absolute last chance for Team B&S to prove they are not deaf, dumb, blind and arrogant beyond repair. Once the RTM left the shop their destiny was cast in stone. Any bets? Staying on the path they have plowed, in spite of the tsunami of criticism would be prima facie evidence that they are intent on turning Microsoft into Apple (and why not, the fanboys are already in place) and will at the first opportunity destroy the last traces of the desktop and user control. Frankly, I believe it is tantamount to a declaration of war on the free and open x86 universe. And it is an attack on the entire history of the past 30 years. Microsoft was the biggest beneficiary of the x86 open architecture model, they did not create it. The massive installed user base of computers on x86 architecture is NOT their private herd of cows to milk or sheep to shear (though I sometimes wonder). There are a lot of blind fanboys out there saying stuff like "Microsoft isn't gonna kill the desktop", "They're not locking down anything", "Windows 8 is the same as 7". These people are slow cooking frogs in a pot and don't yet know it. Microsoft Windows 8 : RTM ( Return To Microsoft )

As we close in on the impending official death of Windows as we know it (perhaps mere hours away), the children are on the edge of their seats over at Fanboy Central ... Windows 8 Start screen change in RTM to allow pictures Has Windows 8 RTM gotten the "sign off"? (Note: their images were nicked from Win8china.com and rumors from WinUnleaked as usual). Anyway, the latest image shows the powerful customization options of the Windows Retro start screen ... ( original ) A few selected quotes from the fanboys ... Ahh children. You gotta love 'em. Is there really any difference between Generation iPod and Generation Xbox? Heck no. At least there are still a few adults left over there ... Most of us already figured this out from the DP/CP "wallpaper" but it seems clear that Microsoft has officially decided to steal err copy I mean borrow a famous 90-year old artistic style to rescue us from their "dated and cheesy" 2009 Windows Operating System ... Microsoft Windows 8 : Featuring Art Deco from the 1920's ( because Windows 7 was so "dated and cheesy" in 2009 ) EDIT: Added spoiler, another link, misc cleanup, typos (arrgh!), updated image URLs, and again

jaclaz ... you owe me another monitor! ( Viewsonic 27" LED please. )

I hear that. It's one of those jokes where you don't know whether to laugh or just barf. Here, another example just popped up ... Microsoft planning ‘child-friendly' mode for Windows Phone 8? I was gonna quote some of the breathless discovery but what's the point really. Someone IM me when they make thing adult-friendly.

Hmm, my memory might be failing me here, but the only things I've seen from them in that era was crappy old BASIC (not sure how far back MASM goes). That's where Borland came in with Turbo C/C++/Pascal/ASM/Vision/etc. Heck yeah. BASIC, COBOL, Fortran, Assembler, C, Pascal, all by the IBM AT era. Probably in that order but I'll be darned if I can find a source (I'll bet Jaclaz can). It's almost as if all Microsoft history prior to Windows is missing (and even the history of early versions of Windows seems spotty). I'm pretty sure Borland didn't come until after the AT (but my memory is probably even worse!). Some of those languages were compilers, some interpreters, some both, some were also rebranded by OEM's. I believe I have IBM's first labeled version of BASIC and Assembler somewhere (or they might just be Microsoft). I know for a fact that I did save a copy of Microsoft Adventure which is very very old. Anyway, IMHO, this is when x86 programming took off like a rocket. And this is when independent software really took root (but of course solidified during the Windows 32-bit era). Off-Topic Nostalgia: One cool thing about the 1981-1984 era is how gigantic the industry became. The magazines (e.g., PC-Magazine) were a half-inch thick stuffed with ads. There were so many ads, literally falling out of the magazines, that most people complained we couldn't read the darn reviews and articles. One interesting thing that Microsoft did was sell wholesale to countless software vendors who re-sold to the public. Companies with names like Micro-this and Compu-that ran ads on every page of the magazines each competing with each other for software and hardware. If I had to guess, I would say that in a copy of PC-Magazine during the AT era you would find quotes for Microsoft C (or whatever) from at least a hundred different outlets. The same goes for every gadget and expansion card that was available for sale. Competition was the rule of the day. And there still an was actual choice in OS (I think this was around DOS 3.0) as Microsoft still hadn't nailed down the market. Once things unified for sure by Windows 3.x, the competition started to evaporate and the number of vendors decreased. For the younger folk out there that doubt about the wild and crazy competitive times, just track down a magazine from 1984 or earlier. Ralf Brown's interrupt list was the best reference IMO. Along with a few good books... Good times for sure, toying with a DIY ISA card with 24 TTL I/Os (from a plain old 8255 PPI). </nostalgia> ... and Peter Norton's guide! I sure remember that. Everything was so pricey... and so little existed for that architecture compared to plain old ISA slots. Thanks god EISA won. Amen to that (we dodged a bullet there for sure). MCA was cutting edge to be sure, but boy did they tick off the hardware vendors with heavy handed licensing and costs. By the time the blazing fast VL-Bus hardware came along it was game over for MCA and IBM. The consumer and the industry had had enough with bureaucracy, incremental improvements and proprietary nonsense.

Many other sites as well (PcMag, Cnet, etc). But the most pathetic and hilarious are at MSDN on the Official Destroying Windows Blog. These people have absolute disdain for Freedom of Choice and are on a Jihad to convince detractors that it somehow makes sense for Microsoft (or actually the subset that make up the Metro contingent) to select the theme for everbody's desktop and how they interact with it. These people of course would have a baby if they turned on their computer and some virus (or some playful malware) suddenly changed their theme and all the associated components. I swear, if Microsoft were to release Ubuntu or any other 'nix labeled as Windows 8 these drones would still cheer. This could be easily proved if somebody conducted a Mojave'nix Experiment ("shhh, we've substituted the DVD of these unsuspecting users ..." ). You're absolutely correct. That's what I meant (3rd party hardware vendors of add-ins, not entire PC clones, not yet). I was also alluding to the software end where Microsoft literally specialized in marketing all the computer programming languages and really jump started the independent software industry, in fact they created it (and now want to control it). On the hardware end obviously the BIOS was still secret at first (and still being developed really, PC > XT > AT) but it didn't last long. Once AMI or Phoenix (can't remember) made it modular and available the market became 100% open. IBM certainly did intend, at first, for everyone to communicate with their BIOS through all the published routines but this was short-lived thankfully. At least IBM did provide thorough manuals and 'Technical Specifications' for everything they sold. I had access to cabinets full of them, everything from Printers and expansion cards to all their DOS releases and even the BIOS. As you say, "good times" . One big difference today IMHO is with our toxic, litigious atmosphere that has evolved to the point where an invention is now considered a monopoly for an arbitrary period of time. I cannot imagine how Compaq or whoever first clean roomed the BIOS could do something similar today. One huge lesson that Microsoft somehow failed to learn serves as a really great analogy to today ... IBM reverted from allowing independence for their nimble PC division to it's old lumbering behemoth self and changed track with the move back to proprietary technology, most memorable in the MCA line of PS/2 computers (all pretty good though) which the rest of the industry had a fit over. I remember the battle lines being drawn just like today with many media outlets cheering them on ('the death of the clone?') while others cheered for the independents to prevail ("revenge of the clones?"). Deja Vu anyone? I guess am thinking more from a purist point of view these days. I would prefer if Microsoft had either offered a separate Metro Edition or better yet, an MCE-like add-on that runs within the Operating System, windowed or full-screen if the person voluntarily chooses.. Even Stevie Wonder can see that Metro is a simple evolution of the Xbox Dashboard of which MCE appears to be another derivative. MCE was the right path because it did not impact anyone that chose to ignore it. The reason they will not do the former, a separate Metro Edition, is because it would most certainly crash and burn on its own, or at best simply fill a niche market like many other Windows derivatives. In short, by attaching it to the entire Windows base they are trying to make it 'Too Big To Fail', (a political term here in the States used to rationalize saving or bailing out something at all costs regardless of common sense). That decision, to radically change mainstream Windows itself is the one that must have caused a holy war in Redmond because rather than isolating the potential damage from a fail they chose to spread it to the whole Microsoft brand. At least I hope it was internally controversial, because if it wasn't and there are only children left in the ranks, well, we will probably soon find out if Microsoft itself is 'Too Big To Fail'. EDIT: spelling typos! Microsoft Windows 8 : Listen to our Fanboys! The desktop is still there! We didn't change a thing. ( okay, maybe just a few )

Valve’s Gabe Newell on the Future of Games, Wearable Computers, Windows 8 and More (allthingsd 2012-07-25) Gabe Newell: “I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space.” (PCGamer 2012-07-25) Valve co-founder: Windows 8 is a "catastrophe" (Fanboy Central 2012-07-25) Valve Boss Gabe Newell Says ''Windows 8 is a Catastrophe'' (Tom's Hardware 2012-07-26) Valve Hedging Bets on Linux to Avoid Windows 8 "Catastrophe" (Maximum PC 2012-07-26) Gabe Newell expressing exactly what I was trying to say in a rant upthread ... Bingo. And as I was saying, Microsoft wouldn't exist except for the unlikely choice by IBM to embrace and literally force an open platform in the first place. It was one of the luckiest and stunningly benevolent things that any big business ever did for the public. And Microsoft was the luckiest group of all. They begged, borrowed and practically stole in a race against the clock to get DOS into IBM's hands in time for the PC launch. Their progression from then, to today also involved lots of luck and some more begging, borrowing and perhaps stealing as well. But here they are, today, in an unprecedented monopoly position regarding the x86 computer universe. It is today, at this stage where I believe the old saying 'with great power comes great responsibility' applies. Do you tread carefully and respect that giant user base who in large part did not choose specifically to become pawns in this game (their PC's were outfitted by OEMs that installed Windows largely because of behind the scenes deals) ... or ... do you make a cynical and selfish move, cashing in on them when they have practically no choice at all in selecting an Operating System, treating them like their personal herd of sheep or cattle? This thing, Windows 8 is portrayed by fanboys as a nice incremental step towards 'unification' of devices and as 'progress' in general. I say bull. IMHO this is a thinly veiled attack on the very thing that made PC's and Microsoft itself a household name in the first place - the wild free-wheeling open architecture of the x86 computer world. Make no mistake, if they succeed with Metro and build a commercial walled garden and god forbid the thing starts generating real money, then you can guarantee that the desktop side will be targeted and eventually eliminated. They can't have scab independent authors out there selling software without getting their cut. They couldn't even tolerate something like Java stepping on their toes either. So let's hope for starters that there is someone out there developing a means to bypass the Microsoft Store completely, allowing independent Metro apps to be installed without ever passing through the Microsoft gatekeeping. That battle, should it occur should be a real hoot. But the best thing of all, and I am really hoping for this one, is that someone figures out a way to turn Metro into a windowed application that runs like Nemulator (link to an image, note that it is running in a Win7 Aero window just like Microsoft could have done, and here is the once again).Microsoft (and many other companies no doubt) would love to be the new AT&T and your computer to be the telephone you lease from them and getting a piece of every phone call. But they seem to have forgotten just how badly that monopoly ended. For the first time ever I am starting to think Microsoft should have been broken up, spinning off the OS side into a separate company. EDIT: added a few more links. Microsoft Windows 8 : What Monopoly? No-one's forcing you to buy it. (You have lots of choices bwahahaha! )

As we close in on the RTM the nightmare only gets worse and worse. Recapping the latest drivel ... Windows 8 Tip: Use Airplane Mode (Thurrott 2012-07-20) Windows 8 RTM on the way (WinUnleaked 2012-07-22) Windows 8 RTM build 8518 screenshots appear (Fanboy Central 2012-07-22) More RTM Screenshots : Credit: Paul Thurrott (WinUnleaked 2012-07-22) Additional Windows 8 RTM UI screenshots hit the web (Fanboy Central 2012-07-23) And then there are these laughers (move your coffee away from your screen). The first is from Sinofsky's team of children ... Hardware accelerating everything: Windows 8 graphics (The Official Destroying Windows Blog 2012-07-23) And this is how Fanboy Central laps it up and spreads the propaganda ... Windows 8 brings massive gains in the graphics department (Fanboy Central 2012-07-23) How bad is it? Well this interface is exactly what I would expect to receive if I purchased Windows 'Starter Edition' on a cheap bargain-bin netbook. I mean really. Of course that is sarcasm because Win7 Starter Edition is now looking very professional. Perhaps it should be called Windows DNR (Do Not Resuscitate Edition). To describe this as an insult to the eyes is an understatement. It is also an unbelievable insult to modern hardware. Can anyone imagine putting together an Ivy Bridge i7 with 16 GB and SSD and blazing GPU with a nice 27" LED and then installing this OS abortion? This is not minimalist, this is childish. It is the interface I expect when I customize some forum preferences that has rudimentary skin selection, scratch that, even those canned themes demonstrate more creativity. Twitter is more elaborate. Basically we are seeing Microsoft turn Windows into a bare-bones budget interface like those found in the firmware on TV's and cameras, and DVD players and myriad other consumer devices. Barf! (Images originate from Thurrott and WinUnleaked) ... ( originals: 1, 2, 3, 4 ) Microsoft Windows 8 : Metrosexual Edition (embrace your inner pastels) EDIT: updated image URLs, and again

Okay. The answer is YES, you can run the setup files from a HDD and do a Repair Install. Just to recap, the computer was very unstable from some aggressive malware. Even after cleaning, many problems continually showed up, for example being unable to do all Windows Updates (most obnoxiously MSIE would not update to version 9) and many FAILs showed in the history. The event log was its usual un-useful self having wiped out the key entries thanks to it's brilliant FIFO strategy. The physical CBS and related logs kept steering me to problems in the Software Distribution folder but even renaming and other tricks wouldn't free the log jam. Norton and McAfee having been used in the past likely caused problems because they usually alter ACL's on folders and registry keys to 'protect' the user from himself and even though their special removal tools do an excellent job at wiping away the application suites and most of the damage, there is no real way to be certain that permissions were also reset. I also noted that SFC was failing on a couple of files (just WMP junk really) so the plan became to Repair Install. This would result in a kind super-SFC setting all files to a known official level, SP1 to be exact. It also gives the benefit of a completely new registry, but one with all previous settings maintained. The computer used a 600 GB SATA set up by Dell with their usual three partition scheme C: and D: and Hidden. C: ......... 581 GB ... System D: ......... 015 GB ... Recovery (hidden) ... 070 MB ... Restore Fortunately the D: Recovery Partition had plenty of free space on it to be able to fit the approximately 3.2 GB required to hold the extracted Win7 x64 SP1 setup files. This is good news for those that deal with these cookie cutter Dell computers since we can now quickly just copy the Windows Setup files without having to resize partitions or delete some of the distribution images, drivers or crapware also found on the D: partition. I chose to just leave the original Win7 SP0 + crapware and other material in place, but if it were my personal computer I would have long ago wiped that partition (and the restore partition as well) because I would not be caught dead doing a factory reset. So it was a simple matter of extracting an official Win7 SP1 ISO to a new folder on the D: partition. I then did an ATTRIB to clear all the attributes (probably an optional step but one I have always done). I then did a semi-clean boot to the built-in Administrator account (which you'd have to enable it if you didn't already) by disabling all the unnecessary startup items (printer junk, WMP, etc) and services (iTunes, Google, AOL) and completely killing other startup stuff like Google, Yahoo, Java, Adobe updaters and maybe a dozen others (ridiculous isn't it?). A truly proper clean-boot would involve MSCONFIG and a selective startup disabling everything except Microsoft drivers and services, but I just went with instinct. For example I left things like Sidebar and Windows Search and some Windows Live junk in place in their autorun locations so I wouldn't forget to re-enable them later. Anyway, let's call it a pretty clean boot. So you are sitting in the built-in ADMINISTRATOR account ... Then it was simple ... Start > Run > D:\Win7sp1\Setup.exe. Clicking through the choices just the same as if using the DVD and finally clicking on UPGRADE. All in all it took about 90 minutes to complete the 'upgrade' repair including several reboots but at this point it is all unattended and the setup script successfully picks up where it left off each time it rebooted. Good job on this Microsofties. When it finally was completed and windows again started prompting for input, it did serve up the product key and activation screen (~sigh~ as if it couldn't easily determine the original code by itself!), but aside from that, every single previous setting was saved and restored correctly, from timezone to all user wallpapers and everything else. Even the printer drivers were still functional (so I hear from the customer) which I worried about since I had only the computer but no peripherals. Most importantly, Windows Update worked correctly. After immediately doing the MSIE version 8 to 9 successfully there were another 70 (I believe) updates post-SP1 which also went okay. I also decided to just install MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) rather than mess with a 3rd party. I doubt that MSE can really be any worse than the others. Finally, about 1 GB of older files were placed into two folders ... C:\$INPLACE.~TR C:\WINDOWS.~Q Which I eventually deleted. All is good.

He's recommending Start8 for people who wish to boot directly to the Desktop and preserve the Start Button/Start Menu experience. IMHO the UI not as nice as Classic Shell or Start Menu X, as Start8 maintains the hideous look of the Metro start screen, but it's miles better than anything Microsoft is offering for Windows 8. Jorge, I might be wrong but the way I read that Thurrott article is that the solution he is using (Thurrott) which involves a home-made script of some sort, is what will cease to function after RTM. Here is the full quote: But who knows what he meant. Anyway it will be very interesting to see exactly what remains functional after this PoS goes public. Along with Tihiy's excellent solution and all the Start Menu replacements, I have a feeling that the Win8 Explorer.exe from DP may also live on in modville (remember how an early CMD.EXE from WinXP beta found its way to Win9x). Everything prior to the Aero Glass removal will likely find some use, especially the icons and other visuals. One thing is for sure, this PoS right here is an atrocious insult to the eyes. It is an abomination ... (pictures seen in article at Fanboy Central: Windows 8 RTM build 8518 screenshots appear) Microsoft Windows 8 : So what if your 2GB GPU and LED displays millions of colors (8-bit color is good enough for you) EDIT: I might be wrong but it looks to me like the children at Fanboy Central may have blocked the embedded images from appearing here! Images that they in fact snagged from WinUnleaked. I reset the links to there instead. EDIT2: Images gone again. Screw this, copied them offsite. change image URLs.

Well, for a 'repair install' they actually can replace any file because the setup process appears to temporarily modify the boot loader in order to achieve the trick of "Windows will restart several times during Setup and continue the process..." which is pretty much the same thing it does during a full install. It does this multiple times actually and manages to pick up exactly where it left off each time. So in a 'repair install' for files that are in use they apparently just do something along these lines ... - queue the in-use files for next-boot replacement - alter the bootloader to restart and then branch back to the setup script - restart, install and replace files - continue with script Of course the main difference between full and repair is the fact that during a 'repair install' thousands of files are already physically present and many are actively in use in memory and locked on disk. It is an impressive feat of coding to be sure. But I never liked doing this 'repair' procedure from the DVD. Never. The mechanics of the optical drive can be flaky, it can be dirty, the media is easily damaged, and ATAPI devices have legendary problems with vanishing from Windows for no reason. Flashdrives are probably better but come with their own sets of problems, more dependencies (BIOS support, Windows drivers, damage from dropping, ...) but it is no doubt better. I guess I am really old school since I prefer native HDD execution whenever possible. So, one area for improvement in the Vista/7 era should have been an option to install the setup files somewhere on a HDD partition and add "repair" to the startup options. Think of it as a super recovery console (which can be installed of course, even the incredible DaRT packages can be installed and added as a bootup option and executed from the local HDD). When a service pack is later applied it should automatically update the local setup files on the HDD to make repair installs simple. This is vaguely how the current SFC works but it is far less comprehensive. NOTE: since this isn't one of my personal systems I am purposely confining myself to the legal public methods with non-commerical software. It is a customer PC which was badly infected. Believe me, it would be much simpler to boot into DaRT and quickly destroy the problems than using linux boot discs and the 3rd party variations they offer (needless to say I am of the opinion that all the DaRT and related tools should have been made available to every Windows owner but that's another issue. ) Anyway, I am preparing to try this later today or tomorrow and will report back. First I have to complete a few more scans for the removal of all the virus and spyware hijacks. Then I will run the in-place 'repair install' executed from a separate partition. In addition to reverting core system files to Win7sp1, this should also rebuild the registry and all the ACL's that were modified and tangled. I note for the record that both Norton 360 and later McAfee were in use here and failed again. Big surprise.

Has anyone ever attempted this? DETAILS: Most people are aware of the 'Repair Install' technique since Vista. It involves this ... - Boot the working Windows computer into an Administrator account (in a normal fashion *not* SAFEMODE) - Disable firewall and antivirus, and non-essential processes. - Insert Windows Setup media (DVD or USB), it will Autorun 'SETUP.EXE' ... and eventually you perform the Upgrade choice. This 'Repair Install' (also called 'In-Place Install' or 'In-Place Upgrade' at Microsoft sites) is detailed on many webpages but especially at Windows SevenForums which has a good tutorial that many of the Microsoft threads link back to. What I am wondering is if anyone has tried the following: - Boot Windows, login as Administrator, disable firewall etc. - Copy the Windows Setup DVD (or extract an official ISO) to a folder on the computer in a different partition. - Execute the SETUP.EXE directly (ex: D:\Win7dvd\Setup.exe). The goal here is to bypass the excruciatingly slow optical drives (and dodgy media) or flaky thumbdrives. This is approximately what we used to do in Win9x to add/remove components (I don't mean 'clean install' from HDD, that was simple in Win9x but impossible ever since, I believe). I mean running SETUP live from within Windows from the copied CDROM on the HDD. Anyway, I just can't think of a good reason it shouldn't work in Vista/7 except that perhaps some genius might have coded a strange check that the media is 'removable'. Making things easy for us has not been the primary concern of late. BTW: the SP0 or SP1 must of course match. Win7 is at SP1 obviously and most physical media delivered with the computers was SP0. It seems silly to burn the official SP1 refreshes (or worse, slipstream SP1 and then burn) *and* then insert the burned media to do a repair *if* we can just extract the thing in the first place and execute the raw files natively from a HDD, bypassing the burning completely since we do not even need a bootable DVD for this process. Sounds logical to me. IMHO, this technique will become more important as more distribution evolves to digital downloads rather than optical. While there are definitely SP1 Retail and OEM discs for Windows 7, there is a strong possibility there may never be a SP2 physical media at all (well depending on how bad Win8 tanks I guess :-)

Well, why call it W8 anyway? Maybe we should just call them by their real names which might reset expectations accordingly ... Real Name ---- Marketing Windows 5.0 ... Windows 2000 Windows 5.1 ... Windows XP Windows 5.2 ... Windows XP-64 Windows 6.0 ... Windows Vista Windows 6.1 ... Windows 7 Windows 6.2 ... Windows 8 ... or even better: ... W8 for 9 ... W849! (patent pending) Perhaps Microsoft is merely performing some rudimentary arithmetic ... Windows 6.1 ... 6 + 1 = 7 Windows 6.2 ... 6 + 2 = 8 .. for those customers that require things simple and easy? EDIT: typo! EDIT2: just thought of a better name for it! EDIT3: and better yet.

Please read again, I said the unpacked file was scanned, not the UPX'd original. I know this because I sent it to both sites. Why still no links or detailed explanation? File Properties ... Description: Win8开始菜单 Copyright: Copyright 2012 Company: 青岛软媒网络科技有限公司 File Version: 1.0.0.6 Internal Name: WinStart Language: Chinese (PRC) Original File name: WinStart.exe Product Name: WinStart Product Version: 1.0.0.6

That file contains: WinStart.exe Size is 314,280 bytes because it is UPX packed. Actual size is 518,296 bytes unpacked. Out of 62 online virus scanners (here and here) using the unpacked file ... 60 report clean 2 report problems - ByteHero :: Trojan-Downloader.win32.Small.gen.105 - ClamAV :: PUA.Win32.Packer.PrivateExeProte-15 (probably two of the most obscure scanners) Nonetheless, I doubt anyone will be downloading and executing a file called WinStart.exe! If you were serious and on-the-level you would be linking to an in-depth explanation of the file, why it was patched, what it will accomplish (and why it is packed). Just IMHO.

Glad it is fixed. Before I saw your reply I did some searching and quickly found out that no combination of search terms in Google would help. Not that the problem is unprecedented (I think I have heard of this happening before) but there seems to be no way to phrase it in Google-ease to exclude the 75 billion hits discussing basic ATTRIB questions. Also, from some of those hits I was reminded that there are some bugs in ATTRIB not present in Win9x. For example wiki says ... NOTE: I believe they are saying that *if* the -R were present in the example then it would not clear the R attribute. This suggests that success or failure of an ATTRIB command completely depends on the initial state of the file attributes. A file with +S+R or +H+R apparently will not have the same result as +S+H+R and so on. The way I read it is that the net effect of that bug means that on WinXP+ you must decouple S and H from any other ATTRIB command and do them first. What a mess! Anyway, that command I mentioned in my earlier comment probably should have been more like this ... attrib -s -h "C:\Documents and Settings\user\Cookies\user@emu-russia.net" /d attrib -r -a "C:\Documents and Settings\user\Cookies\user@emu-russia.net" /d rd /s "C:\Documents and Settings\user\Cookies\user@emu-russia.net" Also, there is another switch I forgot about: /L which deals with symbolic links so I wonder if there is a possibility that you were looking at a pointer. Probably the smart thing is to first get a list of any NTFS aliases by using Nirsoft NtfsLinksView (it's free!). I usually use this myself beforehand on every disk I need to work with. Just aim it at X:\ (the root folder of whatever drive letter) and let it completely scan and save the output to a text file. There is quite a mess of aliases these days with Vista and Win7. EDIT: updated image URL, and again

LOL! Sometimes I think accuracy would demand something like these ... MIASOBWHNIWDWBF = Mixed IDE and SATA operation but we have no idea which drive will boot first IARWFACAWWGI = IDE and RAID will flip a coin and whoever wins gets initialized YGIAGAO = Your guess is as good as ours TSWSOITOSB = These settings will stick only if the Operating System behaves They are all merely descendants of their common ancestor ... PnP OS = Plug and Pray compatible Operating System EDIT: typos in my proposed acronyms!

I find myself most often using the MCE derived variations: Royale, Royale Noir, Royale Remixed which are available everywhere. They're kinda basic and simple. (EDIT: referring to the msstyles from the themes naturally!) Of course the UxTheme.dll should be patched first. Garbage In --> Garbage Out questionable Telemetry In --> Metro Out

That BIOS has the following 4 choices for SATA Operation ... RAID Autodetect / AHCI = RAID if signed drives, otherwise AHCI RAID Autodetect / ATA = RAID if signed drives, otherwise ATA RAID On = SATA is configured for RAID on every boot Combination = SATA/PATA combination mode I wonder what the difference will be between the 2nd and 4th option with regard to Win9x? To RLOEW, any opinion on this. Also did you see the post above that describes i925 chipset drivers for Win9x? I'd be very interested to know if you have researched this!

I recommend he saves physical copies of the registries and registry backups BEFORE using ScanReg.

Good thinking Tihiy. Looks like another great idea. Freedom of choice is good. The more mods the better.

Maybe this ... attrib -r -a -s -h "C:\Documents and Settings\user\Cookies\user@emu-russia.net" /d rd /s "C:\Documents and Settings\user\Cookies\user@emu-russia.net" Don't forget those quotes, they are critical. My backup plan would be to just use the NTFS version of Directory Snoop (not free but it has a free trial). ( original ) EDIT: updated image URL, and again

Wow, that link is some read! That 'spin-doctor' doctor spin still has my head spinning. Although the article is specifically about 2k12, there is a real gem in there which puts even further doubt on their ability to make informed decisions from the questionable sample size and quality of that sample. Recall how the Start Menu removal is allegedly due to interpretation of telemetry data from Vista and Win7, and recall how so many people have pointed out the folly of this because few sane persons would voluntarily opt-in. Thus that sample is almost exclusively noobs that clicked through some last-chance prompt or maybe they are Mojave style focus groups of carefully selected Seattle hipsters. This is right from the horse's mouth and IMHO demonstrates that whomever is in the CEIP sample, they shouldn't be considered representative of intelligent life forms ... Again, this is concerning 2k12 and the data is pulled from 2k8 ... however ... it stands to reason that CEIP on consumer versions of Vista and 7 would also bounce off any working outbound firewall. Therefore, the already small and questionable CEIP sample used to kill the 17 year-old Start Menu consists of: ... users that are so bright that they voluntarily opted-in AND also actively added the CEIP to the firewall whitelist. ... and/or ... users that were NOT bright enough to opt-out of the CEIP program AND are happily running with no outbound blocking whatsoever. On instinct, I gotta go with the latter dominating the sample here. Seriously, let's all pray real hard that Microsoft is not responsible for data services for any lifesaving clinical medical trials, and that they are definitely not allowed to be anywhere near vote counting on election day. On the security front, the article continues ... I am almost at a loss for words. Almost. So I gotta ask. With all the data break-ins lately in the news almost every single day, would you really consider entering your personal data or paypal or CC numbers onto a commercial site that was 'powered by Windows Server 2012'? Seriously, If I were working for the competition I would just develop site banners/badges that said: 'Secure Site NOT powered by Windows'. Yeah I know there is more to it than hacking in, execution and getting out, but let's face facts. CEIP is a completely working spyware infrastructure designed to collect, aggregate and transport highly specific and sensitive data with a minimum of notice-ability. It is a miracle that it has not yet been compromised. Wanna know something they must be worrying about up in Redmond? Here it is. Just imagine if the next version of Stuxnet/Flame or some banking credit card virus simply masquerades as CEIP! Microsoft will be royally screwed then, and we will see the largest patch Tuesday in history. Microsoft Windows 8 : The customer is always right (when he agrees with the Telemetry data)

Holy Moley. Thanks for that! I have a couple of i925x lying about, probably the same Dells as the OP (I believe they all have WinXP but have not had reason to even turn them on). I'll grab that INF installer right now and have a look (eventually). There may be some life in those old Win98se bones yet. EDIT: I hope that this doesn't mean what I think: Chipset: INF Update Utility for 848, 865, 875, 910, 915, 925 Chipset-Based Intel Desktop Boards