CharlotteTheHarlot

Im guessing that you are doing things like editing in Vegas and/or AVI>MPG for DVD burning. If you have a stopwatch you might do the same exact operation under both file systems to obtain potentially useful info for other members. Clicking on a transition effect would NOT be useful (mostly CPU driven) but clicking save after an edit in Vegas (with stopwatch) will punish the file system. Another idea, time your cold boot (power off to desktop), warm boot (restart), and shutdown (desktop to power off). Post them in this thread for both FAT32 and NTFS. The key thing to do to create an effective control, is to do the same operations under FAT32, and then later under NTFS after the conversion.

Good question. There are a few Win9x Java threads lately to scan through here at MSFN although they are discussing Sun JRE specifically. See Java JRE 6 and win-98? (Problem with windows installer) and Java versions, Changes since 1.5.0_07 for some reference points. I am not aware of any machines still using JVM under Win9x (here in my world or on any forums). Will the Sun JRE install (and operate correctly) when a JVM is/was present? That is the dilemma. I hope others know the answer for you. I do know that on Win9x Sun JRE_1_6_0 works with Opera 9.62. See those threads above for members using versions as high as 1_6_7. FYI: you are probably aware that Microsoft screwed the pooch with their Java Runtime, lost a big lawsuit from Sun, and subsequently removed JVM from WinXP with SP1a. I can tell you from experience that remnants of JVM can still exist after removal (ActiveX killbits and such) which can affect Java programs and websites from operating correctly. On WinXP this means not to re-install with less than SP1a, and, to decline any offer to auto-install JVM from any 3rd party apps that still try to (certain AOL and Yahoo Messenger versions). P.S. to all: on Win9x or WinXP, I would like to get my hands on any JVM uninstaller or removal utility that may exist. Any link to such a file would be appreciated. I would like to dissect the utility to audit all the registry and file references it contains. This would be very useful for solving some of these Java hiccups caused by JVM.

@rjisinspired: although you're hearing NTFS is better and even Vista is great, I'll bet this is something we can all agree on: Don't convert your one-and-only system drive without a backup! That was my main point above. To sharpen this point further, an internal ATA drive is $50-$100, far less cost than any of the probable video tools you use (I'm guessing Vegas/Pinnacle/Avid/AfterEffects/etc), not to mention any video hardware. I have seen this before, clients invest heavily in their primary field (Audio/Video) equipment but cut corners on the thing thats holds their valuable and very perishable data: the HDD and a fallback plan. Put it another way, don't worry if the camera or the DVD burner dies, but do worry about the data and its container. It is the only thing that is irreplaceable, thus it is the only thing that matters. As to the merits of the two file systems, each has their own strengths and weaknesses. Interestingly, you are well-positioned to report back later with a near-scientific comparison of both file systems on identical hardware for specific tasks. So please, if you manage to test with careful controls, your experiences would help others (and as an added bonus: fan the wonderful flames of NTFS vs. FAT32! ).

I didn't see anything obvious in there that looked bad. So I took this myspace_upload.txt and made it into myspace_upload.htm and opened into an Opera tab. The page opened up (eventually) and looked like fine. It says stuff like: Upload Video: Step 2 -- Add Your Video File File Size Limit per upload: 512MB. Acceptable formats: .avi, .asf, .dv, .wmv, .mov, .qt, .3g2, .3gp, .3gp2, .3gpp, .gsm, .mpg, .mpeg, .mp4, .m4v, .mp4v, .cmp, .divx, .xvid, .264, .rm, .rmvb, .flv, .mkv, .ogm ... etc ... You are going to have to take a look at your Opera Preferences, particularly the Java options (press F12).

Try it again, and this time on the blank page (I hate that!) do View | Source and report back. Likely problem is that there is a re-direct URL in there that is not occuring. Paste/Go this URL from the source to the address bar should tell you something. A blocked domain from a HOSTS file is another likely scenario. McAfee/Norton/Firewall blacklist. Or even someone is messing with your computer settings.

Like myself, lots of members here will no doubt address these points, but before doing that let me offer an outside the box thought. Rather than stress over potential data loss and an un-reversible modification, let's make it reversible! Get another HDD (the exact same model could be useful, more later). Now clone the current FAT32 C: HDD to the new one as FAT32 C: (cloning methodology to explained later if you need it to be). Now swap out the old one for the new one. Now do your FAT32 > NTFS. This is what we do in forensics, you have a failsafe backup and can in fact reverse the irreversible conversion by swapping out the new one for the old one. You can safely experiment without losing any sleep. Now, by obtaining the same model HDD you get the added benefit of a bonafide performance comparison between the two different File Systems on identical hardware for your specific work. If the new HDD is different, just remember to clock some processes under FAT32 before you convert and do the same later under NTFS. (1) I agree about starting fresh, especially when its a newer, faster HDD. Partition/Format with WinXP install is as common a chore as they come. But this is not necessary for you yet, because if you clone the drive and then convert you can actually see if NTFS is worth it for you first. Nothing should stop you from later re-installing fresh on the new HDD if you like (that old drive will still be sitting there waiting if things go FUBAR). (2) Cluster sizes are a bookkeeping affair to the file system (i.e., in a phone book you could store every phone number on its own page or put lots of numbers on each page to reduce the total number of pages). On FAT32 there is a maximum amount of storage units (clusters) that can be addresed by the OS/RAM/Drivers. If that number gets too big the math fails. So they clamp down on the total number of clusters and just increase the amount of sectors per cluster as the drive gets bigger (keeping the phone book small). The consequence is that at the end of a file there can be slack space. For example a file that is 100 bytes of data ( 00,100 bytes ) will actually have a footprint of 32 KB ( 32,768 bytes ) on a typical modern large FAT32 HDD. Slack/waste maximum is theoretically 1 byte less than the cluster size ( 1 byte file stores as 32,768 bytes ). If the HDD has many many tiny little files a lot of space is wasted (because none are usually full clusters). NTFS on modern drives use 4 KB cluster size ( 8 absolute sectors instead of 64 for the FAT32 example ). There will be less slack waste on NTFS ( 1 byte file stores as 4,096 bytes ), but at some other, often debated cost. (3) Think of NTFS file compression like DRVSPACE. But it is both optional and automatic. I would never use it on purpose myself because it absolutely costs some CPU processing. On WinXP when the HDD gets close to full, the system begins to NTFS compress files to save space. One should never let it get to this point! Buy a new HDD with lots of space. Compression in the archive sense, as in large groups of files in a ZIP/RAR does make sense because many files are stored as one. BTW, this is a real oldtime argument, stretching way back to Pklite for files on floppies, and lately with UPX. You can always find people that think they magically SPEED UP things rather than slowing them down. I assure you they are wrong. Avoid it. Besides, the Wikipedia NTFS page says Microsoft partially agrees with me: "NTFS can compress files using a variant of the LZ77 algorithm (also used in the popular ZIP file format).[17] Although read-write access to compressed files is transparent, Microsoft recommends avoiding compression on server systems and/or network shares holding roaming profiles because it puts a considerable load on the processor.[18]". But then it goes on "Single-user systems with limited hard disk space will probably use NTFS compression successfully.[citation needed] The slowest link in a computer is not the CPU but the speed of the hard drive, so NTFS compression allows the limited, slow storage space to be better used, in terms of both space and (often) speed.[19]". Yeah, well, I'll decide what my CPU is spending its time doing, thank you very much. Not. (4) Defragging on FAT32 was critical, and not only because of performance gains. It was critical because if the HDD had any Boot Sector problem or the OS was FUBAR, the files that were defragged (clusters were made contiguous) are much more easily retrievable (by those with knowledge and experience). To make a long story short, the drive was as safe as the last defrag. NTFS does not need contiguous clusters for files to be retrieved in an emergency because the file pointers are stored differently, in a MFT. By design it is almost bombproof. In short, you do not have to defrag on NTFS unless you want to (IMHO naturally). About FAT64, I wondered the exact same thing in this post. But then later I saw the WIKI about FAT64 and found out it already exists as exFAT. EDIT: minor oops, don't ask. EDIT: again. That's weird. When going in for the 2nd edit, even though the 1st edit was definitely shown, the page that is served after clicking FULL EDIT is the original non-edited page.

This is good advice (but what a PITA that default arrangement is!) One of the best and easiest suggestions for Opera users is to have the Browser user agent box visible at all times. Try this if you haven't already, it is well worth the 5 seconds it takes to do it. (1) Make sure you have the Status Bar enabled (the Status Bar is the line at the bottom of the Opera window which does things like display the URL pointed to when the mouse is held over a link). If it is missing: Tools | Appearance | Toolbars and then check the box for Status Bar. (2) Now go to: Tools | Appearance | Buttons and in the left column click Preferences. (3) With the mouse drag the box shown as "Identify as Internet Explorer" onto the Status Bar and release. It is a dropdown box that shows the current user agent tag (browser identification) and lets you quickly change (F5 refresh whatever page you're on of course!). Webpage slingers (aka programmers) often tie content to the browser the visitor is presumably using. For example there is a very useful site at http://www.yellowpages.com/maps which allows you to enter address/city/state/zip and see Birdseye POV maps using technology from Microsoft's Virtual Earth. When using the default Identify as Opera this webslinger arbitrarily decided to just allow you the plain old illustrated maps with no access to the good stuff! When the user agent says: Identify as Internet Explorer, the navigational toolbar containing the compass and buttons for Aerial, Bird's Eye, etc., are present and available. I have not tried, but this may also hold true for other Microsoft Virtual Earth sites. Memo to self: remember to berate YellowPages later for hiring a nitwit to code their site. On second thought, 5 bucks says Microsoft shipped them a template for implementing the map engine.

Not sure if this requires a new thread or not, but it sure fits the discussion we were involved in above. Read this over at DansData on the page: 4.1-Way SSD Shootout. In short, Flash Devices used as primary storage, exploiting the native ATA interface, benchmarks and details of its limitations. Direct, controlled comparisons between HDD and Flash are included. Some of the transfer rates are surprising.

Well, there are a few more things to know ... {a} What is the size (GB) of the drive, (real size before partitioning? {b} What was the file system (NTFS, FAT32, etc)? Do you still want same? {c} Is the HDD in the enclosure SATA or PATA? Is it 3.5" or 2.5" HDD? {d} What exactly do you mean by "My Maxtor External Drive became corrupted"? {e} Do you have another computer? Partition/Format experiments on your one-and-only rig is unwise. {f} What is your skill level? Can you add/remove ATA drives to a computer? Open/Close computer, deal with jumpers, cables, BIOS and maybe cracking the enclosure open? Its ok if you're not expert! Perhaps you have friends who claim to be experts that you could really put to the test? ... because what needs to be done is highly dependent on the answers. {d} When you say "corrupted", as opposed to operator error (e.g., you killed it but the drive is fine) you are suggesting this HDD is probably NOT ok to use. And, you cannot fix a bad disk drive by re-partitioning and formatting it. If the drive is physically corrupted (NOT ok to use) that should send you off on various detours looking for the problem source first: * USB Host Hardware (port/card) * USB Client Hardware Problem (enclosure) * USB Host Driver/Registry (alphabet soup) * Defective Hard Drive (overheated?)But if we bypass those possibilities and continue on the path you started (the hardware is OK, "... help me get Windows to recognize my Maxtor ..."), then the question about disk size {a} and file system {b} matters a lot because if it was FAT32 as many are, you cannot Partition+Format in WinXP unless the HDD is not >32 GB, without multiple partitions. That is, unless you now want NTFS instead. Having said all that (!), ASSUMING the drive is ok, here is what I would do, If the drive is the very common Maxtor_80GB_PATA with FAT32, I just pop the drive out of the enclosure (umm, depending on {c}), jumper it to work as ATA, boot to DOS7, FDISK, Format, repackage it, done. If NTFS, skip DOS and boot WinXP and do it there. BOTH ways are done in pure ATA because it is much faster and removes any USB problems from the procedure. However, this is not the easiest method! {f}. The easiest thing for you, since the data is apparently toast, is to buy another USB drive which are always on sale somewhere. Final Disclaimer: I would not do any of this without first making sure all of the hardware is good. IMHO, it is not safe to stick defective drives into good machines {e}, it is best done on a spare computer in a controlled situation. I have seen some strange cases, for example an intermittent drive went invisible in the middle of a disk write and the VFAT continued writing onto the next good drive. This next good drive was no longer good. EDIT: upon re-reading this thread I also do not see your OS level listed, WinXP SP?. This means yet another possibility ... if that HDD is bigger than the typical 120 GB, and you're using WinXP Gold (no service pack), well, the OS not seeing the drive would be what one might expect if the drive were on an ATA channel. It is still unclear to me how a USB adapter can mitigate this non-48-bit LBA issue, if it in fact does. Anyone?

Yeah, I was wondering which is the latest that will run, not install. So, to be clear, you are successful with JRE 1_6_7 then? I wonder if anyone has pushed it further. I believe there is reason to explore this on Win9x because I think I noticed speed improvements with 1_6_0 over my previous 1_5_something. But, then again I could be wrong. SWF has certainly gotten bloated and slower lately.

I don't have a link handy but have this clue as to where that latest MSVCRT.DLL came from. I found a note mentioning: UnOfficial Q932590 aka MV6 (nothing else, sorry). It may have been from the Axcel/MDGx site now that I think about it. Search over there or hopefully someone will respond here with a link. It also might have been contained within one of those large Visual Studio updaters. Sometimes those Runtime Updater packages will not work, it is highly dependent on what system files you do have. If you extract it manually and find that exact MSVCRT.DLL displayed above, you can do the upgrade yourself by hand if necessary. Because that file is almost sure to be in use by the shell, it will have to be replaced either in WININIT.INI or manually in F8 command line mode. BTW: another important code base which can make or break applications are the matched quad set of ASYCFILT.DLL, OLEAUT32.DLL, OLEPRO32.DLL, STDOLE2.TLB. Check out what you have. Currently on Win9x I have 2.40.4519. These are changed in matched sets of four, using those same two methods. And I know I have seen those packages somewhere at Axcel/MDGx. The point I am making is that if Firefox 2 is not working on Win9x, it is likely a local code base problem: (1) MSVC libs (2) MSVB libs (3) OLE/DCOM sets. Iron them out, not just for Firefox but many other apps as well.

@rainyd, I was wondering if you know anything else about JRE6 + Win9x? Specifically, what the heck is the last version that runs? Maybe if you get a chance you could take a look at this thread where we started sorting this out. I have JRE 1_6_0 on Win9x which is used by Opera (as well as others). Can't remember if I used the installer or manually did it though. I would like to know exactly which JRE is the fastest and bestest!

Recommend you audit and possibly update those MSVC (and probably MSVB) libraries in Windows\System. Problems there will mask other problems. Specifically for that file I have been using ... name size date time CRC MD5 MSVCRT.DLL 278,607 03-03-107 2:57p 5E7E7250 65bc591ec5d0556586b55d70fda8c52c CompanyName Microsoft Corporation FileDescription Microsoft ® C Runtime Library FileVersion 6.10.9848.0 InternalName MSVCRT.DLL LegalCopyright Copyright © Microsoft Corp. 1981-1999 OriginalFilename MSVCRT.DLL ProductName Microsoft ® Visual C++ ProductVersion 6.10.9848.0

Possibly back on Win3x, but definitely not now. Dirty registry data is written out (aka flushed to disk) after a very short time interval, usually in mere seconds. This is the so-called lazy flushing. The System hive has an even tighter spec. It is very difficult to beat the timer. In order to lose data that is dirty in the registry but not yet saved to disk, you would practically have to have your hand on the power cable and yank it out immediately after pressing a key that made a registry change with the other hand! The reason this is possible is because the entire registry (50 MB easy on WinXP) is not written out all at once when flushed, it doesn't need to be since only tiny amounts of dirty data is flagged. I believe it has been this way since NT and all the Win9x's. WinXP is certifiably bombproof in this area, as is Vista. Even on Win9x I don't think three seconds goes by without the little write to disk after I import a script or make handmade changes. There is a quick little freeze that occurs and might be missed unless you happened to be dragging a scroll bar down a very tall window or something. It is almost imperceptible. When you are looking in language references at functions that use a Registry API flush there is usually a mention that it is unnecessary and potentially hazardous (infinite loops!) to the end-user's time and sanity. But many registry utilities of course need to use it anyway, as do many other programs. Consequently, there is almost no such thing as dirty registry data. I'm not saying it is impossible to lengthen or disable the lazy flush, no doubt it is some obscure registry setting. It is definitely something not to be adjusted. Of course this has nothing to do with, say, a power loss with dirty disk data held in easily tweaked caches we all like to mess with. NTFS cured this for the NT family, but Win9x gets big blue Scandisks (99% cured by running System Internals Sync often).

Since you mention VB and C you would feel right at home using AutoIt. It is probably the quickest solution to get code from your head to a compiled program. And, it's free. It is designed to create GUI based software and it does this well. It is very good for beginners and is well supported on their forums. On the input side you create source that is kind of a hybrid mix of Visual Basic and C (much better integrated than Visual Studio ever was, IMHO). The ouput is a standalone Windows EXE file, 32 or 64 bit, ANSI or Unicode. The CHM help files are very useful. Be sure to dissect the supplied samples to get good ideas. One thing to know, the EXE's are kind of a compound file that are usually easily decompiled to their original source code, that means they are not secure from the programmer's point of view. But I kind of like this because I can check out the source code when I have a suspect file. This of course is not possible with mainstream high level languages. Useful tip: AutoIt comes with a syntax highlighting IDE which is a lite version of SciTE. Be sure to get the latest FULL version (also free) here and overwrite the existing one (SciTE is updated frequently). This is a nice piece of software too. It is a highly configureable source code editor and is easily linked to whatever language it is used with, in this case: AuoIt.

Oops my bad, I see that now. Some more ideas: The common denominator among those three is that they are as you say, 3rd party add-ins (Sun/Apple/Borland). Do you see any other 3rd party CPL add-ins that do show up in Category View? Perhaps the sound card (e.g., Realtek)? You mentioned "Norton Security Center, Program Updates, and Software Explorers", but I couldn't understand if you meant they show up. If so, Norton and Installshield would be 3rd party add-ins. You mentioned XP home, and I think you implied you are not an Admin on the computer. Please describe the situation. Are you logged in to one user on a multi-user machine (maybe parents or what not)? This would steer me towards thinking the admin somehow locked out further changes to things like CPL. Then again, Norton and McAfee also might be involved. Can you access this computer on another account, preferably an admin and check the two different Control Panel views there? Is TweakUI installed? It sometimes can be found in Control Panel and usually somewhere in the Start Menu. I have not used it in a while but since it is quite capable of removing those stubborn icons from the desktop and also capable of removing drive letters and autorun entries, I would not be surprised that Control Panel can be modified as well. I know that the file Windows\Control.ini is a zero byte placeholder on WinXP (on Win9x that file is the equivalent of your registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Control Panel), but I was wondering if somehow it got some data added to it. I doubt that WinXP would use it, but I might be wrong. It might be worth checking out. Clearly there must be some policy set somewhere. My best guess is that there is some elaborate System Guard (that's McAfee terminology) installed by Norton/Symantec. EDIT: typo ... demoniator == denominator (2nd edit, first got lost!)

That is good news for you as the uninstall/reinstall will be painless (I cannot even begin to count the amount of USB devices passing through my systems, so uninstall will never happen here)! I researched into that VXD and turned up the most likely source of that file. I had all of these archived away .... Ntkern.vxd ... 111,662 ... 04-10-97 ... 12:14p ... v4.03.1212 Win95osr_(USB-Supplement-4031212-1996-10-23_4031214-1997-04-10) Ntkern.vxd ... 111,662 ... 11-20-96 ... 12:12p ... v4.03.1212 Win95osr_(USB-Supplement-4031212-1996-11-20_Taiwan) Ntkern.vxd ... 111,662 ... 04-22-97 ... 12:14p ... v4.03.1212 Win95osr_(USB-Supplement-4031214-1997-04-22_Russian) Ntkern.vxd ... 194,494 ... 05-11-98 .... 7:01p ... v4.10.1998 Win98 Ntkern.vxd ... 255,678 ... 04-29-98 .... 3:38p ... v4.10.1998 Win98ddk(Debug_Win98) Ntkern.vxd ... 195,238 ... 04-23-99 ... 10:22p ... v4.10.2222 Win98se Ntkern.vxd ... 269,978 ... 04-23-99 .... 8:35a ... v4.10.2222 Win98ddk(Debug_Win98se) Ntkern.vxd ... 195,262 ... 06-28-00 ... 11:07a ... v4.10.2223 (Q267304-Standby-Error)_(Using)-Vmm32 [color="#800080"]Ntkern.vxd ... 195,262 ... 02-21-01 .... 6:27p ... v4.10.2224 (Unofficial-X-Pachner-Wupg98-Win98se-Pre-Fall-2006)[/color] Ntkern.vxd ... 203,994 ... 06-08-00 .... 5:00p ... v4.90.3000 WinMe At some point you installed the WUPG. I have no personal experience with that one myself (hence I did not recognize that version number) so I can only offer this as another point of research for you. Maybe USB will turn up in a search in the WUPG Updated! forum here at MSFN or on the WUPG Homepage on the web.

Yeah, WMP and the earlier plain old MP have been doing that (stealing associations) for years. Its easy to live with though. If you have Autorun enabled (and I recommend you don't), when you stick the CD in just hit ESC when the dialog box opens. If it bypasses the dialog box and goes straight to WMP (i.e., someone must have ticked an Always use this to open ... option), well there is a registry fix I could find if you actually need it. Cdplayer runs fine from a shortcut, just make sure the CD is in the drive first. Fortunately it is very light on the registry (really does not need any as the default settings are fine) and has almost a non-existant disk space footprint. It is practically a candidate for PortableApps.com. BTW, to remain on the thread topic, even if you kill Cdplayer from the Add/Remove Windows Setup options, there is nothing stopping you from manually copying the files to any folder and creating a shortcut to it.

Well there is still the real danger of being re-directed via simple HTML code. This vulnerability exists as long as your browser has it enabled (e.g., Enable automatic redirection in Opera, similar wording on others). The strange thing is that this option does not even appear on the Security tab of Opera's preferences, instead it is found on the Network tab. In earlier testing I have left it unchecked but it breaks too many websites these days. If the world would only employ competent web-slingers that would always create the alternate HTML code that says click here if your browser does not re-direct, well, it would be fine to leave it off. Sad to say, this is not the case. This is one of those deadly features we have to live with.

This is a longshot but when you search for a system-wide HKLM registry key like the one you mentioned: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\don't load You should also double-check for the presence of a corresponding HKCU version of the same, that by design will take precedence over the HKLM entry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\don't load Like I said it is a longshot though. I just checked a bunch of WinXP machines here and that HKCU entry does not exist. If it did exist, it would most likely arrive through some WinXP customization tweaking utility that lets you select things like different folder icons, etc; it would apply them naturally only to the current user. It could also arrive through manual editing or through a popular registry script as well.

Here is a generic font registry pull from both WinXP Home and Pro (identical). I used snapshots taken immediately after full installs. I just grabbed the obvious Font keys in the normal location (so there may be others somewhere else). Jeremy, you could try running this script and reboot and see if you only had a registry screwup. BTW, do you know what to do with registry scripts? What this will do: it will reset some font related registry values that deviate from the official settings from a normal install, as well as adding back in any that somehow got deleted. What this will not do: well, it will not restore any fonts that have been deleted on your disk naturally! However, if any are missing they can easily be restored from a variety of places: your harddisk (i386 if you have it), your CDROM, Service Packs, or the internet. REGEDIT4 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Font Drivers] "Adobe Type Manager"="atmfd.dll" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontDPI] "LogPixels"=dword:00000060 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontMapper] "ARIAL"=dword:00000000 "COURIER"=dword:00008800 "COURIER NEW"=dword:00008000 "FIXEDSYS"=dword:00009000 "MS SANS SERIF"=dword:00001000 "MS SERIF"=dword:00005000 "SMALL FONTS"=dword:00000800 "SYMBOL"=dword:00004002 "SYMBOL1"=dword:0000a002 "TIMES NEW ROMAN"=dword:00004000 "WINGDINGS"=dword:00000002 "WINGDINGS2"=dword:00008002 "DEFAULT"=dword:00000000 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts] "Roman (All res)"="ROMAN.FON" "Script (All res)"="SCRIPT.FON" "Modern (All res)"="MODERN.FON" "Small Fonts (VGA res)"="SMALLE.FON" "Arial (TrueType)"="ARIAL.TTF" "Arial Bold (TrueType)"="ARIALBD.TTF" "Arial Bold Italic (TrueType)"="ARIALBI.TTF" "Arial Italic (TrueType)"="ARIALI.TTF" "Courier New (TrueType)"="COUR.TTF" "Courier New Bold (TrueType)"="COURBD.TTF" "Courier New Bold Italic (TrueType)"="COURBI.TTF" "Courier New Italic (TrueType)"="COURI.TTF" "Lucida Console (TrueType)"="LUCON.TTF" "Lucida Sans Unicode (TrueType)"="L_10646.TTF" "Times New Roman (TrueType)"="TIMES.TTF" "Times New Roman Bold (TrueType)"="TIMESBD.TTF" "Times New Roman Bold Italic (TrueType)"="TIMESBI.TTF" "Times New Roman Italic (TrueType)"="TIMESI.TTF" "WingDings (TrueType)"="WINGDING.TTF" "Symbol (TrueType)"="SYMBOL.TTF" "Symbol 8,10,12,14,18,24 (VGA res)"="SYMBOLE.FON" "Verdana (TrueType)"="verdana.TTF" "Verdana Bold (TrueType)"="verdanab.TTF" "Verdana Italic (TrueType)"="verdanai.TTF" "Verdana Bold Italic (TrueType)"="verdanaz.TTF" "Arial Black (TrueType)"="ariblk.TTF" "Comic Sans MS (TrueType)"="comic.TTF" "Comic Sans MS Bold (TrueType)"="comicbd.TTF" "Impact (TrueType)"="impact.TTF" "Georgia (TrueType)"="georgia.TTF" "Georgia Bold (TrueType)"="georgiab.TTF" "Georgia Bold Italic (TrueType)"="georgiaz.TTF" "Georgia Italic (TrueType)"="georgiai.TTF" "Franklin Gothic Medium (TrueType)"="Framd.TTF" "Franklin Gothic Medium Italic (TrueType)"="Framdit.TTF" "Palatino Linotype (TrueType)"="pala.TTF" "Palatino Linotype Bold (TrueType)"="palab.TTF" "Palatino Linotype Bold Italic (TrueType)"="palabi.TTF" "Palatino Linotype Italic (TrueType)"="palai.TTF" "Tahoma Bold (TrueType)"="tahomabd.TTF" "Trebuchet MS (TrueType)"="trebuc.TTF" "Trebuchet MS Bold (TrueType)"="trebucbd.TTF" "Trebuchet MS Bold Italic (TrueType)"="trebucbi.TTF" "Trebuchet MS Italic (TrueType)"="trebucit.TTF" "Webdings (TrueType)"="webdings.TTF" "Estrangelo Edessa (TrueType)"="estre.TTF" "Gautami (TrueType)"="gautami.TTF" "Latha (TrueType)"="latha.TTF" "Mangal (TrueType)"="mangal.TTF" "Mv Boli (TrueType)"="mvboli.TTF" "Raavi (TrueType)"="raavi.TTF" "Shruti (TrueType)"="shruti.TTF" "Tunga (TrueType)"="tunga.TTF" "Sylfaen (TrueType)"="sylfaen.TTF" "WST_Czec (All res)"="wst_czec.FON" "WST_Engl (All res)"="wst_engl.FON" "WST_Fren (All res)"="wst_fren.FON" "WST_Germ (All res)"="wst_germ.FON" "WST_Ital (All res)"="wst_ital.FON" "WST_Span (All res)"="wst_span.FON" "WST_Swed (All res)"="wst_swed.FON" "Courier 10,12,15 (VGA res)"="COURE.FON" "MS Sans Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24 (VGA res)"="SSERIFE.FON" "MS Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24 (VGA res)"="SERIFE.FON" "Tahoma (TrueType)"="TAHOMA.TTF" "Microsoft Sans Serif (TrueType)"="MICROSS.TTF" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes] "Arial CE,238"="Arial,238" "Arial CYR,204"="Arial,204" "Arial Greek,161"="Arial,161" "Arial TUR,162"="Arial,162" "Courier New CE,238"="Courier New,238" "Courier New CYR,204"="Courier New,204" "Courier New Greek,161"="Courier New,161" "Courier New TUR,162"="Courier New,162" "Helv"="MS Sans Serif" "Helvetica"="Arial" "MS Shell Dlg 2"="Tahoma" "Times"="Times New Roman" "Times New Roman CE,238"="Times New Roman,238" "Times New Roman CYR,204"="Times New Roman,204" "Times New Roman Greek,161"="Times New Roman,161" "Times New Roman TUR,162"="Times New Roman,162" "Tms Rmn"="MS Serif" "Arial Baltic,186"="Arial,186" "Courier New Baltic,186"="Courier New,186" "Times New Roman Baltic,186"="Times New Roman,186" "MS Shell Dlg"="Microsoft Sans Serif" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize] "FIXEDFON.FON"="vgafix.fon" "FONTS.FON"="vgasys.fon" "OEMFONT.FON"="vgaoem.fon" "DisableRemoteFontBootCache"=dword:00000000 To all lurking WinXP Experts: If you can think of any keys that I missed that should be in there, PLEASE say something. I will get them from those fresh-install registry exports and then edit that registry script accordingly.

Just to clear up terminology a bit: the described process is actually called Cloning. You used the term Copy which can have a wide variety of meanings, from Duplicating (e.g., disk copy) or in the Windows Explorer sense, making copies of any files that Windows allows you to. Cloning is not a disk copy, nor should it be since the disks are most often not identical (technically speaking, key parameters in the Boot Sectors must be changed to point to different locations on the different HDD). Copying is not a solution in any sense for the task at hand. The Cloning process described above is performed by a very competent application created by Acronis that knows how reset those key bytes in the new/different drive's Boot Sectors so that it may pass muster when the BIOS and Windows Boot Loader uses it. To answer the question: No. Unless you are talking about external SATA (or what I often do: external PATA B) ), you are implying external USB. Even controlled under Windows USB 2.0 is too slow. Add in a dodgy DOS-like driver (from the bootable CDROM) you are asking for a much longer waste of time which creates a larger window of opportunity for an error to occur. Plus, your original post is about replacing the internal Windows XP system drive! Your question is therefore a bit outside of the goal, but please explain if I am mis-understanding. Have faith friend, you can easily accomplish what you asked about in the first post, rest assured. But please: we need to now hear a better description of what drives you have and where you are going. What is the old drive, what is the new one? Remember that one needs to be Seagate! I'm not even sure if these are PATA or SATA! Information overload is good! What do ya got?

I usually keep the Cdplayer.* files around because it does have one distinct advantage over all others: it is primarily analog. The WMP / Media Player and most clones are completely digital in this sense: the audio on the CD is sent to the computer digitally through the IDE ribbon cable and then decoded via codecs (and this is before it is sent to the mixer and/or has any effects applied). This process is completely CPU driven and in some circumstances become a burden. If you have tied up the CPU doing something also massively CPU intensive (e.g., rendering an MPEG DVD file), well, depending on priorities the audio will likely suffer. The old Cdplayer accepts the audio as an analog signal that comes down those little two-conductor wires (one end in CD analog out, the other to the soundcard or mobo analog in). This audio is actually decoded by the CD/DVD drive itself (it is why you can also plug headphones directly into most CD/DVD drives). The rest of the process is similar as it routes it to the mixer as well, but this step, from CD media to sound costs the CPU virtually nada. Consequently the Cdplayer can be used while almost anything is simultaneously being done on the computer. Of course, the best solution is to have a standalone killer audio system with lots of watts driving decent speakers nearby!

Oops, I didn't realize it was Win98 gold. I have to defer to others in this case. Specifically I would find out if that 4.10.2224 version of Ntkern.vxd is correct (I am not even sure where that number comes from!). I do know that it needs to be located in Windows\System\Vmm32 for it to even be functional. Check out its location and report back here so that the Win98fe gurus know what you have. I do not know the answer but I suspect you will be re-installing NUSB again and you should be prepared to re-install all your other USB gadgets as well. But to be clear, wait for the Win98fe gurus for better information! P.S. you may want to pop into the NUSB thread if no-one shows up here.

Myth! NT kernels do absolutely nothing with this setting. You are correct! I sometimes merge Win9x and WinXP in my head these days. On WinXP the default settings are fine 99% of the time. On some of my boxes with 2 GB or more RAM I use the PagingExecutive registry tweak to stop paging core system code which eeks out just a little more performance. But that is the opposite case to this topic. I'm gonna edit that post. Thanks for catching it!