neowillendit

Just as a tip, even though you've probably moved on by now, I'm using Kaspersky's Technical Preview for Windows 7 v.8.0.0.1081 Beta and it works flawlessly on x86 behind my router and it includes "Anti-Hacker" which monitors connections for un-authorized attempts and asks you for permission if activity is outside it's "Rule-Set". I can't speak for x64 version though. I'm a BIG Kaspersky fan, as NOD32 (Eset) is downhill (has been for a while even though I hung on for them to bounce back for the last two years and they never have. Kaspersky is the only Anti-Virus that monitors the registry and detects changes in application's files for un-authorized changes and activities. There's a reason Kaspersky owns patents on it's Anti-Virus technologies, and is used by many other Anti-Virus companies (over 20 I believe such as F-Secure and G-Data). No other Anti-Virus can keep up with them. See here: http://www.kaspersky.com/why_kaspersky P.S. No I don't work for them...I just believe they're leaps and bounds above the others...

I'm set as a standard user. How do I remove myself from the admin group? The easiest way to do this and keep all your settings and files intact will be to create a "New Account" by going to: Control Panel\User Accounts\Manage Another Account\Create a New Account Make that one an Admin, then go to: Control Panel\User Accounts\Change Your Account Type Change your account to "Standard User" Hope it helps...

I concur that this problem does not exist on RC x86. B)

This works great, thank you "mayur". Although, even better would be to the "My Computer" shortcut inside another folder such as the "C:\Windows" Folder so you don't have to look at the original shortcut, then still right-click to pin to taskbar. Only suggesting...

Just tried this...I don't believe this was what he was going for but it works too...but you can't double-click, you have to highlight "My Computer" and click "Select Folder".

Thank you as always "cluberti".

I don't know about the icon, but the closest I've got to this is to change the "Target" for "Windows Explorer" shortcut on the Taskbar to reflect: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} When you hold "Shift" on your keyboard and "right-click" the shortcut, go to "Properties" and paste into "Target".

My list thus far on x86 RC: Works Perfect: Acronis True Image v.12.0.9709 Flash Player v.10.0.22.87 Adobe Reader v.8.1.4 COMODO Registry Cleaner v.1.0.17.23 Fraps v.2.9.7 Paint.NET v.3.36 ReNamer v.5.20 NVIDIA System Tools v.6.02 (with Driver v.185.85) (overclocking works 100%) dBpowerAmp v.12.4 iTunes v.7.7.1 Java Runtime Environment v.6.13 WinRAR v.3.9b1 Quicktime v.7.5.5 (even though MOV codec is integrated into 7 anyway) DirectX v.9.26.1590 Office 2007 SP2 (only use Word, PowerPoint and Excel though) UltimateDefrag v.2.0.0.51 Kaspersky Anti-Virus v.8.0.0.506 PE Explorer v.1.99 R5 CCleaner v.2.19.901 DivX v.6.8.5.5 Doesn't Work: Outpost Firewall Pro v.6.5.4.2525.381.0687 EVEREST Ultimate v.5.01 (works, but needs a LOT of work) Nero v.6.6.0.18 (Sucks BIG time, had this since 2004 and I refuse to use anything made by Ahead since) TuneUp Utilities 2008 v.7.0.8007 (heard there's a newer version, but it needs "Compatibility Wizard" and I don't trust that) PowerDVD v.5.0.1107 (old, but it worked since 2003 since I don't need Blue-Ray)

Kaspersky has a version of their antivirus product specifically built for Win7, and other product versions are not slated to have updates for Win7 until RTM, so this is not surprising. I tried Kaspersky's Beta v.8.0.0.1081 on RC x86 and I didn't like it's absence of "rules" for applications so it was hard for me to tell what was legit or not. I now use v.8.0.0.506 (although not designed for 7) and it's works B-E-A-utifully!!

When you say "security blob" are you saying that you don't think that disabling these things will increase security or are you saying that you don't know what the "RPC" tweak does? This tweak: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Rpc] "DCOM Protocols"=hex(7):6e,00,63,00,61,00,63,00,6e,00,5f,00,73,00,70,00,78,00,\ 00,00,6e,00,63,00,61,00,63,00,6e,00,5f,00,6e,00,62,00,5f,00,6e,00,62,00,00,\ 00,6e,00,63,00,61,00,63,00,6e,00,5f,00,6e,00,62,00,5f,00,69,00,70,00,78,00,\ 00,00,00,00 ~Disables "ncnacn_ip_tcp" DCOM Protocol under RPC Services. I read an article from 2002 that said that disabling this functionality prevented Blackhats from sending packets to this service and it closes this port (forget most details honestly). Been doing this since 2002 on XP and it's served me quite well with penetration testing and such.

Anyone please?

Wut up Friends, Since I skipped Vista entirely I'm beind the curve on Windows 7. On my XP Pro SP3 x86 machine, I used these three Registry Hacks to increase security: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Ole] "EnableDCOM"="N" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Rpc] "DCOM Protocols"=hex(7):6e,00,63,00,61,00,63,00,6e,00,5f,00,73,00,70,00,78,00,\ 00,00,6e,00,63,00,61,00,63,00,6e,00,5f,00,6e,00,62,00,5f,00,6e,00,62,00,00,\ 00,6e,00,63,00,61,00,63,00,6e,00,5f,00,6e,00,62,00,5f,00,69,00,70,00,78,00,\ 00,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters] "SmbDeviceEnabled"=dword:00000000 Can I still apply these hacks to 7 (I'm sure Vista is the same here), or will this impead functionality in any way-shape-or-form? Thank you in advance for reading!!

Just to make sure that we're all talking about the same thing... http://us.creative.com/products/product.as...p;product=17988 I've done a lot a googling...finding nothing...except reviews about the Creatie X-Treme Audio Notebook...which this is not... Thanks guys...

I'd have to second that. While I haven't bought that sound card, everything I've bought from Creative has been a *major* letdown to say the least. Worst drivers ever, along with poor interconnects, high prices, and failing to deliver what I was expecting overall. I'm not going to buy their garbage ever again. Thank you both for your input so far guys...but you're setting me up for failure if I can't get my other questions answered. I've already ordered it and it's en-route so on top of your satisfaction, I also need to know answers to my other questions so that I might get a positive experience from this device. Thank you thus far friends...

Thank you "Thunderbolt"...I shall consider myself for-warned...I'm not that concerned with volume cuz I use my volume sensitive in-ear headphones and I'm sure the quality will at least be better...if not, I have the 30-day money-back through Best Buy. May I ask what driver version you use, and could you answer my other questions? Thank you in advance...

AS5? Better to use Céramique as AS5 does conduct electricity and is a pain to remove when you smudge it on other components. Most notebooks/laptops use thermal pads on the CPU and GPU, so you probably have to fill up the gap with some a copper sheet or so. Point taken "PuntoMX", thank you for the advice, I change my request to whether anyone knows how to install Ceramique on a laptop's video card, CPU and North and South MB Chips?

Wut up friends...just bought the Sound Blaster X-Fi ExpressCard online (will be here the 18th) and I'm wondering a few questions if you guys wouldn't mind helping me out with... 1. How satified are you all with your Sound Blaster X-Fi ExpressCard? I'd really apppreciate ANY specifics you could provide and any honest feedback on it. 2. What driver version do you all run for them and what "Services" are you able to disable in "MSC" and/or StartUp Entries". 3. Is there a Drivers Only package I can download from Creative since I don't want any of that Media Player Sound Editor crapp they like to bundle together? 4. Is the ExpressCard slot on a laptop enabled by installing Chipset Drivers or is it enabled by installing som esort of media card slot drivers available from the laptop manufacturer? I'd like to get higher quality sound, more from "EAX Environments in games", and most importantly, take the extra load off the CPU to encode/decode sound (especially during game play)!! Have you guys noticed a performance increase in your processor since you got it...even 1 FPS for games? Lastly, would anyone be awesome enough to write me up a tutorial on how to install Artic Silver 5 Compound on my video card, CPU and North and South MB Chips? Maybe even provide any pics I might need?

Now I understand, I appreciate everyone helping me comprehend this. Thank you friends!!

Hey Brothers, I agree with everyone that it is possible to integrate WMP v.11 and IE v.7.0 into an image of my Disc...but how can I know if the Hotfixes that are in SP3 have been applied to WMP and IE if SP3 was already there? The hotfixes inside SP3 replace many DLLs and EXEs and if those hotfixes are already applied inside my Windows XP installation, how can they apply themselves to WMP and IE after-the-fact? Thank you MSFN friends...

I beg to differ "G-Force, as I've referenced the list of Hotfixes from here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946480/ and inside the "Windows XP Service Pack 3 Overview PDF from Microsoft says: "Microsoft is not adding significant functionality from newer versions of Windows, such as Windows Vista, to Windows XP through XP SP3. For instance, Windows XP SP3 does not include Windows Internet Explorer 7, although Windows XP SP3 does include updates to both Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7, and it will update whichever version is installed on the computer. For more information about Internet Explorer 7, visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/...ult.mspx." If anyone knows how to do this as "Creating an ISO from my Disc, and using nLite to integrate WMP v.11 & IE v.7.0 into an image that already has SP3 in it will not work, please let me know Brothers...

Wut up fellow MSFN Brothers, Just ran out to Best Buy to purchase the new Windows XP Pro SP3 Full Disc and now I'm thinking...I think I made a BIG mistake. Now I don't think there's a way to apply the Hotfixes that are included inside of SP3 to Internet Explorer v.7.0 and WMP v.11!! How in the world is this now possible? Thank you all in advance...

Thank you "James A" for your insightful answer. I've just went to the German site you've provided me with (no, I can't read German so I'll be using Google Translator or something) and the site looks very intriguing indeed. Thank you again.

Thanks "Cluberti"...I'm wondering if there is some sort of site, by Microsoft or not, that maintains a sort of list of these so that I can decide for myself and not scour through KB articles for years backwards. Please inform me.

Please help me fellow Brothers...

Wut up fellow MSFN Brothers, I just came across an article a few days ago: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2410 about XP not disregarding autorun files on removable media regandless of the registry setting and was informed that there was a hotfix patch for it, which was "optional"... My question is...since this is what I consider a security concern in my eyes, where can I go to find out about these "optional" hotfixes? I go to Windows Update once a month...I check multiple blogs and article sites...how do I miss things like this...and where can I go to find out the other hotfixes that aren't being offered to me, so that I can decide for myself? Is there a third party website that keeps track of these? Is it posted on MSDN Forums? Any help is appreciated. Thank you kindly in advance.