CoffeeFiend

That's odd, because WinWaitActive("BSplayer") does exactly that (make it wait). Unless you got a different window title (different language maybe?). And even then, it should be waiting forever instead of not waiting. It's always waited and sent proper keys for me

It doesn't matter that you used sysprep and ghost here. You're basically asking microsoft to activate 6 different computers with the same key... Of course they won't. But, there is a tool to change your key, just google it. (you still have to have 6 different "paid for" keys that you can activate) Unless that was a VLK - which wouldn't need to be activated.

Yes, there definately are a few. I wish I was at work where I could copy and paste my list (they're even in specific order), but I'll try to find it anyways [edit] I didn't find the micorosft article I was looking for, but this should give you a good idea anyways StartUp It's pretty complete.

I mean, BSPlayer isn't bad - but it's lacking all the nice options, customizations and extra features of Zoom Player. Ever peeked at the advanced options? You can even make custom filtergraphs in ZP (I use it all the time too). It's super powerful, nothing comes close to it. It also does DRM'ed WMV (ok, not the free version). I use it to play DVDs, mpeg4, and even my home made HD DVD's (else, if I keep the movie as .ts - then I use VLC). Among HTPC'ers, Theatertek is probably the second most popular player after ZP. The decoders from PowerDVD and WinDVD aren't bad - but I'm sticking to the new nvDVD 4 in a custom filtergraph (with nice ffdshow post processing and a couple directx filters for the audio too). Once you try that, I don't think you ever want to go back to anything else. (Oh, and girder to control ZP with remote control)

Norton AV (well, most AVs that is) won't protect you one bit from adware and spyware (NAV's not really good for anything imho). Some things to help stop adware/spyware: -Ditch IE for a better browser (like Firefox , or else Opera) -Use the sun java vm, not microsoft's -Don't visit shady sites... -Consider maybe a hosts file or similar method of blocking bad IPs (or a filtering proxy or such) -A good spyware scanner definately helps ad aware and spybot s&d aren't bad, but I find spysweeper works even better. -If you're running XP, SP2 is definately a good idea (I like to slipstream it - not apply it on top of a existing windows install) -Set your internet zone security to a sufficiently high level (or custom) -A good AV never hurts either - like Kaspersky ... Now, if you PC was infected with that much junk, perhaps none of the spyware scanners will get rid of it all (and chances are you got some stuff that nav isn't seeing either - seen that way too many times before). When it gets that bad, what I usually do is reinstall clean and take those actions I mentionned. All my friends (and a few others) that came up to me like that (dozens...) don't have the problem anymore. It does take some changes, but then you're good to go. They really tired of that never ending problem it was before. It's your choice now to do some chances - or keep putting up with this forever

That's the right place to get the files. Make sure you keep all you need, not just the msi files. Syntax wise, it's like every other msi package, I use: "%CDROM%\install\AReader 6\Adobe Reader 6.0.1.msi" /QB "%CDROM%\install\AReader 6\602update.msi" /QB And it's never failed so far. (then I got a vbscript to tweak the install)

And it was from (bad) memory. DEL /Q "%AppDate%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Tag&Rename.lnk" Would work, no matter what user name and looks cleaner to me. I bet if you try it, it'll work.

PowerDVD is a player and a mpeg2 decoder. BSPlayer is just a player. I used both, but I voted other. Zoom Player is where it's at B)

It makes no difference whatsoever if it's a CD or DVD. It works exactly the same.

Use the .msi files instead. Faster and works flawlessly. (and from CD or DVD... doesn't matter, it's the same deal)

Click on search, type bsplayer, click search, open the 5th thread down the list. (the one that says "How to register BSplayer 1.02 Pro silently?")

That's not the point... What I meant was creating 2 user variables to delete a simple link, which can be neatly done in a single line of code, nothing to do with system created variables. I mean, is it supposed to be even remotely funny or an I missing something?

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Do a search. I just posted an AutoIt script that works on all PCs.

Yes, yes it's out. About moving the post to news section instead of application switches where it belongs now?

I've convinced many, many people to switch to kaspersky (perhaps I should get some percentage off their sales... ) and none of them so far complained about that, even those on older/more modest PCs. In fact, we all find it very good compared to norton junk (yes, even their so called corporate garbage) or mcaffee. As far as I'm concerned, norton just isn't an option. Kaspersky's detection rates are the best and really that's why one runs an AV. The only reason why norton survives is, the name is known and publicized. Looking around, you'd find lots of bad things being said about norton, from trusted sources that is. Lag time between virus is found and definitions updated: -kaspersky: 6h51m -Symantec: 27h10 27h if your corporate LAN gets hit is a long time and a lot of infected PCs. It only takes one person to start it, we've all seen it several times. (plus, kaspersky's way of updating is much nicer) Nobody beats kaspersky at how often they update their signatures. Lots of places says norton misses 1 in 4 viruses. (that was quoted from v2003 but it's not like they've gotten much better) Performance and system reources used... let's not even go there. Scanning inside archives, .zip only. Kaspersky would scan inside a .msi installer on a zipped iso image kinda thing. It doesn't even compare. Not that we need super in depth scanning, but norton falls really short again. Not only for detection, when it comes to removal success ratio (whatever you want to call it), it doesn't rate best either... (you got a virii, now install kaspersky if you want to be able to remove it ) Install/uninstall of norton products is the messier I've ever seen. I'm borderline saying you'd just be better off formatting instead of uninstalling it. And the list goes on and on and on... If there was only one program I could recommend not to install on someone's PC, it would definately be norton.

I use the basic skin that comes with it (modern), nothing fancy. XP? classic EVERYTHING. Even the themes service is disabled. It's the only way I can stand windows.

Or you could simply do: Del /y "%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\PSPad.lnk" Works just as well... Preferences I guess. I'd rather not use variables myself.

Look into: C:\Documents and Settings\whatever_user_name\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch as for deleting them, a good old DEL command works nicely.

Well, it's hard to make a list of what should or should not be copied to the HD. What I copy: -drivers in $OEM$\$1\Drivers -command.cmd in $OEM$\$1 (for my GUIRunOnce) -apps installed (copied) by $ORM$\$Progs (winhttrack, zoom player, winzip, ...LOTS!) -a bunch of command line utilities and such in $OEM$\$$ (devcon.exe, pskill.exe, ...) What I don't copy/do place somewhere else: everything else. I put it all in a "install" directory in the root of the DVD. Then you call the installers like: "%CDRom%\install\app name\setup.exe" /S (or whatever, with appropriate paths, switches and all) The only thing with installing directly from CD/DVD instead of HD is with InstallShield you gotta use the -f2 (and preferably -f1 too). Otherwise it's all the same. Hope that heps

It is during the install. You have to setup the path in your winnt.sif. (just like you'd do for all your other drivers) It's definately the better way to do it. Otherwise, you'd have to have a way to detect what chipset is in the PC. It's not really a hard thing to do, but there's lots of work involved to do it and to maintain it with every new chipset (and find the information every time).

Cyber cafes would be a good place for that indeed. It would pay for itself very quick. I use that on some PCs that are all alike, and shared by a group of users. That way if they change configs, the next guy doesn't have to set everything back. But yes, it does happen that you loose some work or files. Also, I've seen many complaints of apps like photoshop crashing with it - although it seems to work just fine on those where I installed it. (we're using v5.1 pro iirc) As for CleanSlate, hadn't heard about that one yet.

Even on a 600mhz PC and 128mb of ram, with no sounds, no themes, no gui enhancements, no system restore, no nothing like that, mostly all services off, no AV or other processes running (had to do it for somebody else) it was absolutelt totally completely painfully slow. (it was as bare bones as it possibly gets) I definately couldn't live with it. The system was very unresponsive. With 256mb of ram it would be just OK.

You seem to have a few things confused. :: SET CDROM=%CD:~0,2% I don't use that one, but you'd have to pass something to it... (looks like a registry export method that I had seen - which you don't have... anyways) :: for %%a in (C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z) do if exist %%a:\path\to\yourfile.xyz set CDROM=%%a: does work 100% (the one I use) IF EXIST D:\WIN51 set CDROM=D: IF EXIST E:\WIN51 set CDROM=E: IF EXIST F:\WIN51 set CDROM=F: IF EXIST G:\WIN51 set CDROM=G: IF EXIST H:\WIN51 set CDROM=H: IF EXIST I:\WIN51 set CDROM=I: IF EXIST J:\WIN51 set CDROM=J: does the essentially same thing as the previous, but with more lines and less drives. (no advantage over previous/cleaner method) these 3 are only used set your CDRom variable, and nothing more. It won't affect what get copied or not to your HD by any means. What you put in $OEM$ WILL be copied no matter what. You have to place them somewhere else on your disc.

OK, then I'll stick to my method then... Here's my simplistic way of doing it with AutoIt 3: BSPlayer.au3 Run("C:\Program Files\Webteh\BSplayerPro\bsplayer.exe") WinWaitActive("BSplayer") Send("{F1}r") Send("YourName{TAB}1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF12345{TAB}{ENTER 2}") Replace YourName with your user name and 1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF12345 with your actual serial no (of course). It's never failed so far.