jaclaz

I don't know, it was just a quick check/test, I removed duplicates (there are hundreds of them), but left the "first" occurrence. Needs to be redone with some time and attention. Procedure I used (basically). Copy to a new Excel sheet the two files (copied from notepad) one after the other in Column C. Add in column A a progressive line number (then copy / paste values). Put in column B a formula *like* (this is for B1): =IF(C2="";"DEL";if(left(C2;1)="!";"REN";"")) Put in column D (D1 and paste down): =IF(B1="REN";right(C2;length(C2)-1);"") Copy the whole stuff and paste values. Then use data sorting to: 1) remove all lines with B empty (sort by B) 2) order by C and by B Put in E (starting from E2) a formula *like*: =IF(C2=C1;"Duplicate";"") Copy paste values, reorder by E, remove duplicates Remove Column E Reorder by column A. This is the base, then removed the \??\, added "" quotes, etc. Then (on second thought) I made a mistake in the further processing, the lines with DEL and the lines with REN needs to be modified, something *like* the following: Line with DEL (OK): IF EXIST <file to be deleted> DEL <file to be deleted> Line with REN (needs to be changed as REN won't work if the <target file> already exists): IF EXIST <file to be renamed> IF EXIST <target file> DEL <target file>&&REN <file to be renamed> <target file> About the AVG (and possibly) others, it is perplexing to say the least. These two make sense: 55 DEL \??\C:\Program Files\Basilisk\tobedeleted\moz1BA7.tmp 56 57 DEL \??\C:\Program Files\Basilisk\tobedeleted 58 i.e. probably Basilisk first deletes the (only) file in C:\Program Files\Basilisk\tobedeleted and then removes the directory. These do not: 133 DEL \??\C:\Program Files\AVG\Antivirus 134 135 DEL \??\C:\Program Files\AVG\Antivirus\aswData.dll.sum 136 137 DEL \??\C:\Program Files\AVG\Antivirus 138 139 DEL \??\C:\Program Files\AVG\Antivirus\health.dll.sum 140 141 DEL \??\C:\Program Files\AVG\Antivirus 142 143 DEL \??\C:\Program Files\AVG\Antivirus\AVGUI.exe.sum In the case of the basilisk entry the "risk" is that of leaving behind an empty directory, it would be of course possible to check if any entry is a directory in batch, but is it worth the hassle? jaclaz

You mean that each of the two files is a copy/paste from Regedit of a single “PendingFileRenameOperations” REG_MULTI_SZ value? It isn't however IMHO that bad. The copy paste seemingly creates: 1) an empty line (line feed+carriage return) in case of deletion 2) a line starting with "!" in case of rename This allows importing to (say) Excel and re-order/deduplicate lines. The "queer" thing seems that AVG for whatever stupid reason creates a "delete line" for directories just before the delete line for a file (which accounts for a lot of entries and that cannot possibly work). A quick test seems to me like producing some 2000 lines (as opposed to the more than 32000 given by appending the second file to the first), that could still be "too much" to import via reg.exe or regedit (let alone Copy/paste). Since the DEL command only deletes files (and not directories) it is safe to use it on a batch, it will throw an error but won't make damage, and the batch comes out as 634 lines. If I were you I would make a batch and run it, possibly from a PE/Another booted OS. Attached is what I came out with. jaclaz

Technically the original FBI advise it is not FUD in itself, it is much more standard, boiler plate warning: http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7013778-FBI-PIN-alert-on-Windows-7-End-of-Life.html What would you expect them to say? Brought to you by the same culture that produced: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objects_in_mirror_are_closer_than_they_appear and of course toothpick intructions. jaclaz

Can't you use a text "diff" like tool on the two text (.reg) files? (to reduce the size and avoid duplicates) something *like*: https://www.prestosoft.com/edp_examdiff.asp Are they .reg files, right? Or post two snippets of the files you have, there may be other ways. jaclaz

VmWare (running the same OS) won't make any difference from the "real" machines, so that is not a problem. But most probably you missed this: unless the actual diskpart scripts for partitoning/formatting are different for each disk size there is no need to "choose" a size. Commanding diskpart from batches is not straightforward, but it is also not particularly complicated/complex, though for querying the disk data maybe WMI/WMIC would be more appropriate/easier. As always you need to test commands on command line and then create the corresponding sequence of commands. Examples (to get the size of disks): On command line: Diskpart list disk Or using WMIC: WMIC Path Win32_DiskDrive Get Index,Model,Size In batch: @ECHO OFF SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION ::Disksizes with diskpart ::The exact number of lines to skip needs to be checked as it may depend on OS and language ECHO By Diskpart FOR /F "skip=8 tokens=1,2,4,5 delims= " %%A IN ('ECHO list disk^|diskpart.exe^|FIND /V "DISKPART"') DO SET my_%%A_%%B=%%C %%D SET my_ ECHO. ::Let's reset variables FOR /F "tokens=1 delims==" %%A IN ('SET my_') DO SET %%A= ECHO By WMIC FOR /F "tokens=2,3,4,5,6 delims=," %%A IN ('WMIC Path Win32_DiskDrive Get Index^,Model^,Size^,Status^,SystemName /format:csv^|FIND /V "Index"') DO ( IF "%%D"=="OK" SET my_disk_%%A_Model=%%B&SET my_disk_%%A_Size=%%C IF DEFINED my_disk_%%A_Size SET /A my_disk_%%A_Size_GB=!my_disk_%%A_Size:~0,-6!/1074 ) SET my_ jaclaz

There is (was) a freeware one, It is (was) called Atlantis Nova: http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/page14.html Later it grew a bit and became Commercial (there is 30 day trial anyway) and was renamed to Atlantis Word (but still it remains more than "manageable" and "affordable"): https://atlantiswordprocessor.com/en/ Please take note that latest-latest version is compatible starting from 2K, so it has to be seen if earlier versions are available compatible with 9x/Me: https://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/en/help/system_requirements.htm jaclaz

Fresh news (no, I am serious): https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-10-hosts-file-blocking-telemetry-is-now-flagged-as-a-risk/ Windows 10: HOSTS file blocking telemetry is now flagged as a risk jaclaz

Well you can watch it (actually 98 not Me, but close enough) in real time: 2 hours, 16 minutes (and 11 seconds) of pure fun . (and that is 39 disks, not 600) jaclaz

A more general way would be something like (one liner on command line): FOR /F %i in ('DIR /B *.msu') do (@call set name=%~ni&&@ECHO "%i" "%name:~0,-41%%~xi") and FOR /F %i in ('DIR /B *.cab') do (@call set name=%~ni&&@ECHO "%i" "%name:~0,-41%%~xi") Or in batch: @ECHO OFF SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION FOR /F %%i in ('DIR /B') do ( SET name=%%~ni IF "%%~xi"==".msu" ECHO "%%i" "!name:~0,-41!%%~xi" IF "%%~xi"==".cab" ECHO "%%i" "!name:~0,-41!%%~xi" ) jacla

... but soon there will be a twist to it , you cut, then - semi-randomly, in average once every ten cuts - the clipboard contents may be left alone or be either deleted or replaced with the sentence "Windows 10 has great features, thank you for using it." before you paste. This will be no end of fun, adding a gambling/entertaining side to everyday work ... jaclaz

SCOOP! Your headphones are Un-Dynamic (or possibly Static)! (according to the good guys that needed 8 and 8.1 to better Windows 7 into 10 ) jaclaz

@SIW2 JFYI, you can use %%~ni to have only the filename without the extension: https://www.robvanderwoude.com/ntfor.php (and then be able to remove just 41 characters) and optionally use %%~xi to have just the extension (but in this case .msu is "fixed"). jaclaz

Yep. I often use it to show kids ; https://tinyapps.org/blog/200702250700_why_in_my_day.html how programs should be written. Of course it has some (if you get used to it, very little) limitations, but nothing actually worth mentioning. For the record, anecdotally, in my (good ol') MS Excel XP/2002 I couldn't input a very long formula, that I could write just fine in Spread32: https://msfn.org/board/topic/152097-on-superfloppies-and-their-images/page/6/?tab=comments#comment-980297 jaclaz

Wouldn't be easy to fire up task manager and find out which processes are loaded and how much memory (and read/writes I/O) happen when idle? At first sight what you describe seem the classic symptoms of intense on disk swapping because RAM is full. jaclaz

The problem is that the OP is not clear. There are basically two ways to "look at" a .exe or .sys: 1) easy, in a hex editor, where you only see bytes 2) difficult, in a disassembler/debugger, where you see the actual (disassembled) instructions (and each stupid program has its own different way to show data) Clearly someone like Mov AX, 0xDEAD or diderius6 (Dietmar) look at it in a disassembler (otherwise they would have no way to find what is needed to be changed). Normally, once the patch has been devised and tested, the instructions are translated in hex editor values, ie, something like: 0x111111 7C 48 -> 90 90 This is what has NOT happened in this case. It is possible that the jl short .text:00036214 actually means "jump if less to 00036214", i.e. the 00036214 is the "landing address" of the jump. IF this is the case, since the JL instruction is 7C, and it is a "short" jump, then there must be within the 255 bytes before address 0x0036214 a 7C byte followed by a byte expressing the difference between 0x0036214 and the jump instruction location. BUT there is still something that doesn't work, normally a number prepended with one or more 0's is a hex number, but it makes no sense, and the file is 187.776 bytes in total, and 0x00036214=0x36214= 221716 decimal, so that address must be decimal, but it is "queer". Anyway, since there is no 7C in the 256 bytes before offset 36214, there must be something else we don't understand or translate correctly, maybe the .text:00036214 is a reference of another type, only meaningful when the file is loaded in the disassembler or in memory or *whatever*, but more probably the reference is to actual hex addresses of an already modded acpi.sys On the thread you found on Win-raid there are a few zillions already modified files, some based on 5512, most on Longhorn (5048) *any* number for XP64, finding something is impossible or nearly impossible. Your best option is to ask for help/support on Win-raid. Before that, just try the file from here: https://www.win-raid.com/t4134f45-Modded-ACPI-Drivers-Depot-XP.html it is from the "other" branch (Longhorn). If it works, it works, if it doesn't, ask for assistance there. jaclaz [1] Dietmar (only for the record) is a much esteemed member of many technical boards, but he is specialized in periodically appearing from nowhere, drop on the table one or more fantastic ideas/solutions/whatever, completely fail to document them properly, then disappear for long stretches of time, then - sometimes - he makes a new thread with all his things re-ordered and understandable, sometimes he doesn't.

Well, it is not that you are a newb, it is not like the link explained it much. To try applying the patch you need to have the ACPI.SYS which version ends in v.5512 Then you need a hex editor (any will do) You need to open the file and check that at offset 0x00034214 there are bytes (I believe): 7C xx corresponding to JL: http://faydoc.tripod.com/cpu/jl.htm with the hex editor replace those two bytes with: 90 90 correspondng to nop, nop. jaclaz

Should you want a small, simple, no bells and whistles, working worksheet running on *any* windows AND Excel/.xls/.xlsx compatible, check this SPREAD32: http://www.byedesign.co.uk/ (portable, can run even from within a .zip) jaclaz

Yep, but maybe the missing (or failing) driver is connected to *something* else. Try getting devcon from here: It should run in 8.1 (as Administrator). Open a command prompt navigate to where you put it (let's say C:\myfolder\ ) and in it run: devcon driverfiles *>driverfiles.txt (it will take some time to run) then run devcon hwids *>hwids.txt then compress to .zip the C:\myfolder\driverfiles.txt and C:\myfolder\hwids.txt and attach it to a reply. jaclaz

Not necessarily. One thing is booting to XP (or to it setup) and another one is running it. All NT systems have a bootloader that loosely is made of two parts: 1) a "Real Mode" one (that needs BIOS services, provided by the CSM in your case) 2) a "Protected mode" one (that re-enumerates devices and starts the appropriate drivers) If a needed driver is missing you may be able to boot (and also to complete setup) but then the actual OS won't boot (or won't complete boot) and run. This ASUS TP200SA, what OS is it running now? You need to provide the Hardware ID of the controller PCI VEN & DEV, but if it is not in the driver pack it might be very difficult if not impossible to find a working one. I don't understand the reference you made to the Windows 10 disk.inf, the .inf is just a file needed to install a driver, not a driver. jaclaz

CSM (Compatibility Support Mode) is BIOS on EFI firmware. XP will work on both BIOS and CSM (they are the same thing). XP booted from EFI is also possible on MBR disks using some obscure Longhorn/Vista beta boot files: https://www.win-raid.com/t5438f45-Boot-WinXP-bit-bit-on-UEFI-bit-bit.html jaclaz

For once I don't think that the issue is Vista's fault (or of the good MS guys), more simply the programmer that put together the Flight1 activation/validation server copied and pasted some code that included the use of MS version of TLS1.2 files, and this code was probably originally born by someone that actually needed to use TLS1.2 and answered the question "what is the more prevalent TLS 1.2 implementation on Windows machines?" with "the MS one in Internet Explorer" (avoiding in 99.99% of cases angry people that have firefox but not chrome, chrome but not firefox, opera but not QTweb, internet Explorer but not INternet Explorer version x, etc. etc.). BTW on my Windows XP (SP2, yes, I know) I have TLS 1.2 working just fine in Opera, QTweb, Chrome (actually Iron) and Firefox (actually Basilisk) BUT NOT in my "Internet Properties". Very likely the people you have communicated with have seen a Vista system only in a high-school class (or maybe not even there, as until a few years ago schools still had XP) and the first computer they actually owned was either 7 or 8 and they consider Vista as a passing meteor that only the few survived dinosaurs can remember, let alone use. I would say; Why, in my day ... : https://tinyapps.org/blog/200702250700_why_in_my_day.html jaclaz

I think you'll never know for sure. I mean "Plug and Play OS" Yes/No is just the name that the BIOS manufacturer gives to a function that may not (or may) be the same on all BIOSes (possibly additionally bastardized by an OEM), on motherboard "A" it will behave as in the article you linked to (and also for motherboards B, C, D, E and F) but suddenly on motherboard G it will behave slightly different (with - say - Windows 95 OSR 2.5 but not with Windows98 FE). jaclaz

It's you . (doesn't a rose by any other name smell as sweet? ) OP stands for Original Poster (don't you love it when geeks use their jargon? ) I don't know, maybe when you ran the Haller .reg the keys were not (yet) there because the install of the KB was not complete, or a reboot was needed or *whatever* other glitch, sometimes we can call it voodo and carry on ignoring the actual reason, the important thing is that now everything works as it should : You are welcome jaclaz

It is essentially an Ubuntu with Windows 10 themes/looks/UI (i.e. essentially the WORST part of 10): https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=linuxfx with added (as compared to a normal Linux distro) a number of - BTW nice - features that noone, exception made for some geeks, will have an actual use for. jaclaz

TOTALLY OT: It is clear to me that we give a difference meaning to "slightly". Anyway, if you want to go that way, meet flif: https://flif.info/ @Vistapocalypse I don't know, let's first see a more detailed report from OP, as he said he is not very familiar with what we consider "normal" procedures, so it is entirely possible that the johnaller's .reg didn't originally "get through" and - as an example (this actually happened once to a friend I was trying to help on the telephone) - the copy and paste via Notepad might have generated a modtls.reg.txt file, and the guy kept double ckicking on it and opening it in Notepad, telling me "it works" (because he could see its contents in Notepad) but of course it wasn't actually working and nothing was obviously added (in that case it was a Regitry addition) to the Registry. From the last post it seems he managed to turn on successfully the TLS1.1 and TLS1.2 in Internet Properties and succeeded (or at least got past the previous error) but found another new issue (likely related to multiple logins from different PC's or *whatever*) . jaclaz