spacesurfer

the baseline security analyzer applies to core windows xp, internet explorer, windows media player, .Net framework, MS Office,.... basically, anything microsoft. so yes, it includes IE7.

It's a little irritating and pointless when members copy stuff from the web and post it verbatim here. Top 10 things to do -- who gives a hoot?

Or much easier, simply delete normal.dot. Word will recreate it. Caution, however, if your normal.dot is customized for your needs, you'll lose the customizations. In which case, you can open normal.dot and delete the text in there as mentioned above.

Search Microsoft website for Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. Current version is 2.1. Run the program and it will tell you all the security updates you have installed or are missing.

yup: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" "http://www.myurl.com"

For text files, delete the key "Edit" under the registry key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\txtfile\shell\ Should be the same for 2000/xp/vista.

Removing images from install.wim will not cut down the size that significantly because the image itself is optimized for compact size. For example, if shell32.dll is in ultimate, business, home premium, basic, etc., then only 1 copy is saved, not 7 or 8. Thus, almost all files in the Windows folder will found in all version of Windows, therefore, each one is only saved once. Hence, deleting one image or all except one will not cut down the size of your install.wim. The only way of reducing the size I know is vlite.

if you are using vpc2007 just for home use - testing and stuff, you're not missing much except maybe usb support. vbox is a greater alternative for usb support - i do find it useful to be able to see my usb drive in the virtual machine.

Can you find where it says that specifically? I do not believe it until I see it. If it is possible, can True Image produce an image on the same partition that it is imaging? For example, my laptop has no partition, it's just drive C:\. With ImageX, I can image C:\ as c:\xp.wim. No need for another partition, external media, etc. If True Image can do this, then it is file-based. Also, when restoring, does True Image overwrite files/folders and delete files/folders that is not on the image, or does it leave files/folders added after the image taken alone? If it can't, then it's sector-based since file-based only overwrites files that are in the image and leaves everything else alone. If you can confirm the two above, then I will believe True Image is file-based and not sector-based. And to argue that True Image uses a sector-by-sector approach, this is straight from the PDF manual of True Image 11 Home edition, chapter 3: Backing up disks and partitions is performed in a different way: Acronis True Image Home stores a sector-by-sector snapshot of the disk, which includes the operating system, registry, drivers, software applications and data files, as well as system areas hidden from the user. This procedure is called “creating a disk image,” and the resulting backup archive is often called a disk/partition image. and it goes on to say... By default, Acronis True Image Home stores only those hard disk parts that contain data (for supported file systems). Further, it does not back up swap file information (pagefile.sys under Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista) and hiberfil.sys (a file that keeps RAM contents when the computer goes into hibernation). This reduces image size and speeds up image creation and restoration. However, you might use the Create an image using the sector-by-sector approach option that lets you include all of the sectors of a hard disk in an image. So, it does a sector-by-sector image excluding free space, but the option "Create an image using the sector-by-sector approach" is for imaging free space as well. That's the only difference. And let me add the following on page 17: An incremental or differential backup created after a disk is defragmented might be considerably larger than usual. This is because the defragmentation program changes file locations on disk and the backups reflect these changes. Therefore, it is recommended that you re-create a full backup after disk defragmentation. For a file-based, it doesn't matter where the file is located, but it would matter for sector-based. Hence, you can see that Acronis employs sector-based imaging for whole disks and partitions. Well, the only reason for my post is I was considering switching over to True Image because I thought it was file-based, but I can see that it is still sector-based so I'm going to stick with ImageX.

i know of none that will save an an ISO but I know of one that will run in dos and allow you to directly record to CD/dvd recorder - norton ghost 2003! i've used that product for a long time until ImageX came out. I still find that ImageX is much more useful than others. And if I'm not mistaken, ImageX is still the only one that creates a file-based image of the whole partition or disk. The others, like True Image, can do file-based backups of files or folders but not whole partitions or disks. Acronis offers a sector-by-sector imaging as an option for whole partitions/disks - but this is really a sector-by-sector of the whole partition/disks (including free space) as opposed to just utilized space.

And I'm sure you already checked here first: http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/page/list/registry/

If the extension is .gho, then it was probably made with ghost 2003 or prior version. As far as I know the newer version (newer than 2003; or the rebranded ones), do not use the .gho extension. Anyway, you cannot edit .gho image files with ghost explorer. All you can do is extract the files to recover them but you cannot delete or add to that image with ghost explorer.

ms vpc 2007 is free but may be feature-poor compared to vmware. it's not bad at all, however. vbox by sun is also another great free one. it supports usb capability, which vpc does not.

I understand your goal. I had the same goal before I started - to be able to image my OS partition such that any virus or user-created problem arises, I can simply roll-back or restore my system the way it was. Hence, we have software for imaging hard drives or partitions. However, the word image can also refer to CD/DVD images. For example, if you have a XP or Vista setup CD/DVD, you can back it up as an image and they are usually stored as an ISO Image file. Having said that, DriveImageXML is software for creating backup images of the hard drive partition such as an OS partition. ImageBurn is a program for burning CD/DVD images to a CD/DVD; hence the burn in it's name. All of the above is so that you know the differences in what you and we are talking about. Next, if you can afford to fork out some money, the easiest route to go is buy software such as TrueImage by Acronis or Norton Ghost (newer versions). These softwares are installed into the OS and can image your hard drive while your OS is running. This is known as hot imaging - meaning that they image the drive while the OS is running. If you can't afford to buy imaging software, then you will have to use an alternative free utility like DriveImageXML. And as far as I know, this program cannot create hot images. Therefore, you have to run them from a recovery CD that gives you access to your NTFS OS partition. Thus, you have the problem of NTFS access as DOS cannot see NTFS partitions. Thus, the solutions are BartPE, WinPE, VistaPE, and such. However, making these recovery CD's require a bit of knowledge. And I'm sorry to say we cannot provide guides on how to create one here because there is so much information elsewhere that it is not even necessary to reproduce the guides here to eliminate double, triple, quadruple efforts already put forth. Thus, I encourage you to visit sites such as www.911cd.net/forums, or http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ for instructions. For an imagex plugin, you can see this page for my imagex plugin for Bartpe: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...6&hl=imagex Again, as I mentioned BartPE requires your XP install CD as the source. And I think it can also use Windows 2003. Once you do make your recovery CD, you do need to pick which imaging software you will be using. As I mentioned, ImageX is a great tool but harder to use but free but a hefty download. I'm not familiar with DriveImageXML so I can't comment on that. I believe if you search for Norton Ghost 2003 version, which can be run from a floppy - requires no recovery CD creation, then it's a great alternative. I think you can find it for < 10 bucks. Basically, in your for you to achieve your goal, you need some determination first, then you need to do some reading on pages I mentioned, and I'm sure you'll succeed and when you do make your recovery CD you'll be rewarded with an image of your HDD.

did you say bartpe? did you already make a bartpe cd.... cause you need the xp install cd to make it. if you did, then the best image software (which is free) is imagex. it's a hefty download though just for the small imagex program. you'll have to create a plugin for bartpe for imagex to work. otherwise, look for some free disk imaging software. some good paid ones are trueimage by acronis. i still like ghost 2003 version (not the rebranded newer ghosts). the only thing about ghost 2003 is that it doesn't allow multiple images to be stored in one file like imagex does. good luck.

sound fishy to me. you might become a victim of piracy.

i think he means a standard install of sp2 vs network install of sp2. they both will update your system to the same sp2, it doesn't matter which you use. the only thing is that network install is for network installation which allows slipstreaming. so, it doesn't matter which sp3 you download. if you are using it for home, then download standard as it is smaller. if you want to slipstream, then download network. otherwise, you will end up with the same sp3 upgrade no matter which you use.

whether you can write to a disc that already has data on it or not depends on how you burnt the disc. if you create a multisession disc, then you can write more to it but you have to import the session then write to the disc. otherwise, normally, the discs are burnt as single session.

interesting. someone should try installing sp3 on an sp0 machine and confirm. gosh, i don't remember running sp0; who still has sp0?

I think it's also larger. I tend to go for installs that are small. And the price is functionality but that I can sacrifice. Perhaps if you make a lot of changes you may need incremental snapshots as you describe them. I'm a home user and my virt machine hardly changes much so one backup suffices for me. Never said it was new/special/exclusive feature. As a matter of fact, I hardly ever access my virtual drive offline. Was just mentioning it's possible. Okay, okay man. I'm not arguing that VPC is great and better than VMWare. All I'm saying is it meets my needs. Calm down. We're just sharing what virtual machine we use; not arguing about which one is best.

i voted yes because i own one through my isp but i don't maintain it nor do i have an interest in regularly maintaining it. need an option for "have one but don't care for one".

Virtual PC on my desktop - it's free. I don't need USB supports, although it would be nice; and yes, just create a copy of the VHD and you got yourself a snapshot. also, you can open vhd with winimage or a similar program in case you need to access files offline. networking is simple in my opinion on vpc. to minimize vhd size, you could use ghost it, restore it, then make copy before running the machine so that it doesn't create a huge pagefile. i use vbox on my laptop. it's allright. supports usb. networking was hard to setup as i use wireless. only thing is i can't access the hard drive files offline like vpc hard drives files.

yes, sp3 is cumulative. if you are slipstreaming, i think you need to slipstream to xpsp1. but if you are installing to a live install, then you can install to windows xp (meaning sp0): System Requirements * Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP; Windows XP Home Edition; Windows XP Home Edition N; Windows XP Media Center Edition; Windows XP Professional Edition; Windows XP Professional N; Windows XP Service Pack 1; Windows XP Service Pack 2; Windows XP Starter Edition; Windows XP Tablet PC Edition where Windows XP would be no sp's. per ms site.

Now, tell us about your PC specs? RAM: Virtual Machines require lots of RAM. I have 2 GB ram. When I use a virtual machine, I have allotted 512 MB for the Virtual Machine. That's enough and it's fast. Basically, you need a minimum of 512 MB for the Virtual XP and at least 1 GB for the physical so your physical does not suffocate when running the virtual. Processor: The other component is your CPU. I have an Intel Core 2 Duo optimized for virtualization. How much disk space did you allot for your XP install? Video card may also matter as some video cards can use physical RAM, leaving less physical RAM. One last question, after you installed, how fast is it? If it is slow, then it's most likely your RAM is too low!

yes, they apply to all sp3 installs; but not sure which old similar thread you're talking about. ___ And with this post, i thee acquire 1000 posts!