OldB

I am trying to use XAble's July update plus minor additions. I have attached screen captures of XP crash (wanted to send Error Report) - I have also attached the file they were going to send to MS here - if this is useful and anyone else wants to try to do this then it is deleted when you Cancel the sending to MS so you need to make a copy. Any ideas welcome - inc. how to investigate although it will be weekend before I can spend the time to retry... Thanks in advance... Last Session.ini 9add_appcompat.txt

Thanks for the heads-up - it's difficult to judge reputation nowadays... Maybe THIS time I will make certain that I stick to the SAFE option!!! The reason I asked here (nLite) is that I am sure that nLite also tailors services - otherwise it wouldn't run in the memory it does... Cheers,

Thanks for the suggestions - and one of them may make me go back to previous tune-ups that I have done - turning OFF AutoStart WITHIN programs such as IM, Office, Mail, Trays, etc. because even if I stop them with AutoRunS then there is a chance that if/when they are scheduled or manually invoked THEY might RESTORE AutoStart... I tend to Disable all of those MSIE add-ons - Search, Accelerators, Toolbars and Extensions so that if I remove one that IS being used I can re-enable it - does un-installing free up any more resources because I guess I could do that in a months time if he hasn't missed anything useful! I once had to restore my own PC from a Ghost image after I disabled quite a few services once (list at blackvipre?) - hence your comment about RESEARCH FIRST. However I think I will have another go - I just looked and it's blackviper.com that I used as a guide is there a better one at msfn.org? Thanks again for the input... Cheers, BR.

Many thanks for that - I think you have confirmed that there is "no magic" during a repair-install that nLite could exploit to alter the base install to become nLite'd.The PC user isn't a big multi-tasker but you are right to point out that adding a second 512MB of RAM MIGHT be easier than uninstalling .Net, Java etc. although if I can be sure they aren't used I will "get rid" as they are obvious targets for hackers. If ever I DO have the need to do a repair-install on one of my nLite'd family PCs I will report back what happens when I use a more recent nLite'd CD than the original install - I am assuming THAT would be beneficial. Just as a last thought - in terms of Cleaning-up an old XP system - can anyone point me at any online guides to the topic - e.g. "can I get rid of all the IE7 updates, is it possible to get rid of WMP, should I use AutorunS and CCleaner (non-aggressive), obviously DeFragging as the last step" etc. - I know this is an nLite forum but obviously the experience and knowledge is here! At this point I wish I had checked the list of boards at msfn.org - apologies... Thanks again to all who have replied... BR.

Sincere apologies - I think I asked too many questions and maybe not the most important. My friend REALLY only wants his XP system to run as fast as it did 4 years ago but without the pain of a fresh XP install.1. Let's say I uninstall .Net, IE7, WMP, Java, Access/Outlook/Powerpoint (as I am guessing they can only be manually removed) + I remove some AutoRun "stuff" 2. If I THEN do a repair install from an nLite'd, xable'd, SP3 CD - i.e. 2-3 years more up to date than SP3 and "tailored" - will it work at all and if it does - will there be a 'better' XP as a result - less space, faster - any benefits at all? What was in my head when I made the original post was whether the (#2 above) Re-install process from an *nLite'd* CD in some way would help me with #1 above but having thought about it after your reply - that is pretty doubtful. I take it from your reply that (if I did a repair-install) "same source" WOULD apply to an n'Lite'd CD - I suppose the other thing I was trying to work out what would happen if the CD had an extra year (say) of xable'd updates - would that work? and if so would that be better?

This may be wishful thinking that an nLite'd CD could make an Old XP system better but I have searched and as I couldn't see the question asked before... I have a friend with a 4-year old XP system that has gotten badly clogged-up with WMP, IE8, .Net v1,2,3,4, all the MS monthly updates etc. etc. and he has asked if the PC is possible to "restore" to it's prior performance. It's only a 1.8GHz + 512MB tower but I know that would easily run an nLite'd XP but... Sadly when I installed XP for him 4 years ago I wasn't using nLite otherwise things MIGHT have been better - it is a FAIRLY bog-standard (I don't know if that translated from UK-English = PLAIN!) XP install and I suspect that the owner has accepted optional updates such as .Net etc. as well as security / critical. SO - what WOULD be the effect of using an nLite'd XP (Pro) CD to do a repair install on the old system? Would anything end-up being UN-installed? Would any of the Windows-Updates be removed? Would WMP be removed as it isn't in my nLite'd CD? ALSO - as I have asked the questions above from a "bad" starting point - would the answers be any different if the install HAD been nLite'd with roughly the same options as the CD I have created (-WMP, -.Net etc.)? I suppose there is a third and final question - if someone used an ordinary (NON-nLite'd CD) to do a repair install then would that make any difference? I am guessing (/HOPING?!) that someone out there has been using nLite long enough to have been through the repair-install process and can advise... Obviously I don't REALLY want to do a fresh install even though he would get the benefits of nLite'd XP he would have to re-install all of his applications etc.. Many thanks in advance for any feedback / input... BTW If I am asking the wrong question or taking the wrong approach then I am open to any suggestions...

That's true, but modern hard drives should not be starved for space. Your installation CD/DVD might be, depending on what else you're including. Let's say your college student is running into a problem with a printer that could be solved by installing KB959482, which has QFE file Win32k.sys v5.1.2600.5815. However, you installed Windows with Xable's latest update pack which includes only the GDR v5.1.2600.6178 of the file as included with KB2639417. The hotfix will not install an older file version over a newer one, and the update pack does not include the latest QFE version of the file. In this case you should be able to get the hotfix by downloading KB2639417 and installing it on the system using the "/B:SP3QFE" switch. But is your college student savvy enough to use a Windows command prompt, or resourceful enough to determine which security update has the latest currently installed version of the needed file? Again - many thanks for the rapid response - I will attempt to close this down with one last question...With remote assistance and a .BAT file or two I could just about handle both home and a remote Laptop situation you describe BUT... What about "Patch Tuesday" updates - would they be applied if I switched "Automatic Updates" on before the Laptop left home? Also - thanks for explaining the limitations of /Integrate - that is probably why the final stages of the XP install took so long although it was in a virtual PC. So presumably when nLite processes the list of Hotfixes it works out the format, extracts the content then replaces files in the source without using MS update.exe...

Thanks for the quick response.Presumably that also means that the size of the base installation (i.e. disk space of XP SP3 installation just after install) grows because of all the Uninstall + other ...... that the Update process generates. So as you were the author of the post that I quoted about branches (GDR vs QFE) - presumably if one of my offspring was away from home at College and needed to use Windows Update on their Laptop then both the xable and what I have done with nLite and updates from Windows Catalogue would be able to accept them. If so - what is the scenario that causes a problem with GDR-branch updates?

Thanks for the input but perhaps I put too much detail in my original post... I REALLY LIKE nLite and what it does - especially getting rid of "surplus" software but ALSO TWEAKS... What I want to be able to do is create an nLite'd folder and THEN ADD UPDATES from MS as it is often 6 months between my complete re-installs. If I use the updates from MS directly (QFE branch?!) does that mean that I can then add more as they arrive each month? I ask about xable.net because with THAT approach I am guessing that nLite would simply accept all updates from MS without intervention so I could perhaps use nLite from scratch (XP SP3) every time... But does that mean I can't add further updates manually because they are from the wrong branch (GDR?) of the development tree. TiA... B.

I am a NewB to nLite although I have now twice managed to create trimmed-down (no WMP, .Net etc.) XP Pro and Home CDs with Windows Updates post SP3. Because I manually downloaded Windows Updates from the WU Catalogue and some require manual intervention it takes almost an hour to re-run (that part of) the nLite process. 1. Is it possible to merge Windows Updates into the Pre-ISO-build nLite'd folder using the MS WU "/Integrate" options OR is there a better way? 2. If there ARE options to do the above then would it make any difference if I used the "xable.net post SP3 UDP" bearing in mind which branch of the development tree the originals are from as noted by 5eraph in post about update source choices I have already tried running nLite a 2nd time on the nLite'd folder with the latest updates but that failed with a BSoD on the final re-boot of XP installation. Apologies if parts of the above have been asked before - I DID try to search but found nothing matching... B.