simply_simon

Update: All the domains beginning "WWW" can be scrapped as just the end of the domain will do. Anything in "domain.com" etc will be in restricted sites zone. So that'll shrink it a bit. I'm working on a test project for an Auto Updater for the .reg file. At the mo, it's just a simple check between filesizes and to see if the file actually exists. Then it's just a case of downloading the file direct and merging the file as necessary. I need to make a few adjustments before I can post a tester, but this would be an ideal solution for some. Give me some feedback on whether you'd be interested or not.

Giving it a try now. I've always been an advocate of using the "Restricted Sites" method (REG) to block sites as opposed to hosts, because you can see the offending sites for what they are. The registry entries look fine to me so far, I'll let you know. In the meantime, I hope to be able to find a decent mirror for the blocklist AND write an AutoIt script to take care of updating.

What I do normally is to use a zero value for the shutdown timer and use a program called "sleep.exe" to pause the system whilst programs are stopped. I know it doesn't look as cool as a timer counting down the seconds and I don't use DOS much either as I have my own Application Installer which replaces the DOS shell. I guess you could use the "sleep.exe"program (Link is somewhere on this site. Been a while since I last downloaded it) in combination with simple echo commands in your batch to simulate a timer. For example: @echo off CLS echo "Rebooting in 2 seconds..." sleep.exe 1 CLS echo "Rebooting in 1 second..." sleep.exe 1 CLS echo "Now Rebooting." shutdown.exe -r -f -t 00 That code is a little clunky for a three minute countdown and I'm sure there are much better ways of doing it (With some sort of loop), but at least it gives you an idea. I used the CLS command to clear the screen and make it appear as though the timer is just counting down on the same line (A throwback to my old BBC Basic days at school).

Generally, the developement of these unattended recovery partitions would be done using the OEM preinstallation kit, but it should be possible to make a hard drive based recovery partition. Once created it's a matter of editing the boot.ini file to modify the boot options. Lots of work though....

As promised, here are a few lines from my preinst.ini file to give some working examples: <lbl>Installing MS Visual Studio <cmd>*\Install\MSVS\Smsinst.exe /k (SERIAL REMOVED) <cmd>runhiddenconsole.exe /w sleep 500 <lbl>Installing Nero 6 Ultra Edition <cmd>regedit /S *\Install\Nero\register.reg <cmd>*\Install\Nero\setup.exe /silent /noreboot <lbl>Installing K-Lite Mega Codec Pack <cmd>*\Install\KLM\klmcodec147.exe /verysilent /LoadInf="klmcp.ini" <lbl>Installing MS Office 2003 <cmd>*\Install\Office\setup.exe /qb- TRANSFORMS=Unattended.MST <lbl>Installing 7Zip <cmd>*\Install\7z.exe <lbl>Installing Alcohol 120% <cmd>regedit /S *\Install\alcohol\prerun.reg <cmd>*\Install\alcohol\alcohol120.exe <cmd>*\Install\alcohol\AlcReg.exe <lbl>Restarting Your Computer..... <cmd>runhiddenconsole.exe /w *\Install\cleanup\cleanup.bat I have been reluctant to use bare MSI files, as they seem to mess up somewhat, so I generally package them with 7Zip and use the msistub.exe to launch the MSI's within. Of course, you could run them unpackaged with either StartX.exe or msistub.exe (Best placed in the system32 folder). You will note that you can use as many CMD lines per install as you want. The most I have used so far is three but it's unlimited, as the program just parses each line and looks for the tags. If it doesn't recognise anything, it will just skip to the next line.

I've tried running this way before using the same net boot disk. It may be to do with the location that XP is being run from. If you check out this page http://www.quepublishing.com/articles/arti...0&seqNum=6&rl=1 one of the switches is to specify where the temporary files and the installation goes. You could try that, specifying the drive letter you want. In the days of old, there would have been a switch to disable the error reporting (Disk space, memory etc.), but this no longer seems to be the case, where there is only a limited DOS support.

Well let us know how you get on with it....

Requires some work, but if a progam or script could locate a date code in the registry, it could then look for a file ending with a date code later than itself to consider it an upgrade. One such example would be to append a reverse date to the filename (Eg. Domain_Blocklist_060305.reg if it was made 5th March 2006). You could put a date into the registry almost anywhere. I have no experience with AutoIt, but in a Visual Basic Scenario, it's just a case of a couple of API calls. A simple For/Next loop would check for every date from the date in the registry upto the current date and see if a file existed on the server. If it did, it would be downloaded and executed. You could have the updater run scheduled or at startup. Voila!! An automatically updating security tool!

I've been checking out KTools and I'll take nothing away from it, because it's an excellent app. There are one or two differences in the way the two progs work to be honest and it's really just a case of trying out both and seeing which works best for you. At present, I'm just testing the water, so to speak, by finding out what people want to use for their installs. The main 'selling' point of my app is it's simplicity in coding, but with a good deal of versatility. Also, the locating of the script file is an idea brought up by one of my 'guinea pigs' during initial tests, so it's just a case of listening and catering for what people want. I'm not saying this is any better than anything else out there, just an extra choice really.

This method is way better than using the HOSTS file in my opinion. It puts the relevant domains into the restricted zone. You will still have limited access to these sites but will not be able to download any files from them (Nor will they be able to force any downloads on you). This is most handy with malware sites, such as Winfixer (Which as I said before, has an exploit that is rather difficult to get rid of). The HOSTS file is a different kettle of fish altogether, in that it blocks a domain altogether (Or rather, sends your computer to 127.0.0.1 to look for the domain, which of course won't be there). Just my two pence worth!!!

I'll vouch for that! The update pack along with nLite will save you tons of extra headaches. Not only that, but the updates are slipstreamed with the installation. In addition, .NET Framework 2 is now an integral part of my unattended installation. So it's there when I need it. It's wothwhile putting that on your CD too!

Could there be a registry entry and a version number to be added to the reg file in future to denote current version perhaps? Possibiltity exists there for a good security tool.

Absolutely no problem. I think most people will want to avoid WinFixer if they can. Took me three days and an eventual reformat to rid my brother-in-law's PC of this wonderful piece of malware. In response to your updating dilemma, I'll look into the possibility of constructing some kind of updater over the next few days using VB6. It may be that there'll need to be some sort of manual control over it, in the case of a non-permanent internet connection.

I think these ones should be added at a later update too. They are additional domains that are associated with the WinFixer Exploit. amaena.com Win-anti-virus-pro.com Win-antivirus.com Win-virus-pro.com Winantivirus2005.com Winvirus2005.com

Using nLite and RyanVM's updates, it should all fit. In any case, nLite will help you strip a whole lot of stuff that you don't want from your installation.