[CD burner program that works without ASPI?]

Installed Adaptec ASPI with force aspi, was able to copy a CD. I had Nero shut it down when done.

I'll see if it's still working after booting again.

I know this box WAS working, because I'd worked on it back in 2006, installed AVG and Spybot and had to put in a new modem when the original died. The prior owner gave it to me to fix up and find somebody who needed a computer. Unfortunately she'd moved and lost the HP OEM restore discs.

It has the WinMe COA on the side, so I figured may as well put WinMe on it. It's a 1Ghz PIII so it's actually decently speedy, when it's working.

[CD burner program that works without ASPI?]

Aaaaaand now it's not working again. I burned a CD, then I installed Word and Excel from Office XP and now Nero 6 (last version that works on WinMe) is refusing to see the drive is ready.

Nero info tool says ASPI is correctly installed. I've checked and the files are still where I put them. Nothing's changed between getting the burner to work and it quitting again, except for Office. There's no bleeping way Office XP should be mucking up a CD burner.

Since there's no ASPI files in the wrong places, I could try installing Adaptec ASPI. I wonder if there's a newer version of Nero's ASPi

I may have to just give up on WinMe and put XP on this box. Getting fed up with thinking I just about have this system working, then it locks up or won't boot normally or *something* randomly goes wonky. In all the years I've worked on PCs, this is only the second WinMe box I've had to do major work on. Now I know *why* so many people shudder at the mention of it.

I had to nuke and pave it a second time because ExpressBurn not only installed Ask Toolbar without asking, it also slipped in some malware and a trojan- right under the nose of Avast. When I killed the malware, WinMe wouldn't boot at all. May the authors of ExpressBurn contract an incurable disease! Or at least get a computer virus that wipes all their hard drives and infects their BIOS.

[Service Pack for Windows ME]

The ASPI 4.6 option in the Unofficial WinMe service pack 1 2.02 beta 9 screws it up by putting the ASPI files in C:\Windows instead of where they're supposed to be in Windows\system (winaspi.dll and wnaspi32.dll) and Windows\system\iosubsys (apix.vxd)

WinMe doesn't have aspienum.vxd, the file extractor in msconfig doesn't find it.

Since they're in the wrong places, the kill aspi batch file with force aspi can't remove them, but it does remove all the original WinMe aspi files.

And since those other aspi files are in the wrong place, installing any other aspi still won't fix it.

After getting this straightened out with WinMe's original ASPI files, the Phillips CDD4801 drive works.

[CD burner program that works without ASPI?]

I got it working. Found out what went wrong.

The ASPI 4.6 option in the Unofficial WinMe service pack 1 2.02 beta 9 screws it up by putting the ASPI files in C:\Windows instead of where they're supposed to be in Windows\system (winaspi.dll and wnaspi32.dll) and Windows\system\iosubsys (apix.vxd)

WinMe doesn't have aspienum.vxd, the file extractor in msconfig doesn't find it.

Since they're in the wrong places, the kill aspi batch file with force aspi can't remove them, but it does remove all the original WinMe aspi files.

And since those other aspi files are in the wrong place, installing any other aspi still won't fix it.

So now the Phillips CDD4801 (with 2,5 firmware) is happily burning a CD-R with Nero 6, without aspienum.vxd.

And now I shall post a note about this at the end of the loooooooooooooong thread for the Me service pack.

[Service Pack for Windows ME]

I selected all the options except Wintop. Upon reboot I get a message saying that KB918547.EXE expects a newer version of Windows.

[Windizupdate on WinMe?]

I installed Opera 9.64 on WinMe and WindizUpdate. It doesn't work, after clicking the I agree button I get "The WinddizUpdate Plug-in plug-in failed. A restart of Opera is recommended."

Are there other WinMe compatible browsers this will work in? It shows some security updates that Windows Update doesn't.

[CD burner program that works without ASPI?]

hmm. aspi layer from adaptec works for me on win98. i dont know where should be the problem.

This is Windows Millennium NOT 98. I've never had a problem getting a burner working on 98.

Never tried it before on WinMe.

[CD burner program that works without ASPI?]

I'm fixing up a HP Pavilion 7940, which originally had WinMe on it, so I'm doing a clean install of WinMe.

I've tried InfraRecorder (which won't even launch), DeepBurner (sees the burner but insists it's always 'busy'), ExpressBurn (stealth installs Ask toolbar and can't see the burner).

I've tried force ASPI to get Adaptec ASPI 4.71 installed. Didn't help. Used the batch file from that to remove Adaptec and installed VOB ASPI Layer. Still doesn't work.

What I think *might* help is the final version of the Intel chipset drivers that actually installs drivers instead of claiming that WinMe already supports the chipset. The current download from Intel is NOT the one.

The DVD-ROM drive and 8x CD-RW are the original HP OEM branded ones in this Pavilion model. I'm going to give it to a family, both parents are diabetic and they don't have any extra $ to buy a computer for their kids. Getting the CD burner working is the final thing to do before it's ready.

[Software for making screen savers?]

I found a screen saver called AVI Screen Saver. It's a few years old but works with 95 through XP, haven't tried it on Vista yet. It can play AVI's MPG and other video and audio formats in random order or the user specified order. It can bounce them around the screen, resize them and several other tricks.

Best of all it's FREEWARE.

I took my images and made short video clips, each with the same start sequence. All I have to do is put them all in a folder, drag them into the screen saver playlist, check the Random box and I'm all set. With this I've also done some animations by creating the frames in Photoshop then bringing them into Premiere, from which I made all the AVI's 10 frames per second. I makes the non-motion videos small file sizes and it's fast enough speed for simple animations.

[Software for making screen savers?]

I'm looking for software to make a 2D screen saver for Windows.

Things it must be able to do.

1. Display a series of images.

2. Play a WAV file at the same time each image is displayed.

3. Display each image for the length of time the WAV files play. (Ie, not a fixed display interval.)

Things that would be nice if it can do.

1. Display the images in random order, while playing the WAV files in the same order as the images.

2. Display a short and fast series of images, with a WAV file, before displaying each image/WAV file pair.

I already have the images, in BMP format, and WAV files. I've given each pair the same name, saver00.bmp saver00.wav, in numerical order. A few numbers are missing in the series, intended to give the impression of randomness- to get the viewer to wait for the missing numbers to appear.

The effect is intended to be of a backlit sign showing random stuff with audio appropriate to each display. I want to have the fast image series between each display to have it look like the sign is turning off and on with a flicker and fluorescent lights turning on. It's going to be an "attract mode" thing for a PC that will only be used to play one game.

[Windows Update won't stop installing KB954430]

I found the page at Microsoft to download the installer for KB954430, installed it and that shut up Windows Update constantly wanting to install it. Another day, another BUG from Microsoft.

[Backup software for Travan 4 drive?]

Just got a freebie box with a HP Colorado T4000s SCSI Travan 4 drive and an adaptec 2940/2940U PCI SCSI controller.

What are some XP NTFS compatible backup programs that will work with this drive? Were there ever any extended length tapes for these drives?

I once setup a Win95 box with a QIC drive (a Colorado floppy interface one) and double length tapes, which required special backup software that could use them (software came with the tapes), but it could backup the full Windows install to one tape.

[Windows Update won't stop installing KB954430]

This update just popped up today on my laptop with Vista Ultimate SP1, customized with nLite.

I've installed it four times and each time after Windows Update says it's successfully installed it immediately says it's a "new update" to be installed.

Looks like Microsoft needs to issue KB954431 Stops Windows Update from constantly insisting KB954430 needs to be installed.

[Increasing web browser timeout?]

I'm on a WiFi connection that constantly varies wildly in quality. Sometimes it's super fast, sometimes I have to re-load several times before a page will load.

How can I at least double the time Firefox, IE7 and Google Chrome wait before giving up on a page download? Tripling it might be better!

It'd also be nice if there's a way to make them pop up a warning when downloads get dropped before they're finished. It's extremely annoying to download a 100+ meg driver installer, burn it to disc then find out somewhere with only dialup that the stupid browser just gave up on it a few megs shy of done without any warning that it didn't finish its task.

[Installing custom screensaver & wallpaper as defaults?]

I want to have an unattended XP Pro install also install custom wallpaper and screensaver, then set those as the defaults.

[Is there a way to lock a desktop shortcut to a specific spot?]

I'm setting up a system that will do nothing but run the game "Portal". Nothing else but the shortcut to the game will be on the desktop.

I'm going to make wallpaper using some graphics from the game and want to have the shortcut locked in position so I can have big text and an arrow on the wallpaper pointing to it.

If people using it can drag the shortcut around, that'll defeat the purpose of the custom wallpaper.

[What self extractor won't stop batch file execution?]

I was simply pointing out another option (a much simpler one in my opinion) and showing a few of the pluses of vbs. The Windows Scripting Host has been part of Windows since Win98, so you already have it, even on a stripped down install.

Not on any Win98 I've ever installed. I always do a custom install and uncheck WSH. Too many ways for malware to use it, despite all the security patches.

[What self extractor won't stop batch file execution?]

A single Visual Basic Script (.vbs) can do everything you want with your sfx files, even create all your shortcuts with parameters and custom icons, and VBS is a lot more powerful than batch file scripting.

.vbs files can even self-delete since they are run entirely from ram, unlike batch files.

There's plenty of resources out there on the subject, so do a little research and you will quickly figure it out. I use .vbs scripts to configure my start menu and quicklaunch and I figured it out in maybe an hour, with a little trial and error and google.

Be sure you have the Windows Scripting Host (WSH) installed.

Here's a good resource on vbs:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms950396.aspx

Yah, but the stripped down XP box isn't going to have Windows Scripting Host installed, it won't even be on the custom XP install CD.

Second time around, I redid the batch files to delete each archive by full file name after each one is extracted, (takes less room than extracting them all THEN deleting) and just stuffed the shortcut for D: install into its own folder and it worked perfectly. I still want to know WTH caused a command to only delete EXE files to delete ALL the files in the folder and why it then killed the batch instead of doing the copy/extract/delete for the D: install shortcut.

.vbs files can even self-delete since they are run entirely from ram, unlike batch files.

Why would I want it deleted??? It wouldn't be copied to the hard drive, just like the batch files aren't. They simply copy the files to their proper locations, command the self extracting archives to extract themselves, then command the OS to delete those archives.

Completely un-needed complexity for this particular install! I have it working where it's completely non-dependent on any specific thing (like WSH) being present on the PC, aside from Windows XP or Vista itself and whichever things like DirectX or .NET may be required by the software AFTER it's installed.

Once I got the steps sorted out, batch files are the *least complex* and *easiest* method for this specific use. With pre-made shortcuts, it does not depend on Windows having whatever some extra software requires in order to create them on the fly. Anything else would be using a hammer to swat gnats.

This works and I've tested it a few times now and it looks to be 100% foolproof. The satisfaction of making it work, combined with the feeling of "more work than fun" that caused me to give up on writing software around 15 years ago. (I said I hadn't done this sort of thing in a while...)

With this out of the way, I still need to modify a BIOS, create a custom screensaver, desktop wallpaper and do a Windows sound theme... Lots to do but fortunately some months to do it in. At least there's just the ONE PC this year instead of the eight I had to do on short notice last year, though those didn't have any custom stuff like this one.

[What self extractor won't stop batch file execution?]

Well, I thought I had it figured out.

I just tried the D: version and it was all going along just fine, copied the archive .exe files and extracted them.

Then when it ran this command

DEL *.exe /Q /F

It deleted ALL the files, not just the .exe files! How the HELL does that happen?! The extracted files have a different filename extension. Only the DEL . or DEL *.* commands should be able to do that.

I don't know if it ever got around to copying the shortcutD.exe and extracting it, the shortcut didn't appear on the desktop. I did test that bit on its own on a different PC running XP.

The C: version is for use on PCs with bigger drives. The D: version is primarily for a box with a pair of 9.1 gig Ultra/Wide SCSI drives and this software is all it will be running, extremely stripped down with nLite XP, which can run this software just fine.

I'm doing this install deal (along with an unattended XP disc, which has worked quite well) to 'id*** proof' a reinstall in case some clever monkey user figures out how to get into things and foul it all up.

Looks like I'll have to include a DEL command for each and every file by full name.

[What self extractor won't stop batch file execution?]

Got it solved.

I used the Windows console SFX instead of the Windows GUI SFX option and tagged them with the silent scripting option.

Then I discovered that the /Y switch for the DEL command has been removed, (it has been quite a while since I've done anything with batch files) which is why the batch file was quitting after the archives all extracted. DEL *.exe /Q /F Quietly deletes them while Forcing the deletion of read only files, in case the copy process doesn't remove the read only attribute. (One of the things I like about XP and Vista, but they don't *always* do that when copying from read only media.)

Here's the two batch files now. (File and folder names changed 'cuz nobody needs to know exactly what I'm installing.)

Install to C.bat

@ECHO OFF
ECHO Copying the program files and folders to C:
MD C:\test
XCOPY install C:test /e

ECHO Copying the Desktop shortcut
COPY PROGRAM.lnk "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Desktop"

ECHO Copying the resource files to C:
COPY *.exe C:\test

ECHO Extracting then deleting the archives
C:
CD test
archive1.exe
archive2.exe
archive3.exe
archive4.exe
archive5.exe
archive6.exe
DEL *.exe /Q /F

Install to D.bat

@ECHO OFF
ECHO Copying the program files and folders to D:
MD D:\test
XCOPY install D:test /e

ECHO Copying the resource files to D:
COPY *.exe D:\test

ECHO Extracting then deleting the archives
D:
CD test
archive1.exe
archive2.exe
archive3.exe
archive4.exe
archive5.exe
archive6.exe
DEL *.exe /Q /F

ECHO Copying the Desktop shortcut
COPY shortcutD.exe "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Desktop"
C:
CD "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Desktop"
shortcutD.exe
DEL shortcutD.exe /Q /F

Simple, short, takes up practically zero space, easy to edit in case I want to make an option to install to E: or any other drive. I had a look at Inno and Nullsoft installers, too much complication for this simple copy, extract, delete operation. No Registry changes nor any alterations to existing files, just a workaround to annoyingly overpriced DVD9 media.

P.S. Are you pleased that instead of just posting "I got it figured out!" I posted EXACTLY HOW I got it to work? Nothing quite so @#%@%#% as when someone has the exact same problem I'm having with a PC, then at the end of a long thread says "I fixed it!" but doesn't say HOW. (Makes me want to smack them around a bit for being such selfish gits. )

[What self extractor won't stop batch file execution?]

I want to compress as few things as I can, just so it'll fit on a single layer DVD-R. I've found it's faster to copy the archives to the hard drive then delete them after extracting than it is to extract directly from the disc.

I figured it'd be simplest to pre-create the shortcuts, which need additional commands added and the icon changed from the one in the .exe to one from an .ico file.

I'll look at that Inno setup thing too.

[What self extractor won't stop batch file execution?]

I need to copy several self extracting archives from a DVD-ROM to hard drive, execute each archive to extract the file (one big file per archive) to the same folder the archive was copied to, then delete the archives.

REM copy the program's files and folders to C:
MD C:\test
XCOPY install C:test /e

REM copying the Desktop shortcut
REM need to find how to detect XP or Vista and send this to the right place. Easier to have four batch files?
COPY program.lnk C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop
REM COPY C:\users\public\public desktop

REM copying the files to C:
COPY *.exe C:\test

REM extracting then deleting the archives
C:
CD test
archive1.exe
archive2.exe
archive3.exe
archive4.exe
archive5.exe
archive6.exe
DEL C:\test *.exe /y

The installation path information cannot be in the archives because I'm going to have two batch files, one to install to C: and one to install to D: and these archives almost fill a DVD-R. (The D: version has the shortcut archived and the copy/extract/delete section at the end 'cause I don't know how to return to a removable drive that could be any letter.)

The self extracting archive must either silently extract to the directory they're in, or they must have a command line switch to tell where to extract, and they must NOT stop the batch file from continuing.

I've tried making SFX versions with WinRAR, but when the first one extracts, it ends the batch file execution. Everything else in this batch file works as it should.

[98SE2ME = Killer Replacements: ME -> 98 SE]

There are utilities to remove any unique, hidden, identifiers from MS Office documents. There's also an update for Office 97 so it won't put them into files.

The latest MS Office that's still pretty decent is Office XP (Office 2002). Office 97 or 2000 are good for 98SE, though 2000 is a bit bloaty. IIRc, even Office XP will run on 98SE, but you need a lot of RAM, which 98SE doesn't handle so well.

Office 2003 is the last version I want to have anything to do with. I've read many reviews of Office 2007 and MS has effed it up something horrible, apparently in an effort to (again) make many of its file formats only work with Office.

[How do I get Word 2003 to open HTML as text file?]

I have an HTML file word 2003 refuses to open because of something it thinks is an error. So I changed the extension from .html to .txt and the %$#^$#^ ignores the extension and wants to open it as HTML anyway.

How do I make this thing work how it should? Does Microsoft think that it's "easier" to have Word divine what the user wants to do based on the content of the file instead of what the filename extension is? If it's a file with HTML codes and a .txt extension, it should be obvious the user wants to edit as a TEXT file!

I was wanting to save it as filtered HTML to eliminate the UTF-8 codes that Mobipocket still hasn't programmed their conversion software to handle, at version 6.2.

[How do I get search to find files I know exist?]

I've downloaded the Claws that Catch one big zip and extracted it. (It's 100% legal to download these CDs, see the blurb below from the disc.)

I want to find all the files with the .mobi extention to read on my PDA, so I enter *.mobi in the search box in Explorer and get... NOTHING. It doesn't matter if I search from the root or from a folder. If I search for *.htm from the root of the drive where I extracted that zip, it finds many files but not the ones in the newly extracted folder and its subfolders.

The files are there, I can go into each book's folder and see the files. I can even copy them, one at a time. Why are wildcards not working properly in Vista?

I've read that Vista has "new and improved" search capabilities, that I can use ext: followed by the filename extention I'm looking for. That doesn't work properly either.

When I'm searching for a file or files, I bloody well want Windows to search EVERYWHERE below the point where I start! None of this not looking for what I know exists and have told it to look for.

If I sound pi##ed off, it's because I am pi##ed off! In 26 years of using and fixing computers I've never run into as big a collection of stupid things in one system as I've seen in Vista. An almost invisible "highlight" color that can't be changed, "search" that plays "see no evil" with files it decides it wants to ignore, and more. There's plenty to like that IS improved over XP but unfortunately some 'smart' people got to add more stupid when they should've been told NO!

An operating system is a tool, tools are supposed to do what the human in charge attempts to do with them. This broken search in Vista is like having a hammer that will only hit certain types of nails. A ball peen hammer might not be the best hammer to use on shingle nails, but it will drive them in if the user can hit them. "Microsoft Ball Peen Hammer has detected shingle nails. Please launch Microsoft Roofing Hammer to continue."

To Our Gentle Readers:

Within this electronic transfer medium you will discover a universe of adventure, delight and astonishment. All who venture herein shall be transported beyond these sad, tawdry, mortal realms and into a world of wonders. Rejoice! Rejoice! Thou art saved from the mundane.

So stick the %^&* CD in your computer! We don't do these things for our health!

And make many many copies and give them away to your friends. We don't mind. Really. We think of it as multi-level marketing with reader crack.

Repeat after me:

You willlll copy this CD and give it away... You willlll copy this CD and give it away... You willlll copy this CD and give it away...

Ohm... addict people to Ringo/Taylor books... Ohm... addict people to Ringo/Taylor books... Ohm... addict people to Ringo/Taylor books...

You may now have your mind back. But if you don't follow our instructions, the puppy gets it.

And we'll know. Oh, yes, we'll know...

John Ringo

Travis Taylor