DarkRats

It's interesting that you thought it might be caused by the update.exe file. My computer BSOD'd as soon as the file was run, and even before any new files were written to their locations. Not only that, but the other day I had downloaded a custom SP4 update, to try it out, and it too crashed my system immediately after the files had been extracted to a temporary location. In both cases, I suspected the installer was part of the problem. It would be very nice if you could find the cause and then create updates that didn't conflict with Symantec. I'm always thankful for users, like harkaz, who have the skills to modify installers etc.

I just noticed that my name displays as "DarkRats". It should read as "darkrats" (all small letters). Is there any way to change this, short of opening a new account? Would the new account let me use "darkrats", or would it be too close to "DarkRats"?

There are a few conflicts with these "fixed" updates, but I think you can get around them using a little detective work and turning off certain programs or services, or even drivers, temporarily during the install process. In my case the problem was with Symantec Endpoint Protection. Got the BSOD. Tracked the cause first to SEP which I turned off. Again got the BSOD. Discovered a non-plug & Play Driver called NAVEX15 which had to be disabled. So, shut down both SEP and the NAVEX15 Driver, installed the update, started the NAVEX15 Driver and rebooted. All was well. IE8/XP was updated and the update shows in the list of software installed. Feels good.

Thanks. I got them. The help files are not essential. I think they are in a c:/windows folder with other help files (if my memory is correct).

If you have the RTM executables, can you zip them up and post them somewhere? I wouldn't mind playing around with them. Might be able to get them to work. Can you include the the help files?

Sorry. Not RTM. Has anyone ever seen the (RTM) games separate from Vista?

Here you go. h**p://www.filedropper.com/games Virus and Malware Free Read the text note before doing anything. You have to place 2 files manually into directories before the games will run properly. Tested and used on my own system (XP SP3).

I have a few questions about creating an SFX archive using WinRAR: 1. Under the Advanced SFX Options there's a place to input a file to be executed after extraction. Is it possible to specify more than one file to be executed, or are you limited to one? 2. Can a Registry file (.reg) be executed this way? 3. If yes, how can you suppress the Registry confirmation message that usually pops up? Thanks!

Here's a couple of things for you: 1. Use PS Tray Factory to hide system tray icons (shareware and 2.1 works best). 2. Use Tasktips. A free utility that does not use a system tray icon (attached). darkrats tasktips.zip

Thanks. Can this be written up as a Registry Patch (.reg file) or some other way than using start/run?

"sndvol32.exe /s" changes it to the smaller display, but how to keep it small? The next time I opened the volume control, it was back to large again. Anyone know?

The instructions I posted were very clear (IMHO). XP would have installed to C drive (assuming you formated C drive). Unless you are running mulitple OSs or have something other than a simple format and install in mind, it should work fine.

It may be a .01 difference, but it's not a mispelling. The drivers that come with SP2 (2144) are newer (slightly) than the official ones. Probably not much difference, practically speaking. I've installed 61.40 and I can see a bit of a difference when playing UT2K4. Lots of nice, but small, visual tweaks.

Version 56.73 A bit higher than the official ones at nvidia, but lower than the two unofficial betas that can be found elsewhere on the net. 56.73 is supplied by MS and does not include any extra tools.

1. Make sure you have more than one partition on your HD. 2. Change the file system on the entire drive to FAT32 from NTFS. 3. Copy setup files from CD to a folder on any drive but C (say "winxp"). 4. Save any documents and important stuff to any drive but C. 5. Reboot with a Windows 98 boot floppy (have "smartdrv.exe on the floppy). 6. Format C drive (format: c). 7. Run smartdrive (smartdrv.exe). 8. Run Windows setup (i.e. - d:\winxp\i386\winnt.exe). 9. Follow instructions, have Key ready, have drivers ready. Using FAT32 allows you to use a Windows 98 boot floppy and some other nice DOS utilities. You give up some security for more flexibility to play around with your system. Hope this is of some help.

Removing this Key in the Registry and rebooting worked for me when I had a similar problem: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850D C73E}\InProcServer32" Any feedback would be good.