LeveL

MSP file? what MSP file? Is it an MSP file or an XML file? Does it suddenly auto reboot these days (Office 2007 Professional Enterprise) with the original XML file in the first post? Eeeeeeeeh dear. Well thanks for this vital info prathapml you are such an asset to this forum

W0W Thanks for your hard work UtCollector! I am on a quest to make a silent install of this, not an addon but an SFX standalone install thats silent, can it possibly be done? Since you have managed to make an addon cab I guess it is possible but it seems this inno installer has no support for silent install... so then... how?!

It still is an Inno setup installer but I wonder how you can make it silent? I don't even know what language that ISS script is written in or how to make it silent. I tried to add 2 registry entries (user and serial) to it and it wouldn't work.

If you just need it back temporarily whilst you use Windows, search your C drive for .scf. I always have this problem and have a massive reg tweak to make it show quick launch and put the "Show Desktop.scf" file in $OEM$\QL_ICONS\ then write that into your CMD commands somewhere: IF NOT EXIST "%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch" MD "%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch" XCOPY "%CDROM%\$OEM$\QL_ICONS\Show Desktop.scf" "%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch" /i /s /e /r /v /k /f /c /h /y Of course if you're gonna use the %CDROM% variable you need to tell it that in the very start of the commands and also use the huge buncha hex registry tweak at T-12 to create the quick launch and enable it. ;Enable quick-launch bar near start-menu [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Desktop] "Default Taskbar"=hex:0c,00,00,00,08,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,b0,e2,2b,\ d8,64,57,d0,11,a9,6e,00,c0,4f,d7,05,a2,22,00,1c,00,0a,01,00,00,1a,00,00,00,\ 01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,4c,00,00,00,01,14,02,00,00,\ 00,00,00,c0,00,00,00,00,00,00,46,83,00,00,00,10,00,00,00,a0,b0,48,5e,89,8d,\ bd,01,00,d8,9e,e4,2a,8d,bd,01,00,45,fe,5e,89,8d,bd,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,13,01,14,00,1f,0f,e0,4f,\ d0,20,ea,3a,69,10,a2,d8,08,00,2b,30,30,9d,19,00,23,44,3a,5c,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,cd,97,15,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,af,24,5c,\ b9,10,80,57,69,6e,6e,74,00,00,20,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,af,24,a3,b9,10,00,50,\ 72,6f,66,69,6c,65,73,00,50,52,4f,46,49,4c,45,53,00,19,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,\ c1,24,08,92,10,00,69,65,35,30,30,2e,30,30,30,00,00,28,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,\ c1,24,08,92,10,00,41,70,70,6c,69,63,61,74,69,6f,6e,20,44,61,74,61,00,41,50,\ 50,4c,49,43,7e,31,00,21,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,c5,22,9d,91,10,00,4d,69,63,72,\ 6f,73,6f,66,74,00,4d,49,43,52,4f,53,7e,31,00,29,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,d3,22,\ 32,a6,10,00,49,6e,74,65,72,6e,65,74,20,45,78,70,6c,6f,72,65,72,00,49,4e,54,\ 45,52,4e,7e,31,00,24,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,db,22,76,ba,10,00,51,75,69,63,6b,\ 20,4c,61,75,6e,63,68,00,51,55,49,43,4b,4c,7e,31,00,00,00,8d,00,00,00,1c,00,\ 00,00,01,00,00,00,1c,00,00,00,36,00,00,00,0d,f0,ad,ba,8c,00,00,00,1a,00,00,\ 00,03,00,00,00,e7,18,2d,23,10,00,00,00,49,45,35,30,30,5f,58,31,43,00,43,3a,\ 5c,57,49,4e,4e,54,5c,50,72,6f,66,69,6c,65,73,5c,49,45,35,30,30,2e,30,30,30,\ 5c,41,70,70,6c,69,63,61,74,69,6f,6e,20,44,61,74,61,5c,4d,69,63,72,6f,73,6f,\ 66,74,5c,49,6e,74,65,72,6e,65,74,20,45,78,70,6c,6f,72,65,72,5c,51,75,69,63,\ 6b,20,4c,61,75,6e,63,68,00,00,10,00,00,00,05,00,00,a0,1a,00,00,00,a3,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,08,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,cc,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,\ 4a,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,40,00,32,00,e6,01,00,00,c4,24,15,9f,20,00,4c,61,75,\ 6e,63,68,20,49,6e,74,65,72,6e,65,74,20,45,78,70,6c,6f,72,65,72,20,42,72,6f,\ 77,73,65,72,2e,6c,6e,6b,00,4c,41,55,4e,43,48,7e,32,2e,4c,4e,4b,00,00,00,40,\ 00,00,00,02,00,00,00,36,00,32,00,48,02,00,00,c4,24,15,9f,20,00,4c,61,75,6e,\ 63,68,20,4f,75,74,6c,6f,6f,6b,20,45,78,70,72,65,73,73,2e,6c,6e,6b,00,4c,41,\ 55,4e,43,48,7e,31,2e,4c,4e,4b,00,00,00,36,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,2c,00,32,00,\ 51,00,00,00,ec,22,46,39,20,00,53,68,6f,77,20,44,65,73,6b,74,6f,70,2e,73,63,\ 66,00,53,48,4f,57,44,45,7e,31,2e,53,43,46,00,00,00,52,00,00,00,e0,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,16,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,16,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,\ 00,00,00,01,00,00,00,aa,4f,28,68,48,6a,d0,11,8c,78,00,c0,4f,d9,18,b4,37,02,\ 00,00,e0,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,16,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,16,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00 "TaskbarWinXP"=hex:0c,00,00,00,08,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,b0,e2,2b,\ d8,64,57,d0,11,a9,6e,00,c0,4f,d7,05,a2,22,00,1c,00,0a,01,00,00,1a,00,00,00,\ 01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,4c,00,00,00,01,14,02,00,00,\ 00,00,00,c0,00,00,00,00,00,00,46,83,00,00,00,10,00,00,00,a0,b0,48,5e,89,8d,\ bd,01,00,d8,9e,e4,2a,8d,bd,01,00,45,fe,5e,89,8d,bd,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,13,01,14,00,1f,0f,e0,4f,\ d0,20,ea,3a,69,10,a2,d8,08,00,2b,30,30,9d,19,00,23,44,3a,5c,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,cd,97,15,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,af,24,5c,\ b9,10,80,57,69,6e,6e,74,00,00,20,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,af,24,a3,b9,10,00,50,\ 72,6f,66,69,6c,65,73,00,50,52,4f,46,49,4c,45,53,00,19,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,\ c1,24,08,92,10,00,69,65,35,30,30,2e,30,30,30,00,00,28,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,\ c1,24,08,92,10,00,41,70,70,6c,69,63,61,74,69,6f,6e,20,44,61,74,61,00,41,50,\ 50,4c,49,43,7e,31,00,21,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,c5,22,9d,91,10,00,4d,69,63,72,\ 6f,73,6f,66,74,00,4d,49,43,52,4f,53,7e,31,00,29,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,d3,22,\ 32,a6,10,00,49,6e,74,65,72,6e,65,74,20,45,78,70,6c,6f,72,65,72,00,49,4e,54,\ 45,52,4e,7e,31,00,24,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,db,22,76,ba,10,00,51,75,69,63,6b,\ 20,4c,61,75,6e,63,68,00,51,55,49,43,4b,4c,7e,31,00,00,00,8d,00,00,00,1c,00,\ 00,00,01,00,00,00,1c,00,00,00,36,00,00,00,0d,f0,ad,ba,8c,00,00,00,1a,00,00,\ 00,03,00,00,00,e7,18,2d,23,10,00,00,00,49,45,35,30,30,5f,58,31,43,00,43,3a,\ 5c,57,49,4e,4e,54,5c,50,72,6f,66,69,6c,65,73,5c,49,45,35,30,30,2e,30,30,30,\ 5c,41,70,70,6c,69,63,61,74,69,6f,6e,20,44,61,74,61,5c,4d,69,63,72,6f,73,6f,\ 66,74,5c,49,6e,74,65,72,6e,65,74,20,45,78,70,6c,6f,72,65,72,5c,51,75,69,63,\ 6b,20,4c,61,75,6e,63,68,00,00,10,00,00,00,05,00,00,a0,1a,00,00,00,a3,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,08,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,cc,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,\ 4a,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,40,00,32,00,e6,01,00,00,c4,24,15,9f,20,00,4c,61,75,\ 6e,63,68,20,49,6e,74,65,72,6e,65,74,20,45,78,70,6c,6f,72,65,72,20,42,72,6f,\ 77,73,65,72,2e,6c,6e,6b,00,4c,41,55,4e,43,48,7e,32,2e,4c,4e,4b,00,00,00,40,\ 00,00,00,02,00,00,00,36,00,32,00,48,02,00,00,c4,24,15,9f,20,00,4c,61,75,6e,\ 63,68,20,4f,75,74,6c,6f,6f,6b,20,45,78,70,72,65,73,73,2e,6c,6e,6b,00,4c,41,\ 55,4e,43,48,7e,31,2e,4c,4e,4b,00,00,00,36,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,2c,00,32,00,\ 51,00,00,00,ec,22,46,39,20,00,53,68,6f,77,20,44,65,73,6b,74,6f,70,2e,73,63,\ 66,00,53,48,4f,57,44,45,7e,31,2e,53,43,46,00,00,00,52,00,00,00,e0,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,16,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,16,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,\ 00,00,00,01,00,00,00,aa,4f,28,68,48,6a,d0,11,8c,78,00,c0,4f,d9,18,b4,37,02,\ 00,00,e0,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,16,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,16,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00 Yes its all there! If you think thats big you should see the one to remove Server 2003's "Manage Your Server" and the other link its like 120Kb of code just to do that one thing.

If you choose to integrate them in nLite or use HFSLIP, either way you're gonna have to manually download them one by one. Yep, there are about 120 post SP2 Hotfixes altogether. Try it - install your SP2 CD and visit Windows Update... it is shocking I have to say... with SP1, SP2 and the 120 hotfixes it must be getting to more than 400 Hotfixes by now. Its normally around this time they make an SP3... its well overdue. The relieving thing is - nLite is incredible in that your CD won't really grow at all even after including 117 Hotfixes.

Whats an addon? An XML extension? Sorry, I don't know how.

I have got bigger things to worry about, honestly, hair... hair? What has the world MSFN come to???

You can integrate all these with nLite: IE6.0sp1-KB834707-Windows-2000-XP-x86-ENU.exe IE6.0sp1-KB905915-Windows-2000-XP-x86-ENU.exe Q323255_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe Q329115_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe Q329170_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe Q329390_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe Q329834_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe Q810577_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe Q810833_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe Q811630_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe Q814995_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe Q815021_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe Q817606_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe WindowsMedia9-KB917734-x86-ENU.exe WindowsMedia-KB911564-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB823182-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB823559-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB824105-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB825119-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB828035-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB828741-x86-ENU.EXE WindowsXP-KB837001-x86-ENU.EXE WindowsXP-KB839645-x86-enu.exe WindowsXP-KB840374-x86-ENU.EXE WindowsXP-KB873333-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB873339-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB883939-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB884020-x86-enu.exe WindowsXP-KB885222-v2-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB885250-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB885835-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB885836-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB886185-x86-enu.exe WindowsXP-KB886677-x86-enu.exe WindowsXP-KB886716-v2-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB887472-x86-enu.exe WindowsXP-KB887742-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB887797-x86-enu.exe WindowsXP-KB888113-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB888240-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB888302-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB889527-v3-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB890046-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB890175-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB890859-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB891781-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB893066-v2-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB893086-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB893357-v2-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB893756-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB894391-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB894395-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB896344-v2-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB896358-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB896422-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB896423-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB896424-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB896427-v3-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB896428-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB896626-v2-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB898461-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB898900-v2-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB899587-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB899589-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB899591-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB900485-v2-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB900725-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB900930-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB901017-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB901190-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB901214-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB902400-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB903234-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB904706-v2-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB904942-v2-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB905414-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB905749-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB905915-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB908519-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB908521-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB908531-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB910437-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB911280-v2-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB911562-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB911567-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB911927-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB912812-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB912919-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB913446-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB913580-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB914388-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB914389-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB914440-v10-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB916281-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB916595-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB917159-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB917422-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB917953-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB918439-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB918899-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB919007-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB920214-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB920670-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB920683-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB920685-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB920872-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB921398-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB921883-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB922582-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB922616-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB922819-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB923191-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB923414-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB924191-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB924496-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-KB925486-x86-ENU.exe Then you need to fiddle about to get these to install: Windows-KB890830-V1.23.exe (Malicious Software Removal Tool) Windows-KB913433-x86-ENU.exe WindowsXP-Windows2000-Script56-KB917344-x86-enu.exe CMD Commands: START /WAIT Windows-KB890830-V1.23.exe /Q /O /Z START /WAIT KB913433\INSTALL_FP6_WU.EXE START noreboot.exe START /WAIT WindowsXP-Windows2000-Script56-KB917344-x86-enu.exe /Q noreboot.exe is an AutoIt2 script, the code for that is this: HideAutoItWin, on WinWait, Windows Script 5.6, You must restart your computer before WinActivate, Windows Script 5.6, You must restart your computer before Send, n Hotfix KB913433 should be extracted out of its EXE with WinRAR or Universal Extractor and the files put into a folder, I call it "KB913433" as you can see: START /WAIT KB913433\INSTALL_FP6_WU.EXE then you only need to run the EXE and it installs automatically without switches. Grab all the hotfixes from here: M$ Downloads

They probably got so hacked off with 100 people a day asking for silent support they just did it. The main thing that annoys me though is, you can install something like nLite that requires the Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0 and yet nLite still installs no problem, yeah you do get one single message saying you don't have it installed and would you like to download it but thats easy to deal with (AutoIt, our saviour) But with Daemon Tools it refuses to install unless that SPTD is installed and running, thats just silly... I will just have to go back to v3.46 of Daemon Tools (you know, the one that didn't have the spyware in it) so I guess I can kill 2 birds with one stone.

So the latest Deamon Tools v4.08 now supports a silent install, its really easy too... it only needs the /S switch, but if you ain't got SPTD on your system before installing Daemon Tools, forget it - Deamon Tools won't install. So the answer would be to get STPD installed, registered, up and running and whatever else it takes then once thats done, install Daemon Tools v4.08. The problem is - sucky Windows and the annoying necessity to always need to reboot! Why though? What would you need to do to get this sptd.sys driver installed (copy it to system32/drivers) and set it up so you do not need to reboot? I posed this question to someone and they are very experienced with PC's and programming, they said forget the idea, it cannot be done, because the "ID has to bind" or something for a SYS file to install... pah... but it is the fact that it is SO hard to do or maybe impossible that I want to do it! I want to install Daemon Tools v4.08 in ONE feld swoop! How can it be done without a reboot?

Since Linux is being discussed for some reason... people say it is the future and so on... they say you can run WINE and emulate games but look, this is just being way too enthusiastic as far as I can see, because the emulator requires a lot of CPU and RAM - something that the game itself also requires, so then realistically you can't just emulate games on Linux... its the future, lol, yeah like 50 years into the future by which time Windows will probably be open source anyway. Someone should lobby congress to say look, now M$ has billions and billions of dollars, everyone needs XP to make using a PC in an office and at home easier... so then lets rule that Windows should be free and open source. Yeah you "could" use Linux, OK, but then you "could" walk everywhere on your hands instead of your feet... but you don't because it would be real hard to do! So then no, people shouldn't even say "well you have the choice of using Linux" because the reality is normal people who think Yahoo! is the internet, the real n00bs, are never going to be able to install Linux, they can't even install Windows half the time FFS, and even if they do get Linux on the go, theres no games for it.

The fact is we're on a Win98 forum so we all already have it... What about everyone else in the world who might not have ever bought Windows 98 and are considering seeing what all the "fuss" is about HERE? Don't worry, this won't last. Thats missing the point that Windows 2000 is still supported with Windows Updates and yet Windows 98 is not. lol What did you smoke man?Seriously, that just proves you don't know what you're talking about... Its not me that had the issues with it, it was a guy I worked with who spent weeks trying to work out how to get his DVD drive to work with Windows 98. One day I went in work and he had got it working eventually, but he had been asking me for weeks how to make it work with Windows 98, so it obviously doesn't just work - like with most things that "work" on Windows 98 he had to mess about spending weeks to make things compatible that with Windows 2000 or XP you'd just plug in and it works. So maybe I should ask the guy that told me this what he has been smoking? Just like there is no feasible argument in our eyes for using Win2k. The difference is we respect that.I never said I didn't respect using Windows 98. Just pointing out how pointless it is now its 2006. You're the one coming in a Win98 forum to make 2k proselytism...We really should have a sticky topic saying this forum is for Win98 USERS to avoid this... Well hold on, the topic is called "Why continue to use Windows 9x?" as if to say, someone give one good reason why Windows 98 is any use these days. Personally I cannot come up with any reason to still use it. Maybe its this thread that should not have been posted in a forum that will only ever glamorize Windows 98 and never discuss the reasons/label it as "disrespectful" when anyone points out these obvious shortfalls of using Windows 98? The person posting this thread even follows the title with the words "An honest question, searching for an honest answer." Hahaha! Thats sounds like he has read through this Windows 98 forum and is SCARED TO ASK because he knows he will get blasted for even suggesting that Windows 98 and attempting to make it work these days is just plain wrong when we have better NT based OS's. Indeed, why continue to use Windows 9x?

Microsoft could have done a lot more with Vista than what they have done. As was pointed out here, why arn't the things that are already in Windows fixed? Like Notepad. I mean before making new features? Look at how good VLC Player is compared to WMP. Does WMP come with all the codecs you need like VLC does? Nope. Does WMP root itself deep into your OS like VLC Player does not? Yes! Microsoft seem to deliberately make it so things are hard to remove. They should be releasing Vista so its gives you the same freedom as Windows 95 or Windows NT - remember how you can optionally add things or leave them out? As Vista sets up it could say "do you want to use WMP11/IE/OE/media Center/on and on and on" but you have no choice, its a 6Gb OS or nothing.

Windows XP does have "Windows File Protection" so you cant change system files. Why do you think everyone disables WFP when they want to use modified themes (uxtheme.dll)?

I guess no one ever did work this out? There are all sorts of icon extractor programs but I guess all of them, like ResHacker, will have the same problem with the Opera.exe icon? If Windows can show it then whats the problem? I mean WTF is a "compressed EXE"??? If Windows can handle it (it can show the icon) but ResHacker can't? Thats just idiotic!

Hmmmmmm, has anyone got the Opera icon? It cannot be extracted from the exe with ResHacker, before anyone tries that.

Some? Only "some"? Hehe, you're lucky then, 95% of the programs I tried from XP would not work in Vista. By the way, don't install Alcohol 120% in Vista... oh unless for some reason you like re-installing your OS, because when Alcohol 120% is installed, you get a BSOD, (yes, even in safe mode) and since a live WinPE XP disc does not even work on a HDD that has Vista on it, you have to re-install your OS. I love it, you gotta. Thanks for pointing this out, I will remember to never use a RAID disk with Vista. I think what we need, instead of all this promotion and baloney about Windows Vista... how about a coherent list of reasons NOT to use it? Lets just put the shoe on the other foot for ONE SECOND and bypass the multi billion dollar promotion of this already ailing OS and just cut to the chase. I like these items you're pointing out... it makes a refreshing change from all the stuff I continually hear about how "great" Vista is and most of all it warns users about the shortfalls. This isn't anything Microsoft is EVER going to tell you! All they will do is say its brilliant... the old perfume on a pig routine. Just an excuse to use as much RAM as possible. Use Linux FFS, that can run on 32Mb RAM and you know what... even if you have 4Gb RAM, Linux would still run on that same 32Mb. Sure is. Turn on "Show hidden files and folders" and also "Show protected operating system files" and in the "Users" folder you see "All Users" but wait, its just a shortcut! Click the shortcut, Access Denied!! Yes folks, access denied - to one of YOUR folders on YOUR computer! Would you ever believe the main Administrator cannot access a folder? Come on, this is pathetic... this only used to happen with "System Volume Information" in XP - that was bad enough, having one inaccessible folder but in Vista there are tons of folders, sorry shortcuts, that are inaccessible. Unacceptable. Microsoft suck again. It sickens me! Vista VS XP. Thats a laugh. You might as well say... Something that does not work properly VS Something that does work properly. PS - You can tell theres people here who work directly for Microsoft to promote Vista, because you can point these things out and they never have anything to say to it apart from things like "get over it" and so on. As a neutral person I have to say, hand on heart, Vista is complete trash. I have no reason to either promote it or slag it off, but the thing is, it needs to BE slagged off because it has endless annoying things about it.

Millennium was a strange one. It introduced "System Restore" but on the whole if its a choice between Me and 98se, I have heard most say 98se is better than Me. Its just strange because people either seem to love it or hate it - some say its a nightmare, some say the classic "I've never had a problem" but, everyone is different.

Who "could just use Windows 2000"? Windows 2000 is not freeware, you have to pay $219 or $199 for the license (official upgrade price from Microsoft for W2000 and for WXP respectively). (not mentioning how slooooow Windows 2000 is and that the mainstream support was already discontinued by Microsoft) Petr Windows 98 is not freeware either. Windows 98 is not supported with Windows Updates and Windows 2000 still is, but you're saying the opposite? I don't really understand your logic. Regarding prices - Windows 98 costs £58 here in the UK. You can buy Windows XP Home for the same price. None of these are upgrades, they are the full OS. Don't you want to be able to plug things in and they work? Windows 98 never did that! It isn't even compatible with DVD drives either. But nevermind, its all been said before as LLXX said. For people who still use Windows 98 I guess it is like a sort of religion? There is no feasible argument in my eyes for using it. Don't like the theme in XP? It can be put on classic theme. Don't like WPA? Well, you got me there, its a kicker. But the advantage to XP is... all your devices are instantly recognized, all your networking works with barely any setting up to do, heh, you have support for DVD drives and of course, you can still get Windows Updates.

Do not remove IE6! If its asking for default browser, the same happened to me upgrading Windows 2000 from IE5 to IE6, it says its not the default... so look here in the registry: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main] Make it so these two entries say yes and no as it is here: "ShowedCheckBrowser"="Yes" "Check_Associations"="No" Heres the exact reg script, it should work on IE7... ;Do not pop up message "Internet Explorer is not the default browser" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main] "ShowedCheckBrowser"="Yes" "Check_Associations"="No"

Windows 2000 does not phone home, why not just use that? Yeah but I bet even more stuff works on Windows 2000. Heh, Windows 2000 works and is vastly superior to Windows 98 and its FAT32 limitation. How do you store a 4Gb+ ISO file on FAT32? The answer is you don't, because you can't. This topic is called "Why continue to use Windows 9x?" but for me the full question would have to be "Why continue to use Windows 9x when you could just use Windows 2000?" People use 98 because they don't like the RAM consuming Luna theme and Windows Product Activation in XP... well then just use Windows 2000.

But CDA is not a container for the audio, it is just a "placeholder" hence the reason it is 44 bytes and not 60Mb like an normal CD track would be. If audio CD's don't have WAV files on them, what do they have? You can burn WAV files directly to a CD and any normal Hi-Fi CD player can play them! So then, if they are not WAV files what are they? I know they are not CDA files because such a thing does not exist, apart from in the warped world of Windows. All I want to do is drag the audio files (not a placeholder for the audio file but the actual audio file itself) from the CD to my Desktop and there it is, an audio FILE, not some crappy Windows thing. OK then if you use Linux and open an audio CD what do you see?

I put an audio CD in my drive on my PC and what do I see on the disc... Track01.cda, Track02.cda, Track03.cda, Track04.cda, Track05.cda. The CD does not contain "cda" files though it contains WAV files, so why does Windows insist on showing you these useless cda files? These cda files are 44bytes in size - WHERE ARE THE WAV FILES? If I copy the cda files to my hard disk all I have is a bunch of stupid cda files that are 44bytes in size! These are NOT what is on the CD, it has WAV files on it so why don't they show? Windows is absolutely hopeless - except you see, Microsoft has deliberately coded this crap into the OS otherwise it would just show the contents of the CD - WAV files. My question therefore is, how can I get rid of this stupid cda extension in the registry so when an audio CD is put in, it simply shows you whats on the audio CD (WAV files) and not some pointless/useless/hopeless extension? Yeah, im gonna just copy a 44byte cda file and its gonna play from my HDD, thanks Microsoft, yet again you manage to make me sick to my stomach with your unwanted tampering. NOTE: Please don't suggest "Audio Ripping" software. My audio CD's have WAV files on them OK, not cda files. Something in XP is making it show up as .cda when in reality the CD has WAV files on it, something in the registry has got to go! The classic "delete stuff from Windows to make it MORE functional" yet again I see. It f**king sucks! Why do they feel the need to mess about with things and make stuff HARDER to use? Its supposed to make life easier isn't it? I am d.a.m.n sure in Windows 95 these files showed up as WAV files.

Thanks for all the help everyone but I think this might be the fella.... [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main] "ShowedCheckBrowser"="Yes" "Check_Associations"="No"

I did an unattended Windows 2000 and when starting IE it says "Internet Explorer is not the default browser" although I do not have any other browsers, its just a straight install (bare) well OK I did HFSLIP IE6 into it, maybe thats whats made it think its not default because IE6 has replaced IE5 but, does anyone know what registry setting it is to make IE6 the default browser and to not pop up that box?