breadandbubbles

okay, i have windows XP Professional, and with onyl one user account on my pc, i am insterested in making a "Guest account. a long time ago though, a friend told me he had a program on CD that can eliminate the password on any user account. so...i am SERIOUSLY concerned. will having a guest account really going to make my pc that much more vulnerable. is my account that easy to get into even WITHOUT a guest account? on a sidenote, i want to know how to seriously limit the accessibility of Guests now only my files, but ANY files. when they go to "My Computer" i dont even want my C: drive to BE THERE. i want to create a small partition that makes up the only hard drive space the Guests can access. likewise, i want to make sure they cannot install any programs. now any of you who are going to say "just switch them to Limited"....well....im already aware of that. but they can still acess my C: drive....or....any partition i create for myself. i really, really need that to stop. Securely. Also, on a sidepoint, im connected to a router. there is one other PC connected to the router loaded with Windows 2000 Professional. is there any way to completely, absolutely block myself from that PC. i dont want to be vulnerable through my network card. on the otherhand, my Xbox, which i frequently FTP to, is also connected to the router. i just dont know what to do. anyone have any ideas?

MAN. some of these desktops are AWESOME please, can you guys post some of your favourite tools for making this? some of the things you did, favourite sites,etc? please? i want this soooo bad but i dont even know where to start. i dont want to copy anyones, i just want to know how you did it! baaaaaa! im still like...JEEZ. HOW do you guys do this? seriously? black, how do you get RSS feeds to display right on the desktop?

having "about:blank" sounds like the stupidest thing ive ever heard. id never even considered it. can someone PEASE explain the sense in that?

MAN. alright, i just built my first PC a couple of months ago. saved up for a long time for it and not going with BTX is sorta of a regret i have. few things: 1) the P5WD2 is AWESOME. THE PERFECT MOTHERBOARD. but ill tell you right now i really really wished i pitched in the extra few bucks for the deluxe model. mainly because the regular one has no FireWire. go with the deluxe(premium) model! next is that BTX ROCKS. it wasnt until after i'd already built my pc that i heard tell of it. they basically moved everything around on the motherboard for a greater deal of efficiency. naturally theres absolutely no chance of fitting a BTX mobo in an ATX Case, a huge disadvantage because virtually all cases are ATX. the case is the only thing you need to consider with BTX. harddrive, optical drive, CPU, all of that does not matter. its just in different spots with BTX. if you have the right socket, thats all you need. i dont know WHY they label the CPU's BTX, but it doesnt matter. it cant hurt to go with the BTX labelled ones if ytou want, but dont sweat it. last, is the reason BTX hasnt caught on, if its SO much better(which it is). well, theres two, and their pretty similar to the changes almost every format adjustment goes through: 1) people cases will need to be changed. duh. online companies, computer store. their cases will have to go down in price to sell. since they own the retail world, their holding out. 2) the second reason is production. cases production factories, motherboard assembly plants, all case,mobo mass producers, are NOT HAPPY. it will cost them many thousands of dollars to adjust their plants and assembly line equipment to accomodate this new format. this has a greater impact than you might think, and means more changes for these producers than you can ever imagine. im guessing that that problem alone will result in very high pricing on BTX cases and motherboards for some time. im guessing that in another year/year and a half, BTX will catch on and totally take over. from what i understand its worth it though. it runs cooler and faster, and i read that things are placed for easier access inside and outside the case. Coller, faster, and more accessible. who doesnt need more of that! An EXCELLENT accurate and quick guide to Motherboard form factors.

with my experience in console gaming, the games for new concoles usually crap out on graphics. I think this is because each system and its capabilites are new to the developers and they are niot quite familiar with its workings yet. i know it took most of a year for Xbox to reach its potential the first time. id expect the same this time.

what exactly does the WGA thing mean?

never fear! i made a poll!

of course there are important differences between each one that one must consider. for one thing, MSN's desktop search is incorporated into a toolbar. if you dont like having extra toolbars (like me) then you might not want this one. If you look at Copernic (at leats the versions ive tested) ive found that its excellent and in depth (it even find JPEG's by searching embedded comments) but it cant search compressed files. Other programs are not so In depth like Yahoo. Yahoo only searches file names, not inside the actual files themselves, like most other desktop searches. Many times, limits with desktop searches, like Google Desktop Searches inability to search Rich Text Format, compressed, XML, and other popular formats, can be fixed by simply downloading some plug-ins, which i sucessfully did with Google. (Actually, Google desktop search also searches Thunderbird files, should that help anyone). One thing that bothered me about Google is that you cannot choose when indexing occurs, but you can pause the process if its hogging your CPU. so there it is! Im hoping everyone will not only Poll, but explain what is is you like about each option, and even potential downsides.

im more than excited about the optimus keyboard. no matter where you check, the only answer you get is that it will be released in 2006. still, in the meantime, i figure dit couldnt hurt to throw 30 bucks (canadian) into a logitech media keyboard. im more than happy with it... but its no Optimus.

excellent! thank you! oh, on emore question...i have current downloads on shareaza that took me quite some time. is it possible to transfer them to uTorrent?

hahaha. sorry fellas, i should have brought up WHY id want an alternative. i suppose the problem stems from the fact that its not longer "in production", yes. see, ive heard rumours that many newer DVD arent read by DVD Shrink. is it true?

i have DVD Shrink, due to my habit of backing up everyone one of my dvds i dont want them scratched, and.,..they get scratched, so i make copies. but DL discs are way expensive, so i jsut shrink them. i dont care about quality. i was just wondering, does anyone know of any alternatives to DVDShrink? maybe a dvd copying with greater capabilities? its okay if it wont copy protected DVDs. and it doesnt have to be freeware.

im curious though...is there a free version of winrar? keep in mind im NOT asking for a crack or illegal copy. i am just one of those suckers who has made a personal choice to fully support software by purchasing it (though i dont care whatsoever whether everyone else steals it, thats their choice) and i say im a sucker because three time snow ive purchased software and when attempting to activate it with a key, ive received those wonderful little "key already in use" messages.*sigh* but thats for a different topic... no, what im asking here is whether or not winrar has officially released any freeware version of their product. though i wonder...do i even need it? ive been using winrar for far more days then the evaluation gives me. are there any limits to functionality that im not yet aware of?

zxian, whats VMware?

yes, i was looking for a way to prevent any popups of shareaza whatsoever. it already stays minimized in the tray. this is bothring the heck out of me. whats worse is that virtually the entire shareza site, including the forums are still "under construction" ill have to go with something else. whats uTorrent. does it include p2p capabilites as well? high CPU usage? its funny you guy should say that about speed. i have a house in the city and i get speeds averageing about 5 kb/s on a good day, while my other computer at my house in the country i get about 1000 kb/s. the thing is its my sisters computer not mine. she said i could download using her PC so long as its silent and doesnt get in her way. shell never notice. i agreed, and installed shareaza. i decided on shareaza because of the following: 1) it boot up with pc, MINIMIZED TO TRAY AREA(most important) 2) offers p2p capabilites 3) very helpful -> offers REMOTE USE so i can download files onto her pc from my pc in the city. its brilliant. now...i cant. shes getting p***ed at this media box... can uTorrent do these things?

im not too picky about file sizes. good HDD's arent expensive. i was looking for functionality, especially with ISO's. i can see my faith in winrar is well placed. thanks all!

i want my shareaza to run silently, but i recently had to update my shareza version because everytime i booted my pc (shareaza boots up with my pc) i got notifications of newer versions. fine, i says. NOW, whenever i boot up, a little box appears in the top left corner of my screen. its like a media box, with a pause button and stop button. i dno. i have to close it everytime! and i STILL get notifications of...man i dont even know. i jsut close them. im tempted to uninstal the friggin thing, but i dont know any other silten torrent downloaders.. can anyone help with my shareaza?

i love winrar. absolutely love it. but ive since learned that there are many other such programs with many other such features. anyone have any recomendations with compression programs or archiving programs?

i had some trouble recently with my pc and was forced to reformat it, without having a chance to backup most of my files. so i decided to create a small partition (40gb) on my 250gb SATA HDD, where i could keep important media files, installers, etc. i did this during my instal of windows XP Pro. i told windows to install on the C: drive, and create a partition labelled D:. instead though, C: has become the 40gb partition and windows is installed onto the D: drive. its not that big of a deal but it is bothersome to work that way, which lead me to question...is it possible to delete a partition? can i get rid of this 40gb partition, combinging that space with my D: drive, or vice versa, so that i only have one drive. if i did that, would it automatically be named C: drive? if that is the case, then could i proceed to put back my partition, with the hopes that this time it will be called the D: drive? is this confusing...? is there anyone who can help me?

is there any way to schedule my PC, running Windows XP Home, to boot up automatically? for instance, if i want norton to scan at 3am on tuesday, but my pc if off, it wont scan. how do i automate tis?

yea! i read the same thing. i dont know which to delete though...

Thanks Jim-p and TheFlash for your help, but i wont have access to my PC again until monday. still though i should clarify a few things: i have most of my files on some DVDs. the most important ones anyway, yes. there are a few id like to have , but mostly i was worried about my wpa files. ive been reassured time and again thanks to the people of this forum taht there nothing to worry about call windows if i have to and all will be well. still id like to just get rid of the trojan. Jim mentioned searching for something more virus specific. the problem is, when my PC boots up, it does that whole windows loading screen, and instead of a logon screen i get a message. something about windows restarting windows instalation if i remember. then the screen is blck, and in all the corners of the screen the words "safe mode" are in white, with an error message in the middle telling me to press ok to restart becausw windows cannot install in safe mode. i never see my desktop, or get access to my C drive. i click OK and the whole process starts over. id assumed id been booting from my HDD all along, since it asks me early on whether or not i want to boot from disc, and i dont press any buttons... also, i dont think i have any options such as logging in anymore, because it had to delete my old windows to install the new one, right? and this new cant finish because im in safe mode. ill try booting it from harddrive and pressing F8 again to get to the next menu, but i dont think itll work . the main reason im worried is because of the programs i have on my pc. Adobe Photoshop was expensive (though i received it as a gift), and id love it if i could just transfer my activation. i have other programs, such as Norton, which id rather not have to reactivate... will i just have to reformat? or might it actually work to just tell it to boot from harddrive?

i tried installing MS XP Pro. while in safe mode. yadda yadda yadda. it installs downloads, or configures, or whatevere, reboots, does that whole drive patrrition thing yadda yadda yadda. then it goes into windows and i get a message saying that windows may not install while in safe mode. so i have to reboot. i reboot, and the same thing happens. over and over. to put it in safe mode i used MSCONFIG. Is there anyway to reboot without safemode!? i tried the f8 thing but it just gave me a list of places i can boot from (harddrive, floppy drive, etc.)

man...i cant restart in normal mode to access the wpa files. im so scared guys... prressing F8 didnt do a **** thing. it only provided me with a list of boot options in regards to WHERE i boot from. there were three options: floppy, harddrive, or DVD drive. is there anyone out there who can tell me how to boot in normal mode? are my files lost?

okay so after like...10 hours of waiting for someone to tell me whether or not i can reformat and not have to reactivate, and if that would work on windows office xp, i decided to move on. because apparently its complicated...i dunno. so i decided to simply try reinstalling XP. i dno...why not. couldnt hurt to try. im at my wits end. im breaking smashing the thing. id love to reformat it but i DONT KNOW WHETHER OR NOT I HAVE TO REPURCHASE XP. so i tried reinstalling it. i got a message saying i needed to be administrator. which is weird because im the only account on my pc. then i remembered that for some reason when i boot in safe mode another account appears called "administrator". so i did and...voila. there it is. so im in safe mode and i reinstall xp. it boots. and...it boots in safe mode. i guess its stuck because to put it in safe mode i ran msconfig and selected safe mode from the boot.ini tab. its the only way i know how to do it. so it reboots in safe mode. and i get a message that "windows cannot install in safe mode. windows is rebooting"so i click okay. which is the only option. and it reboots. in safe mode. same message. so now im completely stuck! endless cycle! HOW DO I REBOOT WITHOUT SAFEMODE HOW DO I REFORMAT MY COMPUTER, ONCE I GET ACCESS TO IT, SO THAT I WONT HAVE TO REACTIVATE?WILL IT WORK FOR MICROSOFT OFFICE XP 2003 PROFFESSIONAL? please...please help me. i need this computer. i need those files!