gosh

You should focus on your target audience. If your future boss puts a lot of weight in certs, then yes it'll help. If your future boss could care less then you're wasting your money. What you need is a plan. Make a choice - cert or no cert - and make a plan how to best leverage this. -gosh

g3-Off03mru.inf This is an inf i wrote in early 2007 that simply deletes most office 2003 MRU (most recently used lists), and configures office to disable generating mru's in the future. Most of the registry keys were taken from a microsoft excel file. This inf is good to clean your office, and it's good for configuring office, such as during an install. The only thing new is the inf now has an uninstall option. After install you can uninstall by right clicking the inf and selecting uninstall. Although i should warn you i didn't test the uninstall. It should work, but who knows. -gosh g3_Off03mru.zip

g3-new_inf.inf This .inf very simply adds the option to create an .inf file and .cmd file in the right click 'new' menu. This seems something so basic you wonder why microsoft never added this option. Included is a sample default.inf file to use. You can customize this file for your own needs. I find it helpful to include explanations of what flags to use when copying files, etc, that way i don't have to keep on consulting the windows DDK for inf syntax. It also helps standardize my .inf files. the inf includes an uninstall option that has been tested. You need to restart after uninstalling. -gosh g3_new_inf.zip

g3-dllfile.inf I spend a lot of time registering files, unregistering files, hexing files, checking dependancies of files, you get the picture. I decided to make an inf to speed up these functions. It's only a beginning, eventually i want to add the msdn sample code that let's you display file dependancies by moving your mouse of a file. To use this inf, simply right click on it and select install. If you want to uninstall it, right click on it and select uninstall. Typically, you cannot uninstall .inf files, however i added a special feature to this inf so you can uninstall it easily. Once installed, when you right click on a .dll file you can: 1 - Open file in hex editor 2 - Open file in depends 3 - Register file silently (no prompts) 4 - Unregister file silently (no prompts) This inf also changed the 'openwith' dialog box you get for .dll files. By default, this inf will cause .dll files to open in a hex editor, so you wont see this change. However, if you uninstall this inf by default it wont remove the 'openwith' code (if you want to completely remove this inf remove the semi-colon under [uninstall]. With this inf, the 'openwith' dialog box has changed text that you can modify in the .inf. I know this .inf isn't rocket science, it's simply something i made to speed up things on my computer. I am constantly working on different projects that will eventually wind up in something bigger, this is just a piece of the pie. This .inf is also a good example of how to edit HKCR\.dll, or HKCR\folder, or HKCR\directory, you get the idea. For more information consult the .inf file. -gosh g3_dllfile.zip

you would have to disable sfc (system file protection) -gosh

what happens in safe mode

Make sure your $OEM$ folder is in the right place. When you install from hard drive it needs to be under the i386 folder, when you install from cd it needs to be parallel to i386 folder. When in doubt - copy $oem$ to both locations. -gosh

Look at the file name - dosnet.inf. You have dos, you have network. Dosnet.inf was designed for those situations when the source files might not be available to setup. -gosh

Just use iexpress which is included in windows xp by default. Just type iexpress, and select option to make an activex install, itll make a .cab file. -gosh

if you want to edit .chm files you can use htlphelp. If you want to edit the help files in helpctr.exe you can add your own content. Search microsoft's site, such as oem help. Maybe the OPK would have info on that. -gosh

If you have xp pro you can use asr, which can look for the files on a network share, and maybe the dvd itself? I dont know, ive never played with it. I believe it looks for asr.sif. -gosh

start by posting the exact error you are getting. Also, go to support.microsoft.com and follow the article on troubleshooting printing problems in xp, and tell us if you need further help. -gosh

I'm guessing deleting the program files\media player folder then reinstalling? Searching google on 'uninstall media player' i found some promising articles. -gosh

just use asf recorder. it also captures .wmv files too -gosh

the file that does this is sendmail.dll. If you unregister the file (regsvr32 /u sendmail.dll) the feature will go away, if you register the file the feature works. -gosh

there's always a way around something as long as you have an imagination. The way apps know you are in safe mode is the registry key HKLM\system\current control set\control\safeboot\option. This keys is only created when you enter safe mode, once you exit safe mode the key is deleted. A good example of this is sharing. if you look at HKCR\Drive, under shellex you'll see Sharing, with class id {f81e9010-6ea4-11ce-a7ff-00aa003ca9f6}. If you look at HKCR\Clsid\{f81e9010-6ea4-11ce-a7ff-00aa003ca9f6}, you'll see xp uses ntshrui.dll for sharing. If you look at this file in notepad or a hex editor you'll see this: O p t i o n V a l u e S Y S T E M \ C u r r e n t C o n t r o l S e t \ C o n t r o l \ S a f e B o o t \ O p t i o n here's what happens. When you go to the sharing tab on a drive, ntshrui.dll checks that registry key, which only exists in safe mode. If it sees this key, it assumes you're in safe mode and doesn't load. This is why on xp home edition in safe mode you have a Security tab. So knowing this you could possibly disable safe mode by denying permissions on the safeboot key, causing the option key to not be created. You would have to do some research, but it's possible to disable safe mode this way. The menu you see at startup is from ntldr i believe, or ntoskrnl.exe. You could simply hex edit these files to remote the option. -gosh

use htmlhelp editor that comes with office resource kit. I'm not sure about 2007, but if you download the office 2003 resource kit it comes with it for free. -gosh

I would do as 2balls suggested, although that option is new for SP2. You could also try the pause screen key on the keyboard if you don't have sp2 installed. -gosh

The only thing i can think of is a registry key that tells all apps to open in full screen. What about a .pif file? .pif files tell programs how to start. -gosh

I believe you can modify that in shell32.dll, but like you said you have to use a 3rd party program to do that, or download others customized shell32.dll files... -gosh

sounds like a possible virus. i've heard of viruses that affect all .jpg files... -gosh

How did you install sp2? Did you integrate it into the install files using the -s switch? You're doing something you're not telling us. Are you using a custom ntoskrnl.exe? This file has the image files for the boot screen, i wonder if you are trying to use a custom boot screen or something. try an original xp cd, integrate the sp2, and see what happens. -gosh

Windows Vista is XP SP3 -gosh

Does anyone have the Rose McGowan eyerose.jpg picture that used to be on my site gosh.msfn.org? It somehow got lost in the tranlation. I got it from images.google.com, but cant find it anymore. Can anyone upload it? tia -gosh

If you do a clean install of xp the driver that is used for the keyboard does NOT have anything to do with the special buttons on a keyboard, such as a button that let's you send email. You have to use a 3rd party driver. When i say 3rd party, i mean something other than the driver that comes on the xp cd. My point was that since this functionality is in a .dll that you have to download or install, you need to troubleshoot this file, by checking it's version, installing/uninstalling it, or of course redownloading the driver. -gosh