Plamdi

A little while ago (2006) I was working on a way to automatically activate any genuine copy of Windows XP. It basically would attempt 2 forms of activation: 1. If OEM installation, attempt "pre-activation" mode. 2. Generate an Installation ID and prompt user (who could then choose Internet Activation or enter the data from phone activation or enter a new product key). I decided such a program would no longer be as useful when SP3 was released because it overcame the "product key" issue (ie that you can install fully unattended without entering the product key, and then enter it and activate Windows). This program was not ever going to be intended for general public use. I may sometime (if I have the time) write a VBS program that prompts for the product key after installation is complete, I think that would be useful for some people who want to create an unattended disc that they can use with their friends and families, without having a product key in it (if you lend them your disc and they are prompted for their product key after installation, that will make sense to them and they can easily find the key and enter it). This is, obviously, most useful for OEM versions... which is the version that most of us will be used to. I still think it would be useful for some people (especially those in the business of installing XP on customer Machines) to have an automated script to enter in the product key upon the installation of Windows. This is an incomplete VBS file, do with it whatever you please... it does show you a proof-of-concept way to activate Windows through VBS (Internet or Phone)... It also shows you how to detect what version has been installed using the Product ID... it is however untested, and the OEM preactivation is not included. Maybe someone in the business of fixing computers can publish a full working version. Option Explicit:On Error Resume Next Dim WshShell,Obj,fso,K,P,T,isPro,pID,iID,cID,tmp:isPro=0:pID="" ' S - 0 = OEM Req Activation, 1 = Retail Req Activation, 2 = No Activation Req. For each Obj in GetObject("winmgmts:").InstancesOf("win32_WindowsProductActivation") ' The following line could be run as a means to automatically attempt activation through OEM preactivation. ' If Obj.ActivationRequired And Mid(Obj.ProductID,7,3)="OEM" Then WSCRIPT.RUN("OEM Pre-activation") ' The following While could be used to prompt the user for activation. While Obj.ActivationRequired ' Generate an Installation ID if new Product Key (Product ID). If pID<>Obj.ProductID Then tmp=Obj.GetInstallationID(iID) pID=Obj.ProductID End If ' The following lines can be used in conjunction with a prompt to change the product key. ' PROD_KEY=Replace(PROD_KEY,"-","") ' result=Obj.SetProductKey(PROD_KEY) ' The following line can be used in conjunction with a prompt to enter the confirmation ID from Phone activation to activate the product. ' result=Obj.ActivateOffline(ConfirmationID) ' The following line attempts internet activation. ' result=Obj.ActivateOnline() ' If unsuccessful try again (remember to give the user a way to break this loop if necessary). Wned Next What I would be interested in seeing, sometime, or creating myself would be a file that average home users could use in their Windows installations to assist them in Product Activation. I still believe very firmly that activation is a very nauseating and confusing task for most people - I don't just mean Microsoft either, some friends of mine once purchased a product that required activation and even I couldn't get the stupid thing to activate. The company that produced the software used a third-party for activation, activation was only possible through internet... and for some reason it was impossible to activate through a standard Telstra ADSL connection.

I just tested the version I posted here, and it's working fine for me. Follow the following steps:1. copy the code. 2. open WordPad (not Notepad). 3. paste the code into WordPad. 4. click save. 5. select "Text Document" under "File name", and not "Rich Text Format", and put QFIND.VBS in the file name. 6. Run qfind.vbs to install.

Thanks for the contribution, chrismholmes, however I don't reccomend simpkly using sendkeys and sleep the way you have. 9 times out of 10 it'll probably work fine, however I have written a far better program for this purpose that works on a far better level. It is called OEM Installer, and you'll find it amung my recent post that includes all of my VBS contributions to date! It is still VBS based, but is much easier to add programs to, and is much less prone to errors. You could piggy-back the programs, if you wanted to, by writing (for instance) adding the remove weather channel check into the REMTOOLB.VBS file in the way you have, except instead of then running its own little script using send keys it launches OEM Installer to do the automated-uninstall-script. Here's pseudocode to illistrate what I mean: <REMTOOLB.VBS> <IF GOOGLE TOOLBAR INSTALLED> - Launch google toolbar uninstaller using silent switch. <IF YAHOO TOOLBAR INSTALLED> - Launch yahoo toolbar uninstaller using silent switch. <IF AOL TOOLBAR INSTALLED> - Launch aol toolbar uninstaller using silent switch. <IF ASK TOOLBAR INSTALLED> - Launch ask toolbar uninstaller using silent switch. <IF Weather Channel Desktop INSTALLED> - Lauch OEM Installer to uninstall program. <OEM INSTALLER> Check what program I run from commandline. Open INI file to see how I run this program. Run program and automate the process as layed out in INI file. Terminate when my program has terminated, or script instructs me to. The post with OEM Installer is here, I suggest giving it a go it's really easy, and there are even some working examples in there to get you started.

Some more of my favourites! These are some more extensions that are really handy to have, for PNG and JPEG. Edit PNG chunks - This requires the freeware tool TweakPNG. This is an incredibly, incredibly useful tool. Edit JPEG comments - This requires the freeware tool edjpgcom. This is also an incredibly, incredibly useful tool. Edit PNG chunks... paste the following into Wordpad and save as pngchunk.vbs. ' © 2008 plamdi.com, this file must not be sold, you may distribute it ' freely so long as it remains unmodified with all internal documentation. ' ' This program is designed for use with TweakPNG. It will add or remove ' a shell extension for editing PNG image file chunks. ' In no way am I affiliated with TweakPNG. ' ' Installation: ' 1. Ensure there is a copy of TweakPNG (tweakpng.exe) located in your ' WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 directory. ' 1. Double click on pngchunk.vbs to install/uninstall ' 2. Run "WScript.exe pngchunk.vbs" from a command prompt or the run dialogue. ' 3. Run "WScript.exe pngchunk.vbs /s" to achieve a silent installation. ' ' Usage: ' Right click a PNG image file, and click "Edit PNG Chunks". ' ' Notes on installation: ' pngchunk.vbs can be run from anywhere to install so long as TweakPNG is in ' your SYSTEM32 directory. The script will not install the extension if ' TweakPNG isn't detected, but will uninstall if asked. If you wish to locate ' the file elsewhere, simply copy this file to the folder where TweakPNG ' resides and run from there. ' ' When this file is run it will automatically place a copy into your System32 ' folder, you may delete any other installation point as it will not be needed. ' ' You can uninstall the shell extensions through "Add or Remove Programs" in ' Control Panel. ' ' If you prefer you can use /silent instead of /s. Silent installations ' suppress error messages if it cannot be installed. ' ' -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Option Explicit:On Error Resume Next Dim WshShell,fso,f,o,p,t,v,w,tmp:w=0 Set WshShell=WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Set fso=CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") p=Left(WScript.ScriptFullName,Len(WScript.ScriptFullName)-Len(WScript.ScriptName)) If Wscript.Arguments.Count=1 Then If Wscript.Arguments(0)="/REM" Then v=MsgBox("Are you sure you want to remove the edit-PNG-chunks shell extension?",292,"Remove shell extension confirmation") If v=7 Then WshShell=Nothing:Wscript.Quit(1) w=7 ElseIf UCase(Wscript.Arguments(0))="/S" Or UCase(Wscript.Arguments(0))="/SILENT" Then w=6 Else ErrHndlr() End If ElseIf Wscript.Arguments.Count<>0 Then ErrHndlr() End If If fso.fileexists(p&"tweakpng.exe") Then If UCase(WScript.ScriptFullName)<>UCase(p&"PNGCHUNK.VBS") Then fso.CopyFile WScript.ScriptFullName,p&"pngchunk.vbs" End If Else If fso.fileexists(WshShell.Environment("PROCESS")("SystemRoot")&"\System32\tweakpng.exe") Then p=WshShell.Environment("PROCESS")("SystemRoot")&"\System32\" fso.CopyFile WScript.ScriptFullName,p&"pngchunk.vbs" Else If w=6 Then WshShell=Nothing:Wscript.Quit(0) ElseIf w<>7 Then v=MsgBox("TweakPNG not found. Would you like to remove the shell extension?",292,"Remove shell extension") If v=7 Then WshShell=Nothing:Wscript.Quit(1) End If End If End If If w=0 Then w=MsgBox("Do you want the edit-PNG-chunks shell extension?",292,"Enable/Disable shell extension") t=WshShell.RegRead("HKCR\.png\") If t<>"" Then t="HKCR\"&t&"\shell\edit_png_chunk\" If w=6 Then WshShell.RegWrite t,"Edit PNG Chunks" WshShell.RegWrite t&"command\",""""&p&"tweakpng.exe"" ""%d""" Else WshShell.RegDelete t&"command\":WshShell.RegDelete t End If t="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\pngchunk\" If w=6 Then WshShell.RegWrite t,"" WshShell.RegWrite t&"DisplayName","Edit PNG Chunks Shell Extension (Removal)" WshShell.RegWrite t&"UninstallString","WScript.exe """&p&"pngchunk.vbs"" /REM" WshShell.RegWrite t&"NoModify",1,"REG_DWORD" WshShell.RegWrite t&"NoRepair",1,"REG_DWORD" Else WshShell.RegDelete t&"NoModify":WshShell.RegDelete t&"NoRepair" WshShell.RegDelete t&"UninstallString":WshShell.RegDelete t&"DisplayName":WshShell.RegDelete t fso.DeleteFile(p&"pngchunk.vbs") End If End If Set WshShell=Nothing Wscript.Quit(1) sub ErrHndlr() MsgBox "Invalid parameters were given. The only correct user command line is /s or /silent.",16,"pngchunk.vbs error" Set WshShell=Nothing Wscript.Quit(0) End Sub Edit JPEG comments... paste the following into Wordpad and save as jpegcomm.vbs. ' © 2008 plamdi.com, this file must not be sold, you may distribute it ' freely so long as it remains unmodified with all internal documentation. ' ' This program is designed for use with Edjpgcom. It will add or remove ' a shell extension for editing JPEG image file comments. ' In no way am I affiliated with Edjpgcom. ' ' Installation: ' 1. Ensure there is a copy of Edjpgcom (edjpgcom.exe) located in your ' WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 directory. ' 1. Double click on jpegcomm.vbs to install/uninstall ' 2. Run "WScript.exe jpegcomm.vbs" from a command prompt or the run dialogue. ' 3. Run "WScript.exe jpegcomm.vbs /s" to achieve a silent installation. ' ' Usage: ' Right click a JPEG image file, and click "Edit JPEG Comments". ' ' Notes on installation: ' jpegcomm.vbs can be run from anywhere to install so long as Edjpgcom is in ' your SYSTEM32 directory. The script will not install the extension if ' Edjpgcom isn't detected, but will uninstall if asked. If you wish to locate ' the file elsewhere, simply copy this file to the folder where Edjpgcom ' resides and run from there. ' ' When this file is run it will automatically place a copy into your System32 ' folder, you may delete any other installation point as it will not be needed. ' ' You can uninstall the shell extensions through "Add or Remove Programs" in ' Control Panel. ' ' If you prefer you can use /silent instead of /s. Silent installations ' suppress error messages if it cannot be installed. ' ' -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Option Explicit:On Error Resume Next Dim WshShell,fso,f,o,p,t,v,w,tmp:w=0 Set WshShell=WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Set fso=CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") p=Left(WScript.ScriptFullName,Len(WScript.ScriptFullName)-Len(WScript.ScriptName)) If Wscript.Arguments.Count=1 Then If Wscript.Arguments(0)="/REM" Then v=MsgBox("Are you sure you want to remove the edit-JPEG-comments shell extension?",292,"Remove shell extension confirmation") If v=7 Then WshShell=Nothing:Wscript.Quit(1) w=7 ElseIf UCase(Wscript.Arguments(0))="/S" Or UCase(Wscript.Arguments(0))="/SILENT" Then w=6 Else ErrHndlr() End If ElseIf Wscript.Arguments.Count<>0 Then ErrHndlr() End If If fso.fileexists(p&"edjpgcom.exe") Then If UCase(WScript.ScriptFullName)<>UCase(p&"JPEGCOMM.VBS") Then fso.CopyFile WScript.ScriptFullName,p&"jpegcomm.vbs" End If Else If fso.fileexists(WshShell.Environment("PROCESS")("SystemRoot")&"\System32\edjpgcom.exe") Then p=WshShell.Environment("PROCESS")("SystemRoot")&"\System32\" fso.CopyFile WScript.ScriptFullName,p&"jpegcomm.vbs" Else If w=6 Then WshShell=Nothing:Wscript.Quit(0) ElseIf w<>7 Then v=MsgBox("Edjpgcom not found. Would you like to remove the shell extension?",292,"Remove shell extension") If v=7 Then WshShell=Nothing:Wscript.Quit(1) End If End If End If If w=0 Then w=MsgBox("Do you want the edit-JPEG-comments shell extension?",292,"Enable/Disable shell extension") t=WshShell.RegRead("HKCR\.jpg\") If t<>"" Then t="HKCR\"&t&"\shell\edit_jpg_comm\" If w=6 Then WshShell.RegWrite t,"Edit JPEG Comments" WshShell.RegWrite t&"command\",""""&p&"edjpgcom.exe"" ""%d""" Else WshShell.RegDelete t&"command\":WshShell.RegDelete t End If t="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\jpegcomm\" If w=6 Then WshShell.RegWrite t,"" WshShell.RegWrite t&"DisplayName","Edit JPEG Comments Shell Extension (Removal)" WshShell.RegWrite t&"UninstallString","WScript.exe """&p&"jpegcomm.vbs"" /REM" WshShell.RegWrite t&"NoModify",1,"REG_DWORD" WshShell.RegWrite t&"NoRepair",1,"REG_DWORD" Else WshShell.RegDelete t&"NoModify":WshShell.RegDelete t&"NoRepair" WshShell.RegDelete t&"UninstallString":WshShell.RegDelete t&"DisplayName":WshShell.RegDelete t fso.DeleteFile(p&"jpegcomm.vbs") End If End If Set WshShell=Nothing Wscript.Quit(1) sub ErrHndlr() MsgBox "Invalid parameters were given. The only correct user command line is /s or /silent.",16,"jpegcomm.vbs error" Set WshShell=Nothing Wscript.Quit(0) End Sub

Feel free to pin this topic! Cause everyone gunna want SOMETHING in it! Please Note: The line breaks appear to be in Unix mode, which means they do not correctly render when pasted into Notepad. For this reason I've replaced all references to Notepad with Wordpad, please paste into to Wordpad not Notepad to save as it does handle Unix line breaks correctly! Okay, some of you have probably forgotten I've ever contributed my own little VBS files, so here they are... all shell extensions can be installed silently with either /S or /SILENT (case-insensitive), and all can be uninstalled through "Add/Remove Programs" (or by simply running the VBS file). Also every shell-extension file copies itself to its installation destination, which is usually in SYSTEM32. All are designed for Windows NT (2000, XP, etc) - I don't know if they'll work with Win9x. Here's a list of all my programs in this post, with a quick explination of what it does: Run with arguments - allows one to right-click a file and select "run with arguments" to run the file using command-line arguments.Image conversion shell extension - allows one to right-click image files and convert to another format.Directory usage - allows one to right-click a directory (folder) and click "show directory usage", which is then displayed in Wordpad.Quick find - a cheap and nasty search feature added to the context-menu on folders.OEM Installer - installs programs without user interaction. Intended for use with unattended Windows setups.Remove toolbars - silently, and automatically removes Google and Yahoo toolbars. Intended for use with unattended setups.Set archives - this replaces some file-types with different icons.There are more in the next post! 1. Run With Arguments. This VBS file adds to your context menu "Run With Argument", and it does exactly what it says. Paste into Wordpad, save as RUNWARGS.VBS. 2. Image Conversion Shell Extension. This is even better then the above shell extension, because it allows you to convert image files between common formats right from the context menu. This extension requires IrfanView to be installed. Paste into Wordpad, save as I_CONV.VBS. 3. Directory Usage. This VBS file adds to your context menu "Show Directory Usage", and does exactly that when clicked. It requires Du from Sysinternals. Paste into Wordpad, save as DIRINFO.VBS. 4. Quick Find. Adds a cheap-and-nasty search feature to all folders, so you can right click and select "Quick Find" - this will search just that directory, and it's subdirectories. Paste into Wordpad, save as QFIND.VBS. 5. OEM Installer. This is probably one the greatest of all my VBS creations. It isn't a shell-extension, it is a program for automated installations where the program doesn't support silent switches - or, displays dialogues, etc, when using said switches. It works very well, and all documentation required to use it is in the two files required. This requires two files, OEMINST.VBS, and OEMINST.INI, so paste the following code into Wordpad, and save as OEMINST.VBS and OEMINST.INI, respectively. There are some working examples in the .INI file. OEMINST.VBS: OEMINST.INI: 6. Remove Toolbars. This file silently uninstalls both the Google and Yahoo toolbars, if present. REMTOOLB.VBS It is the only file you need, however if you really only want to remove one and not the other (which I don't reccomend because they're both spyware) then you can use either of these: REMYAHOO.VBS: REMGOOGL.VBS: On my original post, user chrismholmes contributed removal of some additional items. The ones that use SendKeys and Sleep I don't reccomend using like this, rather use OEM Installer above for these needs - it's a far more robust program for these needs and less prone to errors. It also waits for the programs to terminate before quitting, which is useful for RunOnceEX because your next item won't be processed until it is done. Anyway, here is a version that will also remove the AOL and Ask toolbars, so long as chrismholmes's code was correct (I have not tested it, use at your own discression): 7. Archive icons. These are useful it if annoys you (like it does me) when all zip, rar, 7z archives are set to appear as the same file type. The icons are attached, save them to System32 - and here is a custom file to set the icon for several archives types: SETARCHIVES.CMD: 8. There's also a great program called FavOrg that restores all your favourite icons for you, cause after all it's annoying as hell when you install fresh and there's no favicons in your favourites that you just copied back!!! It's not my program, obviously, but everyone should have it! Get it here 9. And there is another extension I just LOVE called HashTab, Get it here! It adds MD5, SHA1 and CRC32 hashes to a tab in file properties, awesome! That's all for now, like I said I recommend pinning this topic, as it's absolutely crammed with goodies! 17/07/2015 ... just changed the webaddress to my current website, and put everything in spoiler tags. ICONS.7z

I've made all kinds of menus in VB6 before, they're not difficuilt to do. However you can't change it in a visual style, you would need to replace explorer.exe - so good luck with that! You could perhaps download the ReactOS explorer.exe replacement and modify it.

WinZIP must have gone out-of-the-way to avoid the start menu context menu, as it's counted as a folder-context menu.

I can tell you exactly what they're doing. WinRAR doesn't use the registry to add that context menu, it uses a DLL file (rarext.dll). This is what enables it, for isntance, to add "Open SFX archive in WinRAR" to EXE files that are ZIP or RAR while not displaying it on ordinary .EXE's - and also how it adds the "Archive" tab to the file properties. Replacing rarext.dll with a new freshly programmed replacement, programmed not to display on the start menu. Or you could try pushing bits under a disassembler/debugger, and dumping (re-assembling) the result. Either way: it would be very difficuilt. You must remember that the start menu is a folder, and is treated as such for context-menu purposes. 7-zip doesn't even have a DLL to go with it, and uses the registry.

I have to agree, replacing internal windows components is usually not a good idea. Microsoft knows how their OS works better than anyone else, so replacing the internal DCHP is really not a good idea.

Yes, but the above steps use only internal Microsoft commands/files. IO.SYS MSDOS.SYS and COMMAND.COM are transferred with the SYS command.I have a question for you, however - do you know of a program which would be capable of formatting an NTFS partion under MS-DOS (assuming you have a suitible NTFS TSR like NTFS4DOS)?

I like helping out, so here is how I install MS-DOS onto my Windows XP based system. FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Now let's assume you installed Windows XP onto C:\ and that you formatted C:\ as FAT-32. Here is how to install Windows 7.10: 1. Copy all required MS-DOS files to your HDD. I've used C:\DOS\DOS7.1 as my folder containing all MS-DOS files, and C:\DOS\TOOLS containing 3rd party command-line tools. You can find all required files from a Windows 98 CD, but it's a lot easier to simply copy them from a Windows 98 installation directory \Windows\command. Here is a list of all the files I have in C:\DOS\DOS7.1. Keep in mind some files such as help.com are copied from other versions of DOS: C:\DOS\DOS7.1\ANSI.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\ASPI2DOS.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\ASPI4DOS.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\ASPI8DOS.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\ASPI8U2.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\ASPICD.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\ATTRIB.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\BTCDROM.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\BTDOSM.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\CHKDSK.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\CHOICE.COM C:\DOS\DOS7.1\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\DOS7.1\COUNTRY.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\CVT.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DBLBUFF C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DBLSPACE.BAT C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DBLSPACE.BIN C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DBLSPACE.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DEBUG.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DEFRAG.BAT C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DELTREE.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DISKCOPY.COM C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DISPLAY.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DOSKEY.COM C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DRVSPACE.BAT C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DRVSPACE.BIN C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DRVSPACE.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\EDIT.COM C:\DOS\DOS7.1\EDIT.HLP C:\DOS\DOS7.1\EDIT.INI C:\DOS\DOS7.1\EGA.CPI C:\DOS\DOS7.1\EMM386.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\EXPAND.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\EXT.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\EXTRACT.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\FASTHELP.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\FC.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\FDISK.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\FIND.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\FINDRAMD.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\FLASHPT.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\FORMAT.COM C:\DOS\DOS7.1\HELP.COM C:\DOS\DOS7.1\HELP.HLP C:\DOS\DOS7.1\HIMEM.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\IEXTRACT.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\IFSHLP.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\IO.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\KEYB.COM C:\DOS\DOS7.1\KEYBOARD.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\KEYBRD2.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\KEYBRD3.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\KEYBRD4.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\LABEL.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\MEM.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\MODE.COM C:\DOS\DOS7.1\MORE.COM C:\DOS\DOS7.1\MOVE.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\MSCDEX.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\NLSFUNC.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\OAKCDROM.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\QBASIC.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\QBASIC.HLP C:\DOS\DOS7.1\RAMDRIVE.SYS C:\DOS\DOS7.1\RESTART.COM C:\DOS\DOS7.1\SCANDISK.BAT C:\DOS\DOS7.1\SCANDISK.EX~ C:\DOS\DOS7.1\SCANDISK.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\SCANDISK.INI C:\DOS\DOS7.1\SCANREG.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\SMARTDRV.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\SORT.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\START.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\SUBST.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\SYS.COM C:\DOS\DOS7.1\XCOPY.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\XCOPY32.EXE C:\DOS\DOS7.1\XCOPY32.MOD C:\DOS\DOS7.1\DBLBUFF\DBLBUFF.SYS 2. Make a boot disk. There's not a lot to this one, you can use the standard Windows 98 boot disk if you like. Just be sure to copy DEBUG.EXE onto your floppy disk. You also need the following 3 batch file for your boot-disk: BSSAVE.BAT @echo off md c:\dos echo LCS:100 2 0 1 > c:\boot.tmp echo rcx >> c:\boot.tmp echo 200 >> c:\boot.tmp echo n c:\dos\bootsect.dat >> c:\boot.tmp echo wcs:100 >> c:\boot.tmp echo q >> c:\boot.tmp echo. >> c:\boot.tmp debug < c:\boot.tmp del c:\boot.tmp ECHO HARD DISK BOOTSECTOR STORED AS C:\DOS\BOOTSECT.DAT NTBSSAVE.BAT @echo off md c:\dos echo LCS:100 2 0 1 > c:\boot.tmp echo rcx >> c:\boot.tmp echo 200 >> c:\boot.tmp echo n c:\bootsect >> c:\boot.tmp echo wcs:100 >> c:\boot.tmp echo q >> c:\boot.tmp echo. >> c:\boot.tmp debug < c:\boot.tmp del c:\boot.tmp copy c:\bootsect a:\bootsect ECHO HARD DISK BOOTSECTOR STORED AS C:\BOOTSECT AND A:\BOOTSECT BSWRITE.BAT @echo off ECHO THIS FILE WILL WRITE A:\BOOTSECT TO THE PRIMARY HARD DISK BOOTSECTOR! ECHO EXPECT YOUR COMPUTER TO RESTART UPON COMPLEATION. ECHO. ECHO PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE, OR CTRL-C TO QUIT. echo WCS:100 2 0 1 > a:\boot.tmp echo q >> a:\boot.tmp echo. >> a:\boot.tmp debug a:\bootsect < a:\boot.tmp del a:\boot.tmp echo g=ffff:0|debug3. Boot from your floppy. This is the fun part. From the MS-DOS prompt (A:\) type, after each line press enter (though if you needed to know this, maybe installing MS-DOS isn't for you!): NTBSSAVE SYS C: BSSAVE BSWRITE Let me say this again: YOU MUST BE BOOTING FROM THE FLOPPY AND YOU MUST HAVE BSWRITE, THE SAVED NT BOOTSECTOR AND DEBUG.EXE ON THE FLOPPY - NOT ON YOUR HDD! You may get away with using a RAM-drive instead of a floppy... but I haven't tested it, and you would still have to boot from a floppy or a CD and not from your HDD. This is what the process does: NTBSSAVE - this saves your bootsector to C:\BOOTSECT and A:\BOOTSECT. The NT Bootsector is what tells your HDD to load up NTLDR, NTLDR then initiates the Windows NT kernel which makes booting Windows XP possible. SYS C: - this transfers the MS-DOS system to C:. This copies the required files IO.SYS, COMMAND.COM - and generates empty config.sys, autoexec.bat and msdos.sys files. It also overwrites the bootsector on the HDD - meaning the HDD will now load up IO.SYS instead, it will no longer load up NTLDR! BSSAVE - this saves the MS-DOS ("Windows 98") bootsector to C:\DOS\BOOTSECT.DAT. BSWRITE - this overwrites the HDD BOOTSECTOR. This is a dangerous operation, and could result in your HDD becoming unusable, requiring reformatting. I strongly suggest you back-up all sensitive data on C: BEFORE attempting this. BSWRITE cannot use any files on the HDD to write to the bootsector. The system will "crash" upon completion. In other words, it will restart. The alternative to using BSWRITE is to boot into the Recovery Console from your Windows XP installation disc, and from there restoring the bootsector. This process of course takes between 5-10 minutes, considering the amount of time it takes to boot-up recovery console from the CD. It's a good idea to verify that the nt-bootsector stored on your floppy is in good order (compare it to the one on the HDD). You're done. The only thing left is to edit your boot.ini file (and of course, make yourself some config.sys and autoexec.bat files). You must now add the following line to boot.ini: C:\DOS\BOOTSECT.DAT="MS DOS 7.10" You can also delete the file C:\BOOTSECT. This is the "back-up" copy of your Windows NT bootsector. You must add it in the [Operating Systems] section. You can add it above or below Windows XP, where ever you prefer. At the end your boot.ini may look something like this: [Boot Loader] timeout=6 Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINXP [Operating Systems] C:\DOS\BOOTSECT.DAT="MS DOS 7.10" multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINXP="Microsoft Windows XP Pro" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

You can remove the CPL file from the System32 directory, if you don't want it to be in the control panel, and then point a link to it somewhwere else, like such: &SYSTEMROOT%\system32\control.exe "%PROGRAMFILES%\QuickTime Alternative\QTSystem\quicktime.cpl"

I had to download an iso - you shouldn't get any viruses on them. If you're worried scan it with a virus scanner first. One thing many people don't understand about torrents is that torrent files are files which people have downloaded and tested, and it exists because these people are helping to distribute them. In short - if you have a lot of seeders then you have a download which has been tested by many independent users. Oh, and you can always reinstall later from another source if the one you downloaded was somehow infected. For instance, Sony once put rootkits onto their Music CD's. These CD's were not safe. But instead, you could download Sony's music from P2P - from trusted sources, where independent users have verified they're safe for use on your computer. Ironically if you bought the retail product you bought it with rootkits (trojans/malware), but if you illegally downloaded the music you got a safe download – which just goes to show that it's safer to download music illegally from independently tested P2P sources than to purchase the album. At the same time, other albums include copy protection designed to force you to use propriety software to play the CD on computers - whereas downloading the music will allow you to listen to it on your choice of software. And the music industry wonders why consumers are attracted to illegally downloading their products. Kazza-Lite is another example of an illegal distribution of a product, which has been "cleaned", with malware removed.

I don't know if you can. [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellNew] Will only remove the shorcut wizard, not the context menu. I suspect you would have to unregister a dll - if it's possible at all. The context menu item seems perminant - it's even assigned a hotkey. The good news is that modifying the Value HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellNew\Command can allow you to choose your own "new shortcut" method.

Have you tried manyally editing the registry keys?HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main "Start Page" ^ Your start page HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main "Default_Page_URL" ^ Page IE uses as default.