prathapml

Alanoll's statement above hits the bull's eye dudes! Yup, we got lot's of wonderful info and posts here on this thread until now. But I would still like to get a few ideas for showing to the <AVERAGE END-USER> (not to the know-all techie) how an Athlon64 is any better than something else out there. I really wouldn't mind it if more posts were coming onto this thread quicker. The more discussion, the merrier. Besides, the (to-prove) demo is still waiting........ Example: 1. Currently an a64 is the only processor with the native HW tech. to prevent many worms/hack-attacks (resulting from memory overruns). 2. Since a 64-bit platform can transfer data much quicker, BLAH-BLAH-BLAH...... it can render faster, carry out scientific processing quicker, install OSes sooner, etc.

May I suggest that you call your installer something other than "winamp.exe", so that when you "taskkill winamp.exe", only the app exits and not the installer (if still running) ?

Go here: SP2 RC2 public preview and download the latest known-to-be-stable build of SP2 (v2149) and slip-stream that into a clean (non-SP1/SP2) XP disc.

From the look of it, maybe that was a pirated CD, with a custom/modified autorun. Look for a setup.exe and run that instead - you shouldn't have any problems after that. Moving to something else? I would suggest this: ZoneAlarm Security Suite 5 They are simply the last word in security (at the consumer-level).

You said it! @DarkPhoenix- do you now get the warm,fuzzy feeling that atleast some people are interested in this app, and it will help them ?

What do you mean by logo? Are you talking about the OEMlogo that you see in System Properties? Or the "Windows XP" logo at the top-left-hand side of the setup screens? Or the logo that you see in the post-install OOBE welcome? If you are referring to these, then each of the above can be customized - search the forums with the terms given above. BTW, the entire [OEM_Ads] section of winnt.sif has been deprecated in XP's unattended settings.

Yup! StarDock's BootSkin is simply incredible - magical, as compared to having to risk corrupting your kernel by resource-editing it.

But it does install Your Honour, it does - and is the best and most portable/reliable solution - check if something else is wrong in your case.

That's exactly what I would say too! That's what is normally the cause of this - but not to the extremes you describe.

Do it again in safe mode, after clearing out the folder "C:\windows\system32\dllcache". You would then be able to get back to using the standard kernel. After that, you will not have any more error boxes saying that "your kernel is not Microsoft-signed, therefore we don't want to upgrade/fiddle with it" when installing SP2 or any other update. Your product key being legit or not is not relevant in this case. If you really hate your boot-screen so much, why not use something like Style XP to modify it?

If the usage is as a desktop, XP Pro when properly tweaked will run faster than WS2k3. Also, svr2k3 does not have all the additional (consumer, eye-candy, etc.) features that XP has. As far as stability/security go, the release of SP2 should put XP on par/better than svr2k3.

No, don't bother about what the rest of the INI file says - we are only concerned with the section that I mentioned previously. Lines that are ";" out can be left as-is, unless you want to customize that setting, and *KNOW* exactly what it does. Just follow my previous post, and you'll be fine - don't bother with anything else (for now). After the setup runs as you desire, is when you would start fiddling with the commented-out (";"-ed out) lines.

FYKI, all the options, including Control Panel install with no problem using the method mentioned above. Moreover, the above method would help in the sense that if you don't have an nVidia card, the nVidia setup/drivers won't be installed.

Why use the install-shield ? Delete the ISS-related files (thereby saving space), and use the standard "OEMpnpdriverspath=" method. If you don't know what OEMpnpdriverspath is, you probably need to take a look at the official MSFN uA guide.

You have 3 options: 1. Download the Office XP Resource Kit (also called ORK - approx. 11 MB) from microsoft.com - it is a free download. Then use the "Custom Installation Wizard" (a component of the ORK) to modify your MST. 2. Specify your department name at the command-line install (for example:) proplus.msi TRANSFORMS=myautomated.mst COMPANYNAME="University of Rochester" /QB-! 3. You can also do point 2 (above) in a different way. Edit "setup.ini" in your Admin-install-point (\Files\SETUP\) to add any (or all) properties that you apply from the command-line. Example: [Options] ; If a value is present, the [Options] section gives the values of properties to apply to ; this installation. Specify them in the format: ; PropName=PropValue ; Remember to uncomment the value names. ; ;USERNAME=Customer COMPANYNAME="University of Rochester" TRANSFORMS=myautomated.mst And then simply run "proplus.msi /QB-!" (from within the Admin-point folder, of course).

I suppose 128 MB has been allotted for some integrated graphics card. Don't you remember whether only 384 MB of RAM was shown when you had only a 512 MB module?

This one's a known item - slipstreaming/Administrative-installs aren't offered on retail editions - it's available only on volume license editions (proplus.msi).

prolly you have just said the most applicable comment with that sentence @wraith & neophyte- do make a note of this : I want *POSITIVE* info and I said so in the first post in this thread. Please see my 2nd post in this thread - and do get back to me on what you think - but remember I want to *SHOW* to the average-id***-on-the-street what benefits Athlon64 can bring him. @wraith- On a sidenote, just FYKI, WinXP plain (SP2 RC2) installs within 11 mins (in my experience on the A64 3000+); and an unattended install with all possible worldly junk (a 2.5 GB setup process gelled together by means of XPlode 1.00) finishes in approx. 25 minutes. All of this on a space-optimized CD.

I'd say the same.

Don't tell me people in SA haven't heard of the concept of piracy! Yup, there's some interest in unattending win9x, but not very much; since it is a dying (already dead maybe) OS. But setting up a new section of the board for win9x uA installs wouldn't be a bad idea. Aaron?

To be precise, XP went gold on October 25th 2001.

@gamehead200- The entire purpose of this thread was that I want to *DEMONSTRABLY* prove how/why an Athlon64 was better than any other. @Alanoll- You seem to be able to 'catch' viruses/worms as easily as you would catch a butter-fly. Could you please rar/zip them up and PM them to me? Please remember that I only want viruses that get stopped in their tracks by the DEP feature (in other words, the competing Intel machine should be show-able as "feeling the pain"). Can anyone come up with names of such viruses which aren't able to affect DEP-enabled machines? @the rest of the posters- Thanks for writing in with all the info you did - it is surely going to find a place in my demo. Well, in fact, I'm stuck up as to how I could prove the point that this processor has better performance (without the aid of labyrinthine benchmarks and numbers which an end-user cannot understand - they need 'see-able', 'hear-able' proof). Suggestions anyone ? The responses aren't exactly flying in at the rate that would be cool..... I guess more people could take a try at hitting the "Reply to this topic" button.

@DarkPhoenix Please go ahead with your idea, I'm interested. I don't know about the others here, but I'm a big-time user of shareware/freeware (which seem to release a new version every 4 days) - and your app seems like one which has a lot of potential to help in these circumstances.

Thanks to those who responded to this query. You people solved the problem. Since I felt like contributing more than I received, here's a link to a related topic - Enjoy!

How to pre-configure Internet Explorer options: Here is my reg file (which gets applied at T-13 stage in the uA setup) for IE6 SP2. I suppose all of these settings are self-explanatory. ;All Internet Explorer settings/Tweaks ;Remove Norton Antivirus from IE Toolbar List ;[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar] ;"{42CDD1BF-3FFB-4238-8AD1-7859DF00B1D6}"=- ;Enable Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) / Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) ; This one's only applicable to XP SP1 ;[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess] ;"Start"=dword:00000002 ;Disable "Internet Options" from tools menu ;[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions] ;"NoBrowserOptions"=dword:00000001 ; Lock the toolbars [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar] "Locked"=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Infodelivery\Restrictions] ;Enable Splash screen on IE load "NoSplash"=dword:00000000 ;prevent IE from popping-up "this page requires these components to display correctly" for MS and 3rd party apps "NoJITSetup"=dword:00000001 "NoWebJITSetup"=dword:00000001 ;Don't show online content in Media bar [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Media] "SuppressOnlineContent"="yes" ;dis-allow spying by web-sites [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\ProtocolDefaults] "about"=dword:00000004 ;Alexa - info about page you are browsing [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions\{c95fe080-8f5d-11d2-a20b-00aa003c157a}] "MenuText"="@shdoclc.dll,-864" "MenuStatusBar"="@shdoclc.dll,-865" "Script"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,\ 00,25,00,5c,00,77,00,65,00,62,00,5c,00,72,00,65,00,6c,00,61,00,74,00,65,00,\ 64,00,2e,00,68,00,74,00,6d,00,00,00 "clsid"="{1FBA04EE-3024-11D2-8F1F-0000F87ABD16}" "Icon"=",4" "HotIcon"=",4" "ButtonText"="@shdoclc.dll,-866" ;================================================================== ;Temporary Internet Files cache settings ; Prune History to only 2 days [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Url History] "DaysToKeep"=dword:00000002 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings] ; set the ID for which cookies get allotted "EmailName"="your_name_here@" ; Never check for newer versions of stored pages "SyncMode5"=dword:00000000 ;set cache to 2 MB for this user [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\Cache\Content] "CacheLimit"=dword:00000800 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Cache\Content] "CacheLimit"=dword:00000800 ;and also as a system-wide default [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\Cache\Content] "CacheLimit"=dword:00000800 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Cache\Content] "CacheLimit"=dword:00000800 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Cache] "Persistent"=dword:00000001 ;Reduces size of index.dat in cookies [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Cache\Cookies] "CacheLimit"=dword:00000100 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Cache\History] "CacheLimit"=dword:00000800 [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Cache\Content] "CacheLimit"=dword:00000800 [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Cache\Cookies] "CacheLimit"=dword:00000100 [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Cache\History] "CacheLimit"=dword:00000800 [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\Cache\Content] "PerUserItem"=dword:00000001 "CachePrefix"="" "CacheLimit"=dword:00000800 [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\Cache\Cookies] "PerUserItem"=dword:00000001 "CachePrefix"="Cookie:" "CacheLimit"=dword:00000100 [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\Cache\History] "PerUserItem"=dword:00000001 "CachePrefix"="Visited:" "CacheLimit"=dword:00000800 ;================================================================== ; Advanced settings [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main] "NoUpdateCheck"=dword:00000001 "NoJITSetup"=dword:00000001 "Disable Script Debugger"="yes" "Show_ChannelBand"="No" "Anchor Underline"="yes" "Cache_Update_Frequency"="Once_Per_Session" "Display Inline Images"="yes" "Show_StatusBar"="yes" "Show_ToolBar"="yes" "Show_URLinStatusBar"="yes" "Show_URLToolBar"="yes" "Start Page"="about:blank" "Use_DlgBox_Colors"="yes" "FullScreen"="no" "Expand Alt Text"="yes" "Move System Caret"="no" "NscSingleExpand"=dword:00000001 "Error Dlg Displayed On Every Error"="no" "NoWebJITSetup"=dword:00000000 "Page_Transitions"=dword:00000001 "Enable Browser Extensions"="yes" "UseThemes"=dword:00000001 "Show_FullURL"="no" ;Enable personalized favourites menu "FavIntelliMenus"="yes" "Enable Browser Extensions"="yes" "UseThemes"=dword:00000001 "NotifyControlDisable"="yes" "NotifyDownloadComplete"="yes" "AllowWindowReuse"=dword:00000001 "Friendly http errors"="yes" "ShowGoButton"="yes" "SmoothScroll"=dword:00000001 "Enable AutoImageResize"="yes" "Enable_MyPics_Hoverbar"="yes" "Play_Animations"="no" "Play_Background_Sounds"="no" "Display Inline Videos"="no" "Show image placeholders"=dword:00000001 "Print_Background"="no" "ShowedCheckBrowser"="Yes" "Check_Associations"="No" ; ------- [ Networking ] ------- ;Max your Internet Explorer's simultaneous downloads to 10 (default was 2) [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings] "MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"=dword:0000000a "MaxConnectionsPerServer"=dword:0000000a [HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings] "MaxConnectionsPerServer"=dword:00000020 "MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"=dword:00000020 ;Google as Default Search [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main] "Search Page"="http://www.google.com" "Search Bar"="http://www.google.com/ie" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchURL] ""="http://www.google.com/search?q=%s" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search] "SearchAssistant"="http://www.google.com/ie" ;Adds search keywords to Internet Explorer (in this order: Microsoft Knowledge Base, Altavista, Google, MSN, FileMirrors) [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\MSKB] @="http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=%s" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\AV] @="http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/web?q=%s" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\g] @="http://www.google.com/search?q=%s" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\MSN] @="http://search.msn.com/results.asp?q=%s" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\FM] @="http://www.filemirrors.com/search.src?file=%s" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Ftp] ; Disable slowish folder view for FTP site browsing "Use Web Based FTP"="yes" ; Passive FTP (for compatibility with older FTP servers) "Use PASV"="yes" ;Stores more DNS entries so that your computer doesn't have to look them up as much ;Do not cache failed DNS lookups [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters] "CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001 "CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180 "MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00 "MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d ; Optionally, you can download the reg file itself (if looking through the above code is too much), from the attachment to this post. Note that the 'Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00' header from the attached .reg was deliberately removed to prevent involuntary execution. This is my way of trying to contribute back to the wonderful MSFN'ers whose help I've been enjoying. If it fitted your requirements, let us know! IEsettings.reg