Tripredacus

The "Dr. Guard" program was the key. This is from the new strain of fake antivirus/antimalware programs. Some are smart, some are stupid. Most work extremely well (what they were designed to do that is) on XP, but not so much on Vista or 7. #1 thing, these programs use registry settings to block your programs. The first variation would only use the Image Execution Options lists. Renaming the installer and EXE bypassed this. The second wave would terminate programs that tried to open/modify/delete the files it used/needed. This even included Notepad or in some cases even explorer.exe. In these cases, if renaming does not work, only WinPE or NTFSDOS are your saviours. Then after you remove "part" of the problem, can you run Gmer or MBAM (still renamed to be safe) to remove some more. Yet you described something on 7, which so far I have not encountered a problem removing. Rest assured, these programs are a lot easier to remove from Vista or 7 than XP. Also, never forget about using cacls (or xcacls) to change the ACLs on files you need, or files you don't want running. Denying SYSTEM access to files is often a great way to disable these programs.

The results of those tests might also depend on the network and the server's capabilities. My server's TFTP speed is less than 10 seconds, I'd like to say 6 seconds but I haven't timed it, just a guess.

You have a syntax error. Try this: [LAUNCHAPPS] x:\windows\system32\startnet.cmd x:\windows\system32\wpeinit.exe, "/unattend=X:\Windows\Displaychange.xml" x:\windows\system32\cmd.exe Notice the quotes I added. winpeshl requires quotes after the comma. Another example here: http://www.passmark.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7183&postcount=7

g-force is right to start you on the PID route, because there is no garauntee that the Windows on the notebook is the one it came with. Your COA sticker on the notebook itself might be enough for you to find out, but at least you have other things to learn about. If you are able to boot into the OS, you can tell if its the originally loaded OS by looking at the Properties of My Computer. OEM/System Builder companies are required to include their name, product name, company logo and/or support information on that screen. The first thing you need to do is figure out the shape of the sticker. If it is a rectangle, then we're talking about OEM pre-loaded software, whereas the best bet is to acquire a recovery CD. If it is a weird bulbous looking sticker, you should be able to use OEM/DSP install CD. If there is a sticker on the notebook, its not likely a retail copy, but as noted before, there is no garauntee its the same version it was loaded with. Here is a pictoral guide to the different types of COA stickers: http://www.microsoft.com/howtotell/content.aspx?pg=coa&displaylang=en

It seems to make a diiference if you start "explorer.exe" from "system32" of using your program. Maybe your program "Run" adds some parameters, I don`t know. Search for "explorer.exe" on your system (there are different "shortcuts") and execute them by using your "Run". I am certain g-force means 'iexplore.exe' instead of 'explorer.exe'

I've recently moved to Windows 7, using a bit of hardware from my XP build. That includes 2 IDE/ATA Hard Drives. Both drives are Maxtor (20GB and 80GB) at least 8 years old but have lasted this long. Now that I have Windows 7, a default power management settings will put those drives to sleep when not in use, and as expected, wake them up when in use. This use can either be running a program, opening My Computer or when MSE decides to scan things. My question is, concerning these drives, is about extending life even more. I sometimes think hard drives are like cars, but I may be wrong. Is it better for the drive to spin down when not in use, and spin up when needed instead of letting it spin all the time? I will say, my computer gets really quiet (or even more quiet) when those things go to sleep.

If you have solved the problem, it would be good to post your fix in case it may quickly help another person who looks up this problem.

Make sure you are using the Windows 7 version of the software and driver package from Creative. If you do not know how to get it, post your SoundBlaster model. For example, my soundcard is SoundBlaster Audigy Gamer. I downloaded the full package for Audigy on Windows 7 (includes drivers, Audio Console and Alchemy) and my sound works fine. However, the Audio Console did not have an option for me to set up Surround Sound, and I had to do this with the Windows option instead. This was unlike XP where the Creative software handled everything through the Audio Console. I know full well Creative's website can be confusing!

I am thinking that 7 detects devices that the drivers support, not so much just ones that are physically present. For example, I have a sound card and it detects an SPDIF (or Digital Out) type of speaker choice but my sound card doesn't have any plugs for such a thing.

Right-click on the Start "Orb"/button, select properties. You should be on the Start Menu tab. Click the Customize button. You will see there is a Devices and Printers option (as well as many others). If you uncheck that, it will go away.

What kind of speeds are we talking about here? I haven't timed mine on a PXE boot but its about 4 minutes, and weighs in a little under 200MB. EDIT: also, I wanted to add, do you mean the TFTP speed or the total time from F12 until the PE finishes loading on the client?

Plus, you don't need to capture the system reserved partition. As long as you sysprep your image, it will rebuild the contents of the reserved partition upon first boot. You still need to create the partition as you are now however, but also do not need to assign it a drive letter.

You should be either using shortcuts or registry pointers for the send-to menu. Is notepad a protected program now? On my 2k8 (7server) server, I have to run notepad as admin in order to save anything ANYWHERE. So to say, if I open Notepad from the start menu, I can save something, but if I open a text file, notepad won't let me save. Perhaps they are related.

Do you mean the History Bar is shown when you open it? Or that you want it to appear when you open the browser?

Look for cacls maybe? ACLs? Make a topic about it in the Vista forum (or wherever) to get more options.

You're better off making a topic about your question, as it isn't supposed to be answered here. FYI: I've dealt with a few field techs in my time.

Your DVD drive should allow you to change the region. This is in the device properties in Device Manager. However, most drives only let you change it maybe 4-5 times, and the only way to reset this counter is to do a firmware upgrade. So you can go the router I do (have 1 driver set for PAL, one for NTSC). As far as software programs go, not really sure. Then again, you didn't state whether this "DVD Player" is your DVD drive or one meant for a television.

Hmm I'm not certain then. I can see history from these methods: - Icon in taskbar - run iexplore - type in internet in Search and select IE that way - select from Start Menu - run IE safe mode (no add-ons) So it might be something on your machine, but it is indeed weird. What about if you try to run as Administrator?

You are new, but no excuses. You did crosspost, and that is bad. Your other thread happened to be in the nLite forum, so that's good. Go please read the forum rules and enjoy your stay!

There are many ways to stop this, but generally, if you have employees in your company that are not obeying corporate policy, no amount of IT fixes are going to help you. This is one of those situations where there is also a business answer.

History panel can be opened up with keyboard shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+H. Also it is under View -> Explorer Bars -> History

There doesn't seem to be an option to specify it other than the little squares above your name at the top. I use blue at work and pink at home, but I never log out of the site. It stores your color in your cookie I think. Do you have your browser set to delete your cookies?

That's why we're here!

Sounds like something cool, I've never heard of it I don't think.

Also interesting is this article linked from that one: http://technologizer.com/2010/02/07/mistakes/4/