legionaire

There is no such thing as a "default user" directory in Windows XP. While there is an entire branch in the HKEY_USERS Registry devoted to ".DEFAULT", the file system equivalent is %allusersprofile% and is located in C:\All Users by default. @Yzowl: Thanks for pointing out the difference between 1>nul and 2>nul - I've finally got it.

Hey Yzowl, Could you please explain just what this "2>NUL" command is? I've tried "1>NUL" and got an error message - the help switch didn't provide any enlightenment either...so please elaborate: Is this a DOS or CMD Shell command and why the heck does it use "2"? Are there any more of these? Edit: OK, I was able to answer this one myself - it appears as though "2>" stands for "redirect everything that's to the left of the '2' character". Probably "2" was intended to be an abbreviation for "to", further emphasizing the prospect of redirection.

Sounds like a marketing slogan for ECC RAM Wonder where people get all their viruses from so they can justify bloatware like Bitdefender on their systems.

So why are the OPK download links public when at the same time you can't navigate to them through oem.microsoft.com withouth enrolling into the MS partner program?

You removed "Cluster Service" and that's critical to both Enterprise and Standard Editions. Nuhi, you might want to remove it as a choice all together if the nlighted OS is Server 2003.

Do you see the winbom.ini in your installation source? This file's presence means that Sony used the Windows Preinstallation Environment to build your XP recovery cd. So we're talking about a special kind of installation source which is why you can't get nlite to work on it. The actual setup routine of such a recovery cd is quite complicated as it involves both the restoration of an OS image as well as automated driver/application installations. I've fooled around with a Windows ME recovery CD once and managed to interrupt it at the point where it had completed the restoration of the OS but on the other hand had not yet had the chance to install any bloatware. Do you have alternative means of activating your Windows XP rather than through the preactivated recovery cd? If so, it's much less of a hassle to extract the drivers from the recovery cd than to modify it. The I386 folder is most likely carrying all the standard XP drivers which you'd have on any other XP cd as well. So what's in the "Sony" folder? What I would do is install a retail version XP on top of your current OEM XP and see if the Device Manager can find any missing drivers from the recovery cd's subfolders. Probably you have to negotiate some sort of compression like *.??_ (cab, opens in Winrar). Edit: Did you check the Sony website for driver downloads (you have to enter your notebook's serial number to do so)? That's where you're most likely to find the actual drivers minus any fancy compression or "helper" applications.

Greetings, I've got this weird question I can't get out of my mind...just what are the actual consequences of running Windows in Audit Mode forever, thus never resealing it?. Since audit mode doesn't officially count as end-user interaction, Windows is supposed not to keep track of user-specific settings like MRU-file lists etc, right? Following this rationale there should be much less registry activity going on as well, which sounds tempting to me. Now, before I try it all out for myself maybe someone who really *knows* about this can give me a clear "yes" or "no".

Why do you people never extract dotnetfx? Don't you have a few MB left on your CD? It's so much faster to install and less of a hassle with the syntax: dotnetfx.exe /q:a /c:"install.exe /qb" Now, if you extract dotnetfx first, it all comes down to install.exe /qb On a side note, I'd recommend doing an administrative installation of the dotnet framework and integrating KB917283 into it. Edit: Yes, I do recommend RunOnceEx - leave svcpack for the updates.

Have a look at this little program Win 2003 Optimize Tool v1.45. It's mainly intended for workstation use and as such it does address the issue of the "Manage Your Server" popup. In 2k3ounat.sif, check the following entry: [System] Servconfig=0 The Post-setup security screen is governed by an entry in winnt.sif: [Components] SCW=Off I don't know about the Terminal Services help file popup - if nothing else works write a script to click it away.

Use Win 2003 Optimize Tool v1.45. It comes with it's own answer file for an unattended installation and covers most of the MSFN guide's topics. If you're familiar with Auto-It you can write yourself a script to switch the view settings of Control Panel/ Administrative Tools to icon view. Don't hesitate to ask if you want to know something else.

You might want to take a cautious look at BoldFortune's Guide Slimming Down Windows XP. This guy has devoted the better part of his life to hunting down every single file of Windows XP that can be deleted without immediately crashing the system. However, keep in mind that Bold Fortune's requirements of his OS are very modest to say the least. He prides himself to be sufficient without any security programs, Adobe Reader and Microsoft Office amongst others. For any third party application that you plan to install it's a safe guess that BF's guide has not catered for that application's particular needs.

Let me just point out that the domain blocklist adds sites to IE's restricted zone. It does not block ads like the ones from Google from showing. Spywareblaster (the one from JavaCool Software) actually works along the same lines, it's not a program that runs in the background but rather automates the one-time task of adding domains to the restricted zone. Additionally, Spywareblaster's blocklist receives frequent updates. Regarding the slow-down associated with a bloated HOSTS file, that can be cured by disabling the DNS service. There exist claims that disabling the DNS service will cause delays as well, however I have not seen this happen on my systems.

Since you've installed .NET 2.0, add Paint .NET, too. You might also consider a few Sysinternals(.com) addons like Process Explorer or Powertoys XP programs like PowerCalc and Tweak UI (available from download.microsoft.com). Personally, I consider a professional defragmentation software like PerfectDisk as well as a Registry cleaner like jv16 PowerTools essential for a working Windows installation as well. You might want to add a few security programs like SpywareBlaster(.org), ZoneAlarm and Bitdefender. Probably you won't regret including a custom HOSTS file plus it's manager software like the one from Bluetack(.co.uk) either to get rid of internet ads. Last but not least, don't forget the Registry Tweaks available from this forum. Edit: CCleaner as well as CleanUp! (by Steven Gould) are essential as well. Their names state their purpose

Referring to question 3: If you're using VMWare Virtual Machine (trial version works fine), you can tell your virtual CD drive to use an .iso image file. Just double click the CD icon in the bottom right corner when the virtual machine is offline. You stated that you had problems creating a bootable .iso - in this case, try using nlite. You just point it to your XP source folder and select "Create bootable Iso" as the only task. I've created many CD images for use with VMWare this way. As for the upgrade CD: Of course it would be a lot easier if you just had a XP Professional CD that you could work with. However, that way you'd be paying twice for using Windows XP so I'd rather reproduce the upgrade path (there are unattended installation techniques for Win95-ME available, too) if neccessary. Truth is, Windows ME has very little in common with XP so your upgrade CD will have pretty much the same files as an ordinary retail CD would. You said that you were asked for the licence key (?) of an older Windows version for the upgrade CD to work - that means that you really need not have Windows ME preinstalled anyway. Regarding the SP2 CD - probably you made a mistake during the slipstreaming process. It could also well be that your upgrade CD won't allow SP2 to be slipstreamed. In that case, you could easily incorporate an unattended installation of SP2 into your unattended CD using a .cmd file (start /wait SP2.exe /q /n /z)

After all, what's the advantage of having WFP? I know about several instances where viruses/worms have been able to completely bypass it (overwriting the Windows Update files to redirect the user to a website which allegedly would fix their present problems). If you want to remain 'safe' - as in the M$ terminology - don't use nlite at all.

Ok, I just realized what you meant by zero-filling the string in question - zero-filling the hex values and not just deleting the text string. However, I'm still having no luck with editing the skype executable. Probably I have violated some sort of checksum and short of decompiling the executable I don't see a way around that. I gather that you don't use Skype...maybe you can recommend an alternative VoIP-IM-program? If you have the time you're welcome to try editing the latest skype executable yourself to check if I missed something - however, it seems to me that the only plaintext entries of "My Skype Content" or "My Skype Pictures" are from the multilingual help file. I might add at this point that the reason for the tutorial I posted above was the fact that Skype seemed to be immune to whatever measures you took in order to prevent the creation of its My Documents subfolders. That is to say that attempts to edit both registry entries and .xml configuration files have so far turned out to be futile.

@DigeratiPrime: Thank you, glad to be here. @LLXX: I just tried removing all 'My Skype...' folder entries from the Skype executable using a text editor (UltraEdit). Didn't work though, it produced an error message when I tried to start the modified exe. Is there anything else to consider when doing it your way?

How to reclaim your My Documents folder Here is a short tutorial on how to prevent the automatic re-creation of subfolders in My Documents by intrusive software. This approach involves using secondary logon to run the rougue software under different credentials. Your own My Documents will then no longer be accessible from the perspective of the software. Additionally, you can deny the secondary account write access to its own My Documents folder. As a secondary account you can either use the Guest account or a new account with administrative rights. The latter option is useful only if you want to be able to navigate into your own My Documents folder using the software in question for open/save operations. To invoke secondary logon, use the following shell command: runas /profile /user:YourPcName\Guest /savecred "C:\...\software.exe /switches" This command line can either be entered as the target of a shortcut to a software executable or as a registry entry. The following example demonstrates how to get rid of Skype's "My Skype..." folders. Open up the registry editor and navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run Modify the Skype entry as follows: runas /profile /user:YourPcName\Guest /savecred "C:\...\skype.exe /nosplash /minimized" Now, upon first reboot after this modification a cmd window will pop up asking for the password of Guest (hit return if the password is blank). However, you will not have to re-enter this password ever again as the /savecred switch will save it. Attention XP Home users Sadly, /savecred does not work for Windows XP Home. If you're running XP Home, please download the freeware utility CPAU from http://www.joeware.net/win/free/tools/cpau.htm. Also, make sure that Guest has a non-blank password like e.g. "guest". Your autostart entry will then have to be replaced by a batch file, e.g. C:\...\skype.bat. This skype.bat should read as follows: cd\ cd Path to directory where you store CPAU CPAU -u YourPCName\Guest -p password -ex "C:\...\skype.exe /nosplash /minimized" -profile exit From now on, Skype will be bothering the My Documents folder of Guest only. If you want to further restrain Skype, edit the permissions of Guest's My Documents folder and deny write access to Guest. Skype will then be unable to recreate its "My Skype..." folders. Please note that Skype will attempt to store any new profile picture in My Documents\My Skype Pictures and will pop up an error message if it has been denied write access. To work around this issue, copy your picture file to Guest's My Documents folder, allow Guest write access and open the image in Skype. Once the new picture has been successfully applied to your Skype profile, you can again deny write access and delete the My Skype Pictures folder. All you need to do is leave the picture file in the My Documents folder.