A Few XP Home (OEM) And Partition Questions/Probs

[Chike]

Hi,

Recently I transfered a few internet shortcuts (all in a folder) from partition C to partition E, by going into My Computer and cutting the folder from one partition to the other. The thing is, lots of the transfered files have been renamed to code words. For example AMB2FA~1, AM4A83~1, AM8F35~1 and AM64E6~1. Some of the files still remain with their original names, but they are few, and I'm worried that they'll all go this way. Also, this didn't happen immmediately after the move, but rather 1-2 days later (I'm not 100% sure).

My second partition question is would it be ok to delete the C partition and just use the E one for now? A copy of XP Home is installed on both, and I get dual boot options at the moment. Later I might want to recreate, reformat and reinstall XP on partition C again, but for now I don't, and I'm worried that partition E wont boot if I delete or reformat C (I'm igrant on such things so forgive me if it doesn't make sense).

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Please be understanding of the following. It all relates to my OEM copy of XP Home.

I have an OEM copy of XP Home and the thing wont work on other PCs due to it being bound to the old PCs BIOS. I've heard stories about companies patching the BIOS of new PCs so old OEM copies will work on them. Does anyone know anything about this (a vague answer would be ok)?

Secondly, does every single copy of XP Home (retail and OEM) have a hidden 180 day timebomb? I've used methods that fix the 30 day timer on this new PC (because my cd-key doesn't activate Windows on a system with alien BIOS), but when I least expect it I'm greeted by a 7 day activation notice at WinLogin which exceeds the original 30 day countdown. I'm not sure if this is the 180 day timebomb, but I think it might be.

Another question: Is the process of converting Home to Professional identical to fixing the timebomb, because instructions for both seem to refer to the same file? A yes or no would be ok.

Lastly, I've slipsteamed SP2 into my XP cd, with the first step being to drag a selection box over the XP CD contents and copy them to the hard drive. The problem I have with this is that surely hidden files would be left behind? Another concern is there are two files in the boot sector of the original XP cd, yet guides tell you to copy only the main one. That's just one example of leaving files behind.

Thanks in advance.

Edited September 13, 2006 by Chike

[prx984]

hi and welcome to the forum, i see its your first post

well, for your first question about the internet shortcuts, i'v never seen that happen before, you should just be able to copy them over and they would be fine. although, strange things do happen.

your second question, i dont think it would be safe to delete the first partition because that one is probably set to active and thats the boot drive, therefore it wouldnt be safe to delete it without first modifying some other things. this would usually be in the boot.ini file, but theres a lot of other things about booting a computer i know nothing about. although, you can edit the boot.ini file to only startup the installation of windows on the E partition.

the bios and oem patching i know nothing about so im not too much help there

Secondly, does every single copy of XP Home (retail and OEM) have a hidden 180 day timebomb? I've used methods that fix the 30 day timer on this new PC (because my cd-key doesn't activate Windows on a system with alien BIOS), but when I least expect it I'm greeted by a 7 day activation notice at WinLogin which exceeds the original 30 day countdown. I'm not sure if this is the 180 day timebomb, but I think it might be.

that topic is illegal to talk about from what i know so i will not answer to that as i know nothing about it.

Another question: Is the process of converting Home to Professional identical to fixing the timebomb, because instructions for both seem to refer to the same file? A yes or no would be ok.

this sort of thing is illegal too, do not talk about this. but no, xp pro and home both have the activation part unless you buy a VLK which allows you to install on a certain amount of computers.

heres how you can make a bootable XP SP2 cd without losing any information: http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/wxp/

Edited September 13, 2006 by Cygnus

[Chike]

Cheers and thanks Cygnus for answering as much as you could. I did try to keep the other stuff as harmless as possible. I do own the OEM XP, but it's annoying that it's locked to the old BIOS.

Edited September 13, 2006 by Chike

[prx984]

well, your welcome

i have a dell OEM reinstall cd for 2 of my laptops, and they are locked to the bios's in only dell computers (ie, it will only install and activate on a dell)

i have to go now lol, class is over