Replies

As I said – I used it myself on more than one system – you just can’t use the Home Edition on a server. Backing up your data is critical – and so is testing the backup so that you know it’s usable. What concerns me more is putting in a boot manager for dual boot purposes – that I would be very leery of doing. Undoing boot managers can be problematic.

I think I would use an image backup product, such as ShadowProtect (SP), to an external hard drive. Test the back up, and if ok, go ahead and make the change you want to test. When done, restore the system back where it was from the SP Backup.

carrol.ray.

To answer your question re resizing partitions under Win Server 2003: I have (personally-not 3rd hand) used both Paragon Hard Disk Manager – Server Edition, and Easeus Partition Master Server Edition. Both are able to re-size partitions operating Windows Server systems. Dell was prone to set up older server C: drives as 4 GB in size. I’ve re-sized partitions both up and down in size. Both products can be installed and run – then they need to boot, do the actual re-size, and boot again. Or, they provide bootable ISO files for licensed users so you can boot off the CD and do the re-size in one step (but, sometimes they don’t have the proper raid driver and you have to install and run as I said earlier).

Good luck!
Randy

Sorry, the Easeus Partition Manager Home Edition will not operate on server operating systems. You need the Server edition or higher.

Fred,

To Susan Brown’s post re ShadowProtect – while it does do virtualization, it also does direct dissimliar restores. I backed up a Sony Vaio and restored it to a Dell Optiplex. I had to provide the chipset driver at restore time. The only real problem I experienced was that the static ip address the pc had, had to be manually changed in the registry, so the “new” ethernet adapter could have the original address. This is just what Wauiler mentioned is available with Easeus’ product, too.

Randy

Bob,

Ubuntu Linux isn’t very geeky, works well, installs easily, has automatic updates, is pretty nice. I have one pc running it in my office, mostly for the experience and for running as an ftp server. It’s been years since I worked in UNIX (and then, in AIX) so I wanted to keep my hand in, at least a little bit.

You do know that Apple Mac OS is Unix, right? Everytime you install a new program, you need to type in the administrator password.

Microsoft is FINALLY trying to protect it’s users, each new os has been better than the last (well, maybe not ME), usability and security-wise. I run Win7 on my main pc and have very few security issues, while running AVG Internet Security and MBAM Pro to help protect myself.

You could change ownership of all files on the C: Drive, but I think that would be a bad idea – Windows could break if ownership isn’t set properly – plus, when updates are applied, the ownership might go right back to what M$ wants it to be.

By the way, I started programming professionally on the Univac 494 system, using a language called Spurt – Univac’s form of assembler, back in 1973.

Randy C

Here is the “official” website:

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Randy

I’m glad that my advice on this same thread back on 26 February is the same as Fred’s advice today.

Malwarebytes.Org has a special place in their forum with instructions on how to take care of possible interference with other anti-malware programs, including MSE. Please look at: http://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showtopic=10138 and you will see a list of special instructions regarding some of the AV programs out there, including Microsoft System Essentials (Section I).

Randy

rlfvt/Rich,

How much RAM memory does your Win 7 x64 computer have? I didn’t see that mentioned above. As was pointed out previously, Fat32 has a 4GB file size limitation. My Win 7×64 system has 8GB of RAM and a “system managed” page file. The current size is 8190 MB and a recommended size of 12285MB. Having the page file on a Fat32 partition would be impossible, no? Isn’t there a partition size limitation, as well, no larger than 32GB?

Randy

DJ,

You have an option you may not be aware of, with regard to using your “old” pst files. You can import them, or you can just add them as additional PST files. When I reload (or set up a new) system for a client, and they use Outlook, I only import the main PST file, which will contain their contacts, calendar and emails. The other PST files usually only contain email (and are archives) so they can be just added. Then, they do not add space to the main PST file.

To add your files, open up the Mail applet from inside the Control Panel. Click on the Data Files button. Under the Data Files tab, you should see the Add button. Just click it, and navigate to the location your old PST files are located.

If you go this route, then, after you add your PST files, you can see the result in Outlook on the left-hand side, below the folder listing. You may need to scroll down to see them.

You do have the option of updating the Office 2007 and 2010 Ribbon Menus (but not the UBit Menu Add-In). It takes time, but I am getting used to the Ribbons and now use them more than the original menus.

Randy

BarbieGee,

Please look at the NirSoft site:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/internet_explorer_password.html

Their IE PassView program does a very good job of displaying passwords hidden inside IE. Beware though – your anti-virus and/or anti-malware program will be likely to block the download AND execution of the program. It is considered a HackTool, which it is, of course, but perfectly safe and legal when running it on your own computer.

Good luck!
Randy

To djmoore:

There is a program available on the Internet, free for personal usage called: UBitMenuSetupUK.V1.04.exe . The original web site (in German) is: http://www.ubit.ch/

The actual download link is: http://www.ubit.ch/fileadmin/UBitMenu/UBitMenuSetupUK.exe

The program is an Office add-in that works in Office 2007 and Office 2010. It adds a “Menu” tab to the top line of many of the Office products, such as Excel, Word and PowerPoint. The free version does not work on Outlook. Nor in Publisher nor in Access. I know, positively, since I use it on my own system and I use Office 2010, and Outlook does not have the Menu tab provided by the add-in, nor does the add-in even install itself into Outlook.

Good luck!
Randy

Skyrider,

Programs like Restorer Ultimate (http://www.restorer-ultimate.com/) and GetDataBack (http://www.runtime.org/index.html) both have the capability to recover partitions after they have been erased. Never any guarantees, of course, but they are worth a shot. They both offer a free download and test run to see if they can see your partition.

Good luck!
Randy

Malwarebytes is the kind of program worth paying for. It costs $25USD for a lifetime subscription. The Pro version offers automatic updates and scans, to keep the system clean without trying to remember whether you updated it lately.

Disclaimer: I am a reseller (and tech support company owner) but am not trying to sell you a license. I do suggest you look at their website/forums and consider a small purchase (from their web site directly) to keep your system running better. I think it is better to keep the baddies out of your machine to begin with, rather than reacting afterwards.

Randy

I have had the best luck removing garbage like Security tool (including one infection earlier today on a customer’s pc) and other Fake Anti-Virus programs by booting the computer off of a boot cd, like those from UBCD4WIN. I can then edit the registry, remove the baddies manually, and run scanners while in UBCD mode. I create a customized disc that I rebuild every month or so. That way it has updated programs and definitions for AntiVir and SuperAntiSpyware built onto the disc. That said, creating and using boot cd’s isn’t for everyone. I’ve been working on computers for nearly 4 decades, pc’s for 3.

There are good reasons to pay for software you use, even if there are free versions available, like AVG, Avast and Mallwarebytes. The paid versions are often better, offer support (or better support) and offer real-time protection. Malwarebytes does a very good job of preventing garbage from even getting into the pc when it runs all the time – It’s call the Pro version and costs $25 per license. You can schedule updates and scans automatically. While I am a reseller, I am only pitching the protection, and you can purchase it yourself from their website.

Cleaning up a pc after it is messed up can be very difficult, and sometimes, almost, impossible, to do in a reasonable amount of time. If it takes several hours to clean a machine, time is better spent, I feel, saving data files, verifying what software is installed on the pc, locating licenses and cd/dvd packages, and Windows itself for the reload process.

A note on Malwarebytes – while you can slave your hard drive via an external enclosure connecting it to a good computer to repair it from, Malwarebytes will do nothing to clean that hard drive. It does not scan all hard drives that are connected to the computer it is scanning, it uses the registry to decide how and what to scan. If the external drive shows itself a drive f:, say, when Malwarebytes scans the registry, it will see references to drive c:, but not f:, since no programs are install on it (per the pc it is now connected to).

On the other hand, SuperAntiSpyware will scan that external drive, removing junk as necessary – though not from within the registry on that drive, only the files themselves.

There are a significant number of Windows bugs which “permit” malware to infect our computers and then they block our anti-malware programs from operating. Even keeping your AV program up to date is not enough, when there are corrupted web pages out there with malware attacks buitl into them. And, sadly, some people who react to seeing an infestation like we are discussing and purchase what the malware attacker is offering, giving their credit card info, and their personal info to a stranger who will then use it and resell it to as many other people as possible.

Randy

A “new” version of the RegEdit PE program came out on May 3, 2007, Version v1.0a. It is much better than the previous.
Here is the web link: http://regeditpe.sourceforge.net/

A Registry Restore Wizard also exists – but it is NOT a full restore, only the 5 registry hives are restored (and the old ones saved), not any of the associated programs.

I tried to locate the site where the plugin originally came from: http://viceroy.web1000.com/regreswiz.htm but I do not it exists any longer. I checked with the WayBack Machine – the site hasn’t changed since August 2008. The plugin is included with UBCD4WIN, a package that can be considered a Bart’s PE FollowOn, since Bart’s PE hasn’t been updated in many years.

I do not know what the policy is on attachments. The plugin is small, only 20KB compressed. If it is permitted, I can upload it.