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Charlie's Aunt

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  1. Opps !!! In my haste to reply, I overlooked something. Rather than explain, I'll just restate the goof-ed up content the way it should have been written OK, and I hope you pardon my repetiveness, but just for grins: 01. I download ERUNT and install it Using the default install settings, but NOT to the Start-Up folder. 02. I Start ERUNT (to backup the registry AS IT CURRENTLY EXISTS) a) I choose a location for the backup, accepting the default location is C:\Windows\ERDNT I make sure that at least the first two check boxes are selected. c) I click on OK d) I then click on YES to create the folder and ERUNT continues until it completes normally. 03. I copy the boot partition of the bad drive to the boot partition of the good drive, insuring it is large enough. 04. I get the 'magic 5/5 alpha-numeric string from the M/soft sticker on the case. 05. I attempt to boot. 06 Somewhere between starting to boot and the boot process completing, I will be prompted for some kind of code, with the prompt including a phone number to call. 07. I call the number and when asked, I will give the code of of the sticker on my case. 08. I then will receive a different code. 09. This different code I am to type into the computer in answer to the prompt of before. 10. Upon pressing [ENTER], all will be forgiven and I will be allowed to enter computer-land, never to be bothered again .... Now, here things get a little 'fuzzy' ... and I'm not sure how to proceed.... A) If 'All' is well and good, and I don't perceive any problems, even after having executed several of my 'more important' programs . 1 Do I really need to restore the registry I backed up, above? . 2 If I do, will doing so overwrite anything/everything done above to re-activate XP - requiring a second re-activation phone call? . 3 If I don't, then I'm all done, right? If there are problems then I shall write another post rather than engage in a bunch of 'what-ifs' C) Does this covrer it - or have missed/glossed something over? Now, I think I've covered all the bases. tata, Charlie's Aunt
  2. noknojon - "On the side of your case should be a sticker for genuine M/soft , with a string of numbers and letters (5 blocks of 5 strings) -" A-h-hhh!! The all-important case! OK, and I hope you pardon my repetiveness, but just for grins: 1. I copy the boot partition of the bad drive to the boot partition of the good drive, insuring it is large enough. 2. I get the 'magic 5/5 alpha-numeric string from the M/soft sticker on the case. 3. I attempt to boot. 4 Somewhere between starting to boot and the boot process completing, I will be prompted for some kind of code, with the prompt including a phone number to call. 5. I call the number and when asked, I will give the code of of the sticker on my case. 6. I then will receive a different code. 7. This different code I am to type into the computer in answer to the prompt of before. 8. Upon pressing [ENTER], all will be forgiven and I will be allowed to enter computer-land, never to be bothered again .... Does this covrer it - or have missed/glossed something over? Thanks so much! I'm finally feeling like Dorothy when she could see the big doors of OZ! Thanks again, . Charlie's Aunt P.S. Why, in posts past was the absolute date given, but now all I see is 'yesterday' and 'today'?????? CA
  3. noknojon Hi! Although I didn't mention it (I was hoping you would), I am very concerned about Microsoft's Activation process. Since you didn't mention it maybe I am being overly excited. I have done some Googling about this issue and the results have been monumental, but my re3ading has not ... However, most of what I've seen involves XP determining that the new drive is not the same one which was there the last time it ran. When that happens, some sort of interactive process starts which involves a phone call to Microsoft. Do you know anything about this? Charlie's Aunt
  4. noknojon OK, let me run this by you to make sure I understand.... 1. I download this ERUNT program. 2. With it, I backup my registry. 3. Then using whatever technique, I copy the entire contents of the bad disk onto a good disk 4. On the good drive, with the ERUNT program, I restore the registry. 5. I remove the bad disk from the computer and attach the good drive as the new boot disk. 6. Rebooting, is no BAD message and the computer is, as it had been before. 7. No more problem with the hard disk. Does this about cover it? No major steps forgotten or glossed over? Charlie's Aunt
  5. noknojon - Thanks for the link. I checked out the Wiki site and was educated. Basicly, whatever the message is, other than "OK" or "BAD" or some synonym for those, it's meaningless because the message set changes with the manufacturer and/or the Bios - with very little overlap. Assume the worst, back up the data, at the very least, if not the rest of the drive - that's what I took away. I ran the CHKDSK code snippet. The computer rebooted and then ran CHKDSK. I watched it for a while, then left to get a snak. When I left, it had completed stage 4 (with no indication of errors found) and was at 90% of stage 5. Upon my return, the computer had rebooted, & still had the S.M.A.R.T. 'BAD' message. I pressed F2 to continue the boot. On the Task Bar was a balloon telling me that there was something waiting to be written to CD - A folder, named "New Folder". I looked in it, but it looked empty. Other than that, I saw no evidence that the program had run & having not been there when it finished, I don't know what the results were. Are they going to be written to CD? Now, some details I didn't tell you before. I had been seeing the 'BAD' message for a while, but thought I had a little mote time when, one day, I woke up and the computer wouldn't boot. The message said something about not being able to find some file and told me to use another boot device. I have had errors like that before, but since the "BAD" message had been appearing, I was concerned that the drive had been corrupted or something. I moved it over to Windows 2000 machine I had, as a secondary drive, thinking that if it came up, I would back up the data. It did come up, but first Win2K discovered a problem with it's file system and spen the next 20 minutes 'fixing' it, and forced a reboot. Well, I took it back over to the original computer and booted. It came up! There were 2 error message that 2 calls from my wireless program couldn't find it's .dll file (probably in the bad sector(s) that were found) and a process was running trying to update HP, other than that, I don't see any eratic behavior, other than the "BAD" message. IT boots, now I can back it up. I'm not sure it I can do a repair - it's been eons since I made a 'back-up Point', I think they are called. ...#1 DO A BACKUP - How? What kind? And once that is done, what then? You advised reinstalling the OS and other software onto another HD. That is really not a problem - I have the HP recovery disks. I want to avoid that if possible and keep the existing installation of all the software for which there have been no disks for over 10 years - but it's still 'good' stuff and I use it often. Is there a way to do this? I know I'll have to go through Microsoft at some point, but Rats, all I want to do is change the hard drive!!! Thanks for your time, . Charlie's Aunt
  6. Hi there, Guys - Hope you don't translate my response time as "not very interested" because it takes me a while to reswpond, sometimes. I figured that the drive 'had some problems'. However, I mentioned the situation to you because I was curious about the warning messages that S.M.A.R.T. produces. I can't quote it, but I've seen a less serious warning, so I wondered if there were more. That is, do I have only a few hours, days, or what, of 'steady' running before it screeches to a halt? I'm asking that (very hard to predict, I know) question because of what I have learned in the last hours. Somewhere, I learned that changing hard drives under Windows XP and up is a convoluted and frustrating process - and that is when it goes well !! A new HD is not in the budget, now, but I have some old HDs that would service for while: a 30G Seagate, a 40G Maxtor, and a 80G Western Digital (but I'd rather not use that one - it's almost full). The bad drive is a 120G Western Digital, but only 11G has been used. In the past (Win98 times), I have been able to backup partitions from one drive to another drive as long as the receiving drive's partition was larger than the source drive's used portion and the source drive had been defragged (which is why I was asking about the remaining life time of the drive). I understand, that if the partition copy is successful, and I try to boot with that drive, that XP is going to hiccup and tell me I need to reactivate it. I think that process may be handeled over the phone. That is about as much as I have gotten clear. My research gets really murkey from there on in. The computer is a HP from 2003, twice removed. I obtained it a year ago. It came with all sorts of 'cool' SW, including Office and a CAD program. I had premonitions about this situation, so I called HP and bought the 7-CD set of restore software. However, as I understand it, to use them will bring the computer (with 'new' HD) back to 2003, requiring me to update whatever software (bloatware) that comes on the CD. Therein lies my consternation. The simple, straightforward path to nirvana results in a near naked pilgrim, while the totally acceptable, well situated, pilgrim arrives in nirvana after a lot of zig-zags, dead-ends, and detours - if he arrives at all. So, what say ye, oh masters of the universe???!!!! Charlie's really scratching his head..... Charlie's Aunt
  7. noknojon - To refer me to an expert is fine with me. It will probably save some time in the long run. 2 New issues, which, to my way of thinking, trump those I've previously brought up - for obvious reasons - Ha! 1) Message at bootup: "Pri Master Hard Disk: S.M.A.R.T. Status BAD. Backup & Replace" 2) After downloading and running MS Security Essentials, it found a 'Trojandownloader: win32/Renos.BAO. I'm uploading a .jpg of the screen. I haven't taken any action yet - not a lot of explanation or I ran it too soon. 3) Another question: where is the swap file located and what is it's name? WRT #1) HP computer. How to change HD without XP complaining? Best way to back up (Copy partition to new drive using supplied SW?)? 20G of 120G used, so a 40G drive would work till a larger one can be purchased? WRT #2) I just finished a clean-up and was w/o AV SW, so refrained from doing 'anything' on line as much as possible, except for downloading MSSE. Malwarbytes (which I ran just before MSSE) didn't find anything, so I ran MSSE. I was surprised that anything was found. Comments? Thanks, Charlie's Aunt
  8. noknojon - Thanks for your opinions. I think I will follow your recomendations for Malwarebytes & Microsoft Security Essentials. As for the recovery console, just what does it do, or what can I do with it? I reread my instructions for Defogger and it looks like there is a tab or button on it's home page that will re-enable my emulators, so I will try that. What are the emulators, and what do they do? Why did they have to be disabled? I've made a shortcut to this page. Everytime I d-click on it, it comes up. However, before it does, a dialogue comes up wanting to know if I want to upgrade to version 8. I'm running version 8.0.6001.18702 (128 bits). How do I get IE to stop? I've (mostly) gone through my installed software and removed that which I will never use or which doesn't work, or I don't like. Of the remaining software, there are three basic groups: Group 1 is software I want, but must call explicitly, usually by clicking on an icon (or naming it on a command line); Group 2 is also software I want, but it either has a part that starts at boot-time - like a print spooler, or it's entire existance is 'invisible' and starts at boot-time. Group 3 is similar to Group2. The difference is that the 'invisible' portion is undesireable or unnecessary and the CPU cycles are therefore stolen. Usually, the functionality of the program is either marginal or undesired. Usually, these programs are 'snuck in', but can be hard to identify or even be aware they are 'there'. I know I have Group 3 programs. Except for those that comprise 'infections', I havn't bothered about those in this group. Time for that later. Some of the Group 2 programs could be made into Group 1s. More information about each program is needed, as well as identifying 'problem' processes. Finding the processes and then linking them to actual applications is the trick. Using Task Manager, I can (sort of) see the heavy users. Using msconfig, I can determine (most of) the software that executes at boot-time. I cannot, however, even connect a process in Task Manager to an application it shows running, let alone processes named in msconfig. The only way I know of identifying CPU hogs is, at best, a trial-and-error process that needs a lot of re-booting for verification. Also, there are other 'invisible' processes running, but are not seen in msconfig. Where do they come from? Which ones are part of the OS and which are necessary parts of programs and which are not? How do I figure this out in a timely fashion? One of the reason's I'm here is in the hope that you can help me to learn how to figure all this out. I try to defrag regularly, but not often. Usually, I get a "you're not fragmented enough - continue anyway?" type of message and exit. In the past, I've steared clear of 'cleaners'. The ones I've tried, deleted way too many files that were later determined to be required, or turned out to be irreplacable data files (yes, I know about backups..., however, ....). They seem to assume way too much and not give the user as much involement as I would like. The issues with my network are because I want to make my home LAN more secure, more flexible and, perhaps, even more faster - or at least to understand why. I'm hoping to reorganize my LAN, using a wired switch and a wireless router, so I can put more security in one place, less in another, and seperate the faster Nics from the slower Nics so they don't slow down the faster ones, plus iron out the WEP WPA-PSK wrinkles, so connecting other computers once in a while is neither difficult nor a security risk, assuming all of that is possible. Charlie's Aunt
  9. noknojon - I don't think I'm still infected, but the laptop is exhibiting some behaviors it hasn't before - possibly because of the 'extraction' techniques - or not.... Also, due to the extra scruitiny I've been giving the activity of the laptop, lately, I've noticed things I never have before, so I'd like to check some of them out. Last, but certainly not least, I need to come up with an "infection defense". That is, an program of action using a specific collection of software to effect the non-simple goal of keeping the laptop clear of the multitude of infections out there trying to get in. The plan will probably not be difficult to design. The hard part, I think, will be choosing software that is actually useful, does what it purports to do - not just 'sort of'. The user interface, while really important for some, is much less important than whether the job is completed, but similarly important is the support by the manufacturer. Enough of the over-view. During the cleaning process, I was instructed to download, install, execute and allow ComboFix to download the Microsoft recovery console to my laptop, install it, run it, & then uninstall itself. By the name, I can infer 'kinda, sorta' what the recovery console does, or did. However, I am at a loss as to why it wasn't already installed. Just what does it recover, anyway - and why did it need recovering - and is it going to need recovering again? If so, when? Do I need to keep it around? Is it 'unintended' bloat-ware? Etc., etc., etc.. Also during the cleaning process, I was instructed to download and use Defogger to disable the CD emulation software, and later to remove Defogger. What I would like know, is whether the emulstion software was re-enabled some other way, whether it needs to be enabled and how to tell if it is enabled. If it is not, do I need to use Defogger to re-enable the emulation software? What should I do if Defogger has an error before finishing? During the 'extraction', there was a question about whether our wireless system had had it's DNS table hijacked. I tried to get access to find out, but couldn't, even after using the 'defaut' ID & password. Since the default didn't work, I suppose all was OK, but I would really like to gain access to insure all is configured correctly. In addition, I want to add a switch to my local network so that I can seperate the address of the wired network from the address of the wireless network. Currently, I am using WEP type of security, but I am told that WPA-PSK is better. Is it easy to configure the switch and wireless router as described and what about WEP & WPA-PSK? One possible wrinkle, is that, I need to connect my iPhone to my LAN, plus, from time to time, our daughter & son come over and want to connect. Giving them the WEP code has been a simple way for them to connect, but I don't know about the security issues involved. Can they introduce 'something' to my LAN, and then to my laptop? These should be good for a start. Can you help me? Charlie's Aunt
  10. Hello - I recently was helped in ridding our computer of a 'malicious trojan' and in the "recovery period", I've discovered that I have a bunch of questions and nowhere to go for answers - so, I thought, why not here? So, before I get too hot and bothered about this or that - is this the correct forum? til later ....
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