WeaponX

Whoa, that will definitely make my day...5 minutes compared to two hours!!!Just need to clear a few more things though. If I want to create this image and save it on a external hard drive, can I just tell the ghost program to do this instead of saving them to CDs/DVDs? Will this impact the part where you mentioned that the partition sizes should be the same? What I want to do now is to install Windows XP Pro, XP SP2, Norton Antivirus and Microsoft AntiSpyware. Then create a ghost image of this and save it to my external hard drive. Does it matter what size the partition is for the hard drive I will be installing the ghost image to now? This will be a big problem if it does matter because the sites I go to have hard drives of different sizes and they usually either have one partition or two at most.Can I install XP Pro on a new external hard drive? I have my laptop here and don't want to format it just to create this clean ghost image. Or, will it work if I create another partition on my laptop for this install and create a ghost image to save to my external hard drive? The drive letter probably won't be c: drive since I have Windows XP Home on my c: drive, d: drive is for my other data, e: and f: are for other external devices. So if I install it on the g: drive partition, will do have any adverse effect on the ghost image installing on a computer meant to be on the c: drive?Just want to get these questions out of the way before I proceed with this. It would be such a relief that all this can be done under 10 minutes. Is it 5 minutes loading image from hard disk or CD/DVD? Should I copy that ghost.exe file for the hard drive also? So many questions I might try spanning it to 1 or 2 CDs also.One last question. Booting from USB hard drive...will this work for most of the more recent computers? Otherwise I might just have to do with the CD method. If I choose the CD method, how would I go about doing this to make it bootable? I will probably need more than one CD since it will have XP Pro and XP SP2 which in themselves take up a bunch of space already...not to mention Norton Antivirus. I will see if I can buy a older version of Norton Ghost or get one from work since they have licenses for these.Thanks again for the help. No more waiting for Windows to install...what a relief

Thanks for the replies.Yep, I'm only using WEP since my router won't support WPA. I guess it's better than nothing, but I have taken all the other wireless security measures already with the SSID and MAC filtering, so that should stiffen up the access level.I don't do much online, but occassionally buy some things. I'll keep them all enabled then. Will try to get a router with WPA encryption. I didn't notice any slowdown myself but read things here and there about how encrypting the wireless using WEP/WPA can slow things down...guess it's just paranoia ;)Thanks.

Sweeeeeet tip...thanks sazz :PDidn't know that the md command could do all that stuff. Sure beats creating a new folder and subfolder each time. Just took a look at the md help and there it is...actually didn't mention the on how to create multiple folders though

I don't think Spyware Doctor is free. Probably has a trial version.I never liked Spyware Doctor before. It started off on the wrong foot by being one of those "rogue" (false antispyware) programs and I never trusted it since then (even though its said to have "changed" its ways now).If you want another free one, I suggest getting Spybot S&D. You might also want to give Microsoft AntiSpyware a try but I have to warn you, Micro$oft has teamed up (bought) an adware/spyware company and has since taken some of the removal definitions out of their database. In other words, it's set to Ignore them (some of the big ones include Claria, 180solutions, WhenU, etc.). So unless you know that they are bad, you might still have those spyware/adware on your computer.If you want a paid program, I recommend getting either Webroot's SpySweeper program or Zero Spyware.

I will do this from scratch for the image...know that part already If I had Windows XP, XP SP2, Norton Antivirus and Microsoft AntiSpyware in the ghost image, how long (approximately) would it take to load this image onto another hard drive? Last time I did this manually it took over 2 hours ;)Never used PowerQuest's Drive Image before. I have Partition Magic 8. Is this the same as ghosting the drive (like Norton Ghost)?Thanks.

Spyware these days are not just used to "spy" on the user anymore. It can slow down your computer dramatically or disconnect you from the internet indefinitely (until it's removed). Use a program like Ad-aware and Spybot...I recommend those two since they are free to use. If you want to have a paid one, I suggest giving Spy Sweeper a try. You might also want to take a look at Zero Spyware as those two are rated on the top charts for spyware removal.

Thanks...was just wondering since I talked to my co-worker and he only uses the MAC filtering. Like you said, it never hurts to be too safe

Thanks Houdini.How about the ad-hoc question? How would I do this? Do I assign each machine a manual IP and share a folder?Also how do I make Windows connect to my wireless router instead of the Netgear program which I'm using now?

Will giving your router a WEP/WPA protection slow down the speed of the connection? I have changed my SSID and disabled it from being broadcasted, enabled WEP 128bit encryption (that's the highest it will support ), and enabled MAC address filtering. Is that overkill? Will I be just as safe if I just use MAC filtering?Just curious since from what I gathered all this time, 802.11g can transfer speeds up to 54Mbps but most internet speeds can't even be close to that. So will it still slow me down though in that sense? I have 3Mbps download speed...Thanks.

I tried to look for solutions on how to set this up properly but can't find any more information than what I have known or tried already.Currently, I have one laptop (Windows XP Home) and a desktop (Windows 98SE) setup to use the internet. They both have wireless cards/adapters and can go online through the router without any problems. The problem is how do I share files between them? For Windows 98, I have enabled File Sharing and chose a folder for sharing. Does it matter if it's a Family Logon or do I have to set it to Microsoft...something Network logon instead? How about an IP address? Do I have to assign one manually since my router does that for me. Both machines are in the same workgroup with different computer names and IPs. I just want them both to be able to go online and share files.My other main question is in regards to the Ad-hoc mode. This is only for one on one file sharing right (where no router is needed)? How do I get this to work? Please be specific and list steps if you can. I should be able to follow what you say, just need to know what to do Not sure if it has anything to do with it, but will setting this up incorrectly disrupt your cell phone signal? Whole family was complaining the other day LOL, and I think it might have been caused by that.Last question...how do I use Windows to connect to my wireless internet connection? I tried letting Windows connect but it won't. I gave it my SSID and WEP information and it still won't connect. I'm using a Netgear 802.11g wireless PCMCIA card. This method only works in XP right and not in 98?Thanks.

Hi, I'm tired of wasting so much time on a site when I have to reinstall Windows from scratch. Want to speed up the process a little since I have to install Windows XP, any Service Packs, Norton Antivirus and Microsoft AntiSpyware for the computers. I want to create images of good working Window states, but have some questions.1. How much faster would this be compared to reinstalling everything manually? I will be doing this from an external hard drive.2. What are the chances of an image not working assuming that the image created is good? I heard that these may fail sometimes (images doesn't look properly?).3. If/When I get this working, do I just plug in the external USB hard drive to the computer and boot from USB (maybe change in BIOS boot sequence)?4. Can I install Windows XP to a blank external hard drive and ghost it from there? I have a laptop here and don't want to wipe it out just for that.I didn't play around too much with ghosting hard drives and only know so much on how to use it (and that's on a CD). One last question for now. Which program do you prefer to use: Norton Ghost or Acronis TrueImage? Just know of those two that are available (probably better well known).Thanks.

To add to this, there is a way to convert NTFS back to FAT32 (from what I found). dhanesh, I assume when you said that the user can use Partition Magic, you meant that they can convert FAT32 to NTFS instead of using the XP convert command right? But Partition Magic can also do the reverse from my findings. The program will set you back about $70 if you buy the newest version (less if you look for older versions on eBay). Just took a look myself and on the left panel under Partition Operations, there's a feature called Convert partition. Click on that and FAT32 is listed (I'm using XP with NTFS now).

The guys in the office finally replaced the analog board which was my first guess. The flickering stopped after that...I usually open up the iMacs and check the insides. I didn't notice anything loose or misplaced in there though. The bad contact is on the logic board side right and not the monitor side? We don't touch the part where the monitor circuits are...so if it's there, I guess we can't fix those on site.

Thanks for the reply. I probably won't be going back there again since they might be getting a new computer. That one has baffled me. I think I tried to take out the PCI card, but had some problems with it (it wasn't like the normal one where it's a screw locking the metal piece in). Looked and tried and just said to myself...forget it. Just doing this as a favor anyway

Hi, I have been troubleshooting lots of Macs lately at my job (mostly iMacs) and want to make it easier on me in future visits.The most common problem I've seen lately is a folder with a question mark in it blinking. Great...it's a corrupted OS right? I tried reinstalling by booting off the Mac CD. It won't boot from it. I tried swapping out the CD drive...then also the hard drive when CD still won't boot from it. Still nothing. I brought it for in-house repair and they guys over there said they repaired a "bad contact". Is it safe for me to assume that this bad contact could mean anything inside that's out of place? Or is this "bad contact" an actual component in the Mac?The other problem I encountered last week was a flickering screen. It would flicker from time to time and in about 5 - 10 minutes into the bootup, it will either flicker a few more times and freeze on you...or just shutdown for no reason. Bad analog board?Seems like a lot of these problems with Macs is the analog board. This board provides the video and also power to the Mac right? Is there anything else its responsible for?This will really help me out a lot. If you guys know of any other common Mac problems (be it iMac, eMac or the old PowerMac G3's), please list them here. I hate taking these things in-house when I can't repair them on the site.Thanks.

Seems like a bunch of users were tricked into clicking that link. They all said something similar asking the user to look at the pictures. Just to make sure they are gone, download and run these two programs (see below): Download AimFix and run it now. Download LQFix and run it. Click on Next->Next->Install. Click Finish to launch LQfix. Follow the screen prompts. Your system will reboot afterwards. Please wait for the script to finish in the background at this time... That should get rid of it if any remnants are left behind. I usually see another piece of junk program working side by side with this aim virus, so that's why I'm asking you to run the second tool (LQFix) also (just in case ).

I'm not sure what the rules here on HijackThis logs, but if you have a site that you can upload the log to, do that and post the link here. I can help you analyze the log and provide instructions to remove it. Please PM me once you did that since I don't keep track of the topics I post to.

OK, finally found time to do this. I wiped the printheads with some alcohol and nothing changed...still printing out blank pages. There were ink smudges on the paper towel when I wiped the printhead with alcohol. Not sure if that's a good sign or not...Any other ideas? I'm not getting any errors now. It's printing normally, with the exception of the blank pages coming out.

I think it's multiple user. It's for a classroom. There were other problems that I saw on this machine (slow booting up).I hate these macs Replaced hard drive and cd drive without any luck booting from CD. I brought it for in-house repair and once again (as I expected), the repair made was a bad contact. Guess it must mean something was loose in there. Reinstalled the whole OS since the user didn't need the data backed up.Thanks. I will check out the Apple website.

Was wondering how it can be done from Mac OS 8.6 and up. But if you want a specific one, the one I was working on had Mac OS 9.2.2 and at bootup it asked for a username and password.

Hi, I have been working with some Macs lately and had one today where the username and password were not working for the administrator. I had a master list with me and tried using all the combinations of username and password but it won't allow me to get in.I'm still considered to be a newbie (very new actually), but is there any way to reset or retrieve the password somehow? I see methods of doing this for Windows XP if the admin loses the password...just wondering if it's possible on a Mac.Not sure if you want the specifics, but if there is a method/program to make it work from Mac OS 8.6 and up, that would be great.Thanks.

Call it dumb luck but I got a 10/10 on the first try Didn't recognize any of the faces but took some educated guesses (even though some of them looked "innocent" hehe).

Antivirus programs are used mainly to detect and removal viruses/trojans. They are not made to remove spyware even though some may remove spyware related files (due to the trojan-like behaviors of some spyware). Are you sure it wasn't Norton Firewall that blocked access? If you have Norton Firewall that may have blocked it. I have a short list of free antispyware programs at my website.

I don't like RapidShare that much because of the download limitations that some of you mentioned earlier. I usually go to YouSendIt or other similar services like it. The speed is pretty decent actually and the only downside with YouSendIt is that it expires after 7 days I think.Not sure what you mean about a program you need to download to use it. I don't recall having to download a program in order to do the upload of files.

I personally use AVG also. I have used this free edition of AVG for years now and haven't ran into any problems that it can't handle.If you want a paid antivirus program NOD32, mentioned by Grafitti, should be pretty good also. I seen users saying (here at Xisto I think even ) that it's a great antivirus. I guess you can give their trial download a test drive before you buy it.