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Batuta · #1 Post by **Batuta** » Thu May 05, 2005 10:35 am

slagmi · #2 Post by **slagmi** » Thu May 05, 2005 12:11 pm

Well I've had to go thru this already on my X30 when I attempted to download something rather trivial from MS.

Among other info it asks you to type in your product ID. So once this becomes widespread I'm sure the phishing and pharming will too...

In the end it eventually said I was OK (time to Ghost), but it truly was a hassle to the tune of 25 minutes or so...Knoppix, Mepis, Xandros, etc are all looking better and better to me...

Batuta · #3 Post by **Batuta** » Thu May 05, 2005 12:51 pm

GoEatFood · #4 Post by **GoEatFood** » Thu May 05, 2005 1:01 pm

well figuring it's windows. they will only scan a main partition "C:/" any other scanning could be considered invasion of privacy. as all windows system files usually reside on the "C:/". If of course they figured someway around this I'd simply go to a duel boot and only run windows when I truely needed it...and run some form of linux as my main OS...basicly a switch over of what I do now. windows usually won't see a linux partition.

slagmi · #5 Post by **slagmi** » Thu May 05, 2005 1:16 pm

Well...this has been a few weeks ago, but it went something like this... 1> automatic scan, should only take a few moments 2>'we were unable to obtain the requred information' 3> please download and install this active x control (Firefox didn't like it, so start over with IE) 3> more scanning 4> please answer the following questions, things like find and type in your PID, was Windows preinstalled by an OEM, what brand of computer is this (as if their scan couldn't already see that, well perhaps not) and more 5> you're OK.

Now to be fair, I've done a lot of trimming of Windows. Disabling unneeded services and such and turning off oddball stuff I don't trust like the ms-its protocol, VB shell.application and Microsoft.XMLHTTP, for example. So maybe it's just my fault it didn't just work. So perhaps I've done a 1/2 way decent job of keeping them out after all-

But, like I said, not wanting to go thru that again, I Ghosted the drive that night!

leoblob · #6 Post by **leoblob** » Fri May 06, 2005 4:19 pm

slagmi wrote:I Ghosted the drive that night!

Can you explain what this is? I'm unfamiliar with it.

Batuta · #7 Post by **Batuta** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:26 pm

#8 Post by **JaneL** » Fri May 06, 2005 7:52 pm

leoblob wrote:
slagmi wrote:I Ghosted the drive that night!
Can you explain what this is? I'm unfamiliar with it.

(Yes, I know I'm violating my own rule about nested quotes)

Ghost is a software package that allows you to make an image of a HDD to use as a backup.

slagmi · #9 Post by **slagmi** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:27 pm

Well I had an extra Travelstar 20GB about, and I had less than 20GB of space used. We all know how much time it takes to setup everything 'just the way we like'.

If anything bad happens to Windows(that never happens, right?), I'll start there and I won't have to get 'validated' again.

And now that I've thought about it, though I have Ghost and DriveImage, for that job I actually used a freeware utility off the 'Ultimate Boot CD'. Worked well. And it's free. Some handy tools there, worth making your own if you haven't already- www.ultimatebootcd.com

Orbitz · #10 Post by **Orbitz** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:57 pm

slagmi...thanks for the tip! I just looked at Ultimate Boot CD and it does look like a nice find.

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