26 Reply by Helmi

(13 replies, posted in Site & Forum Issues And Feedback)

I can begin to count how many posts I have deleted and moved over the past week.
Plus, numerous accounts have been banned.

I mean, on an ordinary day, there is maybe like one new spammer and three posts that I remove, but this was really massive (and I guess you guys have been doing another great chunk of the work that I didn't even spot!).

Not sure if we have it already but I think CAPTCHA registrations are a must by now!
That could also be this "vulnerability" you have been speaking of.

If I may, I suggest using a system much like this one: http://random.irb.hr/signup.php
Also ensures to keep the idiot count low on the human side wink

Go to forum: Site & Forum Issues And Feedback

27 Reply by Helmi

(1 replies, posted in Installation Platforms)

Yes, all DriverPacks can be used together.
However, take note that you may want to leave out the 3rd Party Packs and rather supply those via SAD2 to avoid problems by having integrated just too many drivers (Windows install can get picky...).
Also, when using all official packs, use M2 rather than M1 for the same reason (driver count, path lenght).

Oh, and DO NOT use nLite for slipstreaming drivers but our own tool, BASE.
In fact, disable the driver integration step in nLite altogether!

Go to forum: Installation Platforms

28 Reply by Helmi

(14 replies, posted in Universal Imaging)

Alright then, I stand corrected.

I just re-checked the contents and apparently it still contains some "Mini-XP" alongside with a $ symbol which implies commercial (and most likely copyrighted) software.
I was under the impression (as I told you, I have been using SARDU since, which lets you build your own XP PE, much like UBCD4win, using your own source, so I wasn't aware of Hiren's current contents) it was now shareware-only, as that had been announced by the author and was widely commented on on several fora...

Glad to have that sorted out, though.
Will keep me from suggesting it at least (plus, SARDU seems like a valuable alternative, even containing bootable virus scanners etc - plus it's fully costomizable. This must sound like me promoting that soft by now, eh? wink)

Go to forum: Universal Imaging

29 Reply by Helmi

(14 replies, posted in Universal Imaging)

Yeah, just saying, so you guys don't go straight to DefCon 1 whenever you read Hiren wink

Personally, before there was SARDU, I was heavily relying on Hiren myself, as were many other Sys Admins I know.

That is not to say to abandon our strict no-warez policy, quite the contrary, but we shouldn't witch-hunt someone before we are sure they broke our law wink

Go to forum: Universal Imaging

30 Reply by Helmi

(14 replies, posted in Universal Imaging)

To his defense, latest official versions (since v. 11 or so) of Hiren's are free of warez, hence save to use (they only contain freeware).
Contents can be seen here (site does not contain DL links):
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

As the original posts have been edited, I am of course unable to judge about what he really posted (some hackers released versions of Hiren's again containing all the commercial tools, so it's possible he was using one of those...).

Go to forum: Universal Imaging

31 Reply by Helmi

(37 replies, posted in Windows 8 Discussion)

Class 1: Just BIOS and no UEFI?
Just taking a guess here...


Anyway, as for "hacking" the firmware: As long as you don't do it commercially, I doubt anyone would notice. And no one noticing means no one suing, right? So I wouldn't really bother about it, at least for you private PC (unless you feel really uncomfortable with "breaking the law" - well, rest assured, that numb feeling will pass wink)

Go to forum: Windows 8 Discussion

32 Reply by Helmi

(6 replies, posted in Feedback and Support - DriverPacks Base)

A torrent download per se is neither illegal nor full of viri.
It depends, as with all things, on the content.
As they are provided by us, they are of course not illegal. Even if, the illegality would not stem from the fact they are torrents. Torrents are just a special form of offering downloads, no more, no less.

As for "unscanable viruses", of course you can scan them. You just have to finish downloading them, first, as you would have to do with .7zs, too (in fact, once the DL is finished, you will end up with a .7z file anyhow, so no difference there...).
Rest assured that downloads presented on our site are of course as clean as possible!

Go to forum: Feedback and Support - DriverPacks Base

33 Reply by Helmi

(37 replies, posted in Windows 8 Discussion)

As long as Secure Boot is an optinal feature that can be enabled and disabled in the BIOS... err, UEFI, I don't see any problem with it.
Of course, you'd then have to decide whether to use SB or Linux, but at least you have the choice.
What's up with the TMP chips found on some MBs already?
I guess they aren't supported by Linux, either, yet, it doesn't cause any problems if you have one.

Go to forum: Windows 8 Discussion

34 Reply by Helmi

(37 replies, posted in Windows 8 Discussion)

OverFlow wrote:

i have not been able to install this in a vmware or a VirtualBox on my x86 machine

There's a new version of VB out (released 2011-10-03) that supposedly now supports Win8 installs!

Go to forum: Windows 8 Discussion

35 Reply by Helmi

(524 replies, posted in Windows 7 tools)

Works for me, just tested.
Please try again.

In any case, I sent you an email with the latest package!

Go to forum: Windows 7 tools

36 Reply by Helmi

(33 replies, posted in Other)

SP3 is the only way to go now, since all other version of XP are already unsupported by MSFT and hence insecure.
SP3 will soon (2013 I think) also become unsupported by critical security fixes so you may already evaluate alternatives for succession soon enough...

I think, the main reason SP3 got bad reviews in the beggining (though I never had any problems whatsoever) was a) because certain NORTON AV solutions stopped working (Symantec's fault for not following MSFT's guidelines on AV soft integration) and b) because many cracks and activation "tricks" ceased to work along with many corporate serials being blacklisted. So, most of the folks who cried were blatant pirates anyhow...

Go to forum: Other

37 Reply by Helmi

(33 replies, posted in Other)

What Jeff said wink
If you already own an SP3 XP CD (later version of it sold retail already contained it), discard the whole step.

Go to forum: Other

38 Reply by Helmi

(33 replies, posted in Other)

True, I include any updates myself, IF you are going to create your own disc image anyhow, you might as well make it as complete as possible.

Anyway, are you sure about that "network installer package"?
You don't happen to mean .NET runtimes by chance?
Just wondering...

Go to forum: Other

39 Reply by Helmi

(33 replies, posted in Other)

DDR-333 wrote:

I'm a total newbie to DriverPacks, and thought this would help with me to manually install some missing drivers for a laptop.

If it's for an online system, use SAD instead.

Which is exactly what I want to do!

For integration into an offline installation medium, use the BASE, disc option and method 2 for a rough guide.
No extraction of DriverPacks required (now will it work with extracted packs, anyhow...).

OK. I think I'm getting the idea now. I only want to build my own slipstreamed XP DVD for home use, with missing drivers added to it. So do I need the network installation package mentioned in the MSFN UXPCD tutorial?

No, you only need to have the ISO of the install medium extracted to HDD (or have the contents of an install disc copied over - make sure to not miss hidden and system files etc. when copying with Explorer - I use nLite for the task, much preferred for newbies!).
Then, DL and install BASE and DL the DriverPacks you want, putting the *.7zs into the DriverPacks folder.
Start BASE, follow on-screen hints...

I found RyanVM's MSFN files page late last night. So now I know about the hot fixes, and where to get them form!

Has nothing to do with drivers nor DriverPacks in generall.
It is recomneded to work with an SP3 image.
nLite may be used for hotfix and SP slistreaming (but NOT for anything driver-related!).

GL!

Go to forum: Other

40 Reply by Helmi

(33 replies, posted in Other)

DDR-333 wrote:

I tried to unpack all the latest DP's that were just under 3GB size in .7z archives. I ran out of disk space after unpacking about 11GB's worth of 7z archives.

Why did you try this?
What purpose does it serve?

(FAT32 is apparently supposed to cause less wear on the flash memory that NTFS)

Use exFAT, it's designed for flash drives!
FAT32 is ancient and obsolete (if only most stand-alone HW would support anything else than FAT16/32...).

Go to forum: Other

41 Reply by Helmi

(6 replies, posted in Site & Forum Issues And Feedback)

As for the secruity risk, couldn't you set up a single machine in a DMZ that does nothing but DL/UL the DP torrents?
If you disconnect it from the rest of your network, it should only be a minimal risk (plus, it could also serve as a seed box wink).

Anyway, as to USB flash drives:
I think the major problem lies within Windows' Autorun function.
Any sane Admin should disable all autorun functions completely.
A compromised Autorun.INF file on an optical medium is just as bad as on a flash drive...

Obviously, the MD5 hashes provided serve as a file integrity check (moving the files from home to work).

Go to forum: Site & Forum Issues And Feedback

42 Reply by Helmi

(6 replies, posted in Site & Forum Issues And Feedback)

GalacticOverload wrote:

I don't know what possessed you to remove the direct download link for the driverpack files.

This.

I am on a corporate network, behind a firewall and I **CAN NOT** download via bit torrent.  If I try, I get a "waiting to log in" message in Bit Torrent.  The security group will not allow me to use Bit Torrent as it is a security risk (probably do to the seed/peer aspect).

Bad luck, I guess.
What do you need the DriverPacks for, anyhow?
Either you are the Admin in said corporation, then *YOU* should be the one in charge for network settings etc. or you aren't, then you do not need the DriverPacks.

PLEASE PUT BACK THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD LINK.

No can do. Unless you want to donate some bandwidth or hosting costs...

It took me two weeks to get the security group to allow me to direct download from this site and since you have moved to Bit Torrent downloads, I haven't been able to update anydrivers.

I'm not sure what this "security group" really is but if they have at least any clue, they'd allow the DriverPacks if you are responsible for driver updates.

In order to get the new files I will have to download the files at home, move them to a flash drive and then bring them into work.  That seems very counter-productive to me.

Yep, so it seems to me.
As I said, if it's your job, then talk to your boss; you should be allowed to do your job, at least.
If it isn't, then you should keep the DriverPacks on your private PC at home.


mad

Don't be mad at us, it's not our fault.
There was no alternative to this, due to nonexisting donations.
Have you donated already?
If not, stop complaining about something that is offered to you FOR FREE!

Go to forum: Site & Forum Issues And Feedback

43 Reply by Helmi

(37 replies, posted in Windows 8 Discussion)

Well, from what I've read, the trick to disable Metro (which serves no real purpose on a non-touch display - I figure, there will be an option to enable/disable it in setup in the final version or some auto-detect of touch/tablet HW as Win7 already does) yet retain ribbon functionality in Explorer (which I kind of welcome, I really liked the switch from Menu to Ribbon in Office and some uniformity among apps is a good thing!), you got to do the following:

Rename (or delete I guess) shsxs.dll in %systemroot%\System32.
Reboot --> Metro gone, ribbons stay.

I assume you'll also get the Start Menu back that way...



If you want to disable ribbons and Metro, do the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
"RPEnabled"=dword:00000000

HTH!



EDIT:
More info here and here!

Go to forum: Windows 8 Discussion

44 Reply by Helmi

(37 replies, posted in Windows 8 Discussion)

Couldn't even get it to install on VirtualBox, but worked in VMWare.
First 15 minutes impression was somewhat mixed, probably due to the host being too slow for smooth Metro animations.
But, what is thatm the Start button is a mere fake on Desktop now!
Whaaaaa...!

Go to forum: Windows 8 Discussion

45 Topic by Helmi

(37 replies, posted in Windows 8 Discussion)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516

In case you are interested... wink

Go to forum: Windows 8 Discussion

46 Reply by Helmi

(58 replies, posted in 3rd Party DriverPacks)

You may do as you please, but you will need at least \D\3\
I recommend using at least one additional subdir for better order.
Pick any short (!) name that has not been used, yet.
The reason to keep paths short is that there's a 4096 character limit on all paths combined. Exceeding this leads to problems with Windows (patchs get truncated, no drivers installed etc.)

Go to forum: 3rd Party DriverPacks

47 Reply by Helmi

(11 replies, posted in Hardware)

I assumed, he wants to prepare the systems now for possible later installation of the wireless card.
That way, he can work them off in one go and when that card/adapter is installed, the driver will already be in place and hence the device work w/o further installation and user interaction (admin rights for drivers etc).
This is exactly what KTD does; since SAD requires a) user input (needs to be run) and b) admin rights to work properly.

I guess, online deployment could be achieved through DPinst.exe.
May want to look into that.

Go to forum: Hardware

48 Reply by Helmi

(11 replies, posted in Hardware)

I guess, KTD could be helpful in this case, for once... wink

Go to forum: Hardware

49 Reply by Helmi

(60 replies, posted in 3rd Party DriverPacks)

When I find the time, I make sure to drop a post!
Mostly, my forum visit just consists of deleting spam post and banning users, though... hmm

Go to forum: 3rd Party DriverPacks

50 Reply by Helmi

(13 replies, posted in Other)

Creative Labs has been on that no-buy list for quite some time now.
Last card I owned was some SB 16 back in the 90s.
Then came AC-97, which was good enough for my purposes and now with HDA you can even output on a PA without having any of the visitors notice the sound't not coming from CD (plus, with a mis-configured setup, as found in many places, you can have it sound so much worse you won't notice any difference anyhow).

Oh, coming to think, I still have that SB Live! (that was given to me) in my system simply because the MB lacked any gameport (and there's simply nothing better than MSFT's Sidewinder Pro!)...
Too bad it won't work with Win 7 x64 (it does on 7 x86 thanks to another efford of Daniel!).
Have never used the card to output any sound though wink
Too bad, some 13 € cheapo card's (which I bought for this purpose only) GamePort was of such bad quality that the joystick was jittering around so much games felt as if you played them with Parkinson... sad

Go to forum: Other