Hey guys, once again I have an issue with my xp home computer. It is a root kit. I have two hidden objects on my computer, one I believe related to my printer and its phone home capabilities, the other seems to be a kit.

Here is what I plan to do. Brand new HD, I have it now and it is still in its anti static bag. I am going to make a windows partition and a partition for my page file and a partition for my programs. I also think it would be a good idea to put my system variable temp and tmp files on a partition as well. Any way I am tired of windows not being "right", infected, corrupted, or experience steady degradation. I want a system that when it breaks it can be fixed easily, simply, and quickly with out waiting through hundreds of reboots.

I know that some type of bootable cd would be helpful as well as images and possibly setting up a VM environment. I hope some of you guys are able to make suggestions about my plan or even give me a new one and direct me to where I need to go to set my machine up. I am able to deal with most computer problems but I find I have less and less time to devote to computer repair. So I can follow instructions well and look up and use most info. I have trouble learning totally new concepts in the written format unless it is well thought out and does not require extensive searches for questions I might have while learning, in short I respond and learn best if I have an instructor or assistant that can answer questions as they occur. I become frustrated and confused when it is assumed I know things I don't.

So there you have it. Any assistance appreciated and I will provide feed back for other readers.

Thanks.

I recommend 3 partitions; C: for Windows and all app sw, D: for all Data files, E: for backups. All Primary.

I've used your approach and at one time had a machine with 13 partitions. I had a partition for MS apps, one for personal utilities, one for DOS games, one for Windows games, one for taxes, one for imaging and images, one for the SWAP file and temp folders, etc, etc. Over time, I found that to be at best inconvenient to maintain. Windows maintenance to MS apps and Windows games and even my utility apps invariably updated the Windows install on the C: drive, so backups had to backup C: in addition to whatever partition was being updated. When I got a notebook I set it up with the 3 partitions noted above and have found this to very effective. And I now use it on all machines I setup.

Imaging the C: drive periodically is definitely the way to go. Have a problem do a restore and you're done. No reinstalling upgrades, no reinstalling apps, no resetting personal settings, etc.

And being able to boot to an alternate system, on the the hd, makes doing backups and restores extremely easy. That's not to say having an alternate, removable boot device, is to be overlooked. And backing up to a removable device periodically should not be forgotten either, just not needed as frequently as the hd version.

I use PEBuilder to build my alternate boot system but it's not the only option, there are others. PEBuilder can create a custom built XP PE system but it takes time to learn. UBCD4WIN is a preconfigured system that can be used out of the box so to speak and is based on PEBuilder. WinBuilder lets you build custom bootable systems also.

So, those are my thoughts on the matter. I hope they help you decide on a course of action.

Ed, thanks for the comments. I am going to set up the system like you said with three parts. Would it be of great difficulty to set up linux as well? What would you suggest.

I am still working on the PE thing but I have a copy of the terabytes BING so I am able to partition and image the drive using it.

Just in order to show the "volatility" of recommendations you can have on a Board ,
:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1555800



I recommend:

• 1 small primary partition, FAT or FAT32 formatted with just bootloader <- this will remain mostly empty (but you can install Win9x on it should you need it)
• * any number of Logical Volumes inside an Extended Partition, one of which for DATA

You have only 4 available entries in the MBR partition table, the more you leave them free, the more you have possibilities for "anything else".

Besides there is this kind of consideration:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=33964&st=6

Backing up on the same physical drive is mostly pointless.

If you want to put "Documents and settings" on another partition (which is advised) you will need to use an unattended or semi-unattended XP setup.



jaclaz

Since I've never set up for Linux on a hd I have no idea.


I couldn't disagree more.

I backup to my partition before installing new sw, updates to existing sw, Windows updates, and configuration experiments. If the changes work, no problem, and if they don't a quick reboot to BartPE and a restore and I restart fresh. It's the only way to go IMO.

And as noted previously.

And that would be the backup to restore from should the hd get infected or fail.


When was the last time you had a need for Win9x, or used Win9x? And don't forget that little FAT partition could run WfWG also "should you need it". I do have an old desktop with Win9x on it, and Win2K also (both on C: and both backed up to E:) which I use to test compatibility of some apps but it's been a while since I used the Win9x system.


Not sure what you are referring to with the "unattended" part. I always manually move the Documents and Settings folder to the D: partition.

Yesterday afternoon.


I am referring to NOT moving them manually.

jaclaz

Or use grub4dos partnew, and have as many as you like.
I'll keep repeating it until someone bites

No. Just keep some unpartitioned space. The linux-install-media will detect it, and you can create its partitions.
In linux it doesn't matter if primary or logical, recommended are three for the system (called "/"), a swap-partition and your private data (called "/home"). But you can give your system as many, as you want.

Greetings, FM_81

You called?





Sure you can use partnew , and just for the record, there are even more "creative" ways to rewrite on the fly partition tables:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=7138&hl=
and you can also use hybrid CD/RAW partitions:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=9916&hl=
but would you suggest it as an "easy" solution for a "simple" problem?

I guess we are in the "prog x is great because it can have up to 255 partitions", which leads to the Ferrari 575 vs Porsche 911 GT2 comparison:
http://www.winimage.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3231

My personal idea is to use as much as possible Occam's Razor, and pragmatically use simple solutions to simple problems, reserving complex solutions to complex problems, of course everyone has his/her own preferences, all worth note and respect, including that of using overkill solutions to non-problems.

jaclaz

Maybe not "easy", but build one cd with grub4dos as the bootsector, and a menu.lst with a good set of partnew sizes, and you're set.
On the other hand, if you swap the mbr out to sector 1 or 62, and do any re-partitioning, then your mbr backups are out of date. If you use software that scribbles over track0, your backups are at risk too. But if the partnew data is on read only media...
Don't know if it would have helped in topic 7138, but you can also kill the pbr CHS code (cheers Clemens):

add this to talk about partition tables, moving mbrs and such and that is like giving a child a loaded pistol to play with, at least in my case. You guys sure seem to have a handle on this stuff and give me lots to think about but most is over my head. I am improving my search skills. Lots of good links here.

Before I try anything real detailed I am going to make a plan and run it by you guys first. Hope you don't mind. Thanks

I would say a loaded pistol with cocked hammer and round loaded , but yes, sorry for possibly confusing you, this is exactly the kind of stuff that should have a warning like:

But, on the other hand :


You can safely, and actually should disregard anything after post #4, for the moment, you don't need any of this "advanced" stuff for your setup.

jaclaz

I would say anything after post #2.

Good one! though not really along the lines of free-speech.

And this way OP won't have had any suggestion about installing Linux.

@Cremaster
As FM_81 pointed out Linux (just like any NT based system) has normally no need for Primary Partitions.
You normally need only one Active Primary partition where the bootloader(s) are if you use a "standard" NT MBR, or you can install GRUB or grub4dos to the MBR, though in a dual boot NT/Linux machine I personally prefer to use the "standard" MBR and NTLDR/BOOT.INI and from it load grldr from grub4dos.
Linux installs tend by default to install GRUB to the MBR.

jaclaz

Ignore everything after post #1. Since you have a blank HD, try everything. Test out mbldr / xosl / plop / grub4dos, do some backups and restores and see which software you get on with.
I wouldn't install linux before trying some live CDs - most distros you can try out without touching your partitioning scheme. When you pick one to install, good ones have an "expert mode" which will let you install grub in the partition boot record rather than the mbr - which makes switching things around easier if you have a capable boot manager.
But the key is to have a drive with no data on it that you care about - then you can take risks and experiment

Actually I have several HDs that I can play with. They have been used though so they have data on them, data that is not needed. So lets get rid of everything on those drives. But can we? I have reformated numerous drives before with fdisk and bing but what I find is that it leaves SOMETHING on the drive every time. I know I know, I am nuts, this can not happen but everytime I reformat and reinstall something is there that should not be. Sometimes it is a custom setting that I notice, sometimes it has been not having to answer normal install questions. These were never quick formats. Has anyone else noticed this?

Could a reformat possibly leave info on a disk that no one worries about?

Is there anything that I can use to give the drives a factory fresh condition?

YES.


NO, and YES, you are nuts. (see below )


YES, but NOT anything like you described before.
Actually ALL the info on a drive is still there under a QUICK format under ANY OS and also after a FULL format under ANY DOS (AFAICR) and NT OS before Vista.
See here:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=143587
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=135781




YES.

Read here:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=125900

Get hdderase:
http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml
or, easier, the UBCD (that already contains it):
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

And try to be careful about asking questions that have a Yes or No answer....
http://homepages.tesco.net/J.deBoynePollar...no-answers.html




jaclaz