.
UNLESS YOU HAVE TWO HARD DISKS, AT A MINIMUM YOU SHOULD HAVE FOUR
PARTITIONS ON A SINGLE DRIVE. A PRIMARY PARTITION C:\ OF 1 GB INTO
WHICH ONLY THE ESSENTIAL BOOT FILES ARE INSTALLED BY THE INSTALLATION CD,
( BOOT.INI , NTDETECT.COM , and NTLDR , OTHERS ARE FOR LEGACY SUPPORT )
AND ANOTHER EXTENDED PARTITION COMPRISED OF THREE LOGICAL PARTITIONS.
THE BOOT PARTITION D:\ INTO WHICH THE INSTALLATION CD INSTALLS WIN-XP
OPERATING SYSTEM ( BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT YOU SELECT WHEN YOU INSTALL )
AND ONLY THOSE THINGS THAT REFUSE TO INSTALL ELSEWHERE. ANOTHER E:\
PARTITION TO KEEP A BACKUP IMAGE OF THE BOOT PARTITION, AND ONE OTHER
F:\ THAT IS THE BULK OF YOUR HARD DISK FOR ALL YOUR PROGRAMS AND FILES.
WHENEVER YOU NEED TO RE-INSTALL WIN-XP, YOUR DATA AND PROGRAMS ARE
SAFE AND UNDISTURBED ON THIS EXTENDED PARTITION :)
YOU NEED TO MAKE A BACKUP IMAGE OF THE WINDOWS PARTITION WHEN IT IS
STILL PRISTINE AND CONFIGURED TO YOUR LIKING. THIS CAN THEN BE QUICKLY
RESTORED WHEN NEEDED. BOTH MUST BE THE SAME SIZE. 3 GB EACH IS FINE.
( IF YOU USE 'HIBERNATION' ADD THE EQUAL OF YOUR INSTALLED RAM )
WESTERN DIGITAL PROVIDES A UTILITY TO DO THIS, DATA LIFE GUARD TOOLS 11
FOR DOS. GET IT HERE ->
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?swid=1
DOWNLOAD LINK _
http://support.wdc.com/download/dlg/dlgsetup11_win.zip
RUN THE EXECUTABLE TO CREATE A BOOTABLE FLOPPY DISK WITH WHICH YOU CAN
THEN USE TO COPY OVER THE BACKUP PARTITION E:\ INTO D:\
ALTERNATIVELY FOR A BOOTABLE CD, FIRST GET PEBUILDER319.EXE HERE ->
http://www.nu2.nu/download.php?sFile=pebuilder319.exe
THEN GO TO -> http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm
FOR ANOTHER APPLICATION THAT ALSO COPIES PARTITIONS. YOU WILL NEED TO
MAKE A BOOTABLE CD TO RUN THIS FROM, USING PEBUILDER319.EXE
COPY YOUR WINDOWS XP INSTALLATION DISK TO A FOLDER. NOW RUN DIXMLSETUP.EXE
AND SAVE THIS IN ANOTHER FOLDER. NEXT RUN PEBUILDER319.EXE TO INSTALL IT
INTO YET A THIRD FOLDER. NOW RUN PEBUILDER FROM THERE AND TYPE INTO THE
TEXT BOXES PROVIDED, THE PATH TO THE WINDOWS XP INSTALLATION FILES FOLDER
YOU MADE ABOVE, AND THE OTHER FOLDER CONTAINING THE INSTALLED DIXML.EXE
SAVE THIS TO A CD.
HOW TO HERE _
http://www.maximumpc.com/2005/09/how_to_make_a_b.html
IT IS A GOOD PRACTICE TO HAVE DIFFERENT DESKTOP WALLPAPERS FOR D:\ AND E:\.
APART FROM THIS IMAGE YOU NEED ALSO TO COPY THE REGISTRY AND SAVE A BACKUP
COPY ( OR TWO ) OF THAT TO F:\ USING ERUNT
SEE HERE FOR HOW TO ->
http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm
ONE I M P O R T A N T MATTER, OPEN AN EXPLORER WINDOW OF XP CLICK
'TOOLS' UP TOP > 'FOLDER OPTIONS' > 'VIEW' TAB > CHECK 'SHOW HIDDEN
FILES AND FOLDER' UNCHECK 'HIDE EXTENSIONS FOR KNOWN FILE TYPES' AND
UNCHECK 'HIDE PROTECTED OPERATING SYSTEM FILES (RECOMMENDED)'. YOU'RE
NOT A CHILD, YOU CAN NOW SEE ALL THE FILES INSTALLED INTO C:\ YOU CAN
ALWAYS DELETE THE CONTENTS OF FOLDERS ASSIGNED THERE BUT LEAVE THE BOOT
FILES BOOT.INI , NTDETECT.COM , NTLDR ALONE
<< CONTINUED BELOW
DO THE FOLLOWING O N L Y IF YOU HAVE PARTITIONED AS ABOVE.
FINAL STEP - CLICK BOOT.INI, IT OPENS IN NOTEPAD AS TEXT. YOU WILL SEE
EITHER OF THESE BELOW, DEPENDING ON WETHER YOU HAVE XP HOME EDITION HERE _
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect
OR ELSE XP PRO HERE _
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
KNOW THAT WHAT IS IN YOUR PARTICULAR BOOT.INI MAY VARY DEPENDING ON
IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE HARD DRIVE.
CHANGE THE VALUE BELOW [boot loader] OF TIMEOUT= ,, TO 30
HIGHLIGHT THE LAST LINE, COPY AND PASTE IT DIRECTLY BELOW SO THAT IT
APPEARS TWICE ( REMEBER YOU CAN CLICK THE TOOLBAR 'EDIT' > 'REDO' IF
YOU FUCK UP , BUT ONLY FOR YOUR LAST ENTRY ! ! )
NOW IN THE NEW LAST LINE YOU JUST ADDED, CHANGE THE NUMBER FARTHEST
TO THE RIGHT -> (2)\WINDOWS , AND TYPE IN 3 -> (3)\WINDOWS.
CLOSE AND SAVE IT.
[ WHAT THIS DOES IS, DURING BOOT YOU WILL SEE A DOS MENU ASKING WHICH
PARTITION CONTAINING WINDOWS XP TO BOOT TO. THIS IS AN OPTION ONLY,
THE DEFAULT REMAINS D:\ , AND AFTER 30 SECONDS ( timeout=30 ) THAT
PARTITION LOADS. IF FOR SOME REASON YOU CANNOT BOOT TO D:\ YOU
ALWAYS HAVE E:\ TO BOOT TO. DO THIS ONLY AS LAST RESORT IN EMERGENCY.
THIS IS A COPY REMEMBER, AND WILL BEHAVE AS THOUGH IT IS STILL IN D:\
BUT YOU CAN STILL DO NECESSARY REPAIRS FROM E:'\ ON THE ACTUAL D:\ ]
FOR MORE INFO SEE ->
http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/bootini.htm
[ IN THIS SITUATION - B E F O R E - YOU SHUT DOWN, THE VERY LAST THING YOU
DO, INSTALL THAT BACKUP COPY OF THE REGISTRY YOU HAVE SAVED IN F:\
THEN SHUTDOWN AS IT PROMPTS YOU. THIS WAY YOU RESTORE THE IMAGE
TO A NEAR ORIGINAL STATE ]
>> CONTINUED FROM ABOVE
WHEN YOU BOOT TO D:\ FOR THE FIRST TIME, RE-ASSIGN THE PAGE FILE TO THE
C:\ PRIMARY PARTITION, LIKE THIS, CLICK 'START'> RIGHT CLICK 'MY COMPUTER' >
'PROPERTIES' > 'ADVANCED' TAB > PERFORMANCE 'SETTINGS' > 'ADVANCED' TAB
> VIRTUAL MEMORY 'CHANGE' > HIGHLIGHT THE PRIMARY C:\ PARTITION AND
'CUSTOM SIZE' TYPE IN 300 'MAXIMUM SIZE', 300 'INITIAL SIZE' AND
CLICK SET. HIGHLIGHT ALL OTHER PARTITIONS IN TURN D, E, F AND
CLICK 'NO PAGING FILE' AND SET, THEN CLICK OK TWICE.
NOW IN 'SYSTEM PROPERTIES' AGAIN, CLICK 'ENVIORNMENT VARIABLES'
IN THOSE TWO BOXES, UPPER 'USER VARIABLES' AND LOWER 'SYSTEM
VARIABLES' EDIT 'TEMP' AND 'TMP' TO DRIVE LETTER C:\Temp
AND CLICK OK TWICE.
CLICK 'START' > CONTROL PANEL > INTERNET OPTIONS > GENERAL TAB > SETTINGS
> MOVE FOLDER -> ( MAKE IT C:\ ) SET THE CACHE FILE SIZE TO 300 MB
CLICK 'START' > RUN > (TYPE) REGEDIT, ENTER AND EXPAND THE TREE TO THESE TWO
KEYS HERE _
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
( HIGHLIGHT SHELL FOLDERS AND USER SHELL FOLDERS ITSELF, NOT THE [+] )
IN THE RIGHT PANEL, FOR EACH LOCATE 'CACHE' , 'COOKIES' AND 'HISTORY'
RIGHT CLICK EACH ONE, SELECT 'MODIFY' AND CHANGE THE DRIVE LETTER TO C:\
NOW YOU WILL HAVE COOKIES, LOCAL SETTINGS, TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES,
AND TEMP, FOLDERS IN C:\ , IF ANY FOLDER IS MISSING JUST RIGHT CLICK
THE EXPLORER WINDOW OPEN TO C:\ AND MAKE THE FOLDER YOURSELF AND NAME IT.
VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE CRAP THAT IS DOWNLOADED OFF THE INTERNET NOW WILL
BE SEGREGATED THERE. THE D:\ WINDOWS BOOT PARTITION STILL REMAINS
VULNERABLE TO VIRUSES AND SUCH HOWEVER.
TO PROTECT YOUR DRIVE FROM UNWANTED AND MALICIOUS FILES INSTALLING
GO HERE AND DOWNLOAD THE APPLICATION SANDBOXIE. http://www.sandboxie.com
AS WITH ALL YOUR PROGRAMS INSTALL THIS INTO YOUR F:\ PARTITION , THEN
CLICK 'Control.exe' IN THE INSTALLED FOLDER, RIGHT CLICK THE TRAY ICON ( BY
THE CLOCK, LOWER RIGHT ON YOUR SCREEN ) CLICK 'SHOW PROCESSES', IN THE
SANDBOXIE CONTROL WINDOW CLICK 'OPTIONS' AND SCROLL DOWN TO 'SET SANDBOX
TOP LEVEL FOLDER', TYPE -> C:\Sandbox , AS THE PATH.
BE CAREFUL WITH THIS, WHEN IT IS ACTIVE, NOTHING IS PERMANENTLY SAVED.
READ AND UNDERSTAND HOW IT FUNCTIONS BEFORE USING.
