Removing Linux and restoring master boot record (Loader)

First of all you need to know where your Linux OS is installed to. that is what drive it is currently living on. Bear in mind that Linux formats the drive as HFS rather than Fat/Fat32 or NTFS. ( These are the file systems used by various Operating Systems).

So HFS Partitions are not seen by windows, so its hidden.

To remove the partitions of Linux in WindowsXP go to your 'Control panel' > Admistrative Tools > Computer Managment

Open 'Disk Management' and you will see your Linux drives recognised as 'Unknown Partition' plus the status of the drive. Bearing in mind you know what partition and disk you installed to it will be easier to recognise as the drive/partition where you had installed it to.

Once you have identifed the drives, 'right-Click' on the drive/partiton and select 'Delete Logical Drive'

Once you have followed this through, you will now have free space.

This next part is very important. Once you have formatted the drive, re format it as your required file system type. either Fat32 or NTFS. Now the important part is coming up !

Fixing your Master Boot Record to make Windows Bootable again.

Have a Windows Boot disk with all the basic DOS Commands loaded on to the disk. A standard Windows 98/Me Boot Disk will work too.

Type in the DOS command :

e.g, from your C:\

fdisk /mbr

Or use your Windows XP run the recovery console, pick which xp install you would like to boot in to (usually you will pick #1)

then type: fixmbr. Answer Y to the dialoge.

Your master boot record will now be restored and Windows XP will be bootable once again. Your System will be restored with your original boot loader that you got with Windows XP.

..Beep codes..

Standard Original IBM POST Error Codes Code Description 1 short beep System is OK 2 short beeps POST Error - error code shown on screen No beep Power supply or system board problem Continuous beep Power supply, system board, or keyboard problem Repeating short beeps Power supply or system board problem 1 long, 1 short beep System board problem 1 long, 2 short beeps Display adapter problem (MDA, CGA) 1 long, 3 short beeps Display adapter problem (EGA) 3 long beeps 3270 keyboard card IBM POST Diagnostic Code Descriptions Code Description 100 - 199 System Board 200 - 299 Memory 300 - 399 Keyboard 400 - 499 Monochrome Display 500 - 599 Colour/Graphics Display 600 - 699 Floppy-disk drive and/or Adapter 700 - 799 Math Coprocessor 900 - 999 Parallel Printer Port 1000 - 1099 Alternate Printer Adapter 1100 - 1299 Asynchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port 1300 - 1399 Game Port 1400 - 1499 Colour/Graphics Printer 1500 - 1599 Synchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port 1700 - 1799 Hard Drive and/or Adapter 1800 - 1899 Expansion Unit (XT) 2000 - 2199 Bisynchronous Communication Adapter 2400 - 2599 EGA system-board Video (MCA) 3000 - 3199 LAN Adapter 4800 - 4999 Internal Modem 7000 - 7099 Phoenix BIOS Chips 7300 - 7399 3.5" Disk Drive 8900 - 8999 MIDI Adapter 11200 - 11299 SCSI Adapter 21000 - 21099 SCSI Fixed Disk and Controller 21500 - 21599 SCSI CD-ROM System AMI BIOS Beep Codes Code Description 1 Short Beep System OK 2 Short Beeps Parity error in the first 64 KB of memory 3 Short Beeps Memory failure in the first 64 KB 4 Short Beeps Memory failure in the first 64 KB Operational of memory or Timer 1 on the motherboard is not functioning 5 Short Beeps The CPU on the motherboard generated an error 6 Short Beeps The keyboard controller may be bad. The BIOS cannot switch to protected mode 7 Short Beeps The CPU generated an exception interrupt 8 Short Beeps The system video adapter is either missing, or its memory is faulty 9 Short Beeps The ROM checksum value does not match the value encoded in the BIOS 10 Short Beeps The shutdown register for CMOS RAM failed 11 Short Beeps The external cache is faulty 1 Long, 3 Short Beeps Memory Problems 1 Long, 8 Short Beeps Video Card Problems Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes Note - Phoenix BIOS emits three sets of beeps, separated by a brief pause. Code Description 1-1-3 CMOS read/write failure 1-1-4 ROM BIOS checksum error 1-2-1 Programmable interval timer failure 1-2-2 DMA initialisation failure 1-2-3 DMA page register read/write failure 1-3-1 RAM refresh verification failure 1-3-3 First 64k RAM chip or data line failure 1-3-4 First 64k RAM odd/even logic failure 1-4-1 Address line failure first 64k RAM 1-4-2 Parity failure first 64k RAM 2-_-_ Faulty Memory 3-1-_ Faulty Motherboard 3-2-4 Keyboard controller Test failure 3-3-4 Screen initialisation failure 3-4-1 Screen retrace test failure 3-4-2 Search for video ROM in progress 4-2-1 Timer tick interrupt in progress or failure 4-2-2 Shutdown test in progress or failure 4-2-3 Gate A20 failure 4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt in protected mode 4-3-1 RAM test in progress or failure>ffffh 4-3-2 Faulty Motherboard 4-3-3 Interval timer channel 2 test or failure 4-3-4 Time of Day clock test failure 4-4-1 Serial port test or failure 4-4-2 Parallel port test or failure 4-4-3 Math coprocessor test or failure Low 1-1-2 System Board select failure Low 1-1-3 Extended CMOS RAM failure

Changing XP boot screen, not tested on other versions

How to hack/change your Windows XP Boot Screen



HACKING THE XP BOOT SCREEN





This is a very simple trick to do if you have done the same for the logon screen and the start button. There are 2 ways to do this trick that I know about one is doing it manually and the other is using a program called bootxp. I am going to tell you the manual way to do it, but if you want to know the other way just let me know, so I can do an update to the guide. Now once you have downloaded your ntoskrnl.exe file save it a general location so that you will have easy access to it, like my folder.



Once you have ntoskrnl.exe file in an easy access folder, restart your pc into safe mode. Once into safe mode go to the folder where your files are located.



Now that you are there copy the file that you want to change your boot screen too. Once you have copied that file, hit the window key + r or type %windir%\system32 in the run command, so that folder as follows.



Once there paste your new file into the folder and overwrite the existing folder.



Now that you have your new file in the folder restart your pc as you normally would and your new boot screen should appear. You can download this bootscreen here.



ALWAYS BACKUP EVERYTHING YOU EDIT OR DELETE. I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU MESS YOUR COMPUTER UP BY DOING THIS HACK OR ANY TYPE OF HACK. DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Image and ntoskrnl.exe files provided by www.themexp.org

or
u can go to

code:

http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/hackxpbootscreen.php

All about spywares

There are a lot of PC users that know little about "Spyware", "Mal-ware", "hijackers", "Dialers" & many more. This will help you avoid pop-ups, spammers and all those baddies.

What is spy-ware?
Spy-ware is Internet jargon for Advertising Supported software (Ad-ware). It is a way for shareware authors to make money from a product, other than by selling it to the users. There are several large media companies that offer them to place banner ads in their products in exchange for a portion of the revenue from banner sales. This way, you don't have to pay for the software and the developers are still getting paid. If you find the banners annoying, there is usually an option to remove them, by paying the regular licensing fee.

Known spywares
There are thousands out there, new ones are added to the list everyday. But here are a few:
Alexa, Aureate/Radiate, BargainBuddy, ClickTillUWin, Conducent Timesink, Cydoor, Comet Cursor, eZula/KaZaa Toptext, Flashpoint/Flashtrack, Flyswat, Gator, GoHip, Hotbar, ISTbar, Lions Pride Enterprises/Blazing Logic/Trek Blue, Lop (C2Media), Mattel Brodcast, Morpheus, NewDotNet, Realplayer, Songspy, Xupiter, Web3000, WebHancer, Windows Messenger Service.

How to check if a program has spyware?
The is this Little site that keeps a database of programs that are known to install spyware.

Check Here: http://www.spywareguide.com/product_search.php

If you would like to block pop-ups (IE Pop-ups).
There tons of different types out there, but these are the 2 best, i think.

Try: Google Toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com/) This program is Free
Try: AdMuncher (http://www.admuncher.com) This program is Shareware

If you want to remove the "spyware" try these.
Try: Lavasoft Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/) This program is Free
Info: Ad-aware is a multi spyware removal utility, that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware components and lets you remove them. The included backup-manager lets you reinstall a backup, offers and multi language support.

Try: Spybot-S&D (http://www.safer-networking.org/) This program is Free
Info: Detects and removes spyware of different kinds (dialers, loggers, trojans, user tracks) from your computer. Blocks ActiveX downloads, tracking cookies and other threats. Over 10,000 detection files and entries. Provides detailed information about found problems.

Try: BPS Spyware and Adware Remover (http://www.bulletproofsoft.com/spyware-remover.html) This program is Shareware
Info: Adware, spyware, trackware and big brotherware removal utility with multi-language support. It scans your memory, registry and drives for known spyware and lets you remove them. Displays a list and lets you select the items you'd like to remove.

Try: Spy Sweeper v2.2 (http://www.webroot.com/wb/products/spysweeper/index.php) This program is Shareware
Info: Detects and removes spyware of different kinds (dialers, loggers, trojans, user tracks) from your computer.
The best scanner out there, and updated all the time.

Try: HijackThis 1.97.7 (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html) This program is Freeware
Info: HijackThis is a tool, that lists all installed browser add-on, buttons, startup items and allows you to inspect them, and optionally remove selected items.


If you would like to prevent "spyware" being install.
Try: SpywareBlaster 2.6.1 (http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html) This program is Free
Info: SpywareBlaster doesn`t scan and clean for so-called spyware, but prevents it from being installed in the first place. It achieves this by disabling the CLSIDs of popular spyware ActiveX controls, and also prevents the installation of any of them via a webpage.

Try: SpywareGuard 2.2 (http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html) This program is Free
Info: SpywareGuard provides a real-time protection solution against so-called spyware. It works similar to an anti-virus program, by scanning EXE and CAB files on access and alerting you if known spyware is detected.

Try: XP-AntiSpy (http://www.xp-antispy.org/) This program is Free
Info: XP-AntiSpy is a small utility to quickly disable some built-in update and authentication features in WindowsXP that may rise security or privacy concerns in some people.

Try: SpySites (http://camtech2000.net/Pages/SpySites_Prog...ml#SpySitesFree) This program is Free
Info: SpySites allows you to manage the Internet Explorer Restricted Zone settings and easily add entries from a database of 1500+ sites that are known to use advertising tracking methods or attempt to install third party software.

If you would like more Information about "spyware".
Check these sites.
http://www.spychecker.com/
http://www.spywareguide.com/
http://www.cexx.org/adware.htm
http://www.theinfomaniac.net/infomaniac/co...rsSpyware.shtml
http://www.thiefware.com/links/
http://simplythebest.net/info/spyware.html

Usefull tools...
Try: Stop Windows Messenger Spam 1.10 (http://www.jester2k.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/j...r2ksoftware.htm) This program is Free
Info: "Stop Windows Messenger Spam" stops this Service from running and halts the spammers ability to send you these messages.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
All these softwares will help remove and prevent evil spammers and spywares attacking your PC. I myself recommend getting "spyblaster" "s&d spybot" "spy sweeper" & "admuncher" to protect your PC. A weekly scan is also recommended

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Scan for spyware, malware and keyloggers in addition to viruses, worms and trojans. New threats and annoyances are created faster than any individual can keep up with.
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