Leosghost - 1:02 pm on Dec 24, 2009 (gmt 0)

BTW as regards

you guys are good Microsoft disciples with all of your secrecy

Not all all .( definately not an MS disciple here ..I have many OSes ..and I've been posting to you from linux :) whatever works suites most of us ..very few OS fanbois in WebmasterWorld :).. .if you had more than one machine and were asking how to explore in depth any flavour of doze then I'm sure that anyone would be happy enough to tell you ..what makes me ( and I suspect the other guys ) reticent is that if you bork the one you have ( and it's a laptop ..which is worse ) then you wont have a spare to get by with while you fix the first one or get it fixed ..or reinstall ( you do have an original copy of the OS on disc dont you ? not one of those toy manufacturers "rescue" discs because your machine came pre-installed with vista and they told you to instantly burn a recovery one ?

If your machine came with a "recovery partition" then this will be the case ..

Because what you burned ( if that was the case ..doesnt count ) that gets you back to a factory install if you use it ( if it even works ) and wipes all your data and your apps ..

Now ..if you just want to look at folders ( because believe us ..restoring from an image is easier and safer than changing folders or attempting to extract strings from inside system folders ) in doze ..

Then there are many ways ..but the easiest is

You need a live penguin :)

Because a penguin can see through windows ( and even fix and polish windows that are broken or dirty or corrupted ) ..whereas windows ..cant see apenguin ..nor can you if you are looking through windows trying to ..

So ..get a live penguin .they are free :)).knoppix is the best sort for this ( pop it in your DVD tray ..set bios to "boot from whatever your tray is called ..in doze typically D drive on laptops ..if your HD is ready partitioned it will be another letter like E or F ..each machine is different ..depends on the partitioning ..OH and dont "fool" with the partitioning while you are in there ) ..and when it can see your windows partition ..you set it to read it ..but definitely not write to it ( because this is your first time using a penguin ..and they can also break windows in the hands of the inexperienced ) ..then you nav through to the folder you want to see ..and you look inside ..but you change nothing ..absolutely nothing ..

If you want to copy the folder out to a USB key to have look at later thats OK ..but you "copy" ..you do not "move" ..and rename the copy to include the word BAK ( in upper case ) ..especially if afterwards you think you might look at it with windows ..

What is inside that folder will possibly make about as much sense to you maybe as a rotary engine laid out on the bench would ..

But seeing what is in there ..may just help you understand why you dont want to go touching and tweaking that folder ..although having a copy safe of the entire folder ( and some others ) that you can put ( again with a live penguin ..) back ..can be very usefull if you windows get broken ..( but if you ever do have to put that and / or any other folder back into windows ..dont forget to rename it back to the original windows name ..remove the BAK ) ..

PS ..dont be tempted to install the live penguin ( or any other penguin ) permanantly as dual boot with vista ..the loaders often dont play nice with each other .( and important bits of data get overwritten that the BIOS talks to before loading any OS ).and usually you lose the vista one ( so vista wont boot ..at all ..and has to be fixed ) and frequently have MBR problems ..which require additional bits of software to fix ..and some rather arcane knowledge to do ..and life is too short :)

This info is provided as is ..and as usual you do anything inside your own OS at your own risk and peril ..

best to just make a disc image ..onto an HD not DVD's ..and then run checksums on the image ..