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End of the Microsoft rant, I hope
May. 9th, 2007 10:00 pmI was out of the library at a meeting for much of today, but someone else managed to get the errant PC to deliver the necessary code number so they could call Microsoft support. They talked to someone with a very strong East Indian accent who assured them that the problem would be solved by the new activation code he gave them, and "no need to write it down, just enter it into the prompt and click OK." So they didn't write it down, did enter it into the prompt as it was dictated to them and it did unlock the copy of XP, sort of.
You can now log in. However, many files are missing (mostly Microsoft applications, such as Word and Outlook) and the contents of the disk have obviously been tampered with in some way. I see no option other than to wipe the HD and reinstall from scratch. I cannot locate the data files belonging to the machine's primary user, and have delayed any further action until I can talk to her (she doesn't work on Wednesday after noon, and I didn't get to the library until 5:30 pm.)
Knowing the environment and the behavior of this user (who sits next to me, after all) I'm reasonably sure she didn't get a virus or trojan, but the evidence suggests otherwise. The disk does not appear to be crashed physically, but I can't get scandisk to run. It says something about being unable to run and exits, even when you schedule it to run before bringing the system up. Looks like I'm going to have to build a Windows XP Pre-install Environment CD, as suggested by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
treadlok in order to properly diagnose this. Two of the three Linux distributions I have on hand do not include the NTFS driver in their LiveCD and therefore can't mount the drive at all. The third (Slackware) can mount it once you copy in the ntfs module and activate it, but has no Samba available at that level to let you transfer files elsewhere. Once again I damn Microsoft for their proprietary file system that they make so difficult for anyone else to support properly.
Other news: Our farrier was here this morning to trim all three horses' feet. He gave Tess a clean bill of health and says her hooves are now back to normal after her grass founder incident of a year ago. I am finally about caught up on non-work-related activities, and have no pressing deadlines, which is nice.
You can now log in. However, many files are missing (mostly Microsoft applications, such as Word and Outlook) and the contents of the disk have obviously been tampered with in some way. I see no option other than to wipe the HD and reinstall from scratch. I cannot locate the data files belonging to the machine's primary user, and have delayed any further action until I can talk to her (she doesn't work on Wednesday after noon, and I didn't get to the library until 5:30 pm.)
Knowing the environment and the behavior of this user (who sits next to me, after all) I'm reasonably sure she didn't get a virus or trojan, but the evidence suggests otherwise. The disk does not appear to be crashed physically, but I can't get scandisk to run. It says something about being unable to run and exits, even when you schedule it to run before bringing the system up. Looks like I'm going to have to build a Windows XP Pre-install Environment CD, as suggested by
treadlok in order to properly diagnose this. Two of the three Linux distributions I have on hand do not include the NTFS driver in their LiveCD and therefore can't mount the drive at all. The third (Slackware) can mount it once you copy in the ntfs module and activate it, but has no Samba available at that level to let you transfer files elsewhere. Once again I damn Microsoft for their proprietary file system that they make so difficult for anyone else to support properly.Other news: Our farrier was here this morning to trim all three horses' feet. He gave Tess a clean bill of health and says her hooves are now back to normal after her grass founder incident of a year ago. I am finally about caught up on non-work-related activities, and have no pressing deadlines, which is nice.
