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aus+uk / uk.d-i-y / Re: Windows messed up

SubjectAuthor
* Windows messed upAnimal
+* Re: Windows messed upAndy Burns
|+* Re: Windows messed upAnimal
||+* Re: Windows messed upPancho
|||+* Re: Windows messed upIan Jackson
||||+- Re: Windows messed upJeff Gaines
||||`- Re: Windows messed upJohn Rumm
|||`* Re: Windows messed upDave Plowman (News)
||| `- Re: Windows messed upJeff Gaines
||`* Re: Windows messed upAnimal
|| `* Re: Windows messed upAndy Burns
||  +* Re: Windows messed upAnimal
||  |+- Re: Windows messed upRod Speed
||  |+* Re: Windows messed upPaul
||  ||+- Re: Windows messed upPaul
||  ||`- Re: Windows messed upJohn Rumm
||  |`* Re: Windows messed upwasbit
||  | `- Re: Windows messed upwasbit
||  `* Re: Windows messed upThe Natural Philosopher
||   `* Re: Windows messed upMartin Brown
||    `* Re: Windows messed upPaul
||     `* Re: Windows messed upAnimal
||      `* Re: Windows messed upPaul
||       `* Re: Windows messed upAnimal
||        +- Re: Windows messed upAndy Burns
||        +* Re: Windows messed upAndy Burns
||        |`- Re: Windows messed upRobin
||        +* Re: Windows messed upMartin Brown
||        |+- Re: Windows messed upAndy Burns
||        |`* Re: Windows messed upJohn Rumm
||        | `* Re: Windows messed upAnimal
||        |  +* Re: Windows messed upJohn Rumm
||        |  |`* Re: Windows messed upAndy Burns
||        |  | +- Re: Windows messed upJohn Rumm
||        |  | `- Re: Windows messed upAnimal
||        |  `* Re: Windows messed upPaul
||        |   `* Re: Windows messed upAnimal
||        |    +* Re: Windows messed upAnimal
||        |    |`- Re: Windows messed upPaul
||        |    +* Re: Windows messed up#Paul
||        |    |`- Re: Windows messed upPaul
||        |    `* Re: Windows messed up#Paul
||        |     `* Re: Windows messed upAnimal
||        |      +* Re: Windows messed upPaul
||        |      |+- Re: Windows messed upPaul
||        |      |`- Re: Windows messed uplacksey
||        |      +- Re: Windows messed upAnimal
||        |      `* Re: Windows messed up#Paul
||        |       `- Re: Windows messed upAnimal
||        `- Re: Windows messed upPaul
|`* Re: Windows messed upThe Natural Philosopher
| `* Re: Windows messed upAndy Burns
|  `- Re: Windows messed upThe Natural Philosopher
+* Re: Windows messed upJeff Layman
|`* Re: Windows messed upThe Natural Philosopher
| `- Re: Windows messed upJeff Layman
+* Re: Windows messed upJohn Rumm
|`* Re: Windows messed upDave W
| +- Re: Windows messed upJohn Rumm
| `- Re: Windows messed upwasbit
+- Re: Windows messed upJeff Gaines
+* Re: Windows messed upMartin Brown
|+- Re: Windows messed upPaul
|`- Re: Windows messed upwasbit
+* Re: Windows messed upAdrian Caspersz
|`* Re: Windows messed upThe Natural Philosopher
| `* Re: Windows messed upPaul
|  `* Re: Windows messed upAdrian Caspersz
|   `* Re: Windows messed upAdrian Caspersz
|    +- Re: Windows messed upTim Lamb
|    `* Re: Windows messed upThe Natural Philosopher
|     `* Re: Windows messed upPaul
|      `- Re: Windows messed upPaul
+- Re: Windows messed upPaul
`- Re: Windows messed upGopalan Sampath

Pages:123
Windows messed up

<0e45b098-6794-46a8-9a78-ef37b4937747n@googlegroups.com>

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Subject: Windows messed up
From: tabbyp...@gmail.com (Animal)
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 by: Animal - Fri, 13 May 2022 12:41 UTC

Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice. The relevant comp groups look dead.

I'll ask here, some may know what to do.
Modern but single core laptop, hw specs are more than enough.
Win version? I've yet to find out. I haven't used win for many years. It's clearly post-xp.

History unknown & we have none of the passwords. System idles at almost 100% cpu, 1.7G ram. Biggest hogs are Antivirus (don't recognise the logo), antimalware (no idea whose), "service host: local system (17)", and there's various other junk I'd remove. Problem is everything's locked down.
I couldn't find any way within win to uninstall, disable or delete anything.. I put the hdd in a linux machine to delete stuff, but even with admin privileges not a thing is deletable. Don't have a copy of win for a clean install.

How do I move forward here?

Re: Windows messed up

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From: use...@andyburns.uk (Andy Burns)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 13:47:42 +0100
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 by: Andy Burns - Fri, 13 May 2022 12:47 UTC

Animal wrote:

> Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice. The
> relevant comp groups look dead.

They might have sprung into life if you'd posted there.

> I'll ask here, some may know what to do. Modern but single core laptop, hw
> specs are more than enough. Win version? I've yet to find out. I haven't used
> win for many years. It's clearly post-xp.
>
> History unknown & we have none of the passwords. System idles at almost 100%
> cpu, 1.7G ram. Biggest hogs are Antivirus (don't recognise the logo),
> antimalware (no idea whose), "service host: local system (17)", and there's
> various other junk I'd remove. Problem is everything's locked down.
>
> I couldn't find any way within win to uninstall, disable or delete anything.
> I put the hdd in a linux machine to delete stuff, but even with admin
> privileges not a thing is deletable. Don't have a copy of win for a clean
> install.

I suspect the windows file system wasn't shut down cleanly, and that's why linux
has mounted it read-only

> How do I move forward here?

I suspect you'll need to provide better info to get sensible answers

does it have a Windows hologram sticker on the machine?

Re: Windows messed up

<bb892439-5b6e-4de7-aaf9-b0d3463f52f6n@googlegroups.com>

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Subject: Re: Windows messed up
From: tabbyp...@gmail.com (Animal)
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 by: Animal - Fri, 13 May 2022 12:58 UTC

On Friday, 13 May 2022 at 13:47:49 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
> Animal wrote:
>
> > Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice. The
> > relevant comp groups look dead.
> They might have sprung into life if you'd posted there.
> > I'll ask here, some may know what to do. Modern but single core laptop, hw
> > specs are more than enough. Win version? I've yet to find out. I haven't used
> > win for many years. It's clearly post-xp.
> >
> > History unknown & we have none of the passwords. System idles at almost 100%
> > cpu, 1.7G ram. Biggest hogs are Antivirus (don't recognise the logo),
> > antimalware (no idea whose), "service host: local system (17)", and there's
> > various other junk I'd remove. Problem is everything's locked down.
> >
> > I couldn't find any way within win to uninstall, disable or delete anything.
> > I put the hdd in a linux machine to delete stuff, but even with admin
> > privileges not a thing is deletable. Don't have a copy of win for a clean
> > install.

> I suspect the windows file system wasn't shut down cleanly, and that's why linux
> has mounted it read-only

aha, can sort that.

> > How do I move forward here?
> I suspect you'll need to provide better info to get sensible answers

sure, I don't know what info yet

> does it have a Windows hologram sticker on the machine?

Yes, it's worn and gives no clue which win version. The product key on it gave no google hits.

The win logo onscreen looks very close to the win 10 one.

Cheers

Re: Windows messed up

<t5llbl$uvc$1@dont-email.me>

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From: tnp...@invalid.invalid (The Natural Philosopher)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 14:10:12 +0100
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 by: The Natural Philosop - Fri, 13 May 2022 13:10 UTC

On 13/05/2022 13:47, Andy Burns wrote:
>> I couldn't find any way within win to uninstall, disable or delete
>> anything. I put the hdd in a linux machine to delete stuff, but even
>> with admin
>> privileges not a thing is deletable. Don't have a copy of win for a clean
>> install.
>
> I suspect the windows file system wasn't shut down cleanly, and that's
> why linux has mounted it read-only
>
>> How do I move forward here?
>
You get linux to do an fsck -Y on the drive, but if its badly borked,
there may well be unrecoverable data.

If possible stick the drive in linux and copy it to a USB drive before
you start messing.

Then you are probably faced with a reinstall of Windows or preferably
and install of Linux onto the drive. If that fails throw the drive out
and put an SSD in - far better anyway - and install on that. .

The copy the data back from the USB drive.

> I suspect you'll need to provide better info to get sensible answers
>
> does it have a Windows hologram sticker on the machine?

--
There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale
returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.

Mark Twain

Re: Windows messed up

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From: jmlay...@invalid.invalid (Jeff Layman)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 14:15:32 +0100
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 by: Jeff Layman - Fri, 13 May 2022 13:15 UTC

On 13/05/2022 13:41, Animal wrote:
> Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice. The relevant comp groups look dead.
>
> I'll ask here, some may know what to do.
> Modern but single core laptop, hw specs are more than enough.
> Win version? I've yet to find out. I haven't used win for many years. It's clearly post-xp.
>
> History unknown & we have none of the passwords. System idles at almost 100% cpu, 1.7G ram. Biggest hogs are Antivirus (don't recognise the logo), antimalware (no idea whose), "service host: local system (17)", and there's various other junk I'd remove. Problem is everything's locked down.
> I couldn't find any way within win to uninstall, disable or delete anything. I put the hdd in a linux machine to delete stuff, but even with admin privileges not a thing is deletable.

Try the method here:
<https://askubuntu.com/questions/988519/how-do-i-delete-windows-files-from-ubuntu>

--

Jeff

Re: Windows messed up

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From: use...@andyburns.uk (Andy Burns)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 14:20:44 +0100
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 by: Andy Burns - Fri, 13 May 2022 13:20 UTC

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> You get linux to do an fsck -Y on the drive

Not sure I trust that linux knows enough about current NTFS to repair it, if it
needs repairing, I'd put it in a caddy on another windows box, but it sounds
like the O/P may not have one of those?

Re: Windows messed up

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From: see.my.s...@nowhere.null (John Rumm)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 14:25:31 +0100
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 by: John Rumm - Fri, 13 May 2022 13:25 UTC

On 13/05/2022 13:41, Animal wrote:

> Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice.
> The relevant comp groups look dead.
>
> I'll ask here, some may know what to do. Modern but single core
> laptop, hw specs are more than enough. Win version? I've yet to find
> out. I haven't used win for many years. It's clearly post-xp.

ok so that is the first thing to do, since it will inform what your
options are next.

Easiest way to check is to open a windows explorer window (either click
on the yellow folder shortcut on the task bar if you have one, or hold
the windows key and press E.

See if there is an entry on the left called "This PC". If so click on it
with the right mouse button and select "properties"

That should display a page that will tell you about the machine and the
version of windows it is running.

If you have 10 or later, then that is fine.

If you have 7, 8, or 8.1, then 7 and 8 are no longer supported, and 8.1
is more trouble than it is worth, but you are entitled to update to 10
or later at no cost. The next thing to do will be to see if you can run
produkey and recover the windows installation key:

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

If it is running a version of Win Vista or older, then your options are
a bit more limited since you can't upgrade to a fully working later
version without buying a more recent copy of windows (either from MS or
one of the surplus license resellers which can be significantly cheaper).

> History unknown & we have none of the passwords. System idles at
> almost 100% cpu, 1.7G ram. Biggest hogs are Antivirus (don't
> recognise the logo), antimalware (no idea whose), "service host:
> local system (17)", and there's various other junk I'd remove.
> Problem is everything's locked down. I couldn't find any way within
> win to uninstall, disable or delete anything. I put the hdd in a
> linux machine to delete stuff, but even with admin privileges not a
> thing is deletable. Don't have a copy of win for a clean install.

Since it sounds like you want a fresh start and don't need anything on
the machine, this is one of the few occasions where a complete wipe and
reinstall is probably worth doing.

You can download the installation media from MS:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

You may need access to a properly working machine however to do
something with the download. When you run the media creation tool, it
will download a copy of the Win 10 install media, and then make an .iso
file you could use to burn a DVD or it can create a bootable USB thumb
drive. The latter option is usually simplest (you will need a 8GB or
larger drive)

> How do I move forward here?

From there you can boot from the USB drive (possibly with a BIOS
settings change to make it recognise USB boot devices). Then opt for a
custom install, delete all the existing disk partitions, and then let
the installer run and do its thing. Skip entering the serial number
during setup. But install the same version as was previously installed.
So say it had Win 7 Home, install Win 10 Home. Win 8 Pro, install Win 10
Pro etc.

Once up and running, it will probably automatically reactivate if it was
running 10 before. If it was running 7, 8 or 8.1 then you can opt to
activate it using the recovered key from the previous OS.

--
Cheers,

John.

/=================================================================\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\=================================================================/

Re: Windows messed up

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From: tnp...@invalid.invalid (The Natural Philosopher)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 14:30:36 +0100
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 by: The Natural Philosop - Fri, 13 May 2022 13:30 UTC

On 13/05/2022 14:15, Jeff Layman wrote:
> On 13/05/2022 13:41, Animal wrote:
>> Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice.
>> The relevant comp groups look dead.
>>
>> I'll ask here, some may know what to do.
>> Modern but single core laptop, hw specs are more than enough.
>> Win version? I've yet to find out. I haven't used win for many years.
>> It's clearly post-xp.
>>
>> History unknown & we have none of the passwords. System idles at
>> almost 100% cpu, 1.7G ram. Biggest hogs are Antivirus (don't recognise
>> the logo), antimalware (no idea whose), "service host: local system
>> (17)", and there's various other junk I'd remove. Problem is
>> everything's locked down.
>> I couldn't find any way within win to uninstall, disable or delete
>> anything.  I put the hdd in a linux machine to delete stuff, but even
>> with admin privileges not a thing is deletable.
>
> Try the method here:
> <https://askubuntu.com/questions/988519/how-do-i-delete-windows-files-from-ubuntu>
>
>
I think the relevant question that hasn't been asked is where do you
want to end up?

If you just want to make an old laptop do useful work, my advice would
be to install an SSD and Linux Mint. As that is geared to work on older
hardware.

If you want windows back and working its going to get harder - and do
you in fact want it?

It seems that for whatever reason linux is probably mounting it read
only, so unmounting it, fscking it and remounting it read-write may
allow access to its data. But how will you know what the problem is?

As I said, removing all data to another drive and reinstallations is
usually the shortest way to a solution. If winders there should be a
sticker with a serial number on it somewhere.

--
Truth welcomes investigation because truth knows investigation will lead
to converts. It is deception that uses all the other techniques.

Re: Windows messed up

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From: jgaines_...@yahoo.co.uk (Jeff Gaines)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: 13 May 2022 13:34:47 GMT
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 by: Jeff Gaines - Fri, 13 May 2022 13:34 UTC

On 13/05/2022 in message
<0e45b098-6794-46a8-9a78-ef37b4937747n@googlegroups.com> Animal wrote:

>Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice. The
>relevant comp groups look dead.
>
>I'll ask here, some may know what to do.
>Modern but single core laptop, hw specs are more than enough.
>Win version? I've yet to find out. I haven't used win for many years. It's
>clearly post-xp.
>
>History unknown & we have none of the passwords. System idles at almost
>100% cpu, 1.7G ram. Biggest hogs are Antivirus (don't recognise the logo),
>antimalware (no idea whose), "service host: local system (17)", and
>there's various other junk I'd remove. Problem is everything's locked down.
>I couldn't find any way within win to uninstall, disable or delete
>anything. I put the hdd in a linux machine to delete stuff, but even with
>admin privileges not a thing is deletable. Don't have a copy of win for a
>clean install.
>
>How do I move forward here?

uk.comp.homebuilt is where people seem to gather, perhaps mostly Apple &
Linux though.

On Win 8 and on you uninstall programs from Control Panel > Programs and
Features.

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
Indecision is the key to flexibility

Re: Windows messed up

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From: Pancho.D...@outlook.com (Pancho)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 14:38:42 +0100
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 by: Pancho - Fri, 13 May 2022 13:38 UTC

On 13/05/2022 13:58, Animal wrote:
> On Friday, 13 May 2022 at 13:47:49 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
>> Animal wrote:
>>
>>> Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice. The
>>> relevant comp groups look dead.
>> They might have sprung into life if you'd posted there.
>>> I'll ask here, some may know what to do. Modern but single core laptop, hw
>>> specs are more than enough. Win version? I've yet to find out. I haven't used
>>> win for many years. It's clearly post-xp.
>>>
>>> History unknown & we have none of the passwords. System idles at almost 100%
>>> cpu, 1.7G ram. Biggest hogs are Antivirus (don't recognise the logo),
>>> antimalware (no idea whose), "service host: local system (17)", and there's
>>> various other junk I'd remove. Problem is everything's locked down.
>>>
>>> I couldn't find any way within win to uninstall, disable or delete anything.
>>> I put the hdd in a linux machine to delete stuff, but even with admin
>>> privileges not a thing is deletable. Don't have a copy of win for a clean
>>> install.
>
>> I suspect the windows file system wasn't shut down cleanly, and that's why linux
>> has mounted it read-only
>
> aha, can sort that.
>
>>> How do I move forward here?
>> I suspect you'll need to provide better info to get sensible answers
>
> sure, I don't know what info yet
>
>> does it have a Windows hologram sticker on the machine?
>
> Yes, it's worn and gives no clue which win version. The product key on it gave no google hits.
>
> The win logo onscreen looks very close to the win 10 one.
>

I replaced a failed SSD in an old laptop with a second hand SSD from a
different machine which was running Win10.

I booted it up with little expectation. Everything just worked, and has
continued to work ever since.

Re: Windows messed up

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From: tnp...@invalid.invalid (The Natural Philosopher)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 14:42:32 +0100
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 by: The Natural Philosop - Fri, 13 May 2022 13:42 UTC

On 13/05/2022 14:20, Andy Burns wrote:
> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> You get linux to do an fsck -Y on the drive
>
> Not sure I trust that linux knows enough about current NTFS to repair
> it, if it needs repairing, I'd put it in a caddy on another windows box,
> but it sounds like the O/P may not have one of those?
>
I think linux probably does, see https://linux.die.net/man/8/ntfs-3g
Hmm. digging deeper you may be right. The general advice is to add disk
to another (working) windows system and run checkdsk

Which unless you like doing surgery on yer PC ,means taking the drive
out and popping it in a USB caddy

--
There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale
returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.

Mark Twain

Re: Windows messed up

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From: '''newsp...@nonad.co.uk (Martin Brown)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 14:48:24 +0100
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 by: Martin Brown - Fri, 13 May 2022 13:48 UTC

On 13/05/2022 13:41, Animal wrote:
> Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice.
> The relevant comp groups look dead.
>
> I'll ask here, some may know what to do. Modern but single core
> laptop, hw specs are more than enough. Win version? I've yet to find
> out. I haven't used win for many years. It's clearly post-xp.

First thing to try is booting into safe mode and see what is there.
>
> History unknown & we have none of the passwords. System idles at
> almost 100% cpu, 1.7G ram. Biggest hogs are Antivirus (don't
> recognise the logo), antimalware (no idea whose), "service host:
> local system (17)", and there's various other junk I'd remove.

Don't remove anything until you are sure that you need to.

2GB ram is a bit small for anything past Vista. Win 7 might run on it
but I'd expect it to be painfully slow.

Windows ControlPanel>System&Security>System panel should give you basic
details of what OS revision and CPU. CPUID is helpful too.

> Problem is everything's locked down. I couldn't find any way within
> win to uninstall, disable or delete anything. I put the hdd in a
> linux machine to delete stuff, but even with admin privileges not a
> thing is deletable. Don't have a copy of win for a clean install.
>
> How do I move forward here?

I suspect that the filesystem is damaged so that Linux will only let you
mount it readonly. Looking up the laptop model number and following the
procedure to either boot from a CD, enter the BIOS or put windows in
safe mode might get you into the system but I think you are still a bit
stuck unless you know the admin password. You can take a fair guess at
the OS Doze level from the date stamp on the Windows directory.

ISTR there is a way to reset that but it does it by sending an email to
whoever admin was at whatever email address they originally specified.

Otherwise you are into nuking the OS and putting something else on.
You may be able to extract the magic registration code with a suitable
tool but if it is one of the later ones that requires a registration
server to be running and it isn't any more then you are stuck.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Re: Windows messed up

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From: ema...@here.invalid (Adrian Caspersz)
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Subject: Re: Windows messed up
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 by: Adrian Caspersz - Fri, 13 May 2022 15:16 UTC

On 13/05/2022 13:41, Animal wrote:
> Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice. The relevant comp groups look dead.
>
>
> How do I move forward here?

eBay it?

--
Adrian C

Re: Windows messed up

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From: nos...@needed.invalid (Paul)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 11:32:03 -0400
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 by: Paul - Fri, 13 May 2022 15:32 UTC

On 5/13/2022 8:41 AM, Animal wrote:
> Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice. The relevant comp groups look dead.
>
> I'll ask here, some may know what to do.
> Modern but single core laptop, hw specs are more than enough.
> Win version? I've yet to find out. I haven't used win for many years. It's clearly post-xp.
>
> History unknown & we have none of the passwords. System idles at almost 100% cpu, 1.7G ram. Biggest hogs are Antivirus (don't recognise the logo), antimalware (no idea whose), "service host: local system (17)", and there's various other junk I'd remove. Problem is everything's locked down.
> I couldn't find any way within win to uninstall, disable or delete anything. I put the hdd in a linux machine to delete stuff, but even with admin privileges not a thing is deletable. Don't have a copy of win for a clean install.
>
> How do I move forward here?
>

For a person with "none of the passwords", you've done exceedingly
well for yourself.

You appear to be viewing Task Manager, based on the description.

That means you got the machine started.

This is hardly as bad, as the level of lockout possible on
some business laptop machines, where a 2KB flash chip holds a password
you don't have. And you'd never getting in.

*******

Start : Run : winver

That will tell you the Windows version.

*******

Start : Run : control # use this if you cannot find "Control Panels"
# Works on Windows 10

Now look for the "Programs and Features" control panel.
You can uninstall stuff from there.

To remove an AV program:

1) Identify the product name and maker ("Programs and Features")
2) Find the "cleaner" product on the maker site. Download.
The cleaner removed the "last remnants" of the software.
Do not proceed until cleaner is in hand.

3a) Uninstall AV using Programs and Features.
Reboot
3b) Use the AV cleaner program.
Reboot

The AV is now removed.

On a good OS, the built-in AV may take over, assuming
that Microsoft even included an AV and it's not an
"anti-spyware" application.

*******

If the machine is in a business domain, the account may
not belong to the Administrator group. Normally, you remove
a machine from a domain, before removing it from a business.

In a powershell window:

Get-WmiObject Win32_UserAccount -filter “LocalAccount=True”

This may be a bit more thorough or convincing, in terms of naming them.
Accounts in the 500 range, are administrative sorts of things.
User Accounts start at 1000. On Windows 10, if you enter a
MSA (Microsoft Account), the msaID account may exist first.
If you create a familiar-name account later like Bullwinkle,
it may get a higher account number from the user pool.

The SIDs are used to stamp files, like when moving drives
from one machine to another.

Caption : MACHINENAME\Administrator
SID : S-1-5-21-1111111111-2222222222-3333333333-500

Caption : MACHINENAME\Guest
SID : S-1-5-21-1111111111-2222222222-3333333333-501

Caption : MACHINENAME\DefaultAccount
SID : S-1-5-21-1111111111-2222222222-3333333333-503

Caption : MACHINENAME\WDAGUtilityAccount
SID : S-1-5-21-1111111111-2222222222-3333333333-504

Caption : MACHINENAME\msaID
SID : S-1-5-21-1111111111-2222222222-3333333333-1001

Caption : MACHINENAME\Bullwinkle
SID : S-1-5-21-1111111111-2222222222-3333333333-1002

I do not see SYSTEM or TrustedInstaller accounts there.

At least one account on the machine, must belong to the Administrator group.
Be careful to not delete the very last Administrator group account!

net user msaID

...
Local Group Memberships *Administrators *Users

If I check the sloppily created Bullwinkle, I get (oh my):

net user bullwinkle

...
Local Group Memberships *Users

Bullwinkle cannot remove a Program, if I log in as Bullwinkle.

And an account like this, is singularly useless :-)

net user guest

...
Local Group Memberships *Guests # not a snooping acct

*******

It's not time for Linux, nor for Linux deletes yet.
To smash from Linux, takes a very long posting with details.

While all versions of modern Windows claim the file system
version is NTFS 3.1, this isn't true. And Windows does some
"tricks" to make your Linux delete experience a miserable one.
User files are easy to delete. C:\Windows files, some of them
will be quite resistant.

In Ubuntu, you will see "I/O Error" on some NTFS files.
No, this is *not* an I/O Error. This is simply a bad
choice of message to scare a user with. The latest
version of Ubuntu, uses a marginally-better message.

Paul

Re: Windows messed up

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From: tnp...@invalid.invalid (The Natural Philosopher)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 16:34:57 +0100
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 by: The Natural Philosop - Fri, 13 May 2022 15:34 UTC

On 13/05/2022 16:16, Adrian Caspersz wrote:
> On 13/05/2022 13:41, Animal wrote:
>> Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice.
>> The relevant comp groups look dead.
>>
>>
>> How do I move forward here?
>
> eBay it?
>
Give it to me. I'll put an SSD in and Linux on it.

--
“It is hard to imagine a more stupid decision or more dangerous way of
making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people
who pay no price for being wrong.”

Thomas Sowell

Re: Windows messed up

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From: nos...@needed.invalid (Paul)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 11:49:44 -0400
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 by: Paul - Fri, 13 May 2022 15:49 UTC

On 5/13/2022 9:48 AM, Martin Brown wrote:
> On 13/05/2022 13:41, Animal wrote:
>> Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice.
>> The relevant comp groups look dead.
>>
>> I'll ask here, some may know what to do. Modern but single core
>> laptop, hw specs are more than enough. Win version? I've yet to find
>> out. I haven't used win for many years. It's clearly post-xp.
>
> First thing to try is booting into safe mode and see what is there.
>>
>> History unknown & we have none of the passwords. System idles at
>> almost 100% cpu, 1.7G ram. Biggest hogs are Antivirus (don't
>> recognise the logo), antimalware (no idea whose), "service host:
>> local system (17)", and there's various other junk I'd remove.
>
> Don't remove anything until you are sure that you need to.
>
> 2GB ram is a bit small for anything past Vista. Win 7 might run on it but I'd expect it to be painfully slow.
>
> Windows ControlPanel>System&Security>System panel should give you basic details of what OS revision and CPU. CPUID is helpful too.
>
>> Problem is everything's locked down. I couldn't find any way within
>> win to uninstall, disable or delete anything.  I put the hdd in a
>> linux machine to delete stuff, but even with admin privileges not a
>> thing is deletable. Don't have a copy of win for a clean install.
>>
>> How do I move forward here?
>
> I suspect that the filesystem is damaged so that Linux will only let you mount it readonly. Looking up the laptop model number and following the procedure to either boot from a CD, enter the BIOS or put windows in safe mode might get you into the system but I think you are still a bit stuck unless you know the admin password. You can take a fair guess at the OS Doze level from the date stamp on the Windows directory.
>
> ISTR there is a way to reset that but it does it by sending an email to whoever admin was at whatever email address they originally specified.
>
> Otherwise you are into nuking the OS and putting something else on.
> You may be able to extract the magic registration code with a suitable tool but if it is one of the later ones that requires a registration server to be running and it isn't any more then you are stuck.
>

Linux has problems with:

1) Missing $MFTMIRR sudo ntfsfix /dev/sda1

2) Fast Boot
Hibernation # Cannot mount a hibernated volume since
# files are open on the volume
powercfg /h off # before you leave Windows

3) NTFS new style compression # uses Reparse Point, Ubuntu prints "I/O Error"

4) Any reparse point Microsoft makes, to break Linux on purpose.

Working on disks from Linux, requires some level of preparation.
But, in fact, not every landmine Microsoft left in there,
can be removed.

If, after installing Windows, you do this:

fsutil behavior set disablecompression 1 # disable new compression

then this improves the odds of fewer inaccessible files from Linux.

However, it also disables old style compression, which you
might need some day. I just noticed this, like, yesterday
or so. Old style compression unavailable, after me messing around.

*******

To issue

chkdsk C:

you can boot a Windows 7 installer DVD, select Troubleshooting,
and use the Command Prompt window. If you have a Macrium CD, the
Command Prompt in there also has CHKDSK on it.

Each OS, adds different command line switches to CHKDSK. When
using a CD or DVD to do repairs, try this first.

chkdsk /?

Paul

Re: Windows messed up

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Subject: Re: Windows messed up
From: tabbyp...@gmail.com (Animal)
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 by: Animal - Fri, 13 May 2022 16:09 UTC

In response to many helpful replies...

I shut win down cleanly, lin still refuses to delete a thing as admin

It's win 10 pro, upgraded from 7.

It boots up but barely works. 95% cpu use & 1.7G RAM at idle do not make a usable machine.

I'd be happy to install Mint if I knew it would work on it. I don't know that at this point, otherwise I'd do it.

My job's to get it working for someone very ill to use, there's no hardware budget.

Linux file browser properties reports the fs having about half the discs's nominal capacity, & calls the fs 'fuse'
Gparted says 3x NTFS partitions plus half the disc unallocated!

Well... I let linux check & repair the win partition. It no longer showsup in the filesystem on linux.

Haven't had anything windows in a long time here. Nor do the people the laptop came from etc.

It's 3G RAM.

> ISTR there is a way to reset that but it does it by sending an email to
> whoever admin was at whatever email address they originally specified.

no chance

I'll go see if it still boots. I'm very much leaning toward wiping the partitions & installing Mint.

Re: Windows messed up

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From: jmlay...@invalid.invalid (Jeff Layman)
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Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 19:27:58 +0100
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 by: Jeff Layman - Fri, 13 May 2022 18:27 UTC

On 13/05/2022 14:30, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 13/05/2022 14:15, Jeff Layman wrote:
>> On 13/05/2022 13:41, Animal wrote:
>>> Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice.
>>> The relevant comp groups look dead.
>>>
>>> I'll ask here, some may know what to do.
>>> Modern but single core laptop, hw specs are more than enough.
>>> Win version? I've yet to find out. I haven't used win for many years.
>>> It's clearly post-xp.
>>>
>>> History unknown & we have none of the passwords. System idles at
>>> almost 100% cpu, 1.7G ram. Biggest hogs are Antivirus (don't recognise
>>> the logo), antimalware (no idea whose), "service host: local system
>>> (17)", and there's various other junk I'd remove. Problem is
>>> everything's locked down.
>>> I couldn't find any way within win to uninstall, disable or delete
>>> anything.  I put the hdd in a linux machine to delete stuff, but even
>>> with admin privileges not a thing is deletable.
>>
>> Try the method here:
>> <https://askubuntu.com/questions/988519/how-do-i-delete-windows-files-from-ubuntu>
>>
>>
> I think the relevant question that hasn't been asked is where do you
> want to end up?

The OP appeared to want to delete/uninstall whatever was causing the Win
system to idle at almost 100%. We don't know what "Linux" he was using
to try to get into the Win HD to effect changes, but I assume it was Mint.

> If you just want to make an old laptop do useful work, my advice would
> be to install an SSD and Linux Mint. As that is geared to work on older
> hardware.

No argument with that. He mentions that he might try it in his third
reply. I wonder if the Win 10 Pro computer uses Secure Boot. If it does,
will he require a password to get to the UEFI to turn it off?

> If you want windows back and working its going to get harder - and do
> you in fact want it?
>
> It seems that for whatever reason linux is probably mounting it read
> only, so unmounting it, fscking it and remounting it read-write may
> allow access to its data. But how will you know what the problem is?
>
> As I said, removing all data to another drive and reinstallations is
> usually the shortest way to a solution. If winders there should be a
> sticker with a serial number on it somewhere.

He mentioned in his second post (in reply to Andy Burns):

"> does it have a Windows hologram sticker on the machine?

Yes, it's worn and gives no clue which win version. The product key on
it gave no google hits."

(In his later post he points out that the OS is Win10 Pro)

--

Jeff

Re: Windows messed up

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From: use...@andyburns.uk (Andy Burns)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 20:43:48 +0100
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 by: Andy Burns - Fri, 13 May 2022 19:43 UTC

Animal wrote:

> It boots up but barely works. 95% cpu use & 1.7G RAM at idle do not make a usable machine.

Has it sat unused for a long time? It might be psyching itself up for a big
windows update, have you left it to its own thing for a few hours,
antivirus/antimalware might also be trying to upgrade

Re: Windows messed up

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From: ianREMOV...@g3ohx.co.uk (Ian Jackson)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 22:18:44 +0100
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 by: Ian Jackson - Fri, 13 May 2022 21:18 UTC

In message <t5ln13$d79$1@dont-email.me>, Pancho
<Pancho.Dontmaileme@outlook.com> writes
>On 13/05/2022 13:58, Animal wrote:
>> On Friday, 13 May 2022 at 13:47:49 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
>>> Animal wrote:
>>>
>>>> Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice. The
>>>> relevant comp groups look dead.
>>> They might have sprung into life if you'd posted there.
>>>> I'll ask here, some may know what to do. Modern but single core laptop, hw
>>>> specs are more than enough. Win version? I've yet to find out. I
>>>>haven't used
>>>> win for many years. It's clearly post-xp.
>>>>
>>>> History unknown & we have none of the passwords. System idles at
>>>>almost 100%
>>>> cpu, 1.7G ram. Biggest hogs are Antivirus (don't recognise the logo),
>>>> antimalware (no idea whose), "service host: local system (17)", and there's
>>>> various other junk I'd remove. Problem is everything's locked down.
>>>>
>>>> I couldn't find any way within win to uninstall, disable or delete
>>>>anything.
>>>> I put the hdd in a linux machine to delete stuff, but even with admin
>>>> privileges not a thing is deletable. Don't have a copy of win for a clean
>>>> install.
>>
>>> I suspect the windows file system wasn't shut down cleanly, and
>>>that's why linux
>>> has mounted it read-only
>> aha, can sort that.
>>
>>>> How do I move forward here?
>>> I suspect you'll need to provide better info to get sensible answers
>> sure, I don't know what info yet
>>
>>> does it have a Windows hologram sticker on the machine?
>> Yes, it's worn and gives no clue which win version. The product key
>>on it gave no google hits.
>> The win logo onscreen looks very close to the win 10 one.
>>
>
>I replaced a failed SSD in an old laptop with a second hand SSD from a
>different machine which was running Win10.
>
>I booted it up with little expectation. Everything just worked, and has
>continued to work ever since.
>
With W10 (and I think W8) you seem to be able to swap the hard drive
from another machine - and if you want, change the activation key to
that pertaining to the recipient.
--
Ian

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Subject: Re: Windows messed up
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 by: Jeff Gaines - Fri, 13 May 2022 22:52 UTC

On 13/05/2022 in message <U1At3ZK0ssfiFwLw@brattleho.plus.com> Ian Jackson
wrote:

>With W10 (and I think W8) you seem to be able to swap the hard drive from
>another machine - and if you want, change the activation key to that
>pertaining to the recipient.

And nowadays run it without a key subject to some cosmetic limitations.

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.
(Ken Olson, president Digital Equipment, 1977)

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Subject: Re: Windows messed up
From: tabbyp...@gmail.com (Animal)
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 by: Animal - Sat, 14 May 2022 00:31 UTC

On Friday, 13 May 2022 at 20:43:55 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
> Animal wrote:
>
> > It boots up but barely works. 95% cpu use & 1.7G RAM at idle do not make a usable machine.
> Has it sat unused for a long time? It might be psyching itself up for a big
> windows update, have you left it to its own thing for a few hours,
> antivirus/antimalware might also be trying to upgrade

It did sit a long time unused. It has no net connection now.
Seems to me the only sane option is to go Mint. So... what are the odds of that not working? cos if it doesn't, I can't go back to windows. All windows are truly rotten, just glad I showed them the door.

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From: rod.spee...@gmail.com (Rod Speed)
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Subject: Re: Windows messed up
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 by: Rod Speed - Sat, 14 May 2022 01:47 UTC

Animal <tabbypurr@gmail.com> wrote
> Andy Burns wrote
>> Animal wrote

>>> It boots up but barely works. 95% cpu use & 1.7G RAM at idle do not
>>> make a usable machine.

>> Has it sat unused for a long time? It might be psyching itself up for a
>> big windows update, have you left it to its own thing for a few hours,
>> antivirus/antimalware might also be trying to upgrade

> It did sit a long time unused. It has no net connection now.
> Seems to me the only sane option is to go Mint.

Specially with that little memory.

> So... what are the odds of that not working?

Not very high of it not working.

> cos if it doesn't, I can't go back to windows.

Yes you can if you image it before trying Mint
or just doing a clean install of Win10 with the
recovered product code. But you would need
to add more ram for it to be usable imo and I think
you said that the owner can't afford to do that.

> All windows are truly rotten, just glad I showed them the door.

What matters is how the owner of the laptop feels about it, not you.

Re: Windows messed up

<t5n2q6$95a$1@gioia.aioe.org>

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From: nos...@needed.invalid (Paul)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 22:05:58 -0400
Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server
Message-ID: <t5n2q6$95a$1@gioia.aioe.org>
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 by: Paul - Sat, 14 May 2022 02:05 UTC

On 5/13/2022 11:34 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 13/05/2022 16:16, Adrian Caspersz wrote:
>> On 13/05/2022 13:41, Animal wrote:
>>> Got a laptop to sort out, not sure where to ask for windows advice. The relevant comp groups look dead.
>>>
>>>
>>> How do I move forward here?
>>
>> eBay it?
>>
> Give it to me. I'll put an SSD in and Linux on it.

It's a single core. Firefox will suck the life out of it,
from a CPU cycles perspective. All it takes is one
Javascript loop, to bring the machine to its knees.

If the CPU is socketed, you could look for a replacement
processor. For example, my single core Acer laptop, there
were dual core and quad core replacements. The purpose of
using such replacements, is not for "a burst of power".
It's not because the thing will run faster. It's
just a workaround for Firefox railing on one core,
to have two cores or four cores to improve responsiveness.

The SSD helps. But it cannot make a winner from
a bad CPU.

Paul

Re: Windows messed up

<t5n41b$og4$1@gioia.aioe.org>

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From: nos...@needed.invalid (Paul)
Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y
Subject: Re: Windows messed up
Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 22:26:51 -0400
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 by: Paul - Sat, 14 May 2022 02:26 UTC

On 5/13/2022 8:31 PM, Animal wrote:
> On Friday, 13 May 2022 at 20:43:55 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
>> Animal wrote:
>>
>>> It boots up but barely works. 95% cpu use & 1.7G RAM at idle do not make a usable machine.
>> Has it sat unused for a long time? It might be psyching itself up for a big
>> windows update, have you left it to its own thing for a few hours,
>> antivirus/antimalware might also be trying to upgrade
>
> It did sit a long time unused. It has no net connection now.
> Seems to me the only sane option is to go Mint. So... what are the odds of that not working? cos if it doesn't, I can't go back to windows. All windows are truly rotten, just glad I showed them the door.
>

You can get Win10 or Win11 media.

Back in the day, you could get Win7 or Win8 media from DigitalRiver.
DigitalRiver is an electronic seller of software, who worked
a deal with Microsoft to sell Microsoft products. But once the
product run was done, DigitalRiver shut down the server (which
was open as far as media was concerned, and that's why we got
our downloads there).

If someone can give you a SHA256 for a known Win7 x86 or x64 disc,
you could try for a torrent. And check the hash when it arrives.
(You can use Imgburn, to convert that hologram DVD to .iso
and then run a sha256sum on it.) If you sign up at MyDigitalLife (MDL)
forum, they have lists of hashes there, which cannot be
accessed now, without being a member.

For updating Windows 7, you can use a USB stick with wsusoffline
fileset on it. All the downloads on it, are from the Microsoft
server, and the signatures are checked at install time. This
avoids a lot of wheel spin, as the updates are applied in
a special order, that helps the process work as fast as it
possibly can. (The first five or so patches, fix up
the Windows Update engine. Necessary so the rest of
the patching is done at a better speed.)

There are a few things you can do, to re-paint old equipment.
But it's a lot of work, and easier to do for someone
with a media collection.

My single core laptop, with 3GB of RAM, has had Win7 and
Win10 on it. It works, in the Smithsonian sense. But
isn't exactly "powerful".

*******

If nobody has been messing with the laptop, there is
a 15GB recovery partition on it! At least for the older
OSes, there was a Plan B for you. Only if hobbyists
have been fooling with the machine, will the 15GB
partition have been erased.

Some recovery partitions, are the devil to get working.
The machine setups vary, in how easy they are to kick
off a recovery. All personal files are removed, and the
machine should give an OOBE response, like it was
brand new, after recovery completes.

If the OS was Vista, then you really really do need
wsusoffline for that. And the correct release as well.

Since the signing on the Microsoft server changed to SHA2,
this might cause problems for a Vista rejuvenation today.
But I successfully fixed a Vista years ago. Took me
three tries, at two days a piece, until I got enough
"traction" to finish. That's how I know wsusoffline
is *essential* for that. You would never guess the
recipe, without the help of the wsusoffline experts.

Summary: You *can* go back to Windows.
But you need friends to do it :-)
Lots of friends.

Paul

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