Mark Phelps

Has anyone else actually tried using the Win 8.1 32-bit RTM DVD to do an update to Win8 Pro 32-bit? Asking because I downloaded it (before the links died) and made a DVD (and a USB) from the file: Windows_8.1_EN-US_x86.iso (2.71GB) And when I run it, it prompts for a key code -- from which I've read, it will take the current Win8 key. So, I tried both my WMC code and the original DVD box code -- and it takes neither of them. Says they're not good "for this version of Windows". I've been reading all over the Net about folks installing this and then activating with their current Win8 key -- and I can't even get past the product key step. UPDATE: Think I've solved it -- by modifying a config file to NOT prompt for a key.

You did WHAT successfully? There are four steps involved in "migrating" from Win8 Pro WMC to Win8.1 Pro WMC: 1) Installing Win8.1 Pro (without WMC) [the WZT ISO does not include WMC] 2) Activating Win8.1 Pro 3) Installing the WMC add-on to Win8.1 4) Activating the installed WMC add-on I only went as far as step 1) because I couldn't install the WMC add-on using the default Win8.1 Pro key. The dialogue box wouldn't accept that key and wouldn't give me an option to go any further. What I was trying to do was seeing if I could do 1) and 3) without activation -- and that does not appear possible. I could do 1) using the default key, but I could not do 3). I've read on other forums of folks doing all 4 -- but they did it by calling a UK phone number to activate their copy -- something I don't want to do. So, were you able to do all four? And, did you have to use one legit key or two? (one for Win8.1 Pro, and a different one for Win 8.1 Pro WMC add-on).

Got it fixed -- kind of ... Was able to install the Win 8.1 upgrade using the default Win8 Pro key -- so that part worked. But, when I went to install the WMC add-on, that key wouldn't work. I have a valid WMC key but I didn't use it because I didn't want it to get locked to 8.1. Also, with this build, there is a watermark on the desktop -- which I didn't expect to see with an RTM build. So, I restored my working version of Win8 Pro and will wait until 8.1 arrives through the Windows update channel in October. When that happens, getting the update from the Windows Store will most certainly include getting a new WMC key.

Looks fine to me ...

Different USB devices often require different drivers -- even though they all connect through a USB port. I've even seen instances where I insert a USB stick of the same brand I've used previously but of larger size. Eventually, Windows will have saved all the drivers and won't prompt you anymore.

This is often a problem with upper and/or lower "filters". The info in the link tells you how to remove those filters: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929461

Sorry for the late response, but I didn't see this earlier ... You don't install Linux. That is an operating system kernel. What you install is a Distribution (known as a Distro) which includes a version of the Linux kernel along with other software and, generally, some applications. A good place to get downloads of Linux Distros is the DistroWatch.com website. If you look through their site web page, you will also see links to review and tutorials on some of the different Distros. Among the most popular Distros today are Ubuntu (which uses the Unity desktop, a cell-phone like interface that many of us to not like) and Mint (which uses a menu-like interface that many of us prefer). Both Ubuntu and Mint can be downloaded for free from their various sites (or from DistroWatch). When you do that, you will need to burn a DVD or create a bootable USB stick -- from which to boot into the OS. That will allow you to try out each OS and see how well you like each. As to your request to set up internet access that bypasses site blocking policies, the various Distro support forums will NOT help you with that (the Ubuntu forums and the Linux Mint forums). In fact, I don't personally believe that can be done.

Another problem I ran across when huge Windows programs were split across CDs, is that each CD reused the same filenames. So OEM.INF and readme.bat was the same filename from CD to CD. Since each CD was intended to be loaded separately, this posed no problem when done one at a time. But, if you copied all the CD files to a hard drive, you ended up overwiting the intermediate versions of the file and ended up with only the last version. So, it may not be a simple process to combine the contents of all the CDs into one DVD.

Well, good luck on that. Even using only lowercase letters, the time quickly goes from seconds to years once you get beyond a handful of characters. I tried the prevalent ones a while back, let my PC run for days, and accomplished nothing at all. I don't recall if the apps had any kind of progress indicator -- should be easy enough to do.

Unless whomever password-protected the rar file was REALLY, REALLY STUPID, no password recovery software is likely to work. Why? Because the examples shown with all such products presume a password like "abc" -- which only a COMPLETE IDIOT would use. Once you start trying to crack complex passwords (those including uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters), the time required to do the cracking quickly jumps from a few seconds (for "abc") to days -- to weeks -- to months. It's a simple matter of mathematics -- regardless of what you see in the Movies, password crackers can NOT figure out one character at a time; instead, they generate a complete password and then test it. Testing requires trying to open the archive using a password -- which takes time. Update: Found the research article where sample times were calculated, and presuming a character set of 95 characters and a super-computer able to do almost 1 MILLION tests per second, a three-character password would take less than one second. But by 5 characters, you were already over two HOURS. Eight characters pushed this to 2 centuries. 10 characters pushed this to nearly 2000 Millenia -- 2 Trillion years. But, the research article only timed the creation of passwords. To use a cracking program, you have to test the passwords. Even if you had an automatic test, it wouldn't be able to open the archive faster than 100 times a second (if that). So, you drop from a million per second to 100 per second. Times now increase astronomically! Not saying it Can't be done -- just saying that any reasonably complex password is going to take a LONG, LONG, LONG time to discover.

I tried the Win8 DP version on my XP-era Tablet PC when it first came out. Not happy with what I saw. Major problem was lack of good video drivers. The tablet uses the Intel 915 GM chipset, so it requires an XPDM driver. MS kept XPDM support in for Vista and for Win7, but apparently removed it for Win8. So, I lost all special video features. Also, Win8DP had two very different renderings of IE -- desktop and metro -- and the metro version was just plain awful. So, after a week of puttering around, and coming to the conclusion that not only was it no better than Win7, but actually worse, I removed it. Haven't got around to installing Win8DP yet -- but will in a few days, and will report back then.' Also, anyone using a laptop should read about the NEW hardware requirements for Win8 that MS published. They've done a "180" from the old days of emphasis on compatibility with older equipment. Win8 is actually designed for portable PCs (primarily tablets) that haven't been built yet. So, if it works at all on your laptop, then you're lucky!

To the OP: Don't know about your company, but in MINE, even attempting to bypass security features (like a proxy) is grounds for being FIRED! Just saying ... understand the risk you may be taking by trying to bypass their proxy.

Best place to go for help on Win7 problems is the Win7 forums: sevenforums.com

I'm not aware of any "validated genuine" versions of Win7 here or anywhere else. However, if you have a valid product key, then you should be able to activate the same Win7 version without problems -- but, if you download a version with SP1 included, and your key is for the original version, it's very likely your key will NOT work. In that case, you will need to hunt for a version WITHOUT SP1 -- which can be difficult to find these days. Also, there used to be links for the genuine ISO files from MS's image provider, but those links all now point to SP1 versions -- which won't do you any good unless you have an SP1 compatible key. If your laptop came with Win7 preinstalled, you should contact the laptop seller. In many cases, they will provide you full restore media for a very low price.

I've already done the same ... but in a laptop. Haven't had time to test it, though, so I can't report on speed improvements yet. Whether the boot will be "instantaneous", I will have to wait to see -- but it should be a lot shorter. You might want to look into downloading SSD Life Pro from the Windows Applications section (if it's still there). That will allow you to monitor and tune the SSD performance. Haven't tried it yet myself, so don't have any advice to provide.

I've already done the same ... but in a laptop. Haven't had time to test it, though, so I can't report on speed improvements yet. Whether the boot will be "instantaneous", I will have to wait to see -- but it should be a lot shorter. You might want to look into downloading SSD Life Pro from the Windows Applications section (if it's still there). That will allow you to monitor and tune the SSD performance. Haven't tried it yet myself, so don't have any advice to provide.

FedEx posted a response to this video,claiming this behavior was unacceptable -- but then, what else COULD they do? IF they didn't do something, they would lose ALL their delivery business. And, they refused to confirm that the employee doing this was fired.

You didn't say which version of Win7 (or I missed it), but Win7 Pro has the ability to operated in XP mode -- meaning, you don't have to install XP to run XP-related stuff. Also, realize that XP drivers, especially video and audio, are very different from Win7 drivers -- thus, unless you find and save off those drivers ahead of time, when you erase Win7 and replace it with XP, video will probably work by default, but you're likely to have no audio.