Two ways to make 'self-healing' Windows setups

[Stephanie Small]

LANGALIST PLUS Two ways to make 'self-healing' Windows setups By Fred Langa If you want or need free ways to make Windows reset itself to pristine condition after each use, here are two approaches. With Microsoft's SteadyState application or a virtual PC snapshot, Windows can start each session completely fresh, perfectly set up, and with no record of any previous activity or changes. The full text of this column is posted at WindowsSecrets.com/2010/04/22/04 (paid content, opens in a new window/tab). Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.

[Snoopy50]

Hi.
Just a thought in regards to rouge keyboard. An easy way to test if Laptop keyboard is faulty is to just plug in a USB keyboard and bypass the Laptops keyboard.
May be simpler than running a dos program.

Another thought also is if the language format under region and language in control panel is correct. A while ago I had a friends PC doing much the same thing ie. placing different letters on screen as to what was typed. After much hunting I found that his key board language was set to English(Malaysia) which caused the problem. As soon as I changed it back to English(New Zealand) or English(USA) it solved the problem.

Pete.

[bobprimak]

Sub-Topic "Running defragmentation alongside other apps" :

The letter writer asked about burning a CD while defragmenting. Even on a quad-core pc with ample RAM, this can cause a buffer underrun on the CD burning program, spoiling the burn. Otherwise, the LangaList answer is perfectly adequate.

[David Taylor]

About defragmentation (I couldn't find a separate thread to reply to).....

I've found that the most effective solution is continuous defragementation, which makes sure that newly created files are defragged a few minutes after they are created. This runs continuously and imposes very little load on the system. The low-cost software I would recommend is MST Defrag:

http://www.mstsoftware.com/

(BTW: how can I switch to plain text input - can't stand HTML).

Cheers,
David

[John-O]

Latitude keyboards...I've had this D600 for almost five years, and from the day I got it I have had extra e's and r's. It's the hardware, I'm certain, but it's gotten better over the years.

[woolaway]

For keyboard problems: Its always worthwhile to turn off the system, turn the keyboard (laptop in this case) upside down over a garbage can and shake it.

You'll be suprised on some how many paper clips, food particles, etc. will come out. I've seen a lot of keyboard problems fixed this way. Always try this first before replacing a keyboard.

Tom Woolaway

[vicb]

You might want to try disabling the little eraser-tip pointer on the keyboard. I've seen it make the cursor move by itself; maybe it could be responsible for other keyboard errors. If not, now you know what to do if your cursor starts moving by itself!

[John-O]

Vicki, that's a great tip...I had that trouble for a long time too, and disabling it in CPanel halted the trouble....until I went to reload XP from scratch, and it was enabled and acting so erratic that I couldn't perform the install. Since I never use the thing, I lifted the keyboard (a snap-in panel and two easy screws) and cut the leads from the pointer clean off.

Problem solved permanently. Otherwise, I need a new keyboard.

[two vegans]

You recommend using a "Virtual PC" again. Is there a "Virtual PC" for Windows 2000? I believe an OS with DRM and Virtual PC would be riskier then Windows 2000 without Virtual PC. Do I want to be safe from internet attacks or safe from DRM activation servers? Is both possible?