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If it's not too private, can you attach a screen capture of Disk Manager pointing out the space you want to reclaim?

There are some things it isn't advisable to reclaim, eg. the 8MB block that's usually unallocated at the start of any HDD bigger than 32GB(?).

Otherwise, Parted Magic will let you resize your existing partitions to reclaim space.

But afa an individual setting up a disc to install the OS and a bunch of apps, if he has the install DVD, the whole slipstream disc is based on WinPE and this application install scripting engine(I forget what it's called.)

WinBuilder to make the actual PE discs?

Or WPI for the selection/installing of programs after OS installation?

I use WinBuilder regularly for the creation of PEs but not OS install discs because I normally strip quite a lot out, so nlite/vlite is better in my case.
I found WPI too annoying to use, (ie. it relied on some component I normally strip out of a XP OS, so it never worked properly), so I just use the RunOnceEx or ServicePack method of installing apps after the OS.

MSFN's Unattended Windows is probably the best source of information all in one place regarding automating installation of the OS and applications.

EDIT: I should note that the MSFN link above is meant for XP installs but there is so much more info available for other Windows OS' available in the forums.

Unattended 2000/XP/2003/
Unattended Vista
Unattended Win7
Silent Application Installs

[4wd]

4wd: XP only supports loading drivers from floppy, flash drive support wasn't introduced until Vista (unless it's an addition in SP3).

Well, all I can say is it works here but you could be right, I didn't take note of the SP.  Also, maybe it depends on how the flash has been formatted?

All mine are done to look like HDDs so I have a better than even chance of being able to boot off the damn things.

mrHappy: you can indeed run your SATA drives in "compatibility mode" in your BIOS, and then you won't need drivers... but then you won't get the full benefit from the drives (NCQ and such). It's pretty easy slipstreaming drivers to your install disc though, so I'd definitely run in AHCI mode

You can also use DriverPacks, just download the BASE program and the MassStorage driverpack and you'll end up with an XP that will load onto almost anything no matter what mode the SATA is in, (although they haven't updated it for some of the latest motherboards <6 months old).

EDIT: Actually I do now vaguely remember loading my SATA drivers from flash drive for SP2 for my old AsRock 939 motherboard - maybe it depends on the motherboard?

Dang it!  I'll just have to try it on the spare computer for each SP, enquiring minds want to know......grrrrr.......curse you f0dder!         

I don't know how it works where you are, but in the USA, all devices that plug directly into AC mains require certification from the Underwriter's Laboratory before they can be legally sold. If you power your device with a plug-type PSU - and don't have an AC line coming into your device - only the PSU needs to be certified as opposed to the entire device. So manufactureres can just stock up on pre-certified external power supplies and be done with it. Saves them a huge amount of money since getting UL approval is time consuming and expensive. Also reduces their liability in the event the PSU burns.

Same here, although there have been cases where the supposedly 'certified' PSU or device is really just wearing a faked sticker.

[Selecting an Appropriate Wall Wart]

That question is addressed in the article. Look under the Selecting an Appropriate Wall Wart heading. You might miss it if you're just looking at the scematic.

Guilty as charged!  

I did mainly only look at the circuit, (which is just the standard linear regulator circuit), but I also noted from the article they never took into account the fact that most transformer powered equipment will have it's own internal regulator which is the point I was making.

[attachthumb=1]

The top circuit shows the typical setup for a device powered by a transformer based plugpack - the regulator is situated within the device and while it gets the full voltage from the plugpack, it will happily perform it's job.  (A 12V unregulated transformer based plugpack can typically provide up to ~16V.)

The bottom circuit shows what you get when you follow the article, you have removed the internal regulators minimum voltage drop - it will no longer regulate.

...

Within the range of regulated supplies requiring 100 to 150 milliamperes or less, the primary concern in selecting a wall wart is to make sure that it will supply power at least 3 volts DC in excess of the desired final controlled voltage, when the circuit is running at the designed load. This "3 volts in excess" comes from the basic needs of the voltage regulator itself. The most straight-forward approach to selecting a wall wart for your project would be to select one with an amperage rating that matches your needs and a voltage rating that is 3 or 4 volts higher. Thus, if you need a 5 VDC, 100 ma. regulated supply, you might select a used "9 VDC" wall wart rated at 100 or 150 ma. If you need a 9 volt regulated supply at 70 ma., you might select a small "12 VDC" wall wart rated at 100 ma.

The selection becomes a bit more complex, if you desire a 12 volt regulated supply. One way to go is, as discussed above, to use a 14, 15 or 16 VDC wall wart rated at least as large as your design load in milliamperes...

All they are concerned with here is the input requirements of the external regulator they are adding, not the input requirements of the internal regulator of the device.  ie. The internal regulator could be relying on that 'excess' voltage from a transformer.

It all comes down to the construction of the device that's being powered.  Personally, I wish they'd get rid off the freakin' need for the plugpacks - I'll generally try to buy equipment that doesn't require them now, direct mains powered is so much easier.

Search Google directly from addressbar. Can't get any better 

Firefox does a Google 'I feel lucky' search by default for anything you type in the address bar that isn't an address.

[raybeere]

Sean (one of my hardware tech buddies) pointed me towards this article, which discusses wall warts in detail, along with a project to safely add voltage regulation and filtering to an inexpensive plug-in power module.

That article is for your basic transformer style plugpack.  The circuit that is detailed is normally, (just to clarify - if the manufacturer wants a cleaner supply he may incorporate a simple switchmode design in the device itself but generally a lot of equipment uses basic linear regulators, eg. 7805, 7812, etc), what you find connected to the power input socket of the device - so in effect you are connecting another circuit that's the same in series.

The only problem with that is you've just disabled the internal voltage regulating circuit of the device.  The regulators mentioned in that article require at least an input voltage 1.2V above the required output voltage in order to regulate correctly otherwise they just drop out.

eg.  If your device requires 12V DC there will typically be a 7812 regulator connected to it's input power socket - it's relying on the normally unregulated voltage provided by the transformer plugpack of around 16V DC allowing it regulate correctly.

If you build the circuit as described and set its output to 12V DC and then plug that into your device, where does the internal regulator get its required voltage drop in order to regulate?

I would say he has success probably because of the extra filtering he's added by way of the capacitors.

Switchmode PSUs are self-regulating and don't require it, they only require the requisite load for regulation - and the latest versions don't even require that.

EDIT: Also note that article is from 2005, switchmode plugpacks have become more prevalent in the last 2-3 years.

Addendum: @raybeere: If the PSU is indeed a switchmode type, (they're generally lighter than transformer types is the easiest way to tell), then you should change it for the same type with an equivalent rating if you intend to.  The unregulated output from a generic transformer based PSU might damage the router, (unless the replacement specifically states it is regulated).

The tunneling thing sounds interesting, would it be possible to send it to me as well?

More work!!!

I thought I was retired?

I should start charging per hour  

Geddit 'ere: Tunneling.rar

Any other free alternatives that are simple to use and secure?

I just use RDP, I haven't found anything that's faster or less resource intensive, possibly not as simple as, for example, CrossLoop but not that hard either.

More specifically, Remote Assistance - they send an invite, you use it to connect, they approve, (at least that's how I remember it working).

As far as security goes, isn't anything you get them to run going to leave an open port in their firewall after requesting access through it?

EDIT: Assuming it's Remote Assistance + Windows Firewall, Windows will close the port after use.

If you check the output coming off your router's power supply with a multimeter you should be able to see if the correct voltage is being supplied. I'd be especially on the lookout for specs that read lower rather than higher. Low voltage can often cause a device to run hotter than it should.

...

Suggestion: if you do test your adapter, try running it in its normal environment for an hour or two and then try to test it immediately after you disconnect it from the router. If there's a bad voltage condition, brought on by environmental or runtime factors, this will help you catch it.

According to Linksys' site, the PSU for that router is switchmode so you won't be able to get an accurate reading unless it's under load - and it still won't tell you how much ripple is on the output which is a problem when the capacitors in a switchmode start going high-ESR due to, for example, heat strain and voltage fluctuations.

It would be easier to replace the PSU with a known working one.

I just managed to reinstall all the keys  and make it work. The main problem with my xp64 could have been the fact that I tried to install the portable Vpn first. My initial impression is that that really did not play nice on the xp64. Unistalling and installing the latest beta seems to resolve the issues(again) Now both clients can see eachother. Thanks for the lead!

I think the Portable version is x86 only, (but I'm not sure - I haven't checked the extracted files).

Is it ever possible to share a folde on Vpn but not on lan? I mean for example I would like to sahre some folders just on vpn network. I guess if that is not possible I will just use ssh for that kind of stuff.

Good question!  I don't know, I would think you need to limit folder access by IP address - something f0dder may be able to answer.

Somewhere I saw that the tunneling from one machine to another machine was possible over ssh.

Yes, you can tunnel using almost any kind of traffic, I have a mag here that has a lot of info on how to set it up, mainly from a Linux point of view but if you like I can scan and email them to you.

"Dirty" power: Thanks the most absurd house wiring layout I've ever seen, I have no choice but to have all this stuff on the same circuit as the refrigerator. Sigh. I know that isn't great - but, again, why just the router? Why isn't anything else having problems? (In all that time, I lost one cheap printer that was already on its way out - to a clogged print head. That's it, except for the routers.) So, not good, I agree (and if anyone has cheap suggestions for improving the situation, I'm all ears), but that doesn't seem right, either.

Just in regard to your Dirty Power, I take it an extension lead to a GPO on another circuit is out of the question?

Either for the fridge or computer equipment, of course you need to clear the existing fault w.r.t the router before you can try this as a means to prove it one way or the other.

Mind you, as soon as you start using an extension lead nothing will happen.................until the week after you stop using it

I prefer Trashmail with the Firefox addon, then I can just right-click->Paste disposable address

[build-key]

Do I need to recreate keys for servers and clients everytime I add a new client?

No, just a new client key/cert for the new client.

Because I did not, I did just create the client2 key and did that build dh thing and copied the original ca.crt(from thr server) file to the client.

I think you only have to run:

build-key <client>

Any time you want to generate another key/cert for a new machine.  Maybe running build-dh again has screwed something up.

The only thing is that client2 is a xp64, and I know 64bit network drivers are tricky. Also I am in the middle of something and I have not restarted my computer this time.

AFAIK, you shouldn't need to restart the machine, (at least I haven't had to), and the installer installs a x86 or 64bit driver depending on the OS it detects, so there shouldn't be a problem there - there are an awful lot of people using OpenVPN, to get to stable 2.09 release I'm sure someone would have tested it on 64bit

Grab the last lot of keys/certs I attached to a post and use the client key/cert on the XP64 machine, replace the dh1024.pem file on the server with the one from the archive, disconnect all clients, then try connecting the XP64 machine to the server.

If that works then there must be something wrong with the keys/certs you generated.

re: shares, I'll get back to you about method (b) - you really need to set up two separate networks in order to test otherwise you end up going through the non-VPN connection when you want to test the VPN connection - gets very confusing.

Method (a) is the simplest for what you want but it means you need to install the client on all machines you need to see shares on, which is what you didn't want to do.

[raybeere]

I seem to recall there being some issue with Linksys router power supplies in the past, (eg. failing within months), but I'm not sure whereabouts on the planet and how long ago.

@raybeere: You could also try powering the router off of an equivalently rated supply, (as long as it's not one the previously killed router supplies) - maybe it's original supply took just enough of a hit to make it marginal.

I'm trying to understand, but this isn't clear. If the power supply was dying, wouldn't the whole thing fail at once? The router is still working (although on my last ping a few minutes ago, the first ping took 7ms) but I cannot access the control panel at all. Why would the power supply affect this? I was thinking it was more that the firmware was messed up in some way.

Sorry, missed the bit about it being a access problem - was thinking more along router failure.

As for a PSU dying completely, that is only one manifestation of any potential fault with them.  It could just be running out of specification, eg. supplying low voltage, low current, intermittent voltage drops, too much ripple, etc, etc.

Depends on the type of PSU, while switchmode are nicely efficient, cool-running and take up less space, there's just something so reliable about a hunk of iron with copper wire wrapped around it when you use a transformer, even though they too are prone to failure.

With the access problem in mind, like Carol said, try a factory reset.  If that didn't work I'd probably stick another power supply on it and/or try a firmware flash via telnet before spending money on another modem/router.

I can recommend Zyxel, [insert deity] knows mine has taken quite a few power brownouts/fluctuations over the last 4 years and it's still going strong

I tried to find some info about sharing my already shared network drives on Openvpn but I could not. Is it possible to access shared folders(on another comp on the network) on Openvpn? I just do not want to install the server on every machine.

You can either:
a) install the client on all your computers, (which will give you a totally encrypted LAN besides your normal LAN), and enable this line in the server.ovpn file:

client-to-client                 <- This will allow the clients to see each other, by default they only see the server.

b) Bridging the adapters, (OpenVPN and your LAN), there's a easy tutorial here - use your own info for ports, keys, certs, etc in the config files.

c) push the LAN IPs - I'll get back to you on this, I have to go look it up

Just to clarify, you only want to see your normal LAN shares, (192.168.2.x), from clients on the VPN ?

I ask because method (c) will be the easiest.

I take that back, (after having read the docs a bit), method (b) is probably more suited to what you want.  Have a go at following the tutorial I linked to, I'll modify the configs to what I think they should be incorporating what's on the page and what my setup is, you can then substitute your own LAN IPs, key/cert names in the appropriate places.

[raybeere]

Compare this with the warts that normally come with a home router...hence one of the reasons why you have a bigger chance of failure there.

I seem to recall there being some issue with Linksys router power supplies in the past, (eg. failing within months), but I'm not sure whereabouts on the planet and how long ago.

@raybeere: You could also try powering the router off of an equivalently rated supply, (as long as it's not one the previously killed router supplies) - maybe it's original supply took just enough of a hit to make it marginal.

I thought you liked the size of your 8.9?  This is two inches+ larger...

I do......but I just wish it had 8+ hours battery life, x4500 graphics, a faster CPU, 802.11a-z, 4GB RAM  and a HDD.

You know...the grass is always greener and all that

Since you seem to be in the middle of Lightning Central, the most obvious question would seem to be:

Does your phone line go through a surge protector/lightning arrestor?

You've mentioned that the modem is plugged into a surge protector but that still leaves umpteen kilometers of phone line for strikes to induce into.

If the phone company deems it necessary to put gas arrestors on every line to protect their equipment, (and it's still no guarantee of protection), then is there a reason why you shouldn't think the same?

Next time your son insists he has to stay connected against your better judgment, ask him if he's willing to buy a new router.

Dang it!! I wish they'd brought this out 6 months ago 

Acer Aspire Timeline 1810T

It depends whether your BIOS has the SATA interfaces set to 'IDE Compatible' mode or not.

If they're set to 'AHCI' or 'RAID' then you will most likely require the drivers for your motherboard and hit F6 at the start of XP installation to use them, (you can stick them on a flash drive, make sure it's plugged in before booting the CD).

[NOT]

FPS is NOT a disease!!!

It's a state of mind.

[attachthumb=1]

There's also Media Convert which will do:

Video
Audio
Ringtones
Images
Vector Documents
Text Documents
Archives
Data
Mathematics
Presentation

Better late than never: Gsar for Windows

Gsar can search one or several files for a string and report the occurrences. Gsar can read one file, search for a string, replace it with some other string, and create a new file containing the changes. Gsar can perform a search and replace in multiple files, overwriting the originals.

I have some nieces and nephews that live in the puckered sphincter of nowhere with no internet access. They have a hard time of it sometimes keeping up with their school-mates because they don't have the access to online research sources that their peers do.

In that case, shouldn't the school be doing all it can to not disadvantage them?

eg. Scrapping some stupid PE lessons, (yes, I hated PE), so they can have time on school internet access.

Results should be marked taking into the account the means used to obtain them.

And while the Internet should be an aid to education, it shouldn't be the sole source of knowledge.

I remember the days when we actually had libraries in the schools.....imagine that!  You young whippersnappers have it so easy these days.[/old fogie voice]

EDIT: After thinking about I suppose it should actually be the Education Authority, (or whoever runs them, state, federal, etc), running the school that should be ensuring they aren't disadvantaged by providing, for example, a subsidised satellite internet connection if it's so essential to schooling.