BlueWyvern

I have done this before, trying to find my old notes or possibly the vmware files I had for the "server" what I did was created a PE (I used the windows 7 based one cuz it had more network drivers :P) and then had a bat file I could run to install different operating systems. I worked in a computer shop and we used it for a mass installation onto PCs and Laptops over the network. There were times when it didn't work because of a lacking network driver but hey what are ya gonna do ya know? from what I recall I did it as such start the PE and ran a bat file to make a pretty little text menu for selection of OS installation once the OS was picked it ran commands to create a partition through command line, then formatted said partition. map a drive letter to a share that where the xp install files were located (net use x: \\share\me) then there were some switches I ran with the setup command from XP. said switches can be found here http://www.informit.com/articles/article.a...60&seqNum=6 again I will see if i can find the vmware files and if so post them on like megaupload or something.. (sans the install files) best of luck! *edit* still cant find my files but I believe the command was "winnt32 /s:x:\xpfiles (or x:\ if you mapped directly to it) /syspart:c" **you can also build an unattended answer file to suit your install if its only going to be used for your wife's PC to input the key, computer name, etc** also im sure you are familiar but just to make it easier you can for your format, "format c: /fs:ntfs /q /y" im still looking for notes as well for how to do the fdisk automatically... it wasnt command line with switches if i recall, but it was done by sending a script to fdisk (again if i remember correctly) I get the feeling there was also something to set the partition on the drive as bootable / install the bootloader... but i might be confusing it with earlier stage stuff while I was trying to perfect it... YMMV on this info.

Anyone know of any bootable data recovery software that's not ridiculously expensive? maybe something that can run from a flash drive or CD, or even "The Multi Pass"? also as a side question, i just got a new laptop and wiped it (after making the official manufacturer restore CDs of course), but I wanted to make my own custom Restore Disc. I know windows 7 has "recdisc" but does that actually make a proper recovery disc with all my stuff installed? From what I gather it's just a generic boot disc to run windows recovery tools. as always, Thanks guys!

If you go into your device manager, right click on the device you need drivers for right click and select properties click on the details tab, and go to Hardware IDs you should see something to the effect of PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_2134 copy and paste that into google and you will find a driver. It might not be the first result, but you will find it or you should be able to go to the Toshiba support site and get it *edit* you won't find drivers on the US Toshiba support site, but with the info you have they are available on the Canadian Site. http://support.toshiba.ca/support/Download/ln_byModel.asp http://support.toshiba.ca/support/Download...80421145542.zip <--- ATI video Driver for XP

Hey Charles, 4 questions 1.) how big is the iso? 2.) Is it any particular version of ubuntu? 3.) is it available from the ubuntu site? if not where can I snag it? 4.) what is your entry in your menu.lst for it? thanks!

I had thought about that charles, however right now I am trying to cram everything onto a usb drive for easier portability, and would prefer something that either runs in windows or boots on its own. Trying to keep this as minimalistic physically as possible. thanks for your input though :)

We all have our programs we keep on a thumb drive for when we troubleshoot a PC, I am still working on mine. The question I have is does anyone know of a good program to check the S.M.A.R.T. status of the drive, etc etc ie:// general drive health? thanks!

Agreed, more monitors > virtual desktops

I'm in about the same position as Trax, I was laid off in December 08 and of course it was after the holiday rush so I couldn't even get a part time gig working at a big box store. So I went to college, well still am in college doing it online, and found that I don't like this college's IT Program. (But that's neither here nor there) I do have some IT Experience under my belt, but no degree and no certifications. I still applied to several places and the two reposes I received were... a.) Your resume looks great, but unfortunately we only hire individuals who have a college education. b.) I'm sorry Mr. X, but it seems you are overqualified for this job. Funny story about two jobs i applied to, one was a help desk and I was told I needed a college education to answer a phone and type on a computer, the other was I was told I was overqualified to work at my local Best Buy's geek squad. so it's truly hit or miss with the value of a degree, however with all that being side your three options are a.) Any College that offers an IT Program (They are all about the same) b.) ITT Tech (no actual degree, more like job training) c.) Certifications (and there are tons of them out there) College will give you more classes that you really dont need to suck money out of you to make you a "Well Rounded Person" but if two people are hired at a company, one with a degree and the other graduating from ITT Tech the college graduate gets the higher pay. best of luck!

regarding changing the IP reread my first post, i edited it since you replied

chances are it goes off the mac address... I imagine apple uses a slightly different set of mac addresses for different devices... to test this find someone with a device your new wimax porta-router is supposed to work with and mimic their mac address on your laptop. if it connects you're in! (you would have to mimic it on your wireless card obviously) alternatively it could do an OS fingerprint scan, (this is highly unlikely but plausable) for example nmap reveals my HTC Incredible as OS details: AXIS 207W Network Camera, Linux 2.6.14 - 2.6.16, Linux 2.6.17 (Mandriva), Linux 2.6.22, Linux 2.6.24 - 2.6.28 no suggestion or idea as to how to get around that... short version: try the mac address spoofing edit: here is a 3G mac address (only the last two have been changed) 00:21:E9:95:18:EF good luck! edit edit: as for your iphone 4G if it is jailbroken, ssh into it and change to root and try the following command ifconfig en0 lladdr 00:21:E9:95:18:EF

I stumbled across this a while ago, haven't used it... but it seems to be what you are looking for. Migration Assistant

Shannon Morse nuff said.

Just noticed this post, stupid outline viewing mode :P At any rate you could just have him download The TeamviewerQS program (the join a session link on teamviewer.com) and have him give you his TV ID and 4 Digit PW every time he needs help. but that almost seems silly to me

I've been using teamviewer for a while now and it's been great to me. The only issue I have with it is that there is no android version yet :P what were your exact concerns? I think it's better than remote desktop because someone can't just find it by trolling around with a port scanner.

Well I can't answer all your questions but 2.) check out your competition... best buy or what have you to see what their prices are for things and make yours either cheaper or about the same, keep in mind if it's just you that you can charge whatever you personally want to make while keeping in mind any overhead (rent for the building etc etc) but if you have multiple employees figure them into the equation... dealerships for example will pay a mechanic $13 dollars an hour, and their cheapest service is approximately around $50, you put part away into the employee's pay and the rest goes to profit/overhead. 3-1.) If you are wanting to make demo videos to show things off or simulate a virus or what have you, You can get camtasia but it is $299. I am sure others exist that could be much cheaper if not free. *ninja edit* Alternatives to Camtasia 3-2.) Start with your local book store or bn.com for apple certification, if no results are found there contact apple directly. This may be what you are looking for. 4-1.) People don't care if you are certified for computer repair as long as you have and keep a good reputation and can offer a better price than the competition. If you plan to do business to business services they may want to see/know if you are certified. 4-2.) I don't know about the area you are in but where I am small computer shops have a bum rap because of incidents where people were dropping computers off for repair, given a claim ticket and return in a week only to be told some blatant lie about how their computer is not here and someone else picked it up or they had a break in the previous night, etc etc. When in reality the owner gutted the PC and sold it for parts or built new machines from it... Trust me, It's happened and at more than 1 computer shop. Hope this helps.

It depends really, imo learning html and php are pointless if you have 0 interest in web design... that being said I would suggest either Java or Python as a first language... and to a lesser extent visual basic the difference? Java & Python are multi-platform Visual Basic is Windows Based There are other differences as well... but it's all in what you want to do...

Well I'm in the states and all the carriers suck. the short version is no matter what phone you get, you have to keep it on that network for one reason or another... I have AT&T and their customer service is lacking so im really not into paying $600 for a Nexus One as for the HTC Desire, is that EU only?

Carriers aside no holds barred. Best Android Phone on the market now and near future. why or why not HTC Hero HTC EVO 4G Nexus One Droid etc etc...

for anyone else that may have this question... Iphone or Android device... I want to add my 2 cents. I purchased an iPhone 3G when it came out and it was the biggest mistake of my life. It is the shoddiest build of a phone I have ever seen. It fell once onto my kitchen floor and no visible cracks appeared, however since then two very LARGE cracks have been getting bigger and bigger in the middle of the back of the case one at the top and one at the bottom. I almost think that once my contract runs out this August that the two cracks will meet and the back will fall off. for those of you that say "Why didn't you buy a case?" I say to you "Why should I pay more for protection that the device should have from the manufacturer?" and "Why take a phone that was sleek (one of the reasons for purchase) and make it thicker? so yeah Great choice in getting the Galaxy x942. I know you will enjoy it.

I don't know if something like Bitlet will work. http://www.bitlet.org/ But you can pay for a VPN Service like TorrentFreedom http://torrentfreedom.com/ the catch here is if your school monitors bandwidth usage. They can still tell you are using a crazy amount of bandwidth, they just can't tell on what.

So I went looking around at netbooks today... and whereas I'm not looking for something particularity to game on, I would like something that in a pinch could handle some of the MMOs that we have out besides World of Warcraft because that will play on ANYTHING. Basically I would like to know which Intel Graphics Chipsets are more cohesive to gaming. Anyone got the low down on this? Thanks!

I can't even begin fathom the monthly costs on that.

So I'd like to know what software tools you don't leave home without. Be it a collection of tools such as Trinity Rescue Kit or a single portable exe like ComboFix. a friend of mine carries geek squad MRI and thinks it's the holy grail, and therefore all he needs. Me? I prefer not to use something thats not gonna expire and make me hunt for updates. I'm interested to see whats out there and what others use. thanks

There is a literal TON of software to block things on the computer. I think they are called like Cyber Sitter or something like that. I live near a Microcenter in the USA and there are at minimum 20 software titles on their shelf that do exactly that. If you want to do it cheaper (kind of) and make it so that your kid can't just disable it. set up your own transparent proxy that the connection from the computers has to go through. That's what the school system I worked at set up. It's not 100% guaranteed, but the only way around it would be to use a VPN or SSH Tunnel. It all depends on your Tech comfort level. best of luck! *edit* I just noticed you said *FREE* I can't guarantee it but you can try this K9 Web protection

Hey Guys, does anyone know if the Nook or the Kindle or any ebook reader for that matter can open / read PDF files that require authentication from a remote site? Looking for something to put my College books on to take with me because the iPhone 3G fails in this aspect... Thanks in advance!