moonlit

Double choc-chip? :D

Yeah, barrytone was correct, anyone else got it? Cookies for barrytone!

That is true but if you don't know what it's representing you don't know where to go next :)

True but there's some smart people on here and I believe it's not actually that hard to crack if you figure out the first step. Shall we call that a hint? ;)

Since you asked, maybe :p It's encoded several times using a few different methods. It involves using hex.

A couple of people over on the IRC (irc://irc.hak5.org/hak5) were talking about encoded text and such, I thought I'd post a teaser for you all here: 33363443343234393234323035303444344434363439303000 The first person to figure out what it says gets a whole bag of cookies.

I think you might be right...

I neva said anything about them "being the devil" there OS is good but most things from microsoft THAT R FREE r crap I just dont like them, there are many reasons why... Adin: nico, so so true, i bought XP to install and a family member unwraped it and chucked the wrapping, $$$ down the drain, i cant get a refund. THAT is what i call moneysucking Perhaps you didn't but many who claim to despise MS and MS products and services suggest that MS is evil so I was covering some extra bases. There isn't much wrong with Hotmail, it's a functional webmail service. You might prefer something else which is fine, each to their own but don't automatically spew this stuff about MS like it's a damn allergic reaction! As for the final part of your post, read Cooper's post above.

The most you're gonna get from us is already in this thread. This is not a good place about keyloggers unless you have a damn good reason. Welcome supercool.

Windows 98 without a firewall is actually not too bad you just can't really afford to be an idiot about what you download...

Stop being so fucking ignorant and I might listen to your PoV. There is nothing wrong with Microsoft, they're not the devil and nor is Bill Gates. You need to stop parrotting crap just because it's cool to bash Microsoft. You explain to me why Microsoft are so bad and I might reconsider but I've had enough of little kids spouting this anti-MS shit for no intelligent reason,

Ohhhh hell yeah, I've almost taken my eyes out a few times with shattering cutting discs and such, be very careful with those things... a mask and goggles are always advised.

Attention whores, eh?

Oh man, how many times have I done that? Screwdrivers are always hiding when you need them most so improvisation is a *very* useful skill... I think it was a spoon last time I had to open a door though (no, seriously...) That was after I had to go to the living room to steal the door handle (it was a friend's place, or his parent's place more accurately) because someone got stuck in the toilet with no door handle... We were all drunk and disorderly, the handle is still not back on the living room door at the right angle to this very day and apparently his mother was sitting in the living room while I stole the handle. Ho-hum.

No problem! Yeah everything in the computer world takes loads of time and often loads of effort but in my opinion it's well worth it. Ability comes with experience! ^_^

sorry im taken hahah!

Give it a go, if it doesn't then you're going to need a full reinstall.

I had an old Dell Optiplex (I forget the model but it was a PII, probably about the same age as this Packard Bell) years ago and it had an intrusion detection switch, it was a small black microswitch on the side of the case frame where the top plastic 'lid' of the case would depress it when the computer was complete. It didn't seem to do anything though, it didn't make the computer beep or 'not work' with the case off... Must've been turned off. Basically though that's the bulk of my experience with intrusion detection systems in computer cases. I doubt they'd ever use a light detection method because it could potentially be triggerred too easily, such as the rear of the machine facing a very sunny window in the middle of summer...

Yeah, I'm not gonna spew all of the "b0yK0t $0nY" crap like everyone else does because we all know that most people within weeks of saying that will either buy or consider buying a Sony product again but I do disagree with what Sony have been up to lately. I can't understand how they've managed to get away with all the shit they've pulled over the last year or two and they deserve to get their asses kicked. I really really hope MS pull out their old-school cut throat stuff on Sony like they did in the olden days, Sony don't deserve to succeed in any market now, especially music, games and computing. Lik-Sang didn't even nearly deserve this, they didn't do anything wrong and they've been faithfully providing customers with rare, old, unusual and import gear for ages now and they deserve to be able to continue.

I'm not sure, if I got it right you can install Vista on a VM but that counts as your one and only install and you may not install it on a real PC as well as a VM but I'd heard that this version *will not* install on a VM. Edit: However on saying this I believe certain versions are not supposed to be installed in a VM though I'm not sure which...

I would recommend a full reinstall in this situation, you're likely to encounter problems even if the repair does work.

You can get hold of it, it's just not available from MS and isn't supported any more ;)

You can get IE for Mac up to version 5.5 I think ;)

Nope

You have no other options. You didn't back up those files which *are essential to Windows* so you are, as VaKo says, screwed. No two ways about it, VaKo answered your question and if you don't like the answer he gave because it means your machine is potentially screwed then I'm afraid that's your problem. Operating systems are fragile, you can't just pull out files and move that file over here and whatever else, they will refuse to work if you do that and hopefully you'll learn from this mistake. Edit: Oh hey Sparda, fancy seeing you here! ;)