angrypenguin

Good to hear. Very strange I must say, but hey don't fight it!

I'm not sure about your viruses but you should still be able to access your old files. It may pay to get rid of the malware first. I'm not 100% sure but it looks like most of the positives in Spybot are just cookies (but can't be sure about that from here!) To access your old files you need to do the following: 1. Disable "Simple File sharing". To do this, follow the directions posted above or look here (google is your friend) You said above that it "didn't work" but you didn't explain yourself so I don't understand the context! 2. Take ownership of the files/folders - this involves right-click>Properties>Security tab>Advanced>Owner tab>make your current user account the owner, tick the box that says "Replace owner of subcontainers and objects">Click OK (more info can be found here - google is your friend again!) 3. Sit back, relax and enjoy your new found access to your old files! If you need any more help that's fine but I'll need a little more info about what you are doing and where the problems are occurring.

Try booting up with UBCD4Win (www.ubcd4win.com). You will need access to a WinXP CD to create the UBCD but as long as its the same version as the one installed - OEM I would assume - then there shouldn't be any problems with that. I assure you its a great recovery tool that I'm sure you'll use more than once! I would suggest you plan for worst case scenario, and backup all your important data prior to further recovery attempts (assuming your HDD isn't fried, you can do this easily from within UBCD - but you will most likely need a USB drive of some sort to save data on).

In the meantime you could use the workaround, namely use the classic login. Either just <Ctrl><Alt><Del> twice each time, or to set XP to use the classic login window by default follow these steps:

Ccleaner is a great free app to reclaim your HDD space. Have a look here: http://www.ccleaner.com/ Be aware though, by default it has the option to install a search toolbar (google or yahoo don't remember which). To avoid the toolbar install, just uncheck the box on the appropriate page of the installer. Otherwise spyware/adware free!

To the best of my knowledge, XP is only available (legitimately) on CD. Vista on the other hand is available on CD or DVD, is that what you meant? If so I don't have a clue.

I do Well were is it then? I'm interested to read it too (Sorry don't mean to be pushy)!

I think that's just how it goes with SATA HDDs added after install. Assuming its not the system or windows drive, then technically they are a removable drive (as they support hot swapping).

To the best of my knowledge VMWare is the only software that is able to cope with 3D graphics (albeit through an 'experimental' feature ie not guaranteed to work). But I'm still not sure if you can actually run it on dual monitors. I think this may be a problem for you. I have no experience running Mac OS within a virtual environment so can't offer any advice there. I'm not even 100% clear on whether you could legally do that (my understanding is Mac OS can only be licensed to Mac hardware). Assuming both these cards have dual output (which I would assume they would) it probably wouldn't make a lot of difference which one you used. With your proposed hardware I would guess that your CPU will be the bottleneck (after you upgrade RAM to 2GB).

Ideally you really want to work out why this problem is occurring and figure it out, but in the meantime a workaround may be to clear the recycle bin. Another temporary workaround could be to disable the recycle bin (so files are automatically deleted rather than going to recycle bin): Right-click Recycle bin > Properties > tick box that says "Do not remove files to recycle bin. Remove files immediately when deleted." Remember to re-enable it after the files are gone if you wish to retain the functionality of the recycle bin!

Personally I've had very limited success using the 'repair' feature of XP (well actually none at all!) For some reason I've only come accross one instance where it was actually offered, not quite sure what's with that! If you can't get a repair to work, then do a backup of data & a clean reinstall. Either use your hard drive in a friends PC or download UBCD4Win (www.ubcd4win.com) and use that to back up your data. Often a reinstall can be quicker than trying to fix the problems in situations like this (although repair is worth a shot if you can get it to work). The 3rd option is the one you were originally intending (ie copy files to your hard drive). This can be done with XP Recovery console. But you will have to manually copy and decompress the file(s) needed. And if you don't put them in the right place, chances are it still won't work. Even if you get it right, who knows whether there are other important files you've deleted that Xp needs?!? For future reference there are a number of great apps that will delete useless files off your PC and not destroy it! Whilst it always pays to backup important data, there is a much better chance of everything going ok if you use a tried and tested app, rather than just wildly deleteing stuff yourself! Try CCleaner (www.ccleaner.com)

How does the network get internet? In my experience with ADSL, that the whole network automatically shares the net. If you have dial-up on individual machines then that's different, but I'm not sure how well sharing a dial-up connection would work (its so painfully slow with just one PC connected!) From memory its pretty easy to share internet with other PCs in the same Workgroup (and on the same LAN) just using XP - no proxy required. [edit] Sorry I didn't read your question properly, I'm not 100% sure how you can share internet with someone who connects through a proxy, but I'm sure it can be done! I think you should be able to do it through XP.

Looks good mate. Nice work!

That would probably be the best way to go I reckon. Another option may be to try to repair XP, but as far as I know you'll need a proper XP CD for that (not a manufacturer supplied "Recovery" CD). The time that it would probably take to fix your current system, you could probably reinstall half a dozen times!

If the drivers you download from the manufacturer can't be used by nLite, perhaps they are zipped or some other compression or installer format. If you download the drivers that are to go on a floppy, you should be able to import them with nLite fairly easily. nLite is pretty straight forward to use, but I would recommend testing in a virtual environment such as VMWare, VirualPC, VirtualBox prior to using real world, whilst it won't guarantee a trouble free install, it will make it more likely. Anther option would be to add "MassStorage" drivers from Bashrat the Sneaky's DriverPacks (http://driverpacks.net/DriverPacks/ Good luck!