Researchers from UC Berkeley were able to reconstruct YouTube videos from viewers’ brain activity — a feat that might one day offer a glimpse into our dreams, memories and even fantasies.

“This is a major leap toward reconstructing internal imagery,” said Jack Gallant, professor of psychology and coauthor of a study published today in Current Biology. “We are opening a window into the movies in our minds.”

Gallant’s coauthors acted as study subjects, watching YouTube videos inside a magnetic resonance imaging machine for several hours at a time. The team then used the brain imaging data to develop a computer model that matched features of the videos — like colors, shapes and movements — with patterns of brain activity.

“Once we had this model built, we could read brain activity for that subject and run it backwards through the model to try to uncover what the viewer saw,” said Gallant.

Subtle changes in blood flow to visual areas of the brain, measured by functional MRI, predicted what was on the screen at the time — whether it was Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau or an airplane. The reconstructed videos are blurry because they layer all the YouTube clips that matched the subject’s brain activity pattern. The result is a haunting, almost dream-like version of the video as seen by the mind’s eye.

The researchers say the technology could one day be used to broadcast imagery — the scenes that play out inside our minds independent from vision.
PHOTO: UC Berkeley researchers use brain imaging, computer modeling to recreate clips.
Courtesy of Shinji Nishimoto
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“If you can decode movies people saw, you might be able to decode things in the brain that are movie-like but have no real-world analog, like dreams,” Gallant said.

The brain activity measured in this study is just a fraction of the activity that lets us see moving images. Other, more complex areas help us interpret the content of those images — distinguish faces from lifeless objects, for example.

“The brain isn’t just one big blob of tissue. It actually consists of dozens, even hundreds of modules, each of which does a different thing,” said Gallant. “We hope to look at more visual modules, and try to build models for every single part of visual system.”

More models, Gallant said, mean better resolution. It also means a ton more data to analyze.

“We need really big computers,” Gallant said.

Shinji Nishimoto, a neuroscientist in Gallant’s lab and the study’s lead author, said the results shed light on how the brain understands and processes visual experiences.

“We need to know how the brain works in naturalistic conditions,” Nishimoto said in a statement. “For that, we need to first understand how the brain works while we are watching movies.”

Whether the technology could also be used to watch people’s dreams or memories — even intentions — depends on how close those abstract visual experiences are to the real thing.

“We simply don’t know at this point. But it’s our next line of research,” said Gallant.

If the technology could be used to broadcast imagery, it could one day allow people who are paralyzed to control their environment by imagining sequences of movements. Already, brain waves recorded through electrodes on the scalp can flip a switch, allowing people with Lou Gehrig’s disease and other paralyzing conditions to choose letters on a computer monitor and communicate.

Gallant and his team are often asked whether the technology could be used in detective work or court cases — an idea that brings to mind the futuristic crime-foiling action in “Minority Report.”

But the potential to watch a person’s memories may not be so far off. Whether such memories could be used in a court of law, however, would be limited not only by the technology but also the nature of memories. After all, Gallant’s website reads, an accurate read-out of a faulty memory only provides misleading information.

Video Here

Its so easy to get your files backed up, and so inexpensive that I recommend if you haven’t done it you do it right now. All that is required is to purchase an external drive, plug it in and drag your important stuff over. If you need help, we can schedule an appointment to get everything setup for you so that you never have to worry about losing those important documents, all of your photos, music files, outlook files, or whatever you have that you are counting on your computer to save for you. Guess what? Its not that safe! Back it up now!

I recently had another appointment with a client that took an hour. I showed her everything that was needed to backup her files and we even setup a normal backup in order to keep her up to date regularly. Serioiusly, now is the time to do this.

Get yourself a 1 or 2TB hard drive for about $100 bucks online. Order it now, do not wait. Your data is not secure and everything can be gone in the blink of an eye. Here are some I would recommend. Again, if you are unsure of which to buy, contact me anytime and I can make a recommendation.

When people think of SEO submission the first thing that usually comes to mind is the use of keywords. Keywords play an important role in your ability to show up in a search engine results page. The first step to website SEO is therefore to research the exacat keywords and key phrases that match your business, product, industry and customers. There are many tools that will allow you to do this, and by utilizing them, you will end up with a clear picture of which words are most popular and which are the hardest to compete for when using advertising. This knowledge will determine which keywords and phrases you need to include on your site.

Keywords need to be used properly and sparingly. The days of dumb search engines are over, and they are difficult to fool today. If a keyword is used too few or too many times in a page it can produce negative results. Using a keyword too sporadically won’t significantly align yourself with that topic or phrase. Using a keyword too heavily will label your site as a SPAM site and will result in you getting penalized by both the search engines and visitors. You need to find a happy medium of keyword inclusion. A keyword density of 2-4% is usually appropriate and will help produce results.

Website Search Engine Optimization includes a lot more than keywords however. One of the most important factors that determines your rank in the search engines is the amount and quality of incoming links to your site. An incoming link is any time that another website has a clickable link leading to one of your web pages. Each link that leads to your site is like a friend vouching for you to the search engines. The higher the reputation the friend has, the more valuable that referral will be.

Finding a steady stream of high quality incoming links can be tough work, but it will ultimately pay you back. People often use article marketing to accomplish this. They create and distribute short articles to various online directories. The bottom of the articles will include a short author’s bio, which includes a link back to your site. This can provide incoming links to help your search engine ranking, it will provide direct traffic from people who click those links and it will help to establish your website’s credibility and authority within your niche as well.

The world of website SEO is constantly changing and growing and is always becoming more competitive. The tips here are only a start that you can hopefully use to help get you and your online business off the ground running. Website Search Engine Optimization is a constant battle, and you will need to continue improving and tweaking your strategy to see the best results. If you start your work by following some of these ideas and principles, your website’s search ranking and hopefully your business should be able to grow quickly.

Mindfu provides Search Engine Optimation services as well as sitemap creating and registration. If you are interested in this service, contact us at info@mindfu.com and we can have you set up and running in no time.

In order for the “crawlers” from Search Engines like Google (or Yahoo, Microsoft, Ask, etc) to find and index your site, you must create a sitemap and register the sitemap with each search engine. This can become complicated since each of the Search Engines have a different interface for submission. You might consider working with an expert in Search Engine optimazation in order to get this done right. The other thing you must remember is that if you make changes to the structure of your site, by adding new pages, changing the names of your pages, or removing pages, you will have to update your sitemap again to make sure the site is indexed correctly and you do not cause any errors for the crawler (spider or bot).

Sitemaps are a useful tool for making sites built in Flash and other non-html languages searchable. Note that because the website’s navigation is built with Flash (Adobe), the initial homepage of a site developed in this way would probably be found by an automated search program (ref: bot) However, the subsequent pages are unlikely to be found without an XML sitemap.

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>

<urlset xmlns=”http://www.example.com/sitemap/0.9“>

<url>

<loc>http://www.example.com</loc>

<lastmod> 2009-09-22</lastmod>

<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>

<priority>0.8</priority>

</url>

<url>

<loc>http://www.example.com/?id=who</loc>

<lastmod> 2009-09-22</lastmod>

<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>

<priority>0.8</priority>

</url>

<url>

<loc>http://www.example.com/?id=what</loc>

<lastmod> 2009-09-22</lastmod>

<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>

<priority>0.5</priority>

</url>

<url>

<loc>http://www.example.com/?id=how</loc>

<lastmod> 2009-09-22</lastmod>

<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>

<priority>0.5</priority>

</url>

</urlset>

Mindfu provides Search Engine Optimation services as well as sitemap creating and registration. If you are interested in this service, contact us at info@mindfu.com and we can have you set up and running in no time.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 is a sliderphone, so the Torch will appeal to newcomers who are more inclined to use its exciting touchscreen interface – and also to the Crackberry fans who can access its physical Qwerty keyboard, that appears when you slide the handset open.

The screen itself is more responsive and has less of the quirks of the BlackBerry Storm 2. Finger swipes scroll through several screens showing All, Favourites, Media, Downloads and Frequent. URLS can be added as shortcuts to the main screen for easy access, along with links to feeds from other applications, as social networking and collating messages from various sources is a major focus of this handset.

The main menus can be expanded or collapsed by tapping the menu bar. However, once inside an application, things become slightly counter-intuitive, as you need to revert to the handset’s back button to climb out from depths of an application’s various levels or to exit.

The BlackBerry 6 WebKit-based browser looks impressive on the new screen and seemed smooth and swift enough, with its support for tabbed browsing. Although a revised BlackBerry Maps is touted as a feature, it wasn’t on the handset provided. Given how slovenly BlackBerry’s can be to locate a GPS signal, it was a pity this couldn’t have been improved.

Speaking of improvements, the Torch 9800 features a 5Mp autofocus camera, there’s flash and geo-tagging too, but the video recording is merely VGA. The images look fine, as does viewing video from the dedicated YouTube app.

The new Torch 9800 is pretty exciting, its big screen helps with the viewing limitations of typical BlackBerry handsets and its slide out keyboard takes care of the business, where virtual keyboards fail. That said, the Qwerty keyboard backlight didn’t glow on the test model – perhaps an energy saving feature – so the virtual option may come in handy at times. Still, the Torch 9800 seems like a sensible departure for RIM and, alongside its new OS, is a handset that many will take a shine to.

At the 2010 TED conference, Le gave a presentation on the capabilitis of the Emotiv device. The demonstration showed how the user could control a simulated object. Calling the EPOC a brain computer interface is a little bit generous. With only 14 channels, it’s a fairly simple version of EEG. It is a magnitude cheaper than the more advanced devices, and is able to translate a wide variety of brain activity into computer commands.

In the TED demonstration we are able to see a first time user move a virtual object and make that object disappear using monitored brain activity. The EPOC can be connected to a computer, using a learning algorithm wizard in just a few minutes. Soon commercial BCIs like EPOC will be employed in a wide range of applications, including video games, automated machines, and wheelchairs.

BlackBerrys are particularly troublesome for the countries because much of their communications are encrypted and sent to servers in other countries. According to estimates, there are some 500,000 BlackBerry users in the UAE, and 400,000 in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has allowed them to continue functioning unimpeded while BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion tries to resolve the country’s security complaints with the smartphones. Saudi Arabia’s Communications and Information Technology Commission said: “Given the positive development in the completion of part of the regulatory requirements by service providers, the Commission decided to allow the continuation of BlackBerry Messenger service.”

The decision was made because Research in Motion, which manufactures the BlackBerry phones, wouldn’t comply with requests made by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to reveal encrypted customer data. Amidst this news, U.S. authorities admitted today that they have the ability to tap BlackBerry user data (with the proper court orders), according to Reuters. Security experts say that other countries have the same capabilities. The news comes despite assurances from RIM that “no one, including RIM, could access” customer data — the company doesn’t have the keys to decrypt the secured data. According to Mark Rasch, former head of the computer crimes unit at the U.S. Department of Justice, “The ability to tap communications is a part of surveillance and intelligence and law enforcement all over the world.”

The Obama administration announced its intentions to mediate discussions between RIM and countries with similar concerns to Saudi Arabia.

It sounds as if RIM hasn’t actually admitted helping the U.S. get access to data — U.S. authorities apparently just have better data decryption capabilities than the UAE or Saudi Arabia.

Related: Obama Blackberry is Still Hackable

The Seattle Times reported Microsoft stock fell 4 percent to close at $25.01 for a market capitalization of $219.1 billion while Apple stock slipped 0.5 percent to close at $244.11 and a market capitalization of $222.1 billion.

Apple’s tightly knit community, dedication to excellence, and continued success with items such as the iPod, iPhone and iPad have sprung them to the forefront of technology as computing, television and mobile phones converge.

When it comes to sales and profits, Microsoft is still in command, turning a $14.6 billion profit on $58.4 billion in sales last year compared with Apple’s $5.7 billion profit on $36.5 billion in sales.

Summary:
1. If you cannot delete the hidden folder muza or carpet, then kill the explorer.exe using task manager and restart explorer.exe. This will kill the malware instance.
2. Now delete the hidden folders muza or carpet and then delete then autorun.inf as well from your removable drives.
3. Open registry and search for all keys containing sguza.exe or shey.exe and all other probable names here : http://www.prevx.com/filenames/X285138109880396664-X1/SHEY.EXE.html and delete them.
4. Disable autorun and autoplay.(use links section)
5. If at all, the malware still works then it suggests we missed a copy of it. So when you restart your computer, it will be executed again. But all the instances use explorer.exe as a host, so if you want to kill them, restart explorer. But any undeleted registry entry will restart the malware when you restart windows. That doesnt sound good, but we can wait for the AVs to create a tool or reverse engineer it for more details.

New malwares in town. Not much info available on Google.
shell\open\command=muza\\\sguza.exe
shell\open\command=carpet\\\shey.exe

Again my AV failed to recognize a malware, but when I saw autoruns and hidden folders named muza and carpet in my pen drive, I got suspicious. These files and folders are system files, so if you cant see them, then you need to go to Tools->Folder options->View and set the following settings:

enable Show hidden files and folders
Hide protected operating system files.

Malwares often attribute themselves as system and hidden to stay invisible.
Unfortunately Autoruns and Autoplay were enabled by default on my new system. And it popped the option of “action=Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer”. Which could be misleading
as I found the same action in autorun.inf as well. After inspecting the autorun.inf, I believe even if you right click and explore/open its copy gets executed. It has variants in the name of shey.exe and sguza.exe and moves through removable drives. Once its executed you cannot remove the autorun.inf or the hidden folders. I took the help of utility Handle (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896655.aspx) by Sysinternals to find out which app has opened the Autorun.inf.
Execute Handle.exe using command prompt and output the results to a text file. And search using CTRL-F for autorun.inf.

explorer.exe pid: 540 administrator
6E4: Section \BaseNamedObjects\MSCTF.MarshalInterface.FileMap.ECE.B.NMKKAD
6F0: Section \BaseNamedObjects\MSCTF.Shared.SFM.ECE
6F8: File (RWD) C:\Documents and Settings\lada\My Documents\Downloads
700: File (—) E:\autorun.inf

And as always it was explorer.exe:
which means the malware is using explorer.exe as a host.
I killed and restarted explorer using task manager.

Alternatively we can use Process Explorer (a tool by sysinternals, which is kindof an advanced Task manager) to inspect the explorer.exe and search for SHEY.EXE or other handles and then close them.
Start process explorer and do a CTRL-F search for any handle with the names: SHEY.EXE, SGUZA,EXE, mrpky.exe 194.EXE, 21782259.EXE OR KITA375[1].EXE, OR autorun.inf:

Search for the file names. If found, close those handles.

After you kill the malware instance, using Proc Explorer OR by restarting explorer.exe, you will be able to delete the muzo and carpet and autorun.inf files.

I deleted the autoruns and the hidden folders named muza and carpet.
The next step was to clean the registry. So you search for all occurrences of shey.exe and sguza.exe and delete them. The malware may use some other names as well, which I found here:

http://www.prevx.com/filenames/X285138109880396664-X1/SHEY.EXE.html

I found the malware still running inside the explorer with the name : MRPKY.EXE
This file is located in C:\Documents and Settings\your_username\Application Data

Again searching the registry I found an entry in the WinLogon startups: (You may use Autorun and ProcessExplorer tools from Sysinternals for this)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Taskman with a value of C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\mrpky.exe

So I deleted this registry entry and deleted the mrpky.exe as well. I searched for other names but as of now couldnt find any.

I restarted my system, and I am not seeing any weird behavior as of now. If I insert a pen drive, it doesnt show any autorun.inf. Nor I am seeing any suspicious exe or dll in explorer. (using process explorer)

Thats all for now.

Prevention tips:
Disable autoruns and autoplay for all removable drives. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967715

Update:
For more details about the malware, you can upload the exe on virustotal.com which provides the AV detection results from various Anti Viruses.

Here are the results from the unpacked mrpky.exe:

http://www.virustotal.com/analisis/c887b8c000b422f41a06dc36e0d2a9bf84f114520da0e08cb83dc07005446260-1276933820

Links:
Handle by SysInternals: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896655.aspx
Turn off autoplay: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967715
VirusTotal: http://www.virustotal.com/

4G is referring to the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. Most phones in the US in 2010 are running on a 3G network. Each time there is an expansion in the fundamental nature of the service, when new features become available, the mobile carriers make the move to the next generation.

4G, refers to a shift to all-IP packet-switched networks, mobile ultra-fast broadband (gigabit speed) access and multi-carrier transmission. This is expected to provide a more comprehensive and secure all-IP based system where facilities such as IP telephony, ultra-broadband Internet access, gaming services and streamed multimedia may be provided to users.

A big problem is that the internet is quickly running out of IP addresses. The current system relies on Network Address Translation (NAT), a method of sharing a limited number of addresses among a larger group of devices. By moving to more complicated IPv6 address system, they will be able to support a larger number of wireless-enabled devices, by increasing the number of IP addresses.

Although countries like Korea and Japan have been using 4G for several years now, the US is expected to be catching up soon. Sprint will probably be the first to roll out 4G features, as they are currently the only 4G Network in the United States.

The VKB looks like a tiny version of the “2001″ monolith – a black, rectangular object about 3″ tall and an inch wide and deep. A silvery metal band runs up the left side and over the top and houses the power switch on its left, the Bluetooth on/off indicator and a small grille next to it. There’s a rubber-capped AC power charger port near the bottom on one side, and a similarly capped reset hole (paperclip required) on the other.

The business side of the VKB is the front, where a slim red window houses a ruby red laser beam that projects a slightly non-standard but full-sized “virtual” QWERTY keyboard on any hard, flat surface. It reminded me of Gort with his visor raised. Below that is a dark plastic window which uses Infrared to intercept your finger movements across the projected keys and transmit them as keystrokes to your computer, Treo or other kinds of handhelds.

The VKB works with many operating systems, and its box contains a 3″ CD full of drivers and manuals, a small printed quick start guide, an AC charger that terminates in two round Euro-style prongs – obviously, these won’t work in North American wall outlets, so an adapter that does is included.

On the bottom of the VKB lives a tiny round feather-touch micro switch. This little button MUST be depressed by the unit’s own weight for the VKB to work, so the it has to stand upright on a hard surface to engage that switch, which doubles as a power-off switch if you simply lift the VKB or tip it over.

I-Tech thoughtfully included a little black snap-shut vinyl pouch to carry the VKB and keep its plastic laser and IR windows from getting scratched, but since its sealed-inside battery is only good for about two hours of continuous use, if you intend to do any serious typing / writing with it, you’ll have to lug along the AC charger anyway. Without the ability to re-charge, if the VKB’s battery runs out of juice, that’s it.

Usability

I first tried out the VKB on my Windows laptop. I have a generic Bluetooth dongle plugged into one of the laptop’s USB ports. It was a little tricky to get the VKB going, but I installed the XP driver and control panel and muddled through; it paired with my laptop, and finally worked. I could type into any open Windows application with it as if using the laptop’s real keyboard.

The VKB’s design absolutely requires that its laser projects the virtual keyboard onto a hard, flat surface, preferably one that’s not catching any bright light or glare, such as sunlight through an open window. No, it won’t project or float a keyboard into thin air. It’d be cool if it did, but its projected keyboard isn’t a Hollywood Sci-Fi hologram. Maybe next decade.

No matter which platform you’re using it with, there’s an OS-specific VKB control panel you must install with which you set its various parameters, including, thankfully, the brightness of the keyboard in three levels. The default “high” brightness level was, to my eyes, way too bright, so I throttled it down to medium, and then to low with its onscreen control panel.

I’m not a Doctor, so I don’t know the medical implications of staring at a laser projection of a keyboard for long periods of time but you should definitely NOT point the laser at your eyes, and the manual warns about this repeatedly.

Considering how expensive a some laptop keyboard can be, (on my Presario, for example, I’d have to send the whole laptop back to HP to get the keyboard replaced, while other brands let you simply unclip and pop out the keyboard to replace it with a new one if need be).. the VKB could make a laptop with some broken or flakey keys usable until you fill the old piggybank with enough coins to get your real keyboard replaced. Then again, since the VKB is just under two hundred bucks, I’d have to wonder why you’d buy one of these instead of just getting your keyboard fixed.

• Warning #1
• Warning #2
• Warning #3
• Skip to Repair Install
• Submitted fixes
• Additional Links

It is extremely important that you backup important data that is not
available from other media sources. This backup should be located on a separate hard drive, CD, DVD, network storage, etc. that will not be affected by the repair install. 

Please check out the warning links before attempting the Repair Install. It is to your advantage you follow the suggestions to prevent data loss and especially if you also have the capability to boot into XP, perform the steps listed in the Warning #1, before proceeding with the repair install.

After completing [if Windows is still accessible] the steps listed to prevent data loss in warning #1 and you did not remedy the no boot situation, you can use an OEM XP Pro or Home, "retail" XP Home or Pro full or upgrade version CD of the same version Home or Pro to perform a Repair Install. OEM Restore disks or hidden restore folders on the hard drive will not work for the Repair Install.

A Repair Install will replace the system files with the files on the XP CD used for the Repair Install. It will leave your applications and settings intact, but Windows updates will need to be reapplied.

A Repair Install will replace files altered by adware and malware, but will not fix an adware, malware problem.

You can use the In place upgrade option to change a Product Key in the event you entered a key that was already activated. The In Place Upgrade also produces the same result as the Repair Install.

Alternate options to Change XP Product Key #18 on the FAQ list.

Setup cannot continue because the version of Windows on your computer is newer than the version on the CD.

If you get a "Setup cannot continue because the version of Windows on your computer is newer than the version on the CD." message, if you continue, you will need to apply the SP 2 updates after the repair install completes, plus you will need to take the following steps to keep your system from being immediately infected with a virus.

1. If you connect directly to the internet without a router or hardware firewall, disconnect from the internet by physically removing the connections cable, removing a wireless card, or any other means of internet connection.

2. After the Repair install is completed, enable the XP firewall or install third party firewall software or router before connecting to the internet.

If you get the "Setup cannot continue because the version of Windows on your computer is newer than the version on the CD.". You should create a slipstreamed copy of your XP CD by using the software and step by steps supplied in the links below.

Slipstream XP

Automatic Updates

If you cannot download Automatic updates after the Repair install , follow the steps in the link below submitted by MS-MVP’s Richard Harper and Ron Martell.

Automatic Updates stops working after a repair install of Windows XP

XP Repair install

Please read carefully and make sure you followed the warning links before initiating the Repair Install. You can print a text version for reference.

1. Boot the computer using the XP CD. You may need to change the boot order in the system BIOS so the CD boots before the hard drive. Check your system documentation for steps to access the BIOS and change the boot order.
2. When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see the options below 

   This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
      Windows XP to run on your computer:

      To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

      To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

      To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

3. Press Enter to start the Windows Setup.
   
   
   do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press  R", (you Do Not want to load Recovery Console).
   I repeat,
   
   do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R". 
4. Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.
5. Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair. If Repair is not one of the options, END setup. After the reboot read 
   Warning#2!
6. Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot.  Do not press any key to boot from CD when the message appears. Setup will continue as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will remain intact.

    If you get files not found during the copying stage.

   Blaster worm warning: Do not immediately activate over the internet when asked, enable the XP firewall before connecting to the internet. You can activate after the firewall is enabled. Control Panel – Network Connections.  Right click the connection you use, Properties and there is a check box on the Advanced page.

   KB 833330 Blaster removal

   What You Should Know About the Sasser Wormand Its Variants

   Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-011

7. Reapply updates or service packs applied since initial Windows XP installation.
   Please note that a Repair Install using an Original pre service pack 1 or 2 XP CD used as the install media will remove SP1/SP2 respectively and service packs plus updates issued after the service packs will need to be reapplied. Windows XP Service Pack 1

   Service Pack 2

   An option I highly recommend; is creating a Slipstreamed XP CD with SP1, SP2, etc. .

   Slipstreaming Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) Good

   
   Another Slipstream step by step Better

   AutoStreamer
   mirror link for
   AutoStreamer  Best!!

   
   Step by Step on AutoStreamer

   Printable Repair Install step by step

   XP Repair Install in PDF XPrepairinstall

Warning! #1

Should you do a repair install and is it the best choice?

A Repair Install is not foolproof and should not be considered the cure-all fix for non-boot situations.

The below procedure applies only if you can still boot into Windows.

To prevent loss of data and/or program settings, perform the following before the Repair Install.

Manually delete the Undo_guimode.txt file from the Windows\System32 folder before you perform any of the actions that are listed in the "Symptoms" section of this article. To do this in Windows XP, type the following command at a command prompt:
del /a /f %windir%\system32\undo_guimode.txt

1. From the Start menu, click Run.
   See screen shot Image
2. In the Run dialog box, in the Open text box, type: cmd. Click OK.
3. Delete the undo_guimode.txt file. In the C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe
   dialog box, type: del /a /f c:\windows\system32\undo_guimode.txt. Press the ENTER key.

KB

Q312369

Check the link below for an option for recovering from a non-boot event.

Windows XP Crashed? Here's Help
A salvage mission into the depths of Windows XP, explained by a non-geek
by Charlie White

Also as a precaution the windows\system32\WPA.DBL 
and WPA.BAK should be copied to a floppy before doing
a repair install. For more information see Alex Nichol's  article on
XP activation.

More articles to help prevent data loss.

Chris Quirke

http://cquirke.mvps.org/reinst.htm

Additional tips to perform before initiating the Repair Install.

You should complete the basic requirements of backing up all files and folders that cannot be restored from other media. This includes passwords, applications purchased and downloaded from the internet without CD support, financial records and folders, digital images that cannot be replaced……………

Backup copies of your registry files (in the %systemroot%\Repair folder) are also replaced after the in-place upgrade is complete.  Copy these registry backups to another location before you perform an in-place upgrade/Repair Install.  You may need to use them after the in-place upgrade is complete.

It would also be a good idea to run the Files And Settings Transfer wizard
F.A.S.T located on the XP CD.

If you made unorthodox registry changes with third party software, there is the potential of data loss from a Repair Install. Another consideration of concern would be a power failure during the repair install could render your system un bootable and result in loss of data.

The likelihood of you losing the files and folders is probably of minimal risk, but you have to expect the worst and make sure you are prepared for recovery.

If you are sure you have explored all other troubleshooting avenues, then proceed with the repair install.

If you get a warning message: "Setup cannot continue because the version of Windows on your computer is newer than the version on the CD."

You get this message when you use a pre-SP 1, SP2 XP CD on an XP installation that has been updated to SP1, SP2.

You have the options listed below.

1. Remove the SP 1, SP2 update if the option is available from Add/Remove.
2. Create a slipstreamed XP CD merging the SP1 or SP2 update.
   2a Autostreamer for creating a slipstreamed CD the easy way.
3. Purchase an XP CD with SP2 included.

Slipstreaming Windows XP with Service Pack 1 or 2 (SP1, SP2)

Another Slipstream step by step

AutoStreamer mirror link for AutoStreamer 

Step by Step on AutoStreamer

Warning!! #2

If the Repair Option is not Available

What should I do? Most important do not
ignore the information below!

If the option to Repair Install is
NOT available and you continue with the install;
you will delete

your Windows
folder and the Documents and Settings folders. 
All applications installed that place keys in
the registry will need to be re-installed and will require the original install media.

You should exit setup if the repair option is not
available and consider other options. I have found if the Repair option
is not available, you have a few paths I have listed below to try before XP 
requires a
Clean
install.

Another option to consider (since the cost of 100 + gig hard drives has dropped to well under $75) would be to disconnect the current hard drive and install a clean XP from retail disks or restore media to a new hard drive. You can then connect the original hard drive after configuring the jumpers to a slave drive. You can retrieve important files. One thing to remember, if a hard drive has not been formatted or written over by reinstalling, the data is accessible. The less you access a hard drive after a non-boot episode; the better your chances of retrieving your data.

Very important!!

If you still have the ability to access the Windows XP installation,
backup all important files not restorable from other sources before attempting
any recovery console or other trouble shooting attempts.

Possible Fix by reconfiguring boot.ini using Recovery
Console.

 1.Boot with XP CD or 6 floppy boot disk set.

 2. Press R to load the Recovery Console. 

 3. Type bootcfg. 

 4. This should fix any boot.ini errors causing setup not to see
the  XP OS
      install. 

 5. Try the repair install.

One more suggestion from MVP Alex Nichol

"Reboot, this time taking the immediate R option and if the CD letter
is say K: give these commands

copy K:\i386\ntldr C:\
copy K:\i386\ntdetect.com C:\

(two other files needed – just in case)

1. Type: attrib -h -r -s C:\boot.ini del C:\boot.ini

2. Type: BootCfg /Rebuild

which will get rid of any damaged boot.ini, search the disk for systems and make a new one. This might even result in a damaged windows reappearing; but gives another chance of getting at the repair"

Try the link below if the repair option is not available.

Windows XP Crashed?

Here's Help. A salvage mission into the depths of Windows XP, explained by a non-geek

by Charlie White

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Warning!! #3

Updates must be applied before connecting to the internet after a repair install.

Reapply updates or service packs applied since initial Windows XP installation.
Please note that a Repair Install using an Original pre service pack 1 or 2 XP CD used as the install media will remove SP1/SP2 respectively and service packs plus updates issued after the service packs will need to be reapplied.

Windows XP Service Pack 1

Service Pack 2

Service Pack 3

An option I highly recommend; is creating a Slipstreamed XP CD with SP1, SP2, etc.

Slipstreaming Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) Good

Another Slipstream step by step Better

AutoStreamer mirror link for AutoStreamer  Best!!

Step by Step on AutoStreamer

 

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Additional Links

Chris Quirke’s Blog XP Repair Install essential info

Dell Restore link

This article will answer your questions about the Dell restore partitions and what if any options you have if they are corrupted, formatted or overwritten.

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/

Related Microsoft KB Articles

You May Lose Data or Program Settings After Reinstalling, Repairing or Upgrading Windows XP
(Q312369)

System Restore "Restore Points" Are Missing or Deleted (Q301224)

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP (Q315341)

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