FalconFour’s Ultimate Boot CD/USB 4.6

Hola amigos. I don’t speak Spanish, but, you know, trying to stay hip. Like actually releasing a new version, that sounds like an awesome idea, doesn’t it? Hell, v4.5 had so many holes that’ve been fixed in v4.6, it made 4.5 look like Swiss cheese. And I’m sure the Swiss have even used this thing. It’s been all the way around the internet and back – in fact, v4.6 was created on a laptop I bought from a guy on eBay (just shopping around) that uses my disc as well! I was amazed. This thing has seen some mileage.

In this boot CD are the most popular and useful tools anyone would ever need. The best of the free software, the best of the commercial software, and it all fits on one CD-R that’s readable by any computer worth booting on. Not everything can read a DVD, and USB booting is hit and miss at best.

Meanwhile, since the last release in 2011, more has changed. I wrote off the dry, stale corporate IT world of wastefulness and over-powered, under-utilized systems and unnecessary, poorly planned “cloud” services. Currently unemployed (at least, as of this release!), I found some time to put some major polish on MiniXP and get everything working well. Still would love to work in computer repair. Anyone? I’ll even move. Anything? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

This disc, an even more minor single-point revision, is actually a huge MiniXP update. Other tools have been updated, like Memtest86+, which has been replaced with the more frequently updated Memtest86, with a smarter loading mechanism. Tons of updates in MiniXP. AHCI support, for one thing. Better driver support for network and wireless drivers, faster (and more reliable) startup, better error reporting/catching, better graphics, better compatibility with more tools and software, and… Flash support in the latest Portable Firefox! Yes, you can watch YouTube from MiniXP now. And access TeamViewer/LogMeIn which uses Flash. LOTS of work has been put into polishing the startup routine and compatibility.

Plenty of features from v4.5: Virtual Floppy enables you to mount images from a USB stick to be used in a boot selection like MiniXP (for F6 SATA/RAID drivers) or FreeDOS (Dell option). VFD with file copy allows you to make a <1mb RAR file accessible to DR-DOS or Hiren’s DOS in a virtual floppy. Wireless drivers in MiniXP along with improved Ethernet and storage support. Mini Linux provided by RIP Linux. Bootable partition and imaging utilities provided by Acronis True Image and EASEUS Partition Manager. Improved Memtest86+ with failsafe mode to resolve startup hangs. Kon-Boot 1.1 is really v1.1 now, with support for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows. Tons of new utilities in MiniXP with new launchers to provide easier access. ERD 5.0 is integrated with MiniXP for offline system restore and service/driver management, and Microsoft DaRT 6.5 (x86 and x64) are added to support Windows Vista and 7. Antivirus scanning with real-time updates is provided by DaRT 6.5′s Standalone System Sweeper, and allows you to load definitions to a USB stick for live updating.

This ain’t yo mama’s BartPE compilation.

Once you dive into this disc, you’ll never need another boot CD.

Based on F4UBCD v4.5 with MiniXP from Hiren’s 15.2, heavily modified.

• MiniXP gutted and rebuilt with new, flexible on-disc scripting, for easy mods.
• Active File Recovery 7.5.1
• CCleaner
• CPU-Z
• HWMonitor
• MS DaRT 5 / ERD Commander 2005 utilities
• HD Tune Pro 5
• ImgBurn
• Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder 2.0.8
• MyDefrag 4.3.1 with FullOptimize script
• NirSoft collection 2/1/2013, now with 90% fewer antivirus false alarms
• SoftPerfect Network Scanner 5.1.2
• TreeSize Personal 5.4.4
• Firefox Portable
• Shiny graphics that make the room smell nicer

And of course, a slew of utilities from Hiren’s disc, some updated, including:
EzPcFix, Acronis Disk Director, ATF Cleaner, Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware updated 11/6/2012, Bulk Rename Utility, Combofix updated 2/16/2013, Defraggler, Speccy, Content Advisor Password Remover, Recuva, Diskview, Filemon, Regmon, Procmon,
DriveImageXML, GetDataBack, Recover My Files, Ghost32 11.5.1, ISOBuster, GImageX (ImageX GUI), SUPERAntiSpyware, IrfanView, NTPWEdit, Partition Magic, TeraCopy, TightVNC Server/Viewer, Unstoppable Copier, Victoria, MHDD, WinRAR,
and 7-Zip
… among others.

In this update

4.6, Apr-1-13: Many modifications to MiniXP. AHCI/RAID support (not quite universal yet due to architecture). Firefox update with Flash support. Memtest86 instead of Memtest86+. Streamlined boot menu configuration. Made USB setup easier with BootICE. ImageX front and center on the desktop now, as well as some additional new icons. Vastly improved MiniXP startup process. PDF, Word, Excel file viewing support. Replaced a billion references to outdated portable Opera browser in MiniXP with Firefox. Much improved network driver support. Battery support. Power management support (no longer roasts laptop CPUs while in MiniXP). Added keyboard switcher in tray. More sane date/time display.

ISO:

CRC32: 9B4B46FF
MD5: 41E62394E1C8D406FB41B65B6CDEECEB
SHA-1: CF92E23BBF2084812E454E7C8272596F2AD860BA

Download the torrent (knowing how to use torrents is a knowledge prerequisite)

And, on Facebook: http://fb.com/F4UBCD

PSTN digital network – it’s TIME to upgrade past 8KHz!

Look, internet. Telecom companies. Cell phone companies. VoIP providers. Get this shit straight. It’s 2013 now. We finally have realistic, viable, mass-market electric cars after decades of failures and false starts. We have a digital powerhouse in every pocket. Blindingly-fast 2 megabyte-per-second download speed is the accepted norm for broadband. TV is all on-demand now. Everyone is streaming their life in real-time on Facebook via their mobile phones.

So why in the FUCK are we still forced to endure 8KHz audio as the “norm” for telephone calls? I can’t even hold back here – that is nothing but bullshit. I don’t even answer phone calls anymore. With the mess of cell phones garbling audio quality and working to uphold that 8KHz piss-poor standard, I find myself spending most of my mental effort on the phone trying to decode the words said by the person on the other end, instead of thinking about the topic at hand. The only thing I ever want to do when I get/make a phone call to someone, is how much longer I must endure this conversation before I can get off the phone again.

Sick of this crap. Telecom companies, it’s time to upgrade your standards. The standard should be 44.1KHz like it is for everything else. Digital compression (AAC-ELD, maybe?) is within the realm of possibility for all PSTN connections, so why hasn’t any effort been made to phase in a newer standard? We get crystal-clear audio through VoIP connections that aren’t tethered to this arcane 64kbps/8KHz PCM standard. So why the hell can’t we get digital compression between callers? If you’re worried about loss in digital signals over a PSTN connection (i.e. dial-up modems), then just use a lossless compression scheme to fit higher bandwidth into that 64kbps bandwidth! But FFS, don’t keep screwing real people to make old dial-up crap technology happy. You can detect those signals and automatically apply a different compression scheme to them. Look at what Skype does. It automatically adapts to bandwidth needs in real-time during a call. Why can’t you do that for phone calls?

Get with it, because I’m sick of being afraid of picking up the phone and hearing some garbled 8KHz crap.

HP Color LaserJet 1600/2600n Toolbox: Needlessly Well Guarded Secret

From back to front: first cleaning effort, followed by a couple cleaning cycles before the second (ghosting) print, then I got HP Toolbox working. Corrected some settings (below) and subsequent test prints got better and better, with the final result looking like a brand new printer – JUST with some settings changes.

Missing your shortcut for the LaserJet Toolbox? Yeah, we all are. HP apparently thought it would be a funny joke to just… you know, OMIT the desktop/Start Menu shortcut for the HP Color LaserJet 1600 Toolbox from all their driver distributions online now. So if you don’t have the original driver from the original CD, you’re screwed! And HP’s site will mock you as it walks you step-by-step through how to use the HP Toolbox, but yet the icon they’re referring to is LITERALLY FREAKING MISSING. Gone. Poof. It’s nowhere to be found. Uninstall? User’s guide? Got it. Toolbox? No.

OK, so a huge oversight on HP’s part. I want to smack ‘em. Here’s how you get that back.

Create a new shortcut and paste this info:
(For Color LaserJet 1600 ONLY)
ZHHP1600.EXE 3911 AGI1600.DLL 1600 ZHP1600R.DLL

For Color LaserJet 2600 series, it’s a little more complicated since I have a 1600 – which is a 2600 without the networking/duplex capabilities – same logic board, same drivers, just different branding. The process may be identical but with the “1600″ replaced with “2600″ in the line above. Version 5.x of the drivers (the current one available from hp.com) has the HTTP server (zhhp*.exe) completely REMOVED from the distribution, so the toolbox is literally GONE. You’ll need an older version – and to write a much-needed hate mail to HP for removing it. The “full software solution” download does not seem to have the HP Toolbox files. Maybe the “PnP software” distribution will have it, but look for the “ZHHP*.exe” executable – the “H” is for “HTTP”, the “ZSHP*.exe” file is “S” for “Status (monitor)”.

Launched using the shortcut in this blog post. Up yours, HP!

If you get an HTTP 500 error when you try to access the site (localhost:3911), it means your command line wasn’t correct or it couldn’t find the file you referenced on the command line. It’s very, very ambiguous with the errors.

Also, if you have problems with mirroring/echoing down the page, turn down the fuser temperature under “print modes” for your paper type (almost always the first one, “plain paper”) – set it to Less Fusing. If you have trouble with dirty/messy grey background fuzz, turn on “Background Toner” under the print options menu, and turn “Transfer Current” to “Dry Paper”, turn “Toner” down to “Less Toner” for those print types.

Hope this helps someone out with an old 1600/2600. It sure cleaned mine up!

Re: Forum/Reality Disconnect

I just saw this absolutely amazing post by Gregg Eshelman in reply to an old blog article, “Forum/Reality Disconnect“, and thought it just had to be shared on its own.

The two most annoying things on technical fora (including ye olde USENET) are the people who will not read *in full* the OP and tell the person to do EXACTLY what he said he’d already tried *that did not work*.

Apparently many people are incapable of reading and comprehending plain language, or at least incapable of thinking beyond a set of rote responses for what they assume is a common issue. READ the entire post so you don’t look like a clueless, script reading “tech support” goon by telling the person with the problem to do what they’ve already tried.

Even worse is when I’ve posted links to articles with fixes that are supposed to work but didn’t and someone replies *with the exact same links*.

If you cannot READ then come up with something different, don’t bother to reply, not even to say you don’t know of anything different. It only pisses people off.

Then there are the hosers who figure out or simply stumble upon a fix for their issue and cap the thread with an “I fixed it!” without saying HOW they fixed it.

HTF did you fix it? I’m reading this thread because I’m trying to fix the exact same problem. C’mon, GIVE! Tell the world how you fixed it!

I’d love to mod a tech forum just so I could kickban both sorts.  Help or say nothing. Don’t be useless or condescending. People come to these forums for help. It doesn’t matter if a search of the forum would turn up the answer if the person with a problem has no idea *what to search for*.

Most forum searches are quite useless. Given the heavy use of numbers and acronyms and “nonsense words” and words of 4 or fewer characters in computer jargon and how the default search indexing is set to exclude such things, it’s highly likely that a forum search wouldn’t work anyway. A tech forum search should be set with as broad an index setting as possible. Too bad if it makes for a giant index, if someone is searching for info on a GBX-39/WQ23 ver9.53.2 *all the numbers and punctuation characters are important*.

15~20 years ago, web searches were much better. If you knew EXACTLY what you wanted to find you could put quotes around it and the search would look for EXACTLY that, nothing else. These days they all “suggest” that we’re all a bunch of idiots who don’t know what we’re looking for and everything entered in the box is spelled incorrectly. Try putting quotes or + and – signs in and they’re ignored.

I was just trying to find out reasons why Microsoft DaRT 6.0 wouldn’t boot and what’s the top “hits”? People asking why their DODGE Dart won’t start. I tried adding -dodge and still got bogus “hits” on the car.

Companies like to creatively spell words in their names and product names. When someone enters such, *they are not spelling it wrong!* so don’t ignore it and present only hits with the ‘corrected’ version.

The computer world needs a “search idiot” that only looks for EXACTLY what’s entered and strictly obeys boolean operators and regex commands. I wouldn’t care if the query has to go into a queue and I’d have to wait some time for a reply, as long as the results only contain links to sites that actually contain what I’m looking for.

For some years I’ve had a name for such a search engine, LookStupid – as in “Look, you stupid computer, I know what I’m doing! Stop trying to outsmart me!”.

I agree 100%. I wonder if the owner of DuckDuckGo would be able to come up with a search engine aggregator like LookStupid…

Disable DXVA to fix Windows 8 BSOD on Experience Index test

Crashing while trying to run the Experience Index test “Tuning Windows Media decoding”? Well, I found a solution for the problem on a GeForce 6200 PCI (256mb) used to bring Aero to an older Pentium 4 HT PC.

Disable DXVA2. It crashes while trying to use the GPU to accelerate decoding h264 video.

Go here: http://bluesky23.yu-nagi.com/en/ – grab DXVA Checker. Run it. Install .NET if need be. Go to the “DSF/MFT” tab and click the DSF/MFT Viewer button. Under both “DirectShow” and “Media Foundation”, look in the list for entries shown in red – these are DXVA-accelerated. Click one of them – first in my list is “Microsoft H264 Video Decoder MFT”. In the lower-right corner, click the button “GPU Acceleration”, and select “Disable DXVA2″ if there is an option for it. I don’t think disabling all GPU acceleration is necessary.

Reboot (not sure if it’s necessary, but a good idea) and try the test again. If it still fails, go back and perform “Disable” for GPU acceleration on each. It should now be fixed!

Do not use Windows Installer Cleanup Utility to “clean” your PC. DON’T.

OK, I was just idly browsing along (trying to fix a Windows Installer problem), and I found this article…

http://msmvps.com/blogs/installsite/archive/2009/07/25/don-t-clean-up-your-pc-with-windows-installer-clean-up-utility.aspx

… describing why the utility is NOT to be used for “cleaning up” your PC. It’s 110% correct – I’ve seen too many idiotic, uninformed bloggers posting “cleanup guides” with absolutely destructive advice (like disabling themes, services, etc). This is one of the more rare ones but I want to throw this out there in case there are some think-they’re-geeks out there that use the Installer Cleanup Utility as a “cleanup” tool.

The only thing this utility does to “clean” is to clean in the “what was dirty” sense, to gut a program’s configuration from Windows Installer, not from your computer! It just makes Windows Installer “forget” that a program was ever installed, so that installation issues can be resolved to re-install and cleanly uninstall the related program. It does NOT “clean” your computer of the installed program – hell, it doesn’t even uninstall it in the formal sense. All its files will still remain.

Personally, I use its “msizip G” as part of a cleanup routine, which removes orphaned Installer files – product packages that are located in the Windows\Installer folder, but not associated with any product that’s installed. Usually from failed Office updates or the like.

Just a public service blog post. =P

Donate to F4UBCD Development

I get asked a lot, why don’t I have a donate link for F4UBCD? Well, sheer laziness, really. I really could use the side bonus – part-time IT job pays the bills, but the rest of my time is spent messing around on this stuff. With as much student loan debt I’ve racked up, sheesh, I could really use the help! It’s a balance figure staring at me, laughing, saying “Succkkerrr!” =P

So here’s the thing… first I want to make sure all responsible contributors get taken care of. Patching it all together and making it all play nice was only half the story! If you think these guys’ contributions are worth it, drop them a part of your contribution:

• Hiren’s BootCD, the core of utilities that F4UBCD was originally founded on: http://www.hiren.info/pages/contactus
• HD Tune: http://www.hdtune.com/
• Kon-Boot: http://www.kryptoslogic.com/
• TreeSize Personal: http://www.jam-software.com

… to name a few. If you use their software on the disc routinely, please at least have the decency to buy a license! You should, after all, only be using software you’re licensed for – I have a license for each one myself.

Finally, if you have some money left over after all that gratuitous gratuity , here’s the big magic button! You can drop a couple bucks – say, $10 for “Thanks!”, $20 for “This CD saved my arse!”, or maybe $50 for “This CD saved my PC repair business!”

Or via Bitcoin to address: 19U5krMNrScHWdVurD8dHAUmd9Hb9onLJV

And if you do feel like donating… thanks for your support!!