PCCleaner Descriptions:

PCCleaner, also known as PC-Cleaner by a lot of people, is the latest counterfeit anti-spyware software that endangers the world of computers. PCCleaner usually installed itself onto your PC without your permission, through Vundo Trojan, Virus or fake software. PCCleaner will display fake system alerts or fake security alerts to trick user to buy the paid version of PCCleaner, in order to remove the potential and reported problems. Not only does it cause your machine to slow down dramatically, it would also put your privacy and data in risk.

Download SpyHunter* Spyware Detection Utility.

Manual Removal Instructions:

Stop PCCleaner Processes:
(Learn how to do this)
PCCleaner.exe

Find and Delete these PCCleaner Files:
(Learn how to do this)
PCCleaner.lnk
PCCleaner.exe
%ProgramFiles%\PC-Cleaner\com\pcsd.dll
%ProgramFiles%\PC-Cleaner\PC-Cleaner.db
%ProgramFiles%\PC-Cleaner\PC-Cleaner.exe
%UserProfile%\Application Data\PC-Cleaner\log.dat
%UserProfile%\Application Data\PC-Cleaner\settings.dat
%UserProfile%\Desktop\PC-Cleaner.lnk
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp\[RANDOM FILE NAME].tmp
%ProgramFiles%\PC-Cleaner\pccleaner.pkg
%ProgramFiles%\PC-Cleaner\program.info
%ProgramFiles%\PC-Cleaner\Uninstall.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\PC-Cleaner\Register PC-Cleaner.lnk
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\PC-Cleaner\Start PC-Cleaner.lnk
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\PC-Cleaner\Uninstall PC-Cleaner.lnk
%CurrentFolder%\log

Remove PCCleaner Registry Values:
(Learn how to do this)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\PCCleaner
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PC-Cleaner
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{82297D11-31C1-40B1-960A-BDF40B3B365F}
HKEY_CURRENT_USERS\Software\PC-Cleaner
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\pcsd
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{82297D11-31C1-40B1-960A-BDF40B3B365F}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\PC-Cleaner
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PC-Cleaner
Download SpyHunter* Spyware Detection Utility.

A scrambled Rubik’s cube can be solved in just 25 moves, regardless of the starting configuration. Tomas Rokicki, a Stanford-trained mathematician, has proven the new limit (down from 26 which was proved last year) using a neat piece of computer science. Rather than study individual moves, he’s used the symmetry of the cube to study its transformations in sets. This allows him to separate the ‘cube space’ into 2 billion sets each containing 20 billion elements. He then shows that a large number of these sets are essentially equivalent to other sets and so can be ignored. Even then, to crunch through the remaining sets, he needed a workstation with 8GB of memory and around 1500 hours of time on a Q6600 CPU running at 1.6GHz. Next up, 24 moves.

Read more here

Thus far we covered the steps necessary to capture a system image with Hyper-V installed, and how to install Windows and Hyper-V at the same time without dealing with system images at all.

Let's take a step back and talk about system images again.  Images are a great way to deploy a customized version of Windows to many different workstations or servers without having to go through the effort of configuring each system independently of each other.

Even if you're just setting Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 up from a DVD, you're still using an image to do the installation.  If you look on the DVD in the \sources folder, you'll find a file called install.wim.  WIM stands for Windows IMage, and it's an actual image of a real Windows installation that Setup applies directly to your hard drive (and then manipulates a bit, but that's a different story).

You can also make your own WIM files using the imagex.exe tool that ships with the Windows AIK, which I'll link to again. 

The cool thing about WIMs (and there are actually many, but I'm just going to stick with the one that's relevant to this post) is that - using imagex.exe - you can mount a WIM as a folder on your Win6 (that's Vista and Server 2008)-based system and copy files to or from it, then save your changes.

So what does this have to do with Hyper-V installation?

Well, hang on...  there's more that we need to talk about.

With Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, some really cool work was done to make the operating systems more servicable.  I'm not really in a position to go into all the details, but one of the absolute coolest side effects was the ability to service a Windows installation without actually booting it, which is called Offline Servicing. 

No, really... what does this have to do with Hyper-V installation?

Hyper-V RC0 ships as a hotfix, which means that you can use the Offline Servicing features of the servicing stack to integrate it with any Windows Server 2008 image that you've got.  (This includes the retail media, as well as any image that you made yourself.  For best results, you should only use images that have been sysprep'd, or are otherwise generalized.)

Assuming you're using WIMs, here's how to do it.

1. Download the Hyper-V RC0 hotfix (it could actually be any hotfix packaged into an MSU)
   
2. Extract the CAB file from the MSU you just downloaded, just like we talked about in Part 2.  There's also a KB article that describes the process.
   
3. Open an elevated AIK Tools Command Prompt (because you've installed the AIK, right?).
   
4. Create a folder to use as a mount point for your WIM (I typically use C:\mnt).
   
5. Run:
   imagex /mountrw <path to WIM> <WIM Image Index> C:\mnt
   (A WIM can have multiple images inside of it, so you need to specify which image you want to deal with.  To get a list of images and their indexes, use imagex /info <path to WIM>)
   
6. Run:
   start /w pkgmgr /ip /m:<path to CAB extracted from the MSU> /o:c:\mnt;c:\mnt\windows /s:%temp%
   
7. Check the return code by running:
   echo %errorlevel%
   
   If it's anything but 0, there was a failure while applying the update.
   
8. Run:
   imagex /unmount /commit c:\mnt

And there you have it.  The next time you apply that image, your Windows installation will have the Hyper-V RC0 bits already present in the package store.  That's different than having the role enabled, though.  You'll still need to enable it (which can be automated using parts of the unattend fragments provided in Part 2), but when you do, you'll have RC0 from the beginning).

To search for files on my PCs, I use Windows Search - Windows Vista's desktop search feature. I use Windows Search specifically to find photos that I've tagged in Windows Live Photo Gallery or important emails and Word documents. I also rely on saving specific searches that I can go back to later on. Searching and being able to find important files quickly on my PC is very important to me.  And Windows Search allows me to "find my stuff" whenever I need to. Today we get to see a little "preview" of the next step for Windows Search. The Windows Search Team is making available Windows Search 4.0 Preview - a preview of the next version of desktop search for Windows.

Windows Search 4.0 introduces several improvements I'd like to call out making search even better in Windows Vista:

• With Windows Search 4.0, the Windows Search Team has fixed most of the reported bugs causing a majority of distractions users have seen since Windows Vista RTM - many of those bugs were reported by you.
• Great improvements have been made with regards to performance.Even now as Preview, Windows Search 4.0 has query response time about 33%faster than search queries in Windows Vista RTM.
• The Windows Search Team has extended Remote Index Discovery for PC-to-PC search to work onevery supported version of Windows. This makes finding information on other PCs running Windows Search 4.0 quick and less resource-consuming. Now Windows Search can find information shared on a remote PC by accessing an index on that PC - and you will open files only when relevant to your search. This will also work if the user's profile is redirected.
• The Windows Search Team has implemented Rollback Recovery where your search index will roll back to the last known good state (this is good in handling disc write errors). If an error occurs, your index isn't rebuilt from scratch; only the newly changed files are added to the index, making recovery from system errors not as disruptive to the machine or the user

 Being able to find files isn't just important to consumers - it is also important to IT Professionals managing enterprise environments. The Windows Search Team has made some improvements in Windows Search 4.0 that IT Professionals should take note of:

• We have improved performance when indexing Exchange in online mode, sending fewer packets and making less RPC calls. In this process we apply significantly less load on the Exchange server too.
• Support for Group Policy settings is extended and improved; per-user policy is supported now.
• We now support EFS - Windows Search 4.0 will index encrypted files, and user can search for them in the sane UI and through the same user experience as seen with regular, unencrypted files.

IT Professionals can expect a smooth deployment for Windows Search 4.0 and easier support.

With Windows Search 4.0, the Windows Search Team has taken the next step in improving the PC search experience in Windows. To download and check out the Windows Search 4.0 Preview yourself, click here. I encourage folks to try out the Windows Search 4.0 Preview and let us know what you think!

What does Microsoft and Hello Kitty have in common? They both have products packaged in hot pink. As a special promotion for the Japanese market, an upgrade version of Windows Vista Home Premium is bundled with a year’s subscription of Windows Live OneCare and a copy of a Vista tips and tricks book. If that deal isn’t sweet enough, then you better know it comes in a pink box with little flower pedals plastered all over. Imagine checking out of the electronic store with a copy of Crysis in one hand, and this in the other.

Once you install any older version of Windows the Windows Vista no longer starts and only the older version starts.This happens because older versions of the Windows OS are incompatible with the new Windows Vista startup method. Windows Vista uses a new Boot Configuration Database (BCD).

Now follow these steps to solve that problem :


Use Bootsect.exe to restore the Windows Vista MBR and the boot code that transfers control to the Windows Boot Manager program.

This can be done by typing the following command at a command prompt:

Drive:\boot\Bootsect.exe /NT60 All

Here Drive is the drive where the Windows Vista installation media is located.