Magazine advice turned to disaster! 1

[iaswnidou]

Hello

On a laptop magazine i read an article about accessing hidden features in Windows XP. The article says:

"By default, Windows XP only allows you limited control over which pre-installed elements can be removed with ease. By removing as many redundant programs as possible, you can save hard drive space and again free up system resources.
Start by clicking on the Start button and select Run. Into the box, type "C:\Windows\inf\Sysoc.inf" and click OK. A text file will open now, containing a string of code, so hit Ctrl+H and in the Find What box type hide, and in the Replace With box just type a single comma. Now click Replace All, then save the changes and exit the text file. Now, go to Start -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs, and click on Add/Remove Windows Components, you'll have full access to uninstall any pre-installed elements of Windows XP."

Instead of this, i have no access to Add/Remove Windows Components! I click the button and the wizard runs automatically, so I cannot do any changes.
Also, when i boot the machine i see 4 accounts at the logon stage. Besides mine and Guest I see "Internet Guest Account" and "Application Center Test Account"!

How can i restore the sysoc.inf file now? If you ask me if i took a backup before doing this the answer is no..

Thanks for any help

 

[cdogg]

What about XP's system restore option? I would imagine that's one of the files it backs up. Try restoring to a date prior to the change you made.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[iaswnidou]

That requires a restore point to have been created prior to using this feature, right? I dont think i have ever used it though.

 

[BadBigBen]

Grab your XP CD, place it in your CD-ROM...

then type the following in a cli command (or Run Box):

expand -r x:\i386\sysoc.in_ C:\Windows\inf\

x=the drive letter of your CD-ROM...

this will expand the ORIGINAL file to the location where the bummed up one is sitting... (you may have to delete the original first)

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[stduc]

Providing the restore feature is turned on, which it is by default, XP makes a restore point roughly every 24 hours. So you may well have one. I hope it works. This is your best option.

The sysoc file on the windows CD is a binary file however, whereas the sysoc.inf file is a text file. It is also specific to a particular machine, built at install time. So I wouldn't imagine copying from the CD will help.

If you have access to a similar laptop, that machine's sysoc.inf file may be usable?

Finally, the advice should have been to replace the string "hide" with nothing. What you did was add an extra parameter to all commands in the sysoc file that had the hide option, displacing later parameters one to the right! Not a good idea. I wouldn't buy that magazine again if I were you!

 

[TheLad]

And if you try it again, back the file up next time

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"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get!"
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[BadBigBen]

@stduc -

The sysoc file on the windows CD is a binary file however, whereas the sysoc.inf file is a text file.

Correct, that is why you use the EXPAND -R command...

It is also specific to a particular machine, built at install time. So I wouldn't imagine copying from the CD will help.

Wrong... it is not specific to any machine, take a look yourself... it is a standard file common to all XP installs...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[Diancecht]

What about replacing ",,," with "hide"? That may get your file back to its original content.

Cheers,
Dian

 

[alidabiri]

i don't think so.

 

[stduc]

BigBadBen

Oops - that's teach me to rush!

Diancecht

I think you mean replace ",,," with ",hide," - without the quotes of course

Should work.

 

[Diancecht]

Without the quotes, of course.

Cheers,
Dian

 

[alidabiri]

here is the content of sysoc.inf file:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
WMAccess=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wmaccess.inf,,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
IEAccess=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,ieaccess.inf,,7
OEAccess=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,oeaccess.inf,,7
as you can see, and stduc said, hide is not a relative parm. it's a positional parm (position 1 after the file, position 2 is number 7 which is for something else. and the file is particular to each machine as you add programs or the way it installs. you can edit it. if you can get a copy of a sysoc file from somebody, you can correct yours. you can set some xp files to hide, and some other apps to null( filename,,7)

 

[alidabiri]

stduc,
i didn't mean you.
as you can see his file now looks like this:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,,7

instead of this:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7

he should change ,,, into ,hide,

 

[BadBigBen]

Here it is explained:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223182/en-us

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,103796,00.asp

http://www.mvps.org/ecvogel/kb/XP_remove_progs.htm

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=1872

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,550842,00.asp

etc.




Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[iaswnidou]

Guys thanks a lot...i have a lot of reading to do i see! I will try the "expand" solution later...

 

[Diancecht]

Have you considered the replace thingie?

Cheers,
Dian

 

[alidabiri]

diancecht,
the replace "thingy" you suggested will not work.
you can't replace ,,, with hide.
it should be: replace ,,, with ,hide,
take a look above for the example of a real sysoc file.

 

[stduc]

I already said that! - but using expand from the CD as BadBigBen said is the best solution. You have to delete/rename the existing fuke first.

 

[nickpark]

fuke?

less haste; more speed.

 

[alidabiri]

hea meant file.
cheers.
misplaced fingers.