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

 

[stduc]

LOL Oops - I was only 1 key to the left! Doh - another Homer moment.

 

[Diancecht]

@alidabiri: If you read my post, I suggest replacing with ,hide,

This involves no CDs, no expands ...

Cheers,
Dian

 

[stduc]

[blue]Diancecht[/blue]

Not being picky but you said

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

Cheers,
Dian

OK - so I'm being picky. Sorry.

 

[alidabiri]

dian,
you didn't say that. look at your posting. i'm pasting it here again.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
What about replacing ",,," with "hide"? That may get your file back to its original content.

Cheers,
Dian
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
you see any commas before or after the hide? it should be:
replace ",,," with ",hide," without the quotes.

 

[stduc]

[blue]alidabiri[/blue]

Either you take a long time to post, or your browser is not refreshing correctly. We keep saying the same thing! LOL (Or could be me I suppose)

BTW - loved your correction to my typo.

hea meant file.
cheers.
misplaced fingers.

 

[Diancecht]

Arghh, I've been reading one of the replies as if it were my own post.

My apologies, I think I'm working too much.

Cheers,
Dian

 

[cdogg]

We could probably leave out about 5 posts in this thread under the assumption that iaswnidou can read, lol.

 

[stduc]

Could delete all except BadBigBen's first response IMHO. If iaswnidou reports the expand worked I'll be awarding a star.

Changing the subject slightly. I would like to know the name and issue of this magazine that the original article was in.

 

[nickpark]

what about replacing 'original' with 'stupid'

 

[iaswnidou]

stduc> It was the british What Laptop magazine...January 2006 issue. You want a copy?!

 

[BadBigBen]

Thanx, guys the posts made my day... had me giggling like a young school kid... LOL...

Ben

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

 

[iaswnidou]

Ok I have deleted the file and run the expand statement.

Now i can Add/Remove Windows Components succesfuly, but i still see the "Application Center Test Account" and "Internet Guest Account" when i log on/off. How can i hide them?

The contents of the sysoc.inf are these:

[Version]
Signature = "$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=07/01/2001,5.1.2600.1106

[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7    
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
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
WMPOCM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wmpocm.inf,,7

Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
CommApps=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,communic.inf,HIDE,7
MultiM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,multimed.inf,HIDE,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
MSWordPad=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wordpad.inf,HIDE,7
ZoneGames=zoneoc.dll,ZoneSetupProc,igames.inf,,7

TabletPC=tabletoc.dll,TabletSetupProc,Tabletpc.inf,HIDE,7

[Global]
WindowTitle=%WindowTitle%
WindowTitle.StandAlone="*"

[Components]
Freestyle=medctroc.dll,MedCtrOCISetupProc,medctroc.inf,HIDE,7

netfx=netfxocm.dll,UrtOcmProc,netfxocm.inf,hide,7

[Components]
msnexplr=ocmsn.dll,OcEntry,msnmsn.inf,,7

[Strings]
WindowTitle="Windows Professional Setup"
WindowTitle_Standalone="Windows Components Wizard"

 

[Diancecht]

I have no idea, but whatever you do, save a copy of the file.

Cheers,
Dian

 

[iaswnidou]

Maybe i could add a "hide" somewhere in between some commas?

 

[Diancecht]

I bet for IEAccess.

Cheers,
Dian

 

[iaswnidou]

Tried that, but still there. Maybe i'll keep playing with "hide" till they are removed...i do have a safe copy now!

 

[alidabiri]

the quest account has nothing to do with the "hide command".

 

[iaswnidou]

I thought...they're here now...they weren't there before, so some "hides" must have vanished from the file.

 

[MasterRacker]

You can try downloading and installing TweakUI. It has an option to hide user accounts from the Welcome screen.

You could also try it this way:

1. Open Registry Editor (start, run, regedit).
2. Navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList"
3. Create a REG_DWORD entry for the username you want to hide.
4. Assign a value of 0 to the new entry.
5. Close regedit.
6. Reboot.

_____
Jeff
[small][purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day
"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me[/small]

 

[iaswnidou]

I have TweakUI but can't find this setting you mention. Where is it exactly?