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[LoadWB]

Reminds me of the times I've tryed to persuade people to turn system restore off on XP.

System Restore is extremely valuable.  I have dealt with numerous cases in which System Restore saved the day without the need to reload software or the operating system.

As well, the System Restore function creates a backup of the registry during reboots which comes in handy in cases of a non-bootable system.  Or when you make a big oops like I did where parsing a list of registry keys like this:

for /f %a in (reg.txt) do @echo [-%a] >> del.reg

Accidentally parses this:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\key

into this:

[-HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows]

And your half-awake, migraine-impaired mind lets that slip and deleted the entire Windows registry key!

(To avoid that, use "delims=" in the for statement.)

The Registry Hive File Loader accessing a snapshot of the registry from an early reboot, export of the Windows key, and WordPad, given about 20 minutes, and I had the entire key restored.

[LoadWB]

kedawa wrote:

it's also the only version i've ever used that required me to move a folder higher up in the filesystem hierarchy in order to add files to it because the path length would be 'too long', only to allow me to put the folder right back where i moved it from afterward

This is absolutely sad.  Windows XP and before had a filename limitation of 256 characters (or 255, something like that) INLCUDING the path.  And that blasted "Documents and Settings" didn't help.  Why, oh why, does MS use an 8-bit limitation in a modern OS?  This was the hardest part of converting and office from Mac to Windows... suddenly they couldn't name their files with obscenely long names, and this has a very hard impact on roaming profiles.

I had hoped Vista would overcome this.

[LoadWB]

I'm using XP x64 Edition, and I have little complaint.  With more 64-bit Server 2003 drivers out there now that it's become more mainstream, I'm in good shape and do not have a single device missing drivers.

I hear Vista 64 is really good, but I'm not willing to make that leap just yet.

I do have some "legacy" applications (read that as some apps using an ancient SDK to avoid purchasing a new one, and others for $_DEITY knows why) which do not work in x64, so I run 32-bit XP in VirtualPC or VirtualBox for these apps.

XP x64, 8GB RAM, and it all works well.  Were it not for Vista's phuqd up way of navigating the system, I'd move up to Vista 64. Feh.

[LoadWB]

Trev wrote:
Some facts:

The maximum path is limited to 260 chars for compatibility with legacy software. Paths beginning with \\?\C\... have a practical limit of about 32000 wchars.

I've not used this syntax.  Is that accessible from Explorer?