window 2000 professional

[alkscd]

I just installed windows 2000 professional. Many of the pograms and hard drive don't work, do I have to upgrade all software. are upgrade free and easy to get.

[DrZaius]

Hi alkscd,

We need a little more information. Is this a clean install or an upgrade? If it's an upgrade, what was the previous OS? Which programs don't work, and what do you mean by the hard drive not working?

[alkscd]

This windows 2000 is an up grade from windows ME, I have a memorex CR-622 CD burner , Modem V.90 K56 flex, scanner visioneer 6100B, NEC superscript 150 printer all the about worked with windows ME and don't work with windows 2000.

[DrZaius]

alkscd: Try reinstalling the latest drivers (from the companies web site) for each component that doesn't work. All you have to do is run the .exe installer. Check these for the Memorex drive.

[Sumdumgi]

Many times win 2000 will not operate very well after doing an upgrade. If you cant get it to work then reformat and do a clean install.

[azscary]

The best and as far as I am concerned ONLY way to install Win 2K is by an FDISk, FORMAT and clean install. Win 2K uses the NTFS structure instead of FAT32. (You can force it to FAT32 but what would be the point?) Fdisk eliminates any pesky weird sized partitions from the previous OS and allows Win 2K to use the entire disk. I have had Win 2K since the final release and LOVE it. The first commercial release was flawed because in the rush to market, they mistakenly left out 60% of the driver package! The initial incompatible list was 14 pages long and contained about 400 different pieces of hardware! The Professional release and the two service packs have made it a sweet OS.

[akohl]

So you are saying that for windows 2000 professional to work well, you should definitely choose NTFS file formatt?

I am about to undertake a full low level format, reformat, and reinstallation of windows 2000 proffesional. So that's one of the choices I'm going to have to make.

I would like some step by step preperation for this project. Should I start a new thread called reformatting for windows 2k or do you want to help me over here?

[azscary]

To get the most benefit out of Win 2K you should start clean, thus FDISK and kill all partitions. Then create a new partition using the entire disk, or at least 20GB if a large disk and make it active. Don't worry about partitioning the rest Win 2K will do it after it is installed. You can either then format the drive, or let Win 2K do it during install. The reason I prefer the NTFS is because it is a much more stable system, much faster and more reliable. Therefore to get the full benefit of Win 2K you should always select NTFS. It will initially be FAT32 and will need to reconfigure the drive in a reboot so that it has exclusive access to the drive. This is all in the installation process and thank God it is stupid friendly or I would have had a hard time! After the OS is installed, then go into the Disk Manager utility and partition and format the remaining disk space if any. If you have a 40GB drive or better the advantage to splitting it in half is that all of your programs can be on C drive and all of your file storage can be on D drive. This way if for any reason the OS gets hosed and you have to ghost your C drive your files are still there. Make sure that unless you are networking and have a need to share files that NO SHARES OF ANY KIND are enabled. This provides an extra level of security. Win 2K is the best OS for security and when set up properly with Outlook 2000 as email, downloading all of the security patches for both Win 2K and Outlook 2000, virtually the only other protection you need is virus software. Win 2K can be set as its own sort of firewall because of the security built into the system. MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT WHEN YOU DO THE INITIAL SETUP THAT YOU CHOOSE AN ADMINISTRATOR PASSWORD THAT IS DIFFICULT TO HACK! That would be one that is a MINIMUM of 8 characters long and contains a mixture of upper and lower case letters, and numbers. To be even more secure add a few specialty characters such as @ % $ * ! into the password. It may be a hassle to remember but you won't regret it if someone tries to hack you. I also recommend that in your day to day use that you establish a different user name for yourself and reserve the Administrator logon for those duties. As long as you assign your regular user name administrative privileges you will never notice the difference. Make sure that your user name has a hack resistant password also and disable the default "GUEST" user ID that Win 2 K establishes. If there is going to be more than one user, use the Administrator logon to create them and establish their permissions. With Win 2K I believe you can even specify the length and difficulty required of users when they change their password. In other words you can require that the password they select has to be any number of characters and whether or not they have to include numbers or special characters.You can even require that they change it at a specified interval, or that they can never change it, or that they have to change it at every logon! Pretty snappy stuff.

[azscary]

Creating strong passwords
Good computer security includes the use of strong passwords for your network logon and the Administrator account on your computer.

For a password to be strong and hard to break, it should:

Be at least seven characters long.
Contain characters from each of the following three groups:
Description Examples
Letters (uppercase and lowercase) A, B, C,...; a, b, c,...

Numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Symbols (all characters not defined as letters or numerals) ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + - = { } | [ ] \ : " ; ' < > ? , . /

Have at least one symbol character in the second through sixth positions.
Be significantly different from prior passwords.
Not contain your name or user name.
Not be a common word or name.
Passwords can be the weakest link in a computer security scheme. Strong passwords are important because password cracking tools continue to improve and the computers used to crack passwords are more powerful. Network passwords that once took weeks to break can now be broken in hours.

Password cracking software uses one of three approaches: intelligent guessing, dictionary attacks, and automation that tries every possible combination of characters. Given enough time, the automated method can crack any password. However, it still can take months to crack a strong password.

Windows 2000 passwords can be up to 127 characters long. However, if you are using Windows 2000 on a network that also has computers using Windows 95 or Windows 98, consider using passwords not longer than 14 characters. Windows 95 and Windows 98 support passwords of up to 14 characters. If your password is longer, you may not be able to log on to your network from those computers.

For more information about protecting your passwords, see Related Topics.

[alkscd]

If I do a clean install with I still be able to have two operating systems on one harddrive.I also beleive if I don't have windows ME, 98 or 95 installed first on the harddrive my windows 2000 will not install alone. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

[azscary]

I must be honest here. I do not understand why anyone would want a dual boot system.. One operating system is quite enough for me to deal with. There is not enough differences between Microsoft products to warrant having two OS' on the same machine. I could have understood if one of them was Win NT 4.0 and the other Win 98 in a CORPORATE environment, but today with Win 2K and especially in a home application there is no need to do so unless you just want to experiment. Win 2K has the highest security profile of any Windows OS today. To install any other OS on the same machine compromises the security of the entire machine.

Having said that, if you are still wanting to make a dual boot system with Win 2K, then you will have to completely start from scratch and FDISK and format the entire drive. To work efficiently I feel that you will need at least a 40GB drive to do it. Install win 2K first using the directions in the previous post. Win2K has to be first because of the NTFS file system. Here is where the questionable part begins. You might have to experiment to find the best way to setup the other partition. I don't know if you should make the second partition active in the FDISK or not. It might be better to use Win 2K to set the second partition active, but do not format the drive in either case unless Win ME won't do it in the install. I know Win 98 will format the drive but it has to be active first. I would not even consider using Win 95 because of its instability. Win 98 is very unstable also so I think perhaps Win ME is your best choice. Finding other software such as Office, graphics programs, games etc. compatible with both ME and Win 2K could prove a problem. Good luck. Let me know the reasoning behind wanting a dual boot system. I am ALWAYS open to new ideas.

[akohl]

Thanks a lot Azscary. That really helps.

Here are a few more questions.

Passwords
Is this issue relevant to protection from viruses as well? I am
I am infected with the nimba virus (admin in reverse), which enters your system via your browser. Would it be prevented from getting deep inside the computer if I used a strong password? Along the same lines, do I need a strong password on a home computer that doesn't connect to a network other than the internet for email, browsing and ftp?

Disk manager utility
I understand that to do a low low level format I need a program provided by the manufacturer of the hdd. My computer identifies the hdd with an identification string, st320420A. I fed this to a A google search which led me to the Seagate website, where I got a program called Disk Manager. I downloaded it and installed it onto a floppy . Do I have the right program? I would have liked to see the name of the company and the model number of my hdd. If I have the wrong program for formatting the drive, it could be trouble, right?

[azscary]

Passwords do nothing to prevent virus' but if you are on the Internet they prevent malicious programs or hackers from having easy access to your computer. Say your password was C!&#$*~=5P3erLKj9Qqw! it would literally take them weeks of constant hacking to break it. Once they have your IP though they can hack you every time you get on the net. A strong password is recommended in today's internet and a good anti virus program as well.

As for formatting the hard drive, Windows 2000 Pro will format it during the install just like NT 4.0 used to do. You can take the hard drive out of the box, stick it in your computer, set BIOS to AUTODETECT the drive and let Win 2K do all the rest.All you need to do set your BIOS to boot from the CD ROM first, plug the Win 2K CD in the drive and go. Windows 2k WILL FDISK, PARTITION AND FORMAT the drive during the install. SWEET!

[akohl]

Thanks.

But I'm not sure you understood my second question.

I'm talking about a low level format to remove (a) virus(es). Usually, this is usually done before the hd is installed. Are you saying that this process is taken care of by the windows setup as well?

[azscary]

If you have a used drive then FDISK the drive and delete ALL partitions. Leave it that way and YES Win 2K will create the partition and format the drive. The process of FDISK and format will remove the virus. After all, a virus like every other program on your computer is nothing but 1's and 0's. If you are using a new drive then just plug it in and let Win 2 K do the rest. You don't even have to FDISK a new drive.

[akohl]

The below article suggests that an additional formatting step is sometimes neccessary to get ridof viruses and other problems. How do I know that its not nessesary in my case?


Here's what I read at:
http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/di...level_ata.html
---------------------
What does "low level formatting" mean?

Actually the term "low level" is a bit of a misnomer. The low level process first used years ago in MFM hard drives bears little resemblance to what we now call a "low level format" for today's ATA (IDE) drives. A better name for today's low level formatting utility is intermediate- or mid-level formatting. This is sometimes referred to as the "initialize" or "re-initialize" process. The basic purpose of a mid-level format is to erase everything currently on the drive.

Why would I want to low level format my drive?

The most common reasons to low level format an ATA (IDE) hard drive are:


The drive has contracted a virus that cannot be removed without destroying the boot sector.
The drive is developing bad sectors at an increasing rate.
You are changing from one operating system to another and wish to remove everything from the drive.

How do I low level format my drive?

Caution: Low or Mid Level formatting an ATA (IDE) Drive destroys 100% of the data on the drive. Make sure the drive is completely backed up before proceeding.

Caution: The Low Level Format options of Disk Manager are the only safe methods for use with Seagate and Conner hard drives. Some system BIOSs may include a Low Level Format option; use these at your own risk, as this may produce undesirable results.

Disk Manager can be downloaded as a part of the DiscWizard package. It includes two low-level format options, partitioning options, and high-level formatting options. Zero Fill writes zeros in each data sector up to the complete capacity of the drive and will clean up some file system defects. The Low Level option performs a track by track initialization for the entire capacity of the drive, but does not spare bad sectors.

The download routine for Disk Manager creates a bootable diskette. Boot from the diskette to start Disk Manager. After startup, Select Advanced Options | Maintenance | Options | Utilities. Select the drive you want to erase, then select Zero Fill or Low Level.

Note: The Zero Fill option runs more quickly and removes data just as thoroughly as the Low Level option.

Note: Older versions of Disk Manager do not include the Advanced Options menu, but the Maintenance Options can be reached by pressing Alt+T at the Main Menu.

When the process completes, reboot the system from a DOS diskette. Run FDISK to partition the drive, then format the drive and begin installing the new Operating System.