How to Do a Windows' System File Check and find Hidden System Files in WinXP

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Doing a Windows System File Check (SFC)
(and How to FIND Your
Hidden System Files in Windows XP)

by Barbara Brabec

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Microsoft no longer allows computer sellers to give buyers a disk of the computer's operating system. Buyers simply get a "restoration disk" now because Microsoft buries the operating system software in the computer itself so users can't install it on another computer. We users, of course, are supposed to know how to access a "WINXP CD2 disk" that doesn't exist when the computer asks for it.

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Do you know how to use Windows' SFC Utility? If you suspect that system files have been corrupted, you can quickly do a system file check by pressing START/RUN, and then type in: SFC /scannow

This check of your system will take a few minutes, and if there are any problems, you’ll get a notice, such as the one I got the first time I ran this utility. It said, "For Windows to run properly, files must be copied to the DLL cache."

I was then instructed to insert my WINXP CD2 at that time. But all I’d gotten with my new computer was a DVD disk containing all my system restore files. I didn't know what idiot thought that every new Windows XP user would understand how to pull a file from a CD that didn't exist. I sure didn’t, so I went back to the store where I’d bought my computer, and got a lesson from the resident tech.

It was then that I'd remembered an e-mail exchange with a fellow a couple of years back, in which he explained how things had changed between the introduction of Windows 98 and Windows XP. The computer tech at Tiger Direct said Microsoft no longer allows computer sellers to give buyers a disk of the computer's operating system. Buyers simply get a "restoration disk" now because Microsoft buries the operating system software in the computer itself so users can't install it on another computer. We users, of course, are supposed to know how to access a "WINXP CD2 disk" that doesn't exist when the computer asks for it. Sure!

How to Find the WINXP CD2 Disk

So my lesson for this particular day was how to FIND and enable Microsoft to extract info from the operating system files on my computer. When you are asked to insert a WINXP disk you do not have, use the BROWSE button on that menu and go to c:\windows\I386, which folder supposedly contains the same info you’d normally receive on a WINXP installation disk, plus Service Pack 2 and, I would assume, all the updated information you had to download after you bought your computer. (I'm guessing that if you have a 486 computer, you'd look for "I486." This info is probably in your online computer manual somewhere. Any dummy ought to be able to find it, right?)

Once Windows has extracted whatever info it needs, be sure to reboot your computer whether you are advised to do so or not. For more info on this topic, search the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

More About Computer Operating Systems

In an e-mail exchange with copywriter Gary Maxwell some time back, I got another example of how Microsoft keeps changing the rules to suit their needs. "When Microsoft announced that they were starting their WPA or Windows Product Activation," Gary told me, "many people were justifiably concerned. That meant that, instead of purchasing their operating system and installing it, they had to activate it when they bought a computer, or else it could not be used beyond thirty days from the time they first booted up. Even though the purchase of any Windows operating system entitles one to use it on only one computer, most people in the privacy of their own home have also installed past incarnations of MS windows on a second computer . . . without any fear of retribution. After all, what one does in their own home is their own business, right?

"With Windows 98, there was no silly activation process (scheme) in place concerning it. You could install it on as many computers as you had. Now, however, all computers are being sold with Windows XP (only until Microsoft introduces their next profit-generating operating system, of course), and Microsoft requires registration, a process that binds the operating system to that particular computer. If you try to install it on another one, it won't work."

Since it was costly to buy Windows XP as a new program or an upgrade, some small businesses changed their operating system. Gary suggested Linux as an operating system some business owners might want to explore. "It's free, and you can alter the software to suit your own taste if you have a little programming ability," he said. "The software is very stable, more secure than Windows, and applications are compatible with Windows without the price factor. It may be a little intimidating at first, but there are several versions of Linux (called 'Distributions') that make the install and setup process a snap. Once the OS is installed, it is very similar to Windows or even Mac OS's."

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Doing a Windows System File Check (SFC) (and How to FIND Your Hidden System Files in Windows XP)

Doing a Windows System File Check (SFC)
(and How to FIND Your
Hidden System Files in Windows XP)