A Peek at Vista HnS Beta

[Computer Guru]

There've been a lot of people begging me to get a move on with this program; and I've never seemed to have any time to work on it....

Perhaps sharing my progress as I go along will be more of an incentive to work faster and get the darn thing finally done

This is a screenshots-only thread.... As soon as I get something usable out I'll create the beta thread.... I promise!

Anyway, here's a screenshot to get this thread started:









Goal is to be incredibly straight-forward, frills-free, and above all, easy to use.

Any feedback/criticism/whatever is welcome.

[ruf1]

Looks like a good start at least visually its very intuative. I take it that this piece of code is a bandaide for Microsoft not wanting to put any work into XP destroying all the restore points, all the shadow copies and all but one of the previous versions. It maybe that revamping XP's file system to recognize these newer components is almost impossible, without rewriting the entire code for XP. I'm not sure how difficult it would be but MS is firmly refusing to do it, whatever their reasons. I have also read that the way Vista partitions drives is different than it has been being done for the last 30 years, as far as how the start and end of the partition is offset and that this has an impact as well. I digress back to the point.

I know everyone will appreciate this program when you find some time, looks great as usual

[Computer Guru]

Yep, that's correct.

Vista HnS is an easy, one-click solution to the shadow copy/system restore bug that clears them both when you boot into Windows XP.

Vista Hide 'n Seek will hide all Vista drives from XP (and vice versa if you choose to do so), making the bug vanish without your needing to do any work at all.

[Sarge]

Very nice layout... I see it can't look any easier to use Good job.

[Computer Guru]

System restore discussion split to here.

Thanks.

[abcat]

will wait for it, so around when the beta or full version be release and will this work like ever os it boot = C drive?

[Computer Guru]

Only if you install a new OS with the old one hidden.

[Computer Guru]

Screenshots updated - it's almost ready

(Yes, I have switched to Windows Server 2008, that's why Aero is now enabled )

[Terry60]

Looks very friendly Guru. Awaiting expectantly.
The current inelegant system is still serving me well, protecting my Vista Restore Points, but I'll be glad of a tidier solution as I'm finding more and more things that don't work ,or work badly, or won't install, or hang the system on Vista, so my XP system ( originally intended to be vanilla SP2 with only enough driver updates to recognise the TV tuner hardware), is pressed into service to pick up the things Vista can't or won't do.
Tried connecting it to the web yesterday, after giving it a firewall and AVG, to bring Windows up to date and am now embroiled in a windows update 0x80200010 failure fiasco. (it never rains, but it pours where MS are involved !)
A little aside.
Your little signature remark concerning WWW reminds me of the 60's satirical BBC program "That was the week, that was" which was "abreviated" to TWTWTW, which was much harder, and took much longer to say, then became TW3 which was at least a tiny bit shorter.
Unfortunately W3 is still longer than"World wide web" - but you could always try mathematical reduction and convert 3 double "U"s to 6 "U"s, though the world might get confused by an apparent reference to "Sick Shoes.Microsoft.Com"

[Computer Guru]

Thanks Terry

----

Well, posting screenshots is probably the only reason the beta is finally out (and, yes, I'm the first to admit that it is WAY due!).

Grab it here: [Download] Vista Hide 'n Seek BETA - The NeoSmart Forums

[Computer Guru]

Screenshots updated

[Bohica]

I have finally found what I have been looking for. Having read through the forum, I believe that this program will hide each partition from the other, ie when booting into XP, Vista will not be visible to XP and XP will reside on the C drive: when booting into Vista, XP will not be visible to XP and Vista will reside on the C drive. Presently I have Vista on C and XP on D and both are visible to one another. I need XP to be on C. I did try NeoGrub, but this didn't work for me. I think I got my disk assignments wrong. I used the default text. Maybe someone would kindly tell me how to correctly identify where my OS's sit. I have one HD with three partitions: Vista on C: XP on D: and a hidden Lenovo recovery partition. I believe that the HD is known as Disk 0. I have also tried to download the latest version of Vista HnS, but either get a blank page in Firefox or HTTP404 in IE7. I have logged in. Anyhow, thanks to all for the program and hard work and to all contributors to this forum. Hopefully I can contribute further when I get up to speed.

[Terry60]

Hi Bohica, welcome to the Neosmart forum.
HnS will hide Vista from XP. Not XP from Vista.
Only the former is necessary to protect Vista's system restore points. Vista does no harm to XP.
When XP is booted and Vista is invisible, XP will still be on the D:\ assignment. That's fixed now that it installed that way. There will be no C:\ visible on the system to XP's explorer but Disk Manager will still see it there (albeit marked unknown).
The thread http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1341
contains the download link http://neosmart.net/forums/attachmen...tachmentid=200 (build 35) and it was working fine yesterday, but I'd wait a day if I were you, because you'll see it still has a final bug to be sorted if you follow the thread so best wait for build 36.

[Bohica]

Many thanks Terry for your speedy reply. I will follow your advice and wait a while. I will experiment with the program then.

[rockfarmer]

I too have the missing Vista restore points problem on a dual boot system. Vista installed first, XP second. How, where or when can I download the Hsn Beta?

PS Had to use the horrid Microsoft BCDedit to configure the dual boot. The EasyBCD is much nicer.