What is a “pre-boot shell” you ask? It’s an environment that loads instantly when your PC starts – before you ever get to windows. This is usually based on Linux, and the cool things is now manufacturer are starting to add features that allow you to perform basic tasks without ever booting into Windows. Just need a web browser, or quick access to Amazon or flickR? These pre-boot shells have wi-fi built in so you can do basic web tasks on the fly in seconds without booting. Phoenix claims as much as 25% increase in savings to your battery charge.

I think it’s funny in a way that “once again” Linux is being used as an innovator where Microsoft falls flat. On the one hand you could say that Windows Vista had too many versions to choose from, but on the other hand Linux is so very flexible that it can be used on a phone, for a pre-boot shell, on a thumb drive, or in a cable box.

In a way – the simplistic features of the pre-boot shell remind me of when I tried gOS, the version of Linux that is famously installed on the WalMart budget PC’s that were $199 last year. It has huge icons at the bottom toolbar with most-oft-used web functions, like MySpace, Facebook, eBay, Amazon, Firefox, etc.

If any of you are interested in what the pre-boot shell could be like, I invite you to download a copy of the latest Ubuntu Linux for free, burn it to a CD and run it “live”. You can try out Linux on your Windows laptop or desktop without installing a thing.

Isn’t Linux great?

This post of part of The Smorgasbord Tech Reviews series!

With all the people downgrading from Windows Vista to XP, I felt this was a pretty timely post. You can’t boot Windows XP from a floppy disc, but you can from a CD Rom if you need to reinstall or make a repair. Burning CD’s is so passe anymore – can’t you just boot Windows XP from a USB flash memory stick drive? Of course you can – if you know how!

What’s more – you can use applications you’ve installed on the flash drive as well to fix any PC problems you may have.

First – you’re going to need a program called PEBuilder – download it here. The PEBuilder Home page is here. PE Builder is “Pre-Installed Environment Builder” – basically think of it as a freeware way to build a “Windows” LiveCD (like Linux).

As the home page states it will give you:

• A complete Win32 environment with network support
• A GUI or graphical user interface (800×600)
• FAT/NTFS filesystem support
• You get the ability to:
• Do burn in testing with no installed OS
• Rescue files or boot a dead PC
• Perform Virus scan, remove trojans, fix problems, etc.

Microsoft already has a PE or Pre-Installed Environment utility – BUT, it’s only availble to big enterprise and OEM companies, AND it’s only command line (no GUI). Ok, now that you have to tool to build a PE, you need to get another tool to install that PE to a usb flash drive. So you need download PE to USB, a program that was specifically designed to use PEBuilder and install that PE to a flash drive.

Now I’m going to show you how to get this done in 5 easy steps:

1. Install PEBuilder
2. Copy your “i386″ directory from your Windows XP Pro SP2 CD to a folder in the PE Builder directory called “BartPE”
3. Extract the PEtoUSB files to the PEBuilder folder
4. Run the PE to USB program and select “Enable Disk Format”, “Quick Format”, and “Enable File Copy”. For “Source Path” select the “BartPE” folder
5. REBOOT with USB flash drive and you will have a running Windows environment on a stick! (enable usb boot in bios if needed)

If you have something to add or a suggestion about building a Windows booting Flash drive – please, comment now!

Oh – and if by some chance you need a geeky new USB flash drive – then I can tell you some of the best deals are on eBay! Here are some usb flash memory drive auctions on eBay right now!

Seems like someone dropped a computer because of a forgotten or lost password a few years back, and at that time the only solution I managed to find after hours and hours of searching was a linux boot floppy with some tools to reset the password by editing the registry and some other file. My son found OPHCrack for this time around, and he managed to crack and reveal the lost password in just minutes. All you have to do download and burn the LiveCD, and then bootup using it on the computer with the lost password – then use OPHCrack to crack it and you’re good to go! There are some Linux tools out there that allow you to reset a Windows password (like the one I used to have), but this one just flat out cracks the password for you. It worked well for us, we were very pleased. The program is free and legal – just don’t be using it for illegal or illicit purposes! Bookmark the page, you might forget your own password someday!