Not Windows Slave? Even after all that crap that you go through for it?? Hahahhaha

You know what’s worse than being a windows slave? Not knowing that you are!

First of all, after trying Vista for a while, I’ve got disgusted about it and I’m back now to XP.
But I still have to use Vista for testing purposes. I do it, but UAC is off for sure.
Now to the interesting part: how do I protect my self from nasty viruses and other malicious attacks from the Internet?

Well, the main guideline in all my handling is that ***I don’t trust Windows***.
That means:
- I’m not under Windows, I’m on top of it.
- Windows doesn’t tell me what to do, I tell Windows what to do.
- I’m not a Windows’s slave, Windows i my slave.
- Windows is not the pack leader, I’m the pack leader.

Concretized, here is what I do:

1.
I always install several (at least two) Windows on my computer, just in case I need to examine what is going on.
(It may be some temporary file that Windows don’t let me to open and that is removed when you close Windows.
In such cases I just turn off the main power, I restart the computer in another Windows and I can then open and examine the suspicious file without problems.)

2.
I always have several logical drives on my computer, and at least two HD (for safety against disk crashes).
During installation of Windows I make several binary copies of it (using Norton Ghost) on different well documented points.
I do that also after major changes (installation of new software or major Windows upgrades).
This way I can switch back and forth between well known situations with 100% security.

3.
Since I don’t trust Windows’s own roll-back mechanism, I remove all the files created for that purpose when upgrades are done (which will give me smaller Ghost files).
Since I don’t trust third part software providers to be able to really clean up everything when the software is uninstalled, I uninstall by rolling back to a previous Ghost version.
Doing so I’m 100% (I mean o-n-e-h-u-n-d-r-e-d-p-e-r-c-e-n-t) sure that everything (I mean e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g) is restored as it was before.

4.
Since I don’t like that another (Windows) to tell me how to organize my stuff, I do not make use of the ‘Documents and Settings’ folder or any of its components.
I keep all the files generated by my activities (mails, documents, downloaded files, etc. etc.) outside the drive where Windows is installed.
This way my work is not affected by the switching between different installation images (Ghost files).
In addition, I have 100% control of my entire work and I can easily organize my backup routines.

5.
If Windows is infected by some virus, or if it starts to behave badly, I kick it out, by rolling back to a previous Ghost file.
Everything is back to normal in just fifteen minutes. With 100% certainty.

6.
If the HD crashes or if I need to replace it with a bigger one, I just format the new HD and I regenerate the contents of all the logical drives from the appropriate Ghost files.
Everything is back to normal in just a half hour.

I have done this for more than ten years and it works magnificently.
I’m the boss, really, and Windows has nothing to say about that!

Hoping to inspire someone to find out a better way of dealing with Windows.
Thank you.

I’m using Smart UAC Replacement on my Vista Ultimate for two weeks already and have no problems with it.

Good program.