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Today I was tussling with a client’s computer in an effort to remove malware. During the process Windows XP decided it was no longer activated and during a reboot demanded to be activated or I would be logged off.

Windows Product Activation was either hosed and/or the malware prevented me from properly accessing the Internet. I decided against the 4-to-8 hour reinstall of Windows and application software while preserving existing user data. My shortcut? A spare hard drive and legit copy of Windows XP.

Cracking open the PC case I plugged in the spare hard disk, disconnecting the original one. The next hour was spent installing Windows XP to the same Service Pack level (WPA has changed over time). Without installing any additional updates I copied the WPA data file (c:\windows\system32\wpa.dbl) to a USB flash drive.

Reverting to the original hard disk I booted into Safe Mode (which recognizes USB flash drives) and copied the wpa.dbl file to its respective location on C:. Reboot.

At login, Windows asked to be activated and prompted me with choices – I was no longer stuck. The rest of the process was quick and painless.

Regardless of your backup strategy consider keeping a copy of the WPA file. Lest I forget to mention it, the malware was successfully removed.

Although I make a habit of avoiding Windows it’s unavoidable. A typical installation of Windows is devoid of many useful tools such as ISO creation and burning, a tabbed text editor, a useful file archiver…the list goes on.

I’ve built a list of core software, all free, which fills many of these gaps in Windows including:

• Unzipping
• Text editing
• Media codecs
• Remote control
• Secure file deletion
• ISO manipulation

Check out the complete list here.

The tedium of a Windows user account without Administrator privilege is almost unbearable. Installing software and other updates would require logout/in as Administrator and, while not difficult, is a hassle.

Microsoft introduced the RunAs command from the Command Prompt and the graphical user interface to overcome this. Right-click a program, choose Run As…, and enter your Administrator details. The application will install within your limited user account.

The trouble arises when you want to install an MSI file because they aren’t executables like SETUP.EXE. You’ll find that right-clicking an MSI from Windows Explorer only provides an Install option, not Run As. This makes it almost impossible to install the MSI from a limited user account.

I found ways to hack your Registry to enable RunAs for MSI files but there’s an easier way if you don’t mind some typing. In short, you’ll be using the command line to execute MSIEXEC using runas and referencing the MSI file. Example:

runas /u:[domain]\[user] "msiexec.exe /i [path-to-file]\[file.MSI]"

Substitute the bracketed fields as needed. If you are not connected to a Windows Server Domain you can ignore the [domain]\ text. Make sure the MSIEXEC command is enclosed in double-quotes. You may have trouble if there are space characters in your folder path or filename; try enclosing them in double-quotes or copy the MSI file to a location such as C:\TEMP to keep the path simple.

Hit Enter and you’ll be prompted to type a password (assuming Administrator) and the MSI will install as if you chose Run As… from Windows Explorer.