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What Would You Put Into A Software Survival Kit?
LosManos asks: "A call for help to the Everyday Heroes that are out there: I have just returned from a 4 months scientific expedition to some of the more remote parts of the South Pacific. As soon as people we met found out that I was a computer guy they asked me to help them and all to often I had to reply that I didn't have the tools.This got me thinking; what should a software toolbox consist of? OS, patches, digital books, compilers, sniffers, servers, harddisk restore apps...? Please remember that the computers I met where often old and slow. The answers to this could be interesting also when you are not several days away from nearest inhabited island. I mean, what is it that most often break? How is it usually fixed? Are more fancy solutions more error prone?" If you were to create a "first aid kit" consisting of CDs, disks, books and other technical utilities you have used to resurrect dead systems, what would you put in it?
"So far I have found:
- A utility for reading and repairing hard disks
- 'regmon' and 'filemon' from Sysinternals
- Video drivers (but I don't know which)
- A diskette for booting MSDOS with CD support
- Digital books (but I don't know which)
- Remote controlling tools, such as VNC
- CDs with OS (but there are hundreds of those)"
Go and install linux, that will remove the need for all the patches
I'll be interested in hearing just what sort of essential software I'd need about my person to help complete strangers fix their 'puters on holiday! Then I can make damned sure I don't have any of it ;-)
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
What more could you possibly need?
The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
You have to include fortune. It's nice to have somthing to read when you are frustrated to lighten the situation.
This article doesn't sit too well on the homepage directly opposite the current poll.
What Would You Put Into A Software Survival Kit?
- Salmonella
- Botulism
- Trichinosis...
Ladies, form queue here -->
These and a DOS floppy with the right kinds of tools (fdisk, format, edit, etc.) have saved my bacon so many times that I've lost count
Hmm, maybe you'd better include calc in your list then...
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
Just my two Mac OS X 10.2 CDs.
The Political Programmer
I was going to say Warcraft 3, but then I saw that part about old slower machines, so Warcraft 2, and maybe C&C Red Alert.
Oh yeah! Delpart is invaluable. Don't groan, but a Windows98 Rescue Disk plus Delpart.EXE is one of the most important tools in your quiver if you have to deal with Windozers.
The Knoppix CD is a goodie, particularly the new ones with the newest KDE which is perhaps the tightest, least hoggish KDE yet.
BTW, don't leave Delpart.Exe on your hard drive. It WILL nuke your HD in situ. The result is a spectacular BSOD/Stop Error that will make your hair curl. We did it once at the tech school I attended, just for grins. Great BOFH tool. >:)
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Microsoft also publishes a tool that will automatically identify
/s
any known security vulnerabilites that need to be patched, but I
can't find the link off hand.
It's pretty easy to find out what MS software needs patching really. Just take a bare minimum install of an MS OS of your choice and do the following from a command prompt:
cd \
dir *.*
See the list? Yeah. That needs patching.
Duct tape
pirates
I'd suggest most people reading Slashdot put a bar of soap in their survival kit.
Heh...shows what you know...I got mine right on my monitor...easier to get at! Underneath the keyboard...sheesh...
Everybody dies frustrated and sad and that is beautiful
"Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find:
one forty-five caliber automatic;
two boxes of ammunition;
four days' concentrated emergency rations;
one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills;
one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible;
one hundred dollars in rubles;
one hundred dollars in gold;
nine packs of chewing gum;
one issue of prophylactics;
three lipsticks;
three pair of nylon stockings.
Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff."
In the Compuserve branded small plastic case you get a knife (obviously for trimming over sized VESA boards) philips head and flat head screw driver and of course a hammer, thats right a hammer, that i have found remarkable useful on a number of occasions.
"Error reading drive A", ah hammer time
"GPF in kernel31", ah hammer time
"ID10T error", HAMMER TIME baby!
ERR 411[Max number of witty sigs reached]
You need to bring a towel! http://www.skywriterpress.com/Spice/adams.htm We miss you...
I know what I'd put in: the Internet. ...or at least - the copy of the Internet that google has :)