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Some Windows Apps Make GRUB 2 Unbootable

Posted by timothy on from the windows-is-to-boot-out-not-up dept.

KwahAG writes "Colin Watson, one of the Ubuntu developers, published in his blog information about Windows applications making GRUB 2 unbootable. Users of dual-boot Windows/Linux installations may face the problem, which boils down to particular Windows applications (Colin does not name them, but users point at least to HP ProtectTools, PC Angel, Adobe Flexnet) blindly overwriting hard disk content between the MBR and the first partition destroying information already stored there, in this particular case — the 'core image' of GRUB 2 (GRand Unified Bootloader) making the system unbootable."

6 of 429 comments (clear)

  1. This sounds vaguely familiar by countertrolling · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    It brings up some recollection of one of those accounting programs from a few years back, Quicken? TurboTax?

    --
    For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
  2. Re:"built his house upon the sand" by jedidiah · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    "stability" hasn't been the main problem for a long time. The main problem with WinDOS is still malware.

    Is there some sort of Win-Neuter application? It wouldn't be so much Windows Lite as much as it would lock down Windows to the point where it was trivially "secure".

    A sort of "chastity belt" for Windows running on bare metal would be a handy thing.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  3. Re:"built his house upon the sand" by Alex+Belits · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Yeah...the clipboard is so basic. Linux will never be a desktop OS until the clipboard works.

    Except that it does.

    Microsoft marketing people sift through bug lists and newbie forums fishing for plausible "problems" they supposedly have with Linux, but usually don't even realize what is being discussed.

    --
    Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
  4. Re:"built his house upon the sand" by ultranova · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    For desktop usage, Win7 is most definitely just as stable as Linux. I say this from experience too, and not out of my ass.

    Maybe. It's hard to say for sure, since most Linux distros it easy to run lots of programs at once, while Windows doesn't - no virtual desktops, taskbar can only take a few running programs before spilling into multi-line, etc.

    Or did you mean they're both stable when used as glorified typewriters? Of course they are, and so is Win95.

    --

    Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  5. Re:"built his house upon the sand" by marcello_dl · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    > Yeah...the clipboard is so basic. Linux will never be a desktop OS until the clipboard works.

    LOL

    parent comment selected and pasted here on my desktop linux sidux, which also features a working klipper by default.

    on mac and win i always miss xorg way of select/paste using the mouse.

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    ---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
  6. Re:Solution: by danielpauldavis · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Very much you have a God and your ignoring the evidence never means He is ignoring you.

    --
    Cranky educator.