[thelist] Interesting maybe IIS/ASP maybe authentication error

[Robert Gormley]

On Thu, 08 Dec 2005 18:15:19 -0600, "Shawn K. Quinn" <skquinn at speakeasy.net> wrote:
> The next thing I would try here is reinstall: back up everything that
> needs to be kept from that computer (ideally, of course, this has
> already been done), format the drive (preferably not just the Windows
> "format C:" here; I would boot a GNU/Linux live CD such as Knoppix and
> doing something like 'dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=64k'), and
> completely reinstall Windows, the applications, and everything else.
> Ugly, yes, but when dealing with Windows this is often the only way to
> fix mysterious problems. (Does anyone still wonder why I no longer use
> Microsoft products?)

Every Windows version since 2000 has offered both formatting and partition table entry editing as part of the install process. Yes, a format should be enough - and it usually is. Depending on the setup, you might want to delete the partition table. Thing is, on a couple of hundred Windows installsreinstalls/tests I have never had a problem, however persistent that hasn't been solved by "Delete Partition, Create Partition, Format Using NTFS". Much as I love tools like Live Linux CDs - and have been saved from my own bungling by them... zeroing the hard drive isn't necessary.

Robert