Specifications

How To...
A step-by-step guide to tweaking your PC experience
TIME TO COMPLETION
00:30
HOURS MINUTES
MAXIMUMPC
E
veryone has been hit by the one-two punch of viruses
and spyware. If you run Windows and are connected
to the Internet, it’s difficult to avoid these problems.
Even worse, the latest viruses and spyware programs
are designed to be almost impossible to remove. Often,
your only option is a complete reformat. Still, there are
methods to expunge evil programs from your PC.
One way you can prepare yourself for catastro-
phe is to create a Bart’s Preinstall Environment disc.
Named for its creator, Bart Lagerweij, a BartPE disc
lets you boot into a familiar GUI from a specially pre-
pared CD-ROM. This means that even if your installa-
tion of Windows is hosed, you can gain access to your
hard drive and back up valuable documents and files
and/or access the Internet.
Booting off a CD is also a great way to scour your
hard drive for the most annoying viruses or pesky
spyware applets that run on Windows startup and
therefore block all attempts at removal. But the very
best thing about a BartPE disc is its price: free.
BARTPE DISC
BUILD A
BY GORDON MAH UNG
It’s all you’ll need to
rescue and repair a
recalcitrant computer!
A BartPE disc will let you troubleshoot
a busted copy of Windows better than
the tools that Microsoft provides.
PE Builder will check your OS disc to make sure you have XP
with SP1 or SP2 slipstreamed.
For this project, you’ll need a copy of PE
Builder, which is available for free at
www.nu2.nu or on the disc that came with
this magazine (the latest version is 3.0.32).
You’ll also need a copy of Windows XP
Home or Pro with Service Pack 1 or 2 slip-
streamed into it. If you don’t have a slip-
streamed version of XP, check out our
October How-To (also on the disc, and
available online at www.maximumpc.com/how-
to). Although the compiled BartPE disc will
work on Windows 2000 systems, it must be
created by a machine running Windows XP
or Windows 2003 Server.
You’ll also need Internet access to down-
load the dozens of plugins you can add to
your BartPE disc—everything from telnet to
FTP clients to stripped-down web browsers to
free CD burning software to spyware and virus
removal apps.
Finally, you’ll also need a CD-R/RW drive
and software that can burn an ISO disc image
(we used Nero for this project). We recommend
that you burn your first BartPE disc as a CD-RW
because it may take a couple of tweaks to get
it just right.
This is Gold Leader.
We’re starting our attack run
After you’ve downloaded PE Builder, extract it into its own directo-
ry. Once extracted, open the directory and execute pebuilder.exe.
Insert your Windows XP disc into an optical drive and point the PE
Builder to it. Hit the “Check” button and PE Builder will verify that
you have the correct OS version. PE Builder works with Windows
XP Home and Pro, but only with SP1 or SP2 slipstreamed in.
It also works with Windows Server 2003 Web, Standard, and
Enterprise editions.
Get your tools together
JANUARY 2005 MAXIMUMPC 71