[Snail]

Life sucks and then you die.

Well for Buddhists, its "Life sucks, you die and then it starts again (but worse)."

[Jeff Vader]

Personally, I prefer to follow my "Let's live first, then die, and then assess the situation" plan.

[Titan]

lol

[S-99]

Just do what i do. Install any program you desire. Delete all start menu entries for it in the local user profiles of that computer, delete all taskbar shortcuts, delete all desktop shortcuts, don't add anything extra to the right click menu (winrar will do that unless while installing you unclick "don't integrate into shell"), and of course disable the setting in any program that says "run program when windows starts". This will most likely solve all of your problems, and you can access said program as much as you like by going to where you installed it directly and running the executable every time you want to run it.

It's sort of like my moms computer i get stuck with using sometimes. She doesn't like anything else installed, but she doesn't know about the msn live messenger or yahoo messenger directories inside of program files because she will never venture there ever. I will also never be suspected because all start menu folders, desktop shortcuts, auto-starting programs upon windows startup, and taskbar shortcuts have been done away with.

If what i said ends up not being good enough, then use what ever portable apps you can put onto a usb drive and run from there. The other thing you can do is temporarily install apps, and uninstall them when your done, clear the registry entries, and deleting whatever the hell the app left on your computer after running the uninstaller for it (which is usually the install folder with nothing in it and delete it too).

The last option you could do is get a linux live-cd jam packed with apps that will get most anything done. One good distro for that is Mepis (i believe it doesn't have rar support right on the cd, but it's got support for the rest of other types of compressed archive formats of course exlcuding the big two, which is rar and cab). Anyway, you'd simply boot up with the live cd, access the local hard drive on that machine, extract your necessary archives, restart the computer and be back right into windows with your extracted contents.

With parents spewing gobbledeegook, you must bypass them. The method i recommend is the first one (it works like a charm). Retarded/iliterate computer users suck. Have fun, because, it's not really hard to hide stuff on a computer. This also reminds of the teens who download porn, and then to get rid of it so they don't get caught would be to put it in the recycle bin and not empty the recycle bin

EDIT: The other failure of intelligence i've seen is when somebody installs a program they don't want their parents to know about. In particular it ends up being one of those programs that lodges itself into system tray (one of those ones that you can only exit by right clicking it's icon in the system tray). They end up closing out of the window failing to notice that it's still running in the system tray which leads the not so clever user to get yelled at by peers later on.  You got to be sneaky all the way

[colecampbell666]

You can use CCleaner or Spybot to fix left over registry entries or to delete programs from startup.

[MP-Ryan]

Use the portable version.

I think he misunderstood the proper procedure since he still tried to fit the Inf installer in his stick and failed. Then his dad sold his laptop. Fail.

Exactly!

Read this carefully.

1.  Go here:  http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/7-zip_portable
2.  Click Download Now.
3.  Connect your USB key to the computer.
4.  When it finishes downloading, double-click on 7-zip_portable_4.57.paf.exe
5.  When it asks you where to extract to, set it to extract to your USB key.
6.  When it has finished extracting, go into the USB key, find the 7-ZipPortable folder, and open 7ZipPortable.exe.
7.  Now, click File -> Open.
8.  Select any WinRAR or 7Zip format file ON YOUR LOCAL COMPUTER and open it.
9.  Click Extract, and extract to your favorite FreeSpace folder (or other).

*The portable app is about 5 MB.  It can easily fit on any USB key.  Delete some porn if you have to.
*You DO NOT have to put the archive files on the USB key with the portable app.  The application runs from the USB key but it can access files anywhere on the computer.
*Portable applications DO NOT install shortcuts or registry files, and all application data goes onto the USB key.  It doesn't touch the local computer, at all.

Finally, WinZIP and WinRAR are not made by Microsoft.  Both archiver's are made by proprietary companies and are frankly much more likely to have malware, spyware, or crap that will annoy you on your computer than an open-source application like 7Zip.  Open-Source applications are tested by thousands of people who use them on a daily basis, have a huge programmer database, and are by definition unobtrusive (much of the momentum of open-source comes from users who hate the bloat and "features" companies like Microsoft build into their software).

So, use the portable application, or tell your Dad all of this.  For reference, the US Department of Defence uses open-source file recovery software as a military grade application - I THINK that maybe, just maybe, it's safe to use on a home PC.

[colecampbell666]

Use the portable version.

I think he misunderstood the proper procedure since he still tried to fit the Inf installer in his stick and failed. Then his dad sold his laptop. Fail.

Exactly!

Read this carefully.

1.  Go here:  http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/7-zip_portable
2.  Click Download Now.
3.  Connect your USB key to the computer.
4.  When it finishes downloading, double-click on 7-zip_portable_4.57.paf.exe
5.  When it asks you where to extract to, set it to extract to your USB key.
6.  When it has finished extracting, go into the USB key, find the 7-ZipPortable folder, and open 7ZipPortable.exe.
7.  Now, click File -> Open.
8.  Select any WinRAR or 7Zip format file ON YOUR LOCAL COMPUTER and open it.
9.  Click Extract, and extract to your favorite FreeSpace folder (or other).

*The portable app is about 5 MB.  It can easily fit on any USB key.  Delete some porn if you have to.
*You DO NOT have to put the archive files on the USB key with the portable app.  The application runs from the USB key but it can access files anywhere on the computer.
*Portable applications DO NOT install shortcuts or registry files, and all application data goes onto the USB key.  It doesn't touch the local computer, at all.

Finally, WinZIP and WinRAR are not made by Microsoft.  Both archiver's are made by proprietary companies and are frankly much more likely to have malware, spyware, or crap that will annoy you on your computer than an open-source application like 7Zip.  Open-Source applications are tested by thousands of people who use them on a daily basis, have a huge programmer database, and are by definition unobtrusive (much of the momentum of open-source comes from users who hate the bloat and "features" companies like Microsoft build into their software).

So, use the portable application, or tell your Dad all of this.  For reference, the US Department of Defence uses open-source file recovery software as a military grade application - I THINK that maybe, just maybe, it's safe to use on a home PC.

I think he knows this, but his dad doesn't.

[Polpolion]

For reference, the US Department of Defence uses open-source file recovery software as a military grade application - I THINK that maybe, just maybe, it's safe to use on a home PC.

That's like saying "The US government uses Uranium in military-grade hardware, that must mean it's okay to use Uranium at home."

And Cole: Titan's just ignoring those posts. If anyone hasn't noticed, Titan still only says things like "My dad says no to installing winrar.", even when there are like seven posts telling him about portable apps.

[Jeff Vader]

That's like saying "The US government uses Uranium in military-grade hardware, that must mean it's okay to use Uranium at home."

Wait... so you're saying it isn't?

[MP-Ryan]

For reference, the US Department of Defence uses open-source file recovery software as a military grade application - I THINK that maybe, just maybe, it's safe to use on a home PC.

That's like saying "The US government uses Uranium in military-grade hardware, that must mean it's okay to use Uranium at home."

Actually no, it isn't like that at all...  but don't let context get in the way for you.

[colecampbell666]

Got a new idea:

CLICK HERE TO GET 7ZIP AND OPEN FILES! FOOL YOUR PARENTS!

[MP-Ryan]

Got a new idea:

Don't ever do that again.  Huge, fontified scrolling text is letting the terrorists win.

[colecampbell666]

It might get through to him, though.

Looks like proprietary software. Might fool his dad.

EDIT: And click quote just to get the full shock value.

[Polpolion]

For reference, the US Department of Defence uses open-source file recovery software as a military grade application - I THINK that maybe, just maybe, it's safe to use on a home PC.

That's like saying "The US government uses Uranium in military-grade hardware, that must mean it's okay to use Uranium at home."

Actually no, it isn't like that at all...  but don't let context get in the way for you.

You're basically saying that all open source software is be-all-end-all awesome, just because the US military uses an open source file recovery system. It doesn't even work in this situation, because 7-zip isn't that file recovery program.

[colecampbell666]

For reference, the US Department of Defence uses open-source file recovery software as a military grade application - I THINK that maybe, just maybe, it's safe to use on a home PC.

That's like saying "The US government uses Uranium in military-grade hardware, that must mean it's okay to use Uranium at home."

Actually no, it isn't like that at all...  but don't let context get in the way for you.

You're basically saying that all open source software is be-all-end-all awesome, just because the US military uses an open source file recovery system. It doesn't even work in this situation, because 7-zip isn't that file recovery program.

No... He's trying to prove to Titan's dad that open source is safe and useful. If the US Government uses it, it must be good.

[Polpolion]

For reference, the US Department of Defence uses open-source file recovery software as a military grade application - I THINK that maybe, just maybe, it's safe to use on a home PC.

That's like saying "The US government uses Uranium in military-grade hardware, that must mean it's okay to use Uranium at home."

Actually no, it isn't like that at all...  but don't let context get in the way for you.

You're basically saying that all open source software is be-all-end-all awesome, just because the US military uses an open source file recovery system. It doesn't even work in this situation, because 7-zip isn't that file recovery program.

No... He's trying to prove to Titan's dad that open source is safe and useful. If the US Government uses it, it must be good.

And is one file recovery program enough to represent open source programing in its entirety? I suppose for some people it might be, but any half-intelligent person wouldn't trust something based on a single example. And I can't quite say which group of people Titan's dad would belong to in this situation.

If it were me who didn't like open source, I would respond saying that just because one open source program is approved by the government doesn't mean that all of them are good. Plus they're all developed by as many different developing groups, some of which's team members are continents apart.

[MP-Ryan]

And is one file recovery program enough to represent open source programing in its entirety? I suppose for some people it might be, but any half-intelligent person wouldn't trust something based on a single example. And I can't quite say which group of people Titan's dad would belong to in this situation.

If it were me who didn't like open source, I would respond saying that just because one open source program is approved by the government doesn't mean that all of them are good. Plus they're all developed by as many different developing groups, some of which's team members are continents apart.

No; it's a single demonstration of one particular example of the trust afforded to open-source software.  However, we can launch into several others too.  Governments around the world have embraced Linux; Sun Java is the backing behind OpenOffice; the US military has actively promoted open-source development of file carvers.

The point is not that its one example of a particular type of open-source software; the point is the concept has been embraced by large organizations and millions of people around the world.

Don't let contextual relevance or big picture thinking get in the way of a good nitpick session though.

[Polpolion]

No; it's a single demonstration of one particular example of the trust afforded to open-source software.  However, we can launch into several others too.  Governments around the world have embraced Linux; Sun Java is the backing behind OpenOffice; the US military has actively promoted open-source development of file carvers.

The point is not that its one example of a particular type of open-source software; the point is the concept has been embraced by large organizations and millions of people around the world.

Don't let contextual relevance or big picture thinking get in the way of a good nitpick session though.

1) And you would need to launch into several other examples to make this tactic even remotely viable.

2) That point can't fully be portrayed with one example, as plainly stated in 1.

3) Is this a nitpicking session? Or am I just trying to make Titan have three-quarters-assed premises when he talks to his dad, eventually? What's the difference?

[S-99]

His dad is firmly set in his ways. He should just fool his parents as long as he can, he will get good at it. And the day his dad will see the light is when he accidentally humiliates his dad through some means or his dad unknowingly being hypocritical in some of the software he uses and titan takes notice and makes verbal note to his dad.

[colecampbell666]

No... He's trying to prove to Titan's dad that open source is safe and useful. If the US Government uses it, it must be good.

Oh wait...