Not everyone buy eMachines... most pc come with the cd and atleast the recovery tools. I was wondering if the linux site banned u... is that why you now hang out at WINcustomize

I work for the largest Radio network in Canada we use 1 linux server out of hundreds of machines and a couple of unix boxes. They are great for network file storage work for months with out need for reboot... but they are not used as work stations because they don't have any productive software or the proper software for running the day to day operations of over 100 stations. linux has its place but its not serious enough to the average consumer... it is still a geek toy.

I come here because I have an interest in skinning, and I do use skinning aps (mainly Stardock brand) for my Windows system. I have never been banned from any site. Expressing an opinion you disagree with does not make me a troll. Stating a fact that certain people don't want to be open minded enough to accept does not make me a troll. I am just trying to contribute to the discussions and give my point of view for people's consideration. I don't come here to get abused and I don't come here to abuse. Please lay off on how much of a horrible person I am.

How 'bout a chuckle...http://www.tomshardware.com/column/20030401/index.html

opinion is great. Its just that you go on about linux so much you'd think it was the second coming of the computer age. Educate yourself more on the abilities of the various OS's out there use them all for months at a time without switching back and forth. Then you will see the plus and minus of each one. Not one of them is best at all things. But from a consumers point of view linux is still not a viable option.

Here's another funny link to go with yrag's link http://www.mslinux.org/

Put simply...if you run XP and your drive fails to boot and you are without a bootable CD for XP then the solution IS to use the floppies available from Microsoft which are intended EXACTLY for this situation.

You don't go running off to get on ISO from some Linux site and magically burn a CD of it and 'assume' it can properly access a non-Linux OS correctly.

Your intention is NOT to simply read the drive data/information, but to restore the hardware to a bootable drive...it's a system repair.

In the case that the drive needs to be written to, the the boot floppies are the tool to use. Knoppix allows you to access your files (and yes you can read XP file systems just fine, I use it I should know) and be productive when you hard drive fails to operate.

For example, if your hard drive fails to operate, that is there is something physically wrong with it, you can use Knoppix to type your papers and stuff and save them to floppy disks if you can't afford to replace your hard drive soon enough.