hiren's boot ?

[crazygoat]

A friend handed me a disk labeled "hiren's boot". Under what circumstances would I opt to use it ?

[TimW]

Hiren's BootCD is a live CD containing various diagnostic programs such as partitioning agents, system performance benchmarks, disk cloning and imaging tools, data recovery tools, MBR tools, BIOS tools, and many others for fixing various computer problems. As it is a bootable CD, it can be useful even if the primary operating system cannot be booted. Hiren's Boot CD has an extensive list of software. Utilities with similar functionality on the CD are grouped together and seem redundant; however, they present choices through different UIs and options in what they can do.
While this collection of tools can be very useful, potential users should note that many of the tools are commercial applications that have not been legally licensed for redistribution, and so download/use/sharing of Hiren's BootCD may be illegal (depending on your legal jursidiction).

Answer your question?

[BILLMCC66]

There are many applications on Hirens boot CD and some can really srew your PC but others are good working tools here's a list of what should be on the disk but be very careful what you use without supervision.

http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

Edit AAAAARG Tim got there first.

[dlb]

As Tim mentioned, there are many pirated programs on Hirens CD, but also many great free programs. I think just being in posession of the pirated software would be in violation of software copyright laws, at least in the US. A similar CD full of 100% legal tools can be download here at Major Geeks, it's called The Ultimate Boot CD: http://majorgeeks.com/Ultimate_Boot_CD_d4981.html Do not confuse this CD with the excellent Ultimate Boot CD for Windows, also called the UBCD4Win. This is a PE-based boot disc which loads to a Windows-like environment but it runs exclusively from the CD, and it's 100% legal. This allows you unrestricted access to your system hard drive(s) to remove malware, fix files, repair file systems, backup data from non-booting systems, etc. The UBCD4Win is also completely customize-able so you can add programs you find helpful. You can download the base file from Major Geeks: http://majorgeeks.com/UBCD4Win_d5710.html The how-to-built-the-CD guide can be found here: http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm and a guide to customizing the CD can be foud at the same web site, or use this link: http://www.ubcd4win.com/custom.htm I work on lots of seriously messed up PCs (viruses, corrupt file systems, crashed OSes, etc) and the UBCD4Win has made my life MUCH easier in so many ways.....
I hope this helps!

[dlb]

[Speculant]

dlb is right, having any sort of bootable CD with tools/applications on it can be quite helpful at times, but since Hiren's Boot CD is illegal i use the Ultamite Boot CD and it's been just fine for my usage (copying, erasing, formatting, and partitioning HDDs mainly).

Originally Posted by BILLMCC66

Edit AAAAARG Tim got there first.

don't you hate when that happens??

[crazygoat]

Thanks everybody. While friends of mine have been quick to offer their two cents about how I should go about structuring and utilizing my laptop - well, they seem to have a tendency to make things far more difficult and imposing than they need to be. I, purposely, have been trying to take a un 'tainted' view of all the info that's out there. My hope is that by 'dumbing myself down', so to speak, (and not be shy in asking questions) I will come across the simple, effective tools and approaches that will best suit my needs.
Hey what's up with the quotes ? And are song lyrics considered quotes even though they are not , technically, spoken?