Some people find hard the previous technique; if this is your
case, and you are ready to make some major changes to your system
(or you do changes very often), this technique will bring you
a more permanent solution, and an easiest way to replace system
files.
Now we’ll try to mislead WFP using logic thought. If windows
loads its “healthy” files from a given location, what
if it doesn’t find these copies? Yes, we’re right,
then it will be unable to load (and replace) system files. As
you know, all the “healthy” copies of system files
are loaded from a folder called “Dllcache”.
So if we try to replace the file called “Shell32.dll”
located in System32, Windows will replace our copy with
a “healthy” file from Dllcache, and so on.
We’ll be unable to see any change in our system because,
in fact, we didn’t do any change.
Then, the easiest way to keep our tweaked copies unaltered, is
deleting (or even better, renaming) the folder called Dllcache.
What will happen when we replace any system file? Windows will
try to load its “healthy” copy from Dllcache
and will fail, so it will show us a dialog box asking for our
Win XP CD in order to load its “healthy” copies and
replace our dear tweaked file. Make sure you don’t have
your XP installation disc in the tray or windows will load the
files from here!
Step One. Navigate to your \Windows\System32
folder. Select the folder called “Dllcache”
and rename it to “BackupFolder”. You can
move it away from their original location, maybe to the root of
your hard drive.
Note: You must disable
the “Hidden protected system files and folders”
feature (process described in the Background
section) or you’ll be unable to see this folder. If you’re
using Service Pack 1, please read the section called Service
Pack 1 users information.
Step Two. Select any tweaked file from my set
and copy it straight over the System32 folder. Windows
will ask you confirm the file replace. You must answer “Yes”
to this dialog:
Step Three. Close all the explorer windows.
You’ll see the WFP warning messages, just proceed as you
know (click “Cancel” in
the first window and “Yes”
in the second one). That's all.
Important note: Not all the files can be replaced
in the standard way described here. Some of them, such as Shell32.dll
and Explorer.exe files might need to be replaced using
the first technique described in this tutorial, even if you
have deleted your Dllcache folder. It’s because
Windows is doing use of these files and can’t be overwritten
unless you kill the Explorer.exe process.
Advantages of this technique: You won’t have to
deal with a complex updating process again, all your system files
can be tweaked and replaced easily and quickly.
Disadvantages: Not all the files can be replaced using
this technique (such as Shell32.dll). Also, you can be
exposed to any possible attack targeted to your system files (I
recommend you to install a good antivirus). And you could need
some of these “healthy” copies in the near future,
who knows? That’s why it’s a very good idea to rename
your Dllcache folder instead of deleting it completely.
Third
Technique (the ugly)
