I’m just posting this here so I don’t lose it. From Tom’s Hardware forums:

1. Create a “New” folder on your “C” drive, and name it drdos.
2. Go to http://www.devedia.com/dosghost/dos/downl_2.asp#drdos
3. Scroll down until you find v703drdos Beta - click on that. You will find yourself at an ftp download site of all the drdos utilities.
4. You can download them all to the new drdos folder, but you only need debug.exe; fdisk.com & format.com.
5. Download by right-clicking each one - choose “Save Target As” - and direct the download to the drdos folder.
6. Next, go to Program Files\Ahead\Nero and locate Dosbootimage.ima and copy and paste it to the drdos folder.
7. Fire up Nero - choose Nero Burning Rom. Should get New Compilation. On the left side, scroll down to CD-ROM (Boot) and highlight it.
8. Over on the right side, click the radio button for Image File & browse to the drdos folder to locate it so that it shows in the address space.
9. On the bottom half, under Enable Expert Settings, make sure the four categories are: Floppy Emulation 1.44; Nero Boot Loader v6.0; 07c0; 1.
10. Go up to the Burn tab and make sure that Write and Finalize cd are checked. Change the Write Speed to half of what your burner is capable of, then click New at the upper right corner.
11. On the right side, third pane over, locate the drdos folder and click it so that all of its’ files show up in the fourth pane. Drag and drop them all to the second pane. Locate the grayish cd disc with the flame on it near the top under the word Window. Click this to return to the Burn page; insert a blank cd-r disc into your burner; change Copies to two; then click burn. Quickly check off Verify Written Data at the bottom left.
12. OK the Data Verify success (second copy should start) - click Done (bottom left) - Exit out whereupon Nero will ask you to save this. I would, and call it drdos; for you to have in the future. Then back to your desktop.
13. You now have a bootable cd with which you can invoke debug. You will find it on the “D” drive after the cd boots up. Follow the routine I gave you in a previous post.
14. Print out this one and the debug routine to work easier.
15. If the laptops’ hard drive is okay, XP will install fresh & clean.

This is a companion to my 6 steps to easy typography in any document article I wrote a while back. Here is the quick and dirty process for adding a font in Windows XP.

1) First, find the font you want to install and note the folder it is in. Font files typically have an extension of .TTF (True Type Font) or .OTF (Open Type Font).

2) Click the Start button, then Control Panel.

If this loads a blue screen that says Pick a Category, click Appearance and Themes and then, under the See Also heading on the left, select the Fonts link.

If this, instead, loads a screen with several icons, simply double-click the Fonts icon.

3) Under the File menu, select Install New Font…

4) The navigation here is REALLY goofy and very old-school. For me, it’s kind of funny because it harkens me back to Windows 3.x. If you have less nostalgia about the days or yore with Windows, you’re just going to find this frustrating.

Under the Drives drop-down, you have all the drives on/in your computer. This includes CD-ROM drives, USB drives, and hard drives. The default setting when you pull up this window is “C:,” typically your main drive. Since, in step one, you noted the location of the font file you wish to add, you’re going to find it with this silly “drive-then-folder” navigation.

Pick the correct drive, then, in the Folders window on the left, drill down to the correct folder.

Hint: If you downloaded the font to your desktop (the default location for Firefox [you are using Firefox, right?]), go to the C: drive (or whichever drive Windows is installed on), then Documents and Settings, then find your login name (this is what you use to log in when your computer starts up - probably your first or last name; if you don’t login then it’s probably Administrator) and enter that folder, then Desktop. Yes, I agree, it would be nice if that was easier to find.

5) When you’ve got the right folder selected, the font file(s) will appear in the List of fonts window. Simply select the one(s) you want to install (hold down CTRL then click for more than one but less than all) or push the Select All button to install everything in that directory.

6) Click Ok and start making beautiful documents!

Bonus! How to find cool fonts!

As long as you promise not to go crazy with these, I’ll show you where to get some great fonts (some of which are free).