How to make $1000 a month from the Internet

Since I retired in 2011 (actually I was made redundant, but that's another story), I have been experimenting with booting from USB drives and I first started the blog site www.rmprepusb.com to write up my experiments for others to follow (mostly the members of reboot.pro). It was also a handy way for me to learn how to make a website (which was all new to me).

Some people were grateful for the articles and ask me to set up a 'Donate' page so they could buy me a cup of coffee or two.

After a while, I placed AdSense ads on that site and so I started to get some revenue from the adverts. After that, I realised that I could actually make some money from the website and it helped to pay the website host costs which were approx. £100 a year.

Since then, I have made YouTube videos, blogs, an E2B website and written some eBooks - all of these have helped to pay my expenses as well as bring in an income.

I have chatted to friends over the years, and I even managed to convince a few of them that they also can make money from the Internet (which a few have done). 

I have now scribbled down a lot of my ideas, methods, hints, tips and mistakes into an eBook called 'How to make $1000 a month from the Internet'.

I chose the figure of $1000/month because I really do feel that it is possible for almost anyone who is willing to spend a little time and effort to achieve that figure (if not more).

eBook #3 How to install Microsoft Windows using Easy2Boot new revision available

I have now updated eBook #3

How to install Microsoft Windows using Easy2Boot_v1.8.pdf

If you want the latest version, please use link in your original Payhip email receipt to download it.

Updates are free!

How to Install Windows using Easy2Boot (v1.8 2021-02-23)

Contents

Easy2Boot v2.08 is now released

Changes from v2.07:

1. Bugfix - Windows ISO Repair option sometimes doesn't work
2. Bugfix - Fix Make_E2B cmd script aborting when XP Home used as host OS
3. Add E2B 'Disable Kaspersky shim' menu option to disable Insecure boot feature
4. Trad Chinese language improved
5. New file 'Test_file_access_speed.lua' added to UTILITIES menu for agFM menu system

If you run Make_E2B.exe and click on the Update E2B drive button, it will update both E2B and agFM to the latest release versions. 

To update Ventoy, double-click on:

\e2b\Update agFM\Update_to_latest_Ventoy_version.cmd 

which is on the 2nd partition (requires internet access)

How to UEFI64-boot to the AntiVirusLiveCD ISO

The AntiVirusLiveCD ISO only supports 64-bit CPUs and Legacy\MBR booting. MBR-booting on a system with a 32-bit CPU causes a 'not 64-bit CPU' error message to be displayed. 

When I downloaded the AntivirusLiveCD-36.0-0.103.0.iso file, I found by using 7Zip, that it did not contain a \EFI folder or any boot image which contained any .efi boot files. So the ISO does not support UEFI-booting. 

Even though the ISO does not contain UEFI64 boot files, it is possible to first UEFI64-boot to grub2 and then load the linux kernel and initrd ramdrive files under grub2. As long as the kernel does not rely on any Legacy BIOS calls, it should still boot OK.

I examined the AntivirusLiveCD-36.0-0.103.0.iso's \boot\isolinux\isolinux.cfg file:

How to fix a website browser display problem

When using a web browser, you can sometimes find that the browser is not displaying a particular website 'correctly'.

I quite often find that Chrome will sometimes insist on displaying a website page on my PC as if it was a mobile device and insists on using the mobile  'm.xxx' URL site address rather than the desktop site URL. It can also display a dark theme (which I personally don't find easy to read) or display the site using a different theme or layout than is displayed on other devices or browsers. 

If I am browsing on a mobile device, the Chrome hamburger menu icon will often give me the option for 'Desktop site', but when using a desktop PC/notebook, this option is not available even if the mobile version of the website is being displayed by the browser.

Here are some things that I try:

• Try a different browser
• Try the Incognito tab
• Delete/edit cookies for site
• Deep-dive using F12

My first attempt to fix this is to try a different browser such as Windows Edge or Opera.

Ventoy for Easy2Boot v1.0.35 now available

 1. Download the modified version from here

2. Drag-and-drop the .zip file onto the USB Partition2 \e2b\Update agFM\Add_Ventoy.cmd file.

Allow the new files to overwrite the old version of Ventoy.

If there is a problem and you want to go back to the latest release version, run \e2b\Update agFM\Update_to_latest_Ventoy_version.cmd.

Ventoy for Easy2Boot

Please note: This is NOT the official Ventoy - it has been modified to work with E2B, so please don't report problems to Ventoy/LongPanda unless you can reproduce the problem on a real official Ventoy USB drive made with the Ventoy2Disk application provided.

If you have downloaded and tested the new version (UEFI and Legacy) please tick the 'It worked for me' checkbox.

agFM v1.70 available plus eBook #4 updated rev. 1.20

 I have now updated agFM to v1.70. It is available from the Alternate Downloads sites and should also be live if you run the \e2b\Update agFM\Download and update agFM_v2.cmd script. 

The PDF eBook #4 for agFM has also been updated to rev. 1.20 to match agFM v1.70 (contents list below). Later revisions of all E2B eBooks can be downloaded for free using the original download link that you received in the email when you first purchased it from Payhip.

agFM v1.70 2021-02-14

• Recognise the .binacpi file extension (e.g. to run DSDT.bin files).
• Add Enable\Disable Kaspersky shim EFI menu entry.
• rEFInd EFI booloader/manager by Rod Smith added (EFI boot manager) added.
• SAMPLE startup menu files now include new entries to run rEFInd.

The latest Beta version of Easy2Boot is v2.08e. The Beta history for v2.08e is:

2.08a - add \_ISO\MAINMENU\DisableKasperskyShim.mnu
2.08b - bugfix in Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd drive creation script due to XP Home not having tasklist.exe
2.08c and d - bugfix for Win7 Repair option (did not swap hd0 with hd1), did not wait 3 secs on wimboot prompt on Dell PC - thanks to Jose C for reporting the issue
2.08e - improve Trad Chinese language file, E2B ignores .lua files, Test_file_access_speed.lua added to UTILITIES folder for agFM menu system (test file access speeds under agFM)

and I suggest you also update your E2B files to this latest version too as it adds new features and bugfixes.

eBook #4: UEFI multi-boot using the a1ive grub2 File Manager

Contents:

How to fix intermittent errors when booting from a USB drive

Around 1998 we got introduced to USB 1.0. The pure data bit rate could reach an amazing 12Mbits/s (approx 1MByte/s in real life). Then we got USB 2 at the start of the new Millenium which gave us up to 60MBytes/s (much faster than slow-spinning CDs!). 

Later still (after 2008) we got USB 3, 3.1 and 3.2 with up to 2.4GBytes/s and very recently we have USB 4 (based on Thunderbolt 3) and are promised speeds of up to a staggering 40GBytes/s.

The names which were given to these different technologies (and seem have been randomly assigned with little forethought) are:

• USB 1 - Low Speed
• USB 1 - Full Speed
• USB 2 - High Speed
• USB 3 - Super Speed
• USB 3.1 Gen 1 Super Speed
• USB 3.1 Gen 2 Super Speed+
• USB 3.2 Gen 1x1
• USB 3.2 Gen 2x1
• USB 3.2 Gen 2x2
• USB 4 Gen 2x2
• USB 4 Gen 3x2 - USB4 routing for tunnelling of USB3.x, DisplayPort 1.4a and PCI Express traffic and host-to-host transfers, based on the Thunderbolt 3 protocol

So what started out as 1MB/s wired protocol has ended up as having a 40+GB/s Input/Output transfer protocol zipping along at radio frequencies!

Now when considering booting from a PC or Notebook, the BIOS/Firmware driver is responsible for USB I/O communication. Most computers which have USB 3 ports, have both USB 3 and USB 2 drivers embedded in the firmware. However, these BIOS drivers will probably not be fully featured like full-blown Windows or Linux drivers. Hence, they may not fully implement the Super Speed protocols and error handling may be limited.

The transfer protocols used by the driver will determine how fast I/O access is and thus how fast we can boot from the USB drive. Moving large blocks of data using a high-speed USB block-transfer protocol under Windows can give us those high speeds, but the BIOS firmware is probably using a more primitive and slower protocol to access the USB drive.

Another point to keep in mind is what BIOS code is used. If we Legacy\MBR-boot from the USB drive it will use the real-mode IBM-compatible BIOS USB driver, but if we UEFI-boot then a completely different UEFI USB driver will be used by the BIOS.

Because the BIOS\Firmware knows what USB chipset is present, it is possible for the BIOS developers to make sure that the USB speeds are optimized. However, most BIOS developers just use generic USB 2/3 drivers to add into their Firmware whilst others may spend some time and effort tweaking the USB BIOS code (e.g. Apple).

Gotcha's

11 useful Antivirus ISOs all in one downloads

 In a fairly recent article, Jayro (the developer of Medicat) has provided a separate 7GB .zip file download of useful antivirus ISOs.

You can extract the contents to a Ventoy USB drive or to the root of an E2B USB drive (except for the two autorun files).

If you don't want to use Ventoy (because it will overwrite the \ventoy\ventoy.json file) then just copy the ISO files to the \_ISO\ANTIVIRUS folder.

Note that some of the ISOs do not support UEFI (Avast, Sophos,AVG and Comodo do not even contain EFI boot files). Jayro has disabled UEFI boot in the Ventoy configuration file because many of the others are problematic when attempting to UEFI-boot from them. Only DrWeb, Eset and MalwareBytes seem to UEFI64 boot using agFM.

Updated:

~ I actually downgraded the 2018 Malwarebytes Bootable WinPE to a 2016 version for added stability, it boots up WAY faster, uses much less RAM, and has a smaller file size. Has a startup sound with audio instructions to get you started. This older version is only temporary, until I have the time to build a proper one that's more up to date.

~ Minimum memory requirements have been reduced at the bottom of this changelog, to better reflect the memory needs of the included WinPE WIM files. Minimum RAM requirements below has dropped from 3GB down to 2GB, but you'll still want 4GB or more for comfortable usage. Luckily most modern PCs and laptops come with no less than 4GB these days.

~ Malwarebytes virus definitions to v2020.12.08.03

Add Medicat v21.01 to your E2B USB drive

 Medicat 21.01 is in the form of zip files for use with 7Zip and Ventoy. You are supposed to extract the contents to the first partition of a previously-made Ventoy USB disk. Instead, you can just copy all the files (except \autorun.inf and \autorun.ico) to the root of your E2B first NTFS partition and only use Ventoy to boot to Medicat. This will add lots of folders to the root however and you may overwrite the contents of your \ventoy folder which will affect your existing Ventoy theme and menu settings (if you have any).

See also: https://rmprepusb.blogspot.com/2022/01/quickly-add-medicat-2112-to-easy2boot.html

Remember to disable your AntiVirus first (and check that it does not 'quarantine' any files on the USB drive once you have completed the copy and re-enabled your AV).

Medicat v21.01 zip file contents

Then simply boot to Ventoy from the E2B USB drive.

Note that copying the Medicat files will also add the \ventoy folder to the first E2B NTFS partition which includes a ventoy.json file. This will change the Ventoy theme and also change the menu entry names. You may find it educational to look at the ventoy.json to see what it does because a few ISO mey require special settings.

I found that quite a few of the menu entries had problems UEFI-booting on my Lenovo IdeaPad - maybe you will have better luck...

The alternative would be to selectively pick only the ISO or WIM files that you want, and add them into the existing E2B menu folders. This means you don't need to boot to Ventoy.

In most cases you do not need to add any of the other files (some may require the ventoy.json if anything 'special' needs to be done to run the ISO using Ventoy - so you may need that too).

Medicat Mini Windows

To add the Medicat WinPE, we need the file:

\Boot_an_Operating_System\[UEFI]_Mini_Windows_10.iso

Copy the ISO file to the \_ISO\WINPE folder (for instance). 

You will also need to copy the following files and folders to the root of the E2B NTFS partition #1 as they are required by Medicat Mini Windows 10 too (the Mini_Windows_10.iso only contains boot files and the boot.wim file):

\Start.exe

\CdUsb.Y

\autorun.cmd (optional)

\PortableApps

\Programs

\System (optional)

To save a key press or two in the E2B and agFM menus, you can rename the extension to _.isodef.iso.

Issues?

• AntiVirus - MalwareBytes: UEFI64 does not seem to boot using Ventoy. Boots OK using agFM menu system and choosing .isowin or .isomap options however.
• Some other Windows ISOs also seem to have problems. Try .isomap option in agFM.
• Ventoy has problems with some payloads if testing using VirtualBox+VMUB but on a real system it usually works OK.
• If you have intermittent problems when booting large ISOs, etc. then try a USB 2 port or connect a USB 2 extension cable to the E2B USB drive so that only USB 2 speeds are used instead of USB 3 speeds.
• If you are using a USB 3 SSD device and experience problems, try using a USB Flash drive or USB spinning Hard Drive instead - I have seen some issues when booting some Linux distros (e.g. Slax) from a USB SSD (the USB drive is not detected by the kernel and  fdisk -l does not list the USB drive)!
• To boot using agFM, you may require > 4GB of RAM in the system.

Recommended for E2B: SanDisk Extreme Pro 3.1 (#ad)

Latest Windows update KB4535680 blocks agFM Secure Boot!

You can Secure UEFI64-boot to agFM on the E2B USB drive because it uses the Kaspersky bootx64.efi signed grub2 shim file. This boot file originated from Kaspersky and was signed by Microsoft as being 'Secure'. However, it contained a loophole which allowed us (via some clever programming) to load unsigned modules and hence an unsigned version of grub2 (e.g. grubfm or agFM or Ventoy, etc.).

A year or so ago, Microsoft released a KB Update which added a 'blacklist' entry into the UEFI BIOS non-volatile RAM of the Windows system UEFI firmware. This is called the DBx (or dbx) list and it can usually be found in your UEFI BIOS settings.

The DBx list was specifically intended for this purpose - to blacklist boot files which Microsoft had signed as 'Secure' but later turn out to be not as 'secure' as they thought!

The update provided by Microsoft immediately caused a lot of issues on certain Secure Boot OEM systems which also used this same EFI boot file (Lenovo?, HP?) and thus the update prevented them from booting after it was installed! Microsoft quickly withdrew the Windows Update and left their victims to try to rescue their secure but unbootable systems.

Now it seems Microsoft have tried again (KB4535680 2021-01-12) but the new Windows update is only applied to certain systems (and probably only those that boot via UEFI and have GPT partitions on the boot disk):

Add rEFInd to agFM

Clover identifies EFI files on all partitions.
You can also add your own menu entries if you wish.

If you want to add rEFInd to your Easy2Boot USB drive, then you can download the current rEFInd files to the \EFI\refind folder, rename the bootx64 and bootia32 .efi files and then simply add all the files to the 2nd FAT32 partition (agFM partition) of your E2B USB drive.

You can configure the rEFInd menu by editing the \EFI\refind\refind.conf text file.

Instructions

agFM 1.70b Beta and E2B v2.08a Beta available (BUGFIX for Blank screen on UEFI booting)

It has been reported that some notebooks such as the Lenovo IdeaPad S145 and ZYREX SKY 232 do not like the UEFI64 Kaspersky .EFI boot shim which agFM uses by default.

The Kasperksy .EFI boot file is signed by Microsoft and allows us to boot to agFM which then temporarily disables Secure Boot, thus allowing us to run agFM grub2 and boot from both signed and unsigned (insecure) ISOs and other boot files.

However, some systems will not UEFI64 boot to the Kaspersky+agFM boot files (even if Secure Boot is disabled in the BIOS). The reason for this is unknown.

Another problem with the Kaspersky shim is that it may be blacklisted by a Linux or Windows update which can add an entry into the BIOS's DBx blacklist EEPROM firmware list. This means that if Secure Boot is enabled in your BIOS on your system, it will not allow the Kaspersky EFI boot file to load and you may see some sort of 'Security Violation' error from the BIOS on boot. You can check your BIOS DBx list to see if has any entries (and clear the list).

The solution to both these issues is to remove the Kaspersky shim and this process is documented on this page in the Troubleshooting sections and in the FAQ page.

In these latest Beta versions, I have modified the E2B and agFM menu system so that you can enable or disable the Kaspersky shim by using a menu entry. If you remove the Kaspersky Secure Boot EFI file, you will not have the ability to secure boot to the agFM menu.

Update Instructions

agFM v1.70aBeta available

The latest agFM v1.70aBeta version now understands files with the new .binacpi file extension.

If you have a binary acpi file which you want to patch your BIOS with (for instance to try to get ACPI support working under XP using a DSDT.bin file), you can change the extension of your file from .bin to .binacpi.

It will then by listed in the agFM menu system and agFM will present you with this menu when the .binacpi file is selected:

E2B v2.07 is now released

 The latest version 2.07 is now live.

1. \E2B Launcher.exe application added

2. Add .ventoyignore dummy files to \_ISO\docs and \_ISO\e2b folders for faster Ventoy startup

Why not treat yourself?

Having problems booting UEFI payloads with E2B, Rufus, Ventoy, etc.?

Maybe you didn't get the present you really wanted at Xmas or you are just feeling depressed at having to stay indoors during Covid Lockdown? Then why not treat yourself to an IODD Mini SSD  CD\DVD emulator (#ad).

This small device fits easily into any pocket and being SSD-based it is robust, light and fast.

In case you didn't get the memo - the Mini can not only load any ISO as a virtual DVD drive, but it can load up to FOUR different VHDs at the same time! That means you can have any four USB disks you like. Each disk can contain multiple partitions, so you can have four different complete OS's on those disks and boot to any of them (not counting the SSD disk itself). You can also set each Virtual disk to be a Removable USB device and thus emulate a USB Flash drive instead of a USB HDD (or up to four USB flash drives).

If you copy on an empty file with a .VHD extension (or any file) and select it - you now have a blank 'disk' which you can install anything you like onto (after partitioning it and formatting it like any other blank disk).

Do you have many small bootable USB drives, each with a different payload? Then why not just convert each one to a .VHD file (e.g. using RMPrepUSB - Disk to File) and store them on the IODD?

Note: VHD files are  just disk images. The file needs to be contiguous.

Of course, it can't do fancy stuff like auto-install Windows, apps, drivers and updates using user XML files like E2B can with SDI_CHOCO, it can't attach a persistence file to an ISO and boot the live ISO with persistence, it can't Secure-boot boot non-secure ISOs, it can't run ISOs that were actually designed to be extracted onto a flash drive rather than boot as a liveCD, it doesn't contain PassPass or UtilMan XML files to bypass Windows account logins and all the other good stuff that E2B+agFM+Ventoy can do - BUT the good news is you can simply add E2B+agFM+Ventoy onto it!

Prices are around $130 for the 256GB version. You know you deserve it :-)

agFM v1.69 and 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' v1.0.32 released

 agFM v1.69 and 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' v1.0.32 are now released and will be automatically downloaded when you make a new E2B USB drive or run the appropriate \e2b\Update agFM cmd files to update agFM and Ventoy.

eBook #4 for agFM has been revised and updated for the new F1 and F5 menu structure in agFM. Updates are free - just use the link in the original email receipt from Payhip.

E2B v2.07 will be released soon - the only changes to E2B are the new E2B Launcher utility and the addition of some .ignoreVentoy dummy files to speed up booting to the Ventoy menu.

Please donate!

If you use E2B+agFM+Ventoy, please donate something to a1ive and LongPanda who are the developers of grubfm and Ventoy. They deserve at least a cup of coffee for all their excellent hard work which they provide for free! Think where we would be if we didn't have these utilities to use on modern UEFI systems!

'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' v1.0.32 with UEFI32 support now available

 Ventoy now supports UEFI32 (experimental) as well as UEFI64.

I have compiled a version for Easy2Boot from the v1.0.32 Ventoy sources.

To update your E2B USB drive...

'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' v1.0.31 is now available

 Download ZIP file and drag-and-drop onto \e2b\Update agFM\Add_Ventoy.cmd to update.

The download is in the latest Betas folder on Alternate Downloads site.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqlrQcdsFA-K7S2G6_UPKR7HCecH?e=dhknNv

I will release in a few days unless someone reports a problem.

This is NOT the official version of Ventoy - it is modified - so do not report any problems to the Ventoy author!

Ventoy UEFI32 is not supported.

Don't forget to subscribe for the latest news and tips!

a1ive grub2 code to check for an expiry date

 If you have added your own \boot\grubfm\startup_menu.txt file, you can check for an expiry date. This would force the user to update their USB drive. Here is an example of how to test dates.

Check expiry date

You can add the lines below to check that an expiry date has not been met or exceeded. Change the value of LOWERDATE  and UPPERDATE as required to set a valid range.

The code gets the current date in YYYYMMDD format into sdate. The regexp command is used to get the first 8 characters only.

It then compares that dates and reboots the system if the expiry date has been met or if the date is before or equal to the LOWERDATE. The LOWERDATE test helps to prevent the user from cheating by setting the RTC (Real Time Clock) to an earlier date.

This may be of use if you want to force the user to update the USB boot drive after a specific date (.e.g. example = expires Feb 01 - valid for any day in January).

# check date - reset if UPPERDATE (YYYYMMDD) is equal to or smaller than current date
set LOWERDATE=20201231
set UPPERDATE=20210201
unset now;date -s now;regexp -s sdate '(........)' "$now"
# display RTC date and time in human form (optional)
date -m
if [ "${sdate}" -le "${LOWERDATE}" ]; then echo "ERROR: INCORRECT RTC DATE - rebooting..."; sleep 5; reset -w; fi
if [ "${sdate}" -ge "${UPPERDATE}" ]; then echo "ERROR: THIS SOFTWARE HAS EXPIRED ($sdate >= $UPPERDATE) - rebooting..."; sleep 5; reset -w; fi 

unset now;unset UPPERDATE;unset sdate;unset LOWERDATE

Taken from E2B eBook #4 - UEFI-multiboot using the a1ive grub2 File Manager