Windows XP Vortex 3G Red Edition

Windows XP Vortex 3G Red Edition
	Crusty Windows bootleg
	The desktop of Windows XP Vortex 3G Red Edition
Original OS	Windows XP SP3
Release date	February 22, 2009
Author	Mohamed Moustafa, Hesham Fayez
Country	Egypt
Language(s)	English, Arabic
Architecture(s)	x86 (32-bit)
File size	701 MB
Download link	Windows_XP_Vortex_3G_Red_Edition.iso; (February 2009); Boshkash. Live Dvd.iso; (March 2009)
Date added	February 2009:; December 12, 2021; March 2009:; December 22, 2022

Windows XP Vortex 3G Red Edition is a bootleg Windows XP SP3 edition, which was created by Mohamed Moustafa and Hesham Fayez. It released on February 22, 2009, and was added to the archive on December 12, 2021. Later on, on December 22, 2013, the bootleg resurfaced on arabessam's blog. Presumably, this was where the bootleg was found and archived.

An updated version of this bootleg from March 7, 2009, was discovered and uploaded to the archive on December 22, 2022. According to the release notes, some programs were updated and some minor issues were fixed. Apparently, you can now choose to have the normal Vista look instead of the RED look that this bootleg is known for.

Description

The bootleg is a modified Windows XP SP3 ISO. It heavily themes the OS after Project(RED) Windows Vista. It adds some programs, themes and wallpapers, icons, cursors and sounds. It comes with many updates. It comes with its own autorun, and a specialized software collection. It is unattended, and preactivated.

The included software collection, Vortex Tools 3.0, which you can access through the desktop, has many interesting things on it. There are about 4 pages you can scroll through, each with their own distinct purpose. Such as, the second page being a listing of customization utilities which you can peruse through and customize to your liking. What's particularly notable about this page's catalog however, is you can change the transparency setting of "Trans Bar" directly from Vortex Tools itself. You can even clear your icon cache with it! The third page is a launcher for the home-made "Autorun Protection" (which is just a batch script), where you can select the drives you want it to scan for any malicious autorun entries. And the last page is a search engine for the creators' supposed sponsor, Linklol.com, which has been long defunct. Nowadays it is a link shortener. Here, you can see credits for the bootleg authors.

But there is a lot more to this tool than you might think, there are actually multiple sections of programs you can scroll through. In the first page, there are 3 sections: "System", "Tools", and "Security".

The autorun was made using a trial version of AutoPlay Media Studio 7.0.

Changes from Windows XP SP3

The setup has been heavily modified and replaced with a custom setup engine, complete with animations and a slideshow with Quran verses which also silently installs programs in the background
New boot screen
New pre-OOBE graphics
New default theme, and wallpaper
6 new visual styles included
20 new wallpapers included. One is "Bliss", and it's been replaced
New default screensaver
4 new ProjectRED gadgets included
New Windows Vista sound scheme
New Aero cursor set. The Working in Background and Busy cursors are recolored to red
Segoe UI is present
The Run dialog has been edited to look like Windows 7's
OEM branding is included

Software

Adobe Flash Player 10.0.12.36
Alky 1.1
Foxit Reader 2.3 Build 3201
K-Lite Codec Pack Standard 4.5.3
Microsoft Office 2007 Recent Documents Gadgets
Real Alternative 1.90
TeraCopy 2.0 beta 4a
UltraISO 9.3.1.2633
Winamp v5.541
WinRAR 3.80 (cracked, registered to Computer)
Windows Live Essentials (Windows Live Messenger 14.0.8050.1202)
Windows Sidebar
Yahoo! Messenger (9.0.0.2128)

Updates

Microsoft Silverlight
DirectX 9.0c
Windows Media Player 11
Internet Explorer 7
MSXML 4.0 SP2

Software on the CD

Vortex Tools 3.0

System

Advanced SystemCare Free 3.1.2
Autoruns 9.38
CCleaner v2.15.81
Context Menu Manager
DiskCleaner
Driver Update
Everest Ultimate Engineer Edition 4.60.1578 Beta (cracked)
HD Tune 2.55
HWMonitor 1.11.0
MemTest 3.8
Process Explorer 11.32
Registry Defrag
Revo Uninstaller 1.75
DShutdown v1.72.1
Smart RAM
TweakUI 2.10.0.0
WinUpdatesList v1.23
WinDriver Expert 1.10

Tools

FTP Wanderer 2.8.1
Pandora Recovery v2.1.1
Dexpot 1.4
XnView 1.92
Quick Search and Replace 1.0
WinImage Self Extractor 6.00.6000
mp3DirectCut 2.06
PowerMenu 1.5.1
Audio Record Wizard 3.98
Traktor DJ 1.06
Notepad2 3.0.20
SiteShoter 1.21
DiskExplorer

Security

Autorun Protection (it just takes you to the aforementioned page)
Autorun Remover V2.3
Fast scan for autorun
Expired Cookies Cleaner v.1.02
SmitFraudFix v2.396

Vista Tools

VistaDriveIcon
ViStart VTP Edition Build 2489
ViStart Build 2646
TopDesk 1.4.2
TrueTransparency (with 2 new skins)
TransBar 1.4.2
LClock 1.0
ViOrb
VisualTaskTips 2.2
Styler 1.401 (with 6 new skins)

Notes

The bootleg was finalized on February 20, 2009, and released 2 days later.
The branding of "Windows XP" and "Windows Vista" is very inconsistent in the OS, but winver implies it's based off Windows XP SP3.
"KMPlayer" is unclickable in Vortex Tools for some reason.
"Vista Ultimate" appears to be an edited version of VistaVG, just with the ProjectRED start orb added.
The serial key is listed in a text file on the CD root.