anon.ms anon ms it guy: more than break-fix

23Nov/090

My Standard XP Install/Setup

Hopefully you're like me and love to trim all the fat.

Whenever I touch a clients (XP Pro) computer or do a new install, this is what I do (with permission):
Right click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Performance Settings, Adjust for best performance, Tick the following: Show window contents while dragging, Smooth edges of screen fonts, Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop, and only if the user REALLY wants it: Use visual styles on windows and buttons.

Then:
Start, Run, services.msc, enter.

Make all of these start up manually:

Cryptographic Services
Distrubuted Link Tracking Client
Error Reporting Service
Help and Support
IPSec Services
Logical Disk Manager
Remote Registry (unless in a corporate environment)
Secondary Logon
Security Center
System Restore Service (I've never ever had to use it)
Themes (unless customer really wants it)
WebClient
Windows Firewall/ICS
Windows Image Acquisition (I've had this stall on startup sometimes when set to Automatic. Takes forever)
Wireless Zero Configuration (Unless it's actually got a wireless card and they're not using the third-party applications).

Install CCleaner (www.ccleaner.com)

Tick all except:
Internet Explorer history,
Recently typed URLs,
Autocomplete Form History,
Recent Documents,
Run (in Start Menu),
Search Autocomplete,
Other Explorer MRUs,
Empty Recycle Bin,
Wipe Free Space

In CCleaner, goto Tools -> Startup and aggressively delete all the startup items you can (I always ask the Customer if they need any before I do it. Most of the time they don't.)

Install Defraggler (www.defraggler.com)
Schedule a daily/weekly defrag

Install VNC (if you use it)

Enable Remote Desktop (Right Click My Computer, Properties, Remote Tab, Allow users to connect remotely to this computer)

Add Domain Users to Local Administrators (if on an Active Directory Domain)

(I KNOW people will get upset with everyone being a local Administrator. Yes there are downsides, but so far they don't outweigh the benefits (in my opinion). So many times software will not run because of insufficient rights.)

Remove the annoying language bar for good.

Change the keyboard repeat delay to Short and make sure repeat rate is fastest.

Change resolution to at least 1024 x 768

And that should be it!

If I have time, I install Windows XP PowerToys to remove the menu hover delay entirely. If it's an elderly user, or one that lacks some dexterity, I don't do this. I prefer a snappier interface, but some people lack the mouse control.

I still wonder why with all this computing power things are still so slow. 7 years ago we were sending emails, writing up word documents, playing with excel formulas, and wasting time on the web. Now, we are sending emails, writing up word documents, playing with excel formulas and wasting time on the web at the SAME SPEED DESPITE SUCH AN INCREASE IN CPU/RAM/HDD.

The eye candy is making us fat and slow.

anon ms.