Essential Tweaks after a fresh install of WinXP?

[phoood]

Ok, after I reinstalled WinXP after more than a year without doing so, I uninstalled some crap and installed firefox. I medditely came here to gbatemp to ask this question:

What are some Essential Tweaks (or apps that apply tweaks) after a fresh install of Windows XP?

 

[juggernaut911]

Desktop son!!! and homepage... thats a keeper!

 

[Destructobot]

The TweakUI power toy is a must have.

If you're going to use the system for gaming, or you just don't want windows wasting CPU cycles and memory, uninstall the indexing service.

Set the virtual memory size to one specific amount, don't let windows decide for itself.

Check http://annoyances.org/ for various tweaks & settings to fix various annoying BS.

 

[bakhalishta]

This is the folder I burn every time I reinstall windows :

I update it from time to time but these are the usual apps I always install

 

[Knab]

This is the folder I burn every time I reinstall windows :

I update it from time to time but these are the usual apps I always install

you know over at MSFN they have an unattended guide so you can have all that installed every time automatically you just have to set it up once. even reg tweaks and everything.

 

[bakhalishta]

you know over at MSFN they have an unattended guide so you can have all that installed every time automatically you just have to set it up once. even reg tweaks and everything.

Ooooh, that looks nice... Certainly easier than going through all the format/install windows/install updates/etc

You think it would work with the OS CD that came with my laptop ? (It has the MediaDirect files)

 

[unusername]

i use http://www.windowsue.com it's a better windows unattended edition.... and many more (nero, firefox, alcohol, winrar, office 2003, etc)

 

[FAST6191]

+1 to bakhalishta's list, most of those apps I use for everyone elses machine as well save klite and itunes. Add imgburn for CD/DVD/HD writing.

Anyway, disable inbuilt security center and install my own firewall and AV.
Disable a whole bunch of services (telnet is on by default if I recall), inbuild zip support and CD burning is also junked.
Windows media player is replaced/sent to the back with CCCP and a few other select video apps: http://www.cccp-project.net/
Shortcuts have the shortcut to thing dropped for creation of a new shortcut as well as the little arrow being dropped.

Most this can be accomplished by hand or with a simple tweaking app like RegToy, FreshUI and to a lesser extent xpantispy.

 

[Harsky]

This is the folder I burn every time I reinstall windows :

I update it from time to time but these are the usual apps I always install

I wish my laptop came preinstalled with most of those programs. Stupid HP/Packard Bell. Especially Packard Bell. My old computer died so my dad bought a new one from PC World and it was FULL of shit that is obviously aimed for a family who has babies and newbie PC users. A format on it feels like a cool coke on a hot summer day. Now I'm having to do it again for my HP laptop.

 

[Psyfira]

Some guy already said Tweak UI, and "Powertoy Calculator" if you do a lot of maths or programming (I don't know if it's possible to replace the default calculator with it, it's never occured to me to check).

 

[Perplexer]

Another vote for TweakUI. Install Firefox and NoScript. Turn off System Restore. Install TextPad (notepad alternative). WinRAR. The rest depends on whether it's my desktop or laptop...

 

[Azimuth]

format the drive and install linux

 

[Psyfira]

Another vote for TweakUI. Install Firefox and NoScript. Turn off System Restore.

Why turn off System Restore? Just curious, that thing's saved my ass more times than I can count. You've just got to remember to clear out the old restore points every now and then (although why it only lets you keep the most recent one and not the most recent 5 I'll never know)

 

[WishCow]

I have never used system restore, what problems did you have when you had to restore?

 

[Elrinth]

my list of programs include:
azureus, mirc, dc++, winamp latest with a bunch of plugins, miranda with a certain skin, filezilla, filezilla server, adobe acrobat reader, adobe photoshop with plugins, GraphicsGale, CDRwin, daemon tools, winlame, flac encoder, sony soundforge, visual studio, eclipse, php, phpmyadmin, mysql, apache, tortoise svn, subversion server, ventrilo, staruml, directx sdk, videolan, ffdshow, Live Messenger, acdsee32, quicktime, nod32

drivers:
gfx card, mouse, soundcard, Ez Driver, monitor

oh and I make sure I have all latest windows updates

 

[spokenrope]

One of the first things that I always do after a format/acquiring a new computer:

Start>run>msconfig>startup tab>disable pretty much everything

That's also what I do whenever I've got a friend with a computer that's not running well, and probably 75% of the time it fixes the problem. The rest of the time, it's usually some antivirus conflict or something that spybot and adaware can fix.

 

[Shinji]

One of the first things that I always do after a format/acquiring a new computer:

Start>run>msconfig>startup tab>disable pretty much everything

That's also what I do whenever I've got a friend with a computer that's not running well, and probably 75% of the time it fixes the problem. The rest of the time, it's usually some antivirus conflict or something that spybot and adaware can fix.

Didnt know DOS recognizes a command like that

When I got my new desktop over X-mas, I deleted EVERYTHING that came installed on it that was not necessary, including, but not limited to, AO Freakin L trial, Cheap DVD reading/burning software, and the likes. THEN get to the spybot and ZoneAlarm Pro

 

[Psyfira]

I have never used system restore, what problems did you have when you had to restore?

Botched windows updates (I had one that made my PC restart itself / bluescreen), getting rid of the mess that was NTL Gearbox from safe mode (memory leak on startup = fun). In other words fixing things when installing programs mucked things up or changed system settings that were not fixed by just uninstalling it or difficult / impossible to change back manually.

 

[VmprHntrD]

I just wish I could install the patch for the DST switch but their lame website has declared my copy as non-legit (it is though.) Kinda pisses me off as they deserve no more cash for sure, and i don't keep 4 year old receipts and so on.

 

[WishCow]

I have never used system restore, what problems did you have when you had to restore?
Botched windows updates (I had one that made my PC restart itself / bluescreen), getting rid of the mess that was NTL Gearbox from safe mode (memory leak on startup = fun). In other words fixing things when installing programs mucked things up or changed system settings that were not fixed by just uninstalling it or difficult / impossible to change back manually.

I've never encountered problems that booting into safe mode and running msconfig couldn't solve.
Anyway, the gain from disabling it is "only" the hdd space it takes up. (I think it's 20% of the whole partition by default)