Win XP home customization

[CSScarlos 0]

Hello there folks,

Thank you very much for your existance this is a great source of information.

DVR Expert, you mencioned some days ago about customizing Win XP home to save resources. Could you elaborate more on that issue? [/b]

[qman 0]

Any computer related question belongs in this section

[Thomas 0]

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308417

 

The last of the group of three they offer there gets you the best bang for your buck.

 

Disable system restore. It's nice for if you screw up a driver install, but that's really it. Anything else that takes your system out will probley leave it's mark in the system restore as well.

 

Start-> Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> System -> System Restore Tab-> "Turn off System Restore" -> Ok button to apply the settings

 

Make sure all of your drivers are as up to date as possible.

 

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/supertweaks.htm

 

Has some good tips for speeding things up in XP both home and Pro. I wouldn't disbale windows update unless the machine is behind a good firewall on a relatively safe network.

 

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

 

Also has a list of what services are needed and what aren't. But I don't recomend this list unless you have time to check the system for stability for your particular set of drivers/hardware/software/patches.

 

Another thing to keep in mind. If you order your machines from Dell, and they come with windows preinstalled, reformat that machine and put a good, clean copy of windows on there.

 

Anti-virus software...if the machine is only going to be used for DVR purposes, and is behind a firewall, then get rid of it.

 

Those are just some basic ones.

[rory 0]

control panel, system, performance, optimise for fastest, in other words gets rid of all the XP heavy duty graphics, that are not needed.

 

Turn off as much as you can on start up, in other words, antivirus and sys tray, and if you have a firewall like zone alarm, are all you need, unless you have some sought of printer that needs to be loaded on start up, like an all in one fax.printer.scanner.

 

Nortons Utilities is one huge program that slows you down, get rid of it, you can turn off most of norton antivirus also, and it can still scan docs, etc. If your mail server has an antivirus then you dont need it, just watch what you open. And you dont need zone alarm once you be careful, and stay away from any type of instant messanger. Use a router with firewall instead.

 

All of those things slow your system down.

 

EDIT:

jus saw thomas' post, he already said most of this

[Thomas 0]

For standalone uses of PC there are some better alternitives. Trend Micro's Housecall for instance is an excellent web based program for cleaning up your PC and it doesn't have any processes running all of the time.

 

IMHO Norton is getting to the point where it's way too over protective, and paternalistic to make me happy. For instance, disabling it at startup doesn't seem to actully kill it, it will still launch some of it's more annoying processes anyway unless you kill them individually as services.

 

If you must use the PC for anything else there are somethings you can do.

 

1. If you must get e-mail on it, don't use Outlook.

2. Only install programs from trusted sources/companies. If that means doing a little research, do it. If the company has a history of shady pratices, don't do bussiness with them (including Norton's Anti-Virus division, Black ICE is another).

3. Use a firewall.

4. Don't download stuff. Themes are becoming a popular way to send out spyware. Any office add-on/macro you see on the web should be avoided.

5. Assume unexpected attachments in e-mail are viruses untill proven otherwise.

6. If you surf the web, do so in a browser that doesn't support ActiveX. Mozilla Firefox is an excellent choice.

7. Paranoia isn't a bad thing. Unless you walk around with tinfoil around your head.

 

I know I've wandered off, and I don't mean to sound like I'm lecturing but there is alot of FUD that the anti-virus companies spread that people take as gospel.

[rory 0]

Yep, Nortons is still there in the back ground, I took it off all together myself, dont get any virus'.

 

But for active X, needed for streaming video, but you can set it to prompt in security settings, though it can get annoying. IE does let alot of other things get pass its security for some reason, still dont know how they put those links on my desktop when I have active X and javscript totally disabled :-0

[Thomas 0]

There is an ActiveX extention for Firebird, I've never used it though so I can't say how good it is. And those links generally use expliots in IE (for which there are many.)

[cctv_down_under 0]

firebird is good, but does not install active x or Java on install, I use Firebird at home, love the tab feature, but it lacks in handling MPEG4 streaming.

Embedded XP is a good option and shelling out exploreer is also positive, power management and cpu throttling also helps, THERE IS NO NEED FOR A VIRUS PROTECTION WITH A GOOD LINUX FIREWALL using an xbox you can run Linux as a firewall for a limited cost

[Thomas 0]

It doesn't install Java but you can get it from the plug-in faq link on the toolbar. I haven't had a problem with MPEG-4 streaming except when the site is idenitifying the file wrong. And you can always set up Firefox to send the stream to your video client of choice.

 

The linksys firewalls are linux based and using IPchains for it's firewall. A bit cheaper then buying an XBox, modding it and loading linux on it. (Not that I object to that but it is a bit pricier.)

[cctv_down_under 0]

The HDD also allows it to be a small mail server as well

[Thomas 0]

Eh, then get one of the small linux distros and use a 486.