Stripping Windows Down & Optimization

[Alex]

Hey everyone!

I'm getting ready to re-install XP Pro on my work desktop over the weekend. I was wondering if anyone had some tips and tricks to optimize XP?

I'll start it off with the ones that I usually do:

Optimization
setup 2 partitions on the HD (
1 Partition - at least 40 GB for program files (depending if you're a nut like me that has a ton of software)
2 Partition - leave the rest for Data
Run all the updates on Windows
Download Firefox;)
Update all Hardware Drivers (go to manufacturer site, or driveragent.com)
Install necessary additional software and defrag HD. I use Diskeeper which tends to work incredibly well to defragment hard drives.
turn off indexing service (right click on C drive -> Properties -> General Tab -> uncheck "Allow indexing service to this disk for fast file searching)I think that's all I do.... I usually don't remember everything till I am working on it.

EDIT: I realized that this is actually two topics in one. Instead of creating two separate threads, I renamed this thread to "Stripping Windows Down & Optimization". I also edited this post to include a heading for the area that I'm more familiar with.

[misiu]

There is a great article on keeping windows xp installs Small

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000639.html

Not simple though

[Tyberius]

I don't have a ton of time right now to share my wisdom on this subject, however I will share with you all with my awesome 'bag of tricks' that I use to strip down windows. My advice is use with caution, read the readme's before making any changes. That said, most of the scripts in this folder have restore scripts to compliment them, so you can't screw up anything too bad.

In particular, check out the Shrink XP scripts section.

[Alex]

I don't have a ton of time right now to share my wisdom on this subject, however I will share with you all with my awesome 'bag of tricks' that I use to strip down windows. My advice is use with caution, read the readme's before making any changes. That said, most of the scripts in this folder have restore scripts to compliment them, so you can't screw up anything too bad.

Awesome! And if you have any optimization tips, that'd be greatly appreciated:D

[Matt]

Here you go Alex :)

Trim Down Windows to the Bare Essentials

http://lifehacker.com/374376/trim-down-windows-to-the-bare-essentials

[Alex]

nice find Matt, thanks!

[Electricity]

This thread is full of very useful information! Both for robots, and for people who just use windows!
I'm posting in it so that hopefully more people get to see it, and also so that when I go and find it, I'll be easier to find!

[ScuD]

Weird...
When I read the title I thought this was a topic on home improvement...

Handy stuff though, my pc is in dire need of a format as well..