Configuring Windows XP - The Right Way

After Windows XP finishes installing itself, it's crucial you begin protecting your system posthaste-Le., before you put your PC online, where, inevi­tably, it will be exposed to corrupting influences. This means you'll need to postpone activating Windows until after you've installed Service Pack 2 and activated the firewall-unless you want to go through the hassle of activating Windows XP over the phone.

If you have a copy of Service Pack 2 saved some­ place-on a USB thumb drive or a CD-ROM-it's easy to install. Just click the executable file, and follow the instructions at the prompt. Service Pack 2 enables WinXP's firewall from the get-go. Once the firewall is installed and enabled, you can reconnect your machine to the network and activate Windows.

Now, it's time to get down to the busi­ness of installing drivers. When you install new drivers, Windows will frequently prompt you to reboot your system. It's absolutely vital you reboot your computer when an install program tells you to. If you don't, misfortune is sure to follow.

We recommend installing the latest chipset drivers from your mobo manufac­turer's web site first. These drivers control things like your hard drive controller and videocard interface. Running the latest drivers will greatly increase the stability of your system! Reboot when prompted. After installing the motherboard chipset drivers, install the latest version of DirectX (assuming there's a newer version of DirectX than the one included in Service Pack 2). The new­est version of DirectX will always be in the Optional Components list at www. windowsupdate.com. Next, we recommend you run the latest reference driver for your videocard, which will be available at www. ati.com or www.nvidia.com.

Finally, install the drivers for any other devices con­nected to your PC, recon­nect all your USB devices, and take your system for a test spin to make sure it's working as expected.

TIDYING UP WINDOWS

Now that Windows is up and running, it's time to do a final housekeeping pass. First, you should download and install any remaining critical updates from www.windowsupdate.com. Next, you can turn off all of WinXP's annoying little "features:' Here's a short list of Windows' worst antagonists.

Disable the annoying search helper: Go to Start, then Search, and click "Turn off animated character:'

Resize the Recycle Bin and System Restore: Right-click the Recycle Bin and go to Properties. Move the slider from 10 percent-that's 40GB of a 400GB drive­ to a more reasonable 1 percent. The System Restore setting is in the System control panel. Right-click My Computer and select Properties, or-shortcut alert!-press the Windows key and Pause/ Break, then click System Restore. Move that slider until System Restore uses only about 600MB of space.

Set the Automatic Update interval: While you're in the System control panel, click the Automatic Updates tab. If you're not going to remember to install updates fairly regularly, you absolutely must set Windows to auto­matically download and install updates for you every week.

DEFRAG LIKE MAD

Before you start installing applications, it's a good idea to give your hard drive a powerful defrag. When Windows is run­ning, the pagefile and the portions of the drive reserved for System Restore checkpoints cannot be defragged, so be­fore defragging, we, always disable both System Restore and the pagefile.

To disable System Restore, open the System control panel (Windows key and Pause/Break) and click the System Restore tab. Now check "Turn off System Restore:'To temporarily disable the pagefile, click the Advanced tab, and click the Settings button in the Performance section. Click the Advanced tab again, and then click Change. Click "No paging file;' then keep pressing OK until you're back at the Desktop. Reboot your computer.

When you reboot, open up defrag by opening My Computer and right-click­ing your C: drive. Go to Properties, then Tools, then Defragment Now, and on the subsequent screen, click Defragment. After defrag finishes, go back into the System control panel and re-enable the pagefile and System Restore. Reboot your computer, and it should purr quite nicely.

Jan 20 - 06:41 PM PT  |  filed under Set-Up  |   Printer-friendly version