Reformatted, I now have a lean, mean version of XP! I'm happy!

[LaPera]

Got rid of SP2 and all the other gobs of shit on my computer.
:bounce:
And now it's back to being lightning fast & faster than shit!!!!!

I will just run and will continue to only run Windows XP Professional, (no Service Packs) with a Google tool bar, Windows Word, DVD X Platinum (to burn movies from the video stores) and Windows Outlook, for my email & Windows Media Player 10 for my listening and music burning needs. I use a cable modem and have a printer.

Man, I forgot how fast my computer was until I got rid of gigabytes of shit.

And now the Google pop up blocker actually works....No more pop ups!!!:bounce: :bounce:

I'll just burn my Favorites & My Documents every couple of weeks, keep my machine clean of bullshit files and sites and just fly with kick-ass speed.

And if I get a virus or too much adware...Fuck it, I'll just spend the 30 minutes and reformat to keep this mother flying like it does now!!! It's worth it!:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[landdaddy]

1. Way to go

been running original XP Pro since the get go. Only run a good Firewall, no AV, and have turned off many services. Hope you turned off auto update and messenger. :thumbsup:

[LaPera]

2. Yes I did!

There's a quick lilltle fix off of Google, I just typed in, "remove XP messenger" and this site pops up and I hit the download and in an instant, messenger was history on my machine.

Any other hints or tricks? I'm open to them... :yourock:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

3. Firefox

go to www.mozilla.com, and download Firefox as your browser. You'll be able to get rid of the google blocker and other stuff.

Firefox is simply amazing. Do it now.

I think maybe I'll get rid of that SP2, now that you've mentioned it.

Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

[LaPera]

5. But will Firefox have a shitload of spyware?

Mozilla doesn't have adware?

I'll trust you, and give it a shot, right now...Like I said, since I'm running XP Pro so lean...it's a snap to reformat!!!(If I have to t, that is).

[AntiCoup2K4]

10. No spyware whatsoever

and a built in pop-up blocker as well. Also Mozilla Thunderbird is a better, more secure e-mail client than Outlook, with easy to configure junk-mail filters. Unless you're really attached to the Outlook calendar, I'd recommend it highly.

[LaPera]

11. I like FireFox, what should I do with the windows browsers...

dismantle aspects of it or simply leave it alone and forget about it?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

36. My geek god said just to ignore it

There will be certain things you'll need it for - certain things won't play unless you open them with IE - then you just switch back to Firefox as your default browser.

[MissBrooks]

33. I use the calendar add-on to Firefox

It's awesome!

[MissBrooks]

15. I love Firefox

Also... there are several free spyware and adware removers on the market.

adaware and spybot are two good ones.

[LaPera]

20. I have them both..."adaware and spybot are two good ones."

Should I use them both with Firefox?

[MissBrooks]

32. since using firefox...

I have had ZERO spyware or adware items on my machine. I still run adaware and spybot - but they always come up empty!

When I used IE - I found about 4/day.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

35. I do, plus SpywareBlaster ......

..... which picks up stuff SpyBot misses.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

34. I don't get any pop-ups with Firefox

It just doesn't happen.

BUT, I run Spybot and SpywareBlaster and Ad-Aware every night (all freeware), just to make sure.

I'm telling you, you're gonna LOVE Firefox - and, after you install it and get comfortable with it (it's so sleek), check out the Downloads and Extensions and Themes you'll find under "Tools," which is where you'll go to empty your cache, clean out your History, etc.

I love it. You're gonna love it, too.

[landdaddy]

7. Select the updates

you want with "Autopatcher". Here is a link to the original:ftp://ftp.kremus.com/AutoPatcherXP_Gold.exe
There are alot of goodies included at a file size of 182 meg.
If I think of any more I'll get back to you.

[LaPera]

23. Man, This download is slow I'm only at 24% after 40 minutes...

40.5 KB/Sec usually I'm arout 300 or 400 kb

I'm sure it's worth it. :bounce:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

38. Huge download, but .....

..... I'm curious.

What is this?

[Floogeldy]

13. Why should auto updates be turned off?

I just got a new computer and haven't turned it on yet.

[landdaddy]

14. With a new PC

you already have all the crap but turning off auto updates will prevent the install of more crap. Auto updates is turned on by default and has 20% of your bandwidth reserved for it.

[Floogeldy]

22. Thanks for the heads up

[LaPera]

26. Nope...it just stopped downloading on it's own at 24%... hmmm...

[Floogeldy]

39. You lost me

What happened?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. You can run all the Service Packs and still be hella fast:

KMCS Deluxe System Suite(The HD Cleaner and Registry Compressor) and RegSupreme or RegSupreme Deluxe. Also, Tweak Now! Power Pack 2005.

A lot of the loss of speed, I suspect, was a severely bloated-with-slack-entries registry.

Oh yes, people play me to speed up, tune and fix their computers. I make them happy.

Of course, cleaning out the spyware goes without saying.

[LaPera]

6. Do you have a link?

Thanks!!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

12. Just google up "KMCS". "RegSupreme" and "Tweak Now".

They are easy enough to find.

Here:

http://www.macecraft.com/brief_rs/

http://www.kmcsonline.com/

http://www.tweaknow.com/

Runs like this:

Tweak Now: Install. Run. Go through system and windows tweaks. Easy.

KMCS. Run the disk cleaner. Make sure to generate the scripts. Make sure *.cnt is not checked in the boxes on the right.

RegSupreme: Clean the registry.

KMCS: Registry Compressor. Compress the registry. Quit. Reboot.

Defrag after reboot.

[landdaddy]

9. Took two new identical,

store bought PC's, left one OEM XP SP2 and the other I wiped and installed a pre SP1 XP. There was at least a 25% speed increase with my install. I'll stay away from the updates and happily compute along with my original XP.

[Zinfandel]

8. Dude, my machine has the Turtle Blues!

I've got to do something. 80 gigs of just plain shit-- I've got to lighten the load.

Where to start, is my problem.

[BlueJazz]

16. A suggestion:

Get rid of the crap that you know is junk.
Partition your drive.
Install a fresh copy of XP on the new partition.
Install your programs (that you Truly want).

I "Triple Boot" XP pro on my Machine. One partion is for regular use...one partition is for "Bearshare" and other Peer 2 Peer Programs and the other partition is for experiments (When I want to try out something I've downloaded but don't want to worry about it screwing up my "Regular Use" partition).

I love it! :)

[landdaddy]

18. I run 3 hard drives

similar to what you do with your partitions and if the OS gets craped up a format and reinstall is no big deal.

[landdaddy]

17. Is there

a question in there somewhere? Are you asking for advice?:shrug:

[BlueJazz]

19. No...I have just read so many posts about folks that have....

...loaded up their hard drive with crap and now they have to clean up all the junk.

Every tech I know..including myself... dual or triple boot the same operating system. It wasn't practical before the 80-200 Gig drives but nowadays, single booting is only for amateurs .... Way too much hassle trying to Straighten up the crap that accumulates on your machine. :)

[landdaddy]

21. I was asking Zinfandel

and you are so right!

[BlueJazz]

24. Opps..sorry....I didn't mean to step on your shoes.

The extra hard drives thing is double-cool. :)

[landdaddy]

28. As a matter of preference

I run a "High-speed dual channel Ultra ATA/133 adapter" which will allow up to 4 more hard drives as opposed to partitioning.

[Zinfandel]

25. I guess I was, rather shyly...either you or BlueJazz...How do I

go about getting more than one partition? When I formatted originally, I partitioned, but I don't know how to add more partitions while I'm in XP pro---as you both seem to agree...is much faster, more efficient and still able to save my exsisting info.

Please explain Landdaddy or BlueJazz! Thanks!

By the way I just downloaded Firefox myself, Fucking WOW! I love it!!!

[BlueJazz]

27. If you're in Xp, you need to run a program such as .......

..Partition Magic. It will partition your drive (slice it up into sections..as many as you want)...and allow you to boot a differant operating system ...or ...as I do ...the same one, but free of the crap that's on the other ones...

If you don't have Partition Magic..Email me. :)

[Zinfandel]

29. Thanks!!

[landdaddy]

30. BlueJazz got the skinny

on that and personally I would save, providing you have a burner of some sort or to a newly created partition, everything of value and then reformat and reinstall the OS. Sometimes reinstalling over the existing OS will fix any problems and maintain your existing info and programs. Most definitely create a second partition per BlueJazz.

[LaPera]

31. One last thing, I downloaded "Thunderbird" can anyone tell me how...

I can get to my other identities? I only seem to have the one that I was in Outlook when I downloaded "Thunderbird".

Is there a menu for identities?

[MissBrooks]

37. you talked me into it...

I just defragged and removed a bunch of stuff too.

Thanks for the nudge.