I must be in some sort of mood this morning. I figured since my last post was all Gentoorific, I’d post a little bit about my Windows XP install as well. I just found my personal install notes, so I’ll paste them in here.

I re-install Windows on my laptop every 3-6 months on average. I install all kinds of cruft and it usually starts to get pretty bogged down after 6 months. I also love the feeling of a brand new laptop install and use it as an opportunity to upgrade software that’s essential to the system and gets easily broken. So here goes!

# Windows Update!

remapkey.exe

Right Ctrl -> Caps

Caps -> Left Windows

Customize folder options

(General)

Use windows classic folders

(View)

uncheck - Display simple folder view in Explorer’s Folders list

check - Display the contents of system folders

check - Display the full path in the address bar

uncheck - Display the full path in the title bar

check - Show hidden files and folders

uncheck - Hide protected operating system files

uncheck - Use simple file sharing

configure details view and apply to all folders

Check for latest versions of apps

putty (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html)

geoshell (http://geoshell.com)

Trillian (http://trillian.cc)

PGP (http://www.pgp.com)

Tortoise CVS (http://www.tortoisecvs.org/)

UltraEdit (http://www.ultraedit.com)

Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com)

Servant Salamander (http://www.altap.cz/)

FireFOX (http://www.mozilla.org)

TaskSwitchXP (http://taskswitchxp.sourceforge.net/)

Winamp (http://www.winamp.com)

Install PGP

Install googlebar (http://toolbar.google.com/)

Install Mozilla Firefox

Install Trillian

Install UltraEdit

Install Servant Salamander

Add read/write to user Menu (attrib +r, attrib -r - Don’t open shell window)

(Appearance)

check - Full row select

(Viewers & Editors -> Editors)

Command = C:\Program Files\IDM Computer Solutions\UltraEdit-32\uedit32.exe

Install GeoShell

Configure GeoShell

(HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Geo\GeoShell\Plugins\geOTasks0_1)

Show Captions = 0

Plugin Min Width = 0

(HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Geo\GeoShell\Services\Hotkey\szIDs)

App_RDP = win|r|“C:\Winnt\System32\mstsc.exe”

App_Irfanview = win|i|“C:\Program Files\IrfanView\i_view32.exe”

App_Console = shift+win|c|c:\winnt\system32\cmd.exe /K cd \tools && title Console

App_Sal = win|e|“C:\Program Files\Servant Salamander 2.5 beta 3\SALAMAND.exe”

App_Putty = win|p|“C:\tools\NetUtils\putty-dev.exe”

App_UE = SHIFT+WIN|u|“C:\Program Files\UltraEdit\uedit32.exe”

App_VPN = win|v|“C:\Program Files\Cisco Systems\VPN Client\ipsecdialer.exe”

App_PWSafe = win|p|C:\Tools\Utilities\pwsafe\pwsafe.exe

App_Firefox = win|m|“C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe”

(HKCU\Software\geo\geOShell\ShellUI\Desktop)

Desktop Top = 10

(HKCU\Software\geo\geOShell\Plugins\geoMenuLaunch0_1)

Button Caption = ""

IE Settings

(Advanced)

uncheck - Show friendly HTTP error messages

(Multimedia)

uncheck - Enable Automatic Image Resizing

Configure task manager

check - Show processes from all users

Options -> Hide When Minimized

View -> Select Columns (+Virtual Memory Size

Install Tortoise CVS

Timo Kauppinen overlay Icons

External diff application: C:\Tools\Utilities\ExamDiff\ExamDiff.exe

Configure default putty settings

(Window)

30 Rows, 100 Columns

500 Lines of scrollback

(Window -> Behaviour)

System menu appears on ALT-Space

(Connection)

90 seconds between keepalives

Set screen to non bubblified classic

Effects -> Enable cleartype

Effects -> Don’t hide underlined letters

Things Missing

Mozilla Bookmarks

Configure UltraEdit

(Backup)

Default Backup Directory - C:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\Backups\UltraEdit

(Edit)

check - Use spaces in place of Tabs

Tab Stop Value/Indent Spaces = 2

(File Types)

add .php extension

Clean up start menu - Organize everything into Net, Multimedia, Utils, and Games folders for the most part

Install Ultranav driver for T40

Install Winamp

Lock down McShield

Configure McAfee as wanted, then deny set access to the following key

(HKLM\SOFTWARE\Network Associates\TVD\Shared Components\On Access Scanner\McShield\Configuration\Default)

Install winpcap, ethereal, nmap, cain, vmware

Install dameware, l0pht, mappoint, PERL

Install win2k3 admin pak and res kits

Install perl modules

ppm install Net::IPv4Addr

Clean up services

manual - server, netlogon, messenger, webclient, remoteregistry

Add perl modules

ppm install file-grep

Install Outlook, Outlook Connector for Domino, Quintessential, iTunes

Here we go again - 3/28/2005

Install bluetooth driver

Install wildpackets atheros driver

Firefox Extensions

SessionSaver - http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/more-info/sessionsaver

miniT -http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/more-info/minit

Web Developer - http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/more-info/webdeveloper

BugMeNot - http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/more-info/bugmenot

GreaseMonkey - http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/

LittleFox Theme - https://addons.update.mozilla.org/themes/moreinfo.php?application=firefox&version=1.0&os=Windows&id=307

And pretty soon I'll post a comprehensive list of my tools directory and maybe even give you access to my tools repository! ;)