I first want to make sure that anyone who is viewing this blog knows some basic things about using Windows. I use Windows XP Service Pack 2. So anything I state here means that it has been done on Windows XP. Doing something stated here on any other OS version might be risky.
You should know how to install Windows XP and other basic things like making a partition and. Installing softwares, editing some .ini files and things like that. I also expect that the user is intending to use his PC for home-use only.
With making myself clear here, I will go on in the hope that I offer you something new and helpful!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
1) A - Installing Windows XP (Some useful Tips)
Note these instructions on a piece of paper cause there is no way you will be able to follow these guidelines while installing XP.
1) (After booting your Windows XP CD) I am gonna fast forward to the installation screen where all you hard disks partition are listed.
2) I have an 80GB hard disk. I have made 4 partitions on that. I suggest you do the same. If you have an Hard Disk exceeding 20GB space. Anyone who has less than (<) 20GB hard disk, I would recommend him making only two partitions.
3) I have installed my OS on the partition labelled C: Commonly, C: is made the primary partition and I would suggest you do the same. Also give your primary partition no more than 10GB space.
4) My partitions = 4
C: = Comprises only of Windows XP
D: = Comprises of only the Softwares I install. Also I save some Setup Files of softwares in this drive.
E: = Comprises of Games and in some cases their Setup Files
F: = Comprises of all the multimedia stuff. My songs and Videos etc.
(This will give you a general idea of what I am suggesting you. If you have better ideas, go on with that, but also leave a comment here of how your idea is better than mine. Thanks!
5) Format all your partitions to the NTFS file system. NTFS is much more advanced and stable than the FAT32 file system. Atleast you should have your OS on an NTFS partition. This improves the perfomance by a considerable margin.
1) (After booting your Windows XP CD) I am gonna fast forward to the installation screen where all you hard disks partition are listed.
2) I have an 80GB hard disk. I have made 4 partitions on that. I suggest you do the same. If you have an Hard Disk exceeding 20GB space. Anyone who has less than (<) 20GB hard disk, I would recommend him making only two partitions.
3) I have installed my OS on the partition labelled C: Commonly, C: is made the primary partition and I would suggest you do the same. Also give your primary partition no more than 10GB space.
4) My partitions = 4
C: = Comprises only of Windows XP
D: = Comprises of only the Softwares I install. Also I save some Setup Files of softwares in this drive.
E: = Comprises of Games and in some cases their Setup Files
F: = Comprises of all the multimedia stuff. My songs and Videos etc.
(This will give you a general idea of what I am suggesting you. If you have better ideas, go on with that, but also leave a comment here of how your idea is better than mine. Thanks!
5) Format all your partitions to the NTFS file system. NTFS is much more advanced and stable than the FAT32 file system. Atleast you should have your OS on an NTFS partition. This improves the perfomance by a considerable margin.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
1. B - Installing Windows XP (The Welcome Screen and beyond)
After installing your Windows XP, you'll come across a screen that offers you to make User Accounts, registering your Windows XP copy with Microsoft and all that stuff. Just one tip here. Don't make many User Accounts. This will eventually take up space on the Windows XP partition and will slow down your machine.
Some basic tips after the Welcome screen.
1) On the bottom right of your screen there will be three icons:
a) Take a tour of Windows; double click on that and then press cancel (you can take the tour if you want to). Pressing the Cancel button will ensure that the icon will not appear again the next time you restart.
b) The Windows Security Alert; it alerts you of your current Security status. Often this pops out a notification when you do not have an Antivirus software or your security is not up-to date. To me, it is something unwanted. To get rid of this, Double-Click on the icon. You'll see a Window of "Windows Security Center". On the left side there are some tabs. Click "Change the way Security Center alerts me". Uncheck all of them. This will get rid of the icon that appears beneath.
2) Windows XP uses up a considerable amount of resource on its appearance. Disabling them can speed up your machine. Right-Click on "My Computer" > Properties > Advanced tab. Click on the first "Settings" tab. You'll see a list that shows you what appearance enhancing option are selected. Normally, all of them are selected. I have unchecked all of them. It's upto youwhat you want to do!
3) Another resource sucking features are the Desktop Icons and the taskbar. Keep the least possible Icons on your desktop. Disable your Quick Launch buttons and Uncheck the "Hide Inactive Icons". For this Right-Click on the taskbar and select Properties.
4) To remove other extra but uneeded softwares that come with XP, go to Add/Remove Feature. Select Add/Remove Windows Component. That will display you some features that are there, and some features that didn't come pre-installed, but you can install them. Browse through them and analyse your needs. Usually, I remove the Outlook Express and MSN Explorer.
Some basic tips after the Welcome screen.
1) On the bottom right of your screen there will be three icons:
a) Take a tour of Windows; double click on that and then press cancel (you can take the tour if you want to). Pressing the Cancel button will ensure that the icon will not appear again the next time you restart.
b) The Windows Security Alert; it alerts you of your current Security status. Often this pops out a notification when you do not have an Antivirus software or your security is not up-to date. To me, it is something unwanted. To get rid of this, Double-Click on the icon. You'll see a Window of "Windows Security Center". On the left side there are some tabs. Click "Change the way Security Center alerts me". Uncheck all of them. This will get rid of the icon that appears beneath.
2) Windows XP uses up a considerable amount of resource on its appearance. Disabling them can speed up your machine. Right-Click on "My Computer" > Properties > Advanced tab. Click on the first "Settings" tab. You'll see a list that shows you what appearance enhancing option are selected. Normally, all of them are selected. I have unchecked all of them. It's upto youwhat you want to do!
3) Another resource sucking features are the Desktop Icons and the taskbar. Keep the least possible Icons on your desktop. Disable your Quick Launch buttons and Uncheck the "Hide Inactive Icons". For this Right-Click on the taskbar and select Properties.
4) To remove other extra but uneeded softwares that come with XP, go to Add/Remove Feature. Select Add/Remove Windows Component. That will display you some features that are there, and some features that didn't come pre-installed, but you can install them. Browse through them and analyse your needs. Usually, I remove the Outlook Express and MSN Explorer.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
2) A - Must-Have Softwares (Windows-Related Softwares)
1) You should NOT install the other third-party softwares at the C: drive. Install those softwares other than at the C: drive.
2) Update your drivers i.e. VGA, Sound, LAN, Modem or any other device(s) you have.
3) Update those softwares that come with Windows XP copy (Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player etc). During my writing of this post, Internet Explorer 8 RC1 and Windows Media Player 11 had been released.
2) Update your drivers i.e. VGA, Sound, LAN, Modem or any other device(s) you have.
3) Update those softwares that come with Windows XP copy (Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player etc). During my writing of this post, Internet Explorer 8 RC1 and Windows Media Player 11 had been released.
Friday, March 6, 2009
2) B - Must-Have Softwares (Third party Softwares)
I will list down some really good and helpful softwares that will help you maintain your machine.
With Softwares marked with * are important, and I would strongly suggest you install them
For the softwares I have not included any download link, visit http://www.filehippo.com and type in the search bar for the software required!
1) Firstly a good Antivirus will help you get rid of any viruses, spyware and other infectious items that are present. AVG, as a free Antivirus program is great. Personally I would recomment Kaspersky or NOD32. Unfortunately, these softwares don't come for free and you have to pay to get them. But, Fortunately we have torrent where you can find many cracks and keygens for these Antivirus programs. Install NOD32 if you can get your hands on it!
For torrent site you can try out http://www.thepiratebay.org/
2) Internet Utilities:
a) *Mozilla Firefox - A great Internet Browser. Faster and more reliable than IE http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox
b) Free Download Manager - A useful but not a necessaty download client http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/
c) uTorrent - A BitTorrent client that is good. It is necessary too or you won't be able to download any torrent files! http://www.utorrent.com/
3) Multimedia:
a) *VLC Media Player - A free Media Player that can play loads of Media format. I use it to play the Video files only. Personally, I would recommend you to use 0.8.6d version. You can find this software at http://www.filehippo.com/. Just type VLC in the Search bar
b) *K-Lite - Its a Codec pack that will enable you to play any format on your Windows Media Player. It comes in handy when you wanna save time. Again you can find this software at http://www.filehippo.com/
4) Some other Utilities:
a) *DirectX - This is required for gaming graphics
b) *Java - This is needed to enable Java script in your Internet Browsers.
c) TuneUp Utilities - This is all in one pack for PC maintanence. But this requires buying. You can find it's crack and keygen at the torrent.
d) *Adobe Reader - Is necessary to view .pdf files
e) *CCleaner - All in one pack for PC maintanence and it's free too. http://www.ccleaner.com/
f) *DeFraggler - A tool that defrags your hard disk. http://www.defraggler.com/. To know more about Defraggmentation visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defragmentation
g) *Flash Player - To run Flash content in your browser
h) *ShockWave Player - Same as above
i) *WinRar - As a zipping an unzipping client
g) Wise Registry Cleaner - Speciically made to clean up your PC's Registry problems. http://www.wisecleaner.com/
With Softwares marked with * are important, and I would strongly suggest you install them
For the softwares I have not included any download link, visit http://www.filehippo.com and type in the search bar for the software required!
1) Firstly a good Antivirus will help you get rid of any viruses, spyware and other infectious items that are present. AVG, as a free Antivirus program is great. Personally I would recomment Kaspersky or NOD32. Unfortunately, these softwares don't come for free and you have to pay to get them. But, Fortunately we have torrent where you can find many cracks and keygens for these Antivirus programs. Install NOD32 if you can get your hands on it!
For torrent site you can try out http://www.thepiratebay.org/
2) Internet Utilities:
a) *Mozilla Firefox - A great Internet Browser. Faster and more reliable than IE http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox
b) Free Download Manager - A useful but not a necessaty download client http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/
c) uTorrent - A BitTorrent client that is good. It is necessary too or you won't be able to download any torrent files! http://www.utorrent.com/
3) Multimedia:
a) *VLC Media Player - A free Media Player that can play loads of Media format. I use it to play the Video files only. Personally, I would recommend you to use 0.8.6d version. You can find this software at http://www.filehippo.com/. Just type VLC in the Search bar
b) *K-Lite - Its a Codec pack that will enable you to play any format on your Windows Media Player. It comes in handy when you wanna save time. Again you can find this software at http://www.filehippo.com/
4) Some other Utilities:
a) *DirectX - This is required for gaming graphics
b) *Java - This is needed to enable Java script in your Internet Browsers.
c) TuneUp Utilities - This is all in one pack for PC maintanence. But this requires buying. You can find it's crack and keygen at the torrent.
d) *Adobe Reader - Is necessary to view .pdf files
e) *CCleaner - All in one pack for PC maintanence and it's free too. http://www.ccleaner.com/
f) *DeFraggler - A tool that defrags your hard disk. http://www.defraggler.com/. To know more about Defraggmentation visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defragmentation
g) *Flash Player - To run Flash content in your browser
h) *ShockWave Player - Same as above
i) *WinRar - As a zipping an unzipping client
g) Wise Registry Cleaner - Speciically made to clean up your PC's Registry problems. http://www.wisecleaner.com/
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Guidelines to maintain your PC!
When you have installed XP and all the softwares you need. And you are ready to do your daily work on it, spare some 15 minutes and;
a) run a Disk Cleaning Utility (Like CCleaner mentioned above).
b) scan your PC with Registry Cleaner.
c) If you have an option of Registry DeFrag, do that.
d) restart your pc and run DeFraggler for defragmentation.
This should all probably take 10-15 minutes.
Run the cleaning utility and registry cleaner every week. Also defragment and run a complete scan of your hard disk with a good antivirus every month. That should ensure your PC's top condition!
a) run a Disk Cleaning Utility (Like CCleaner mentioned above).
b) scan your PC with Registry Cleaner.
c) If you have an option of Registry DeFrag, do that.
d) restart your pc and run DeFraggler for defragmentation.
This should all probably take 10-15 minutes.
Run the cleaning utility and registry cleaner every week. Also defragment and run a complete scan of your hard disk with a good antivirus every month. That should ensure your PC's top condition!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)