Installing A Windows Desktop

Pre-Setup

Please read Drive Partitioning first as it contains a lot of good information.

You can run the Window Vista and 7 installer from a USB flash drive rather than the retail DVD-ROM. This should provide faster and quieter operation. Microsoft provides a tool to do this that can be run under Windows XP, Vista, or 7. XP users must install Microsoft .NET Framework v2 and Microsoft Image Mastering API v2 before using the Windows 7 USB DVD Tool

It's recommended to download the latest Service Pack, Internet Explorer, Video Driver, and Antivirus before installing Windows. This way you won't have to have a vulnerable system attached to the internet.

During Setup

There really aren't a whole lot of options. There are only three things tow keep in mind, and they concern account creation.

1. Create only one account for now that you will use for administration tasks only.
2. Use a short name rather than a full name. For example: nitadmin for Nominated IT Admin.
3. You can use CONTROL USERPASSWORDS2 to change the full name later.

Post Setup

Common Configuration Options

Change DPI settings.

• XP: Control Panel → Appearance and Themes → Display → Settings → Advanced → General.

By Default, ClearType is not enabled in XP

• Control Panel → Appearance and Themes → Display → Appearance → Effects.
• Select Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts check box
• Select ClearType from the list.

There are some additional Microsoft-signed themes available for XP

• Royale Royale Nior Zune Embedded
• Royale Noir is incomplete and cannot co-exist with Royale

Essentials

• Install the latest Service Pack
  • XP 32-bit: SP3
  • Vista: SP2 32-bit 64-bit
  • Windows 7: SP1 32-bit x86 64-bit x86 64-bit IA64
• Install Latest Internet Explorer
  • Windows XP Home/Pro 32-bit: IE8
  • Windows Vista: IE9 32-bit 64-bit
  • Windows 7: IE9 32-bit 64-bit
• Install Video Card Drivers
  • ATI or NVIDIA
• Install Anti-Virus
  • Microsoft Security Essentials or Avira Free Edition
• Download Updates from Windows Update

Tweaks

• Remove Outlook Express

REGEDIT4
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WAB]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WAB]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{44BBA840-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015C}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{7790769C-0471-11D2-AF11-00C04FA35D02}]

rem @ECHO OFF

SET SPFILES=%WINDIR%\ServicePackFiles\i386
SET DLLCACHE=%WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\DLLCACHE
SET SYSTEM32=%WINDIR%\SYSTEM32
SET PFCOMSYS=%PROGRAMFILES%\Common Files\System
SET OUTLKEXP=%PROGRAMFILES%\Outlook Express
SET WINHELP=%WINDIR%\HELP
SET WININF=%WINDIR%\INF

FOR %%F IN (CSAPI3T1 MSOE MSOERES OEIMPORT OEMIGLIB WABFIND WABIMP) DO ^
FOR %%P IN ("%SPFILES%" "%DLLCACHE%" "%OUTLKEXP%") DO DEL %P\%F.DLL

FOR %%F IN (MSIMN OEMIG50 SETUP50 WAB WABMIG) DO ^
FOR %%P IN ("%SPFILES%" "%DLLCACHE%" "%OUTLKEXP%") DO DEL %P\%F.EXE 

DEL "%OUTLKEXP%\MSOE.TXT"

FOR %%F IN (DIRECTDB WAB32 WAB32RES) DO ^
FOR %%P IN ("%SPFILES%" "%DLLCACHE%" "%PFCOMSYS%") DO DEL %P\%F.DLL 

FOR %%F IN (INETCOMM MSOEACCT MSOERT2) DO ^
FOR %%P IN ("%SPFILES%" "%DLLCACHE%" "%SYSTEM32%") DO DEL %P\%F.DLL

FOR %%F IN (MSOE.CHM MSOE.HLP MSOEACCT.HLP WAB.CHM WAB.HLP) DO ^
FOR %%P IN ("%SPFILES%" "%WINHELP%") DO DEL %P\%F

FOR %%F IN (MSOE50 WAB50) DO ^
FOR %%P IN ("%SPFILES%" "%WININF%" "%SYSTEM32%") DO DEL %P\%F.?NF

• Disable Home Groups

Other Programs

• Accessories
  • 7-Zip
  • Adobe Reader
  • GTK2-Runtime
  • GTK2-Themes
  • HxD Hex Editor
  • Notepad++
  • PDFCreator
• Audio
  • Audacity
    • LADSPA
    • Nyquist
    • VST
    • LAME For Audacity
  • Exact Audio Copy
  • MediaMonkey
  • WinGroove
• Benchmarking
  • CPU Burn-In
  • Crysis Demo
  • Crysis Benchmark Tool
  • Resident Evil 5 Benchmark
• Games
  • Emulators
    • Gens
    • MAME
    • Nestopia
    • VirtualBoy
    • ZSNESW
  • OnLive
  • Pangya
  • Steam
    • Left 4 Dead Add-Ons
    • Portal Add-Ons
  • Ultima PSOBB
• Graphics
  • Dia
  • GIMP
  • Inkscape
• Internet
  • Browsers
    • Google Chrome
    • Mozilla Firefox
    • Opera
    • Plugins
      • Adobe Flash Player
      • Java
  • Mozilla Thunderbird
  • Pidgin
  • Skype
  • Wget
• Multimedia
  • Avidemux
  • CamStudio
  • CD Burner XP
  • Handbrake
  • LightScribe
  • UMPlayer
  • VLC
  • Windows Media Player
    • 95 & NT: WMP6
    • 98 & 2K: WMP9
    • XP: WMP11
• Network
  • PuTTY
• Office
  • LibreOffice
• Utilities
  • CCleaner
  • CPUID CPU-Z
  • CPUID HWMonitor
  • KeePass
  • MediaInfo
  • MyDefrag
  • TrueCrypt