frellwits

Is there a reason why I’m not using Vista? Yes ofcourse there is. XP is so fast and stable right now that I don’t have the need for Vista. XP just works for everything I’m doing. And why will I not use Vista in the future? It costs, I’m not playing any games that requires Vista, I don’t see anything useful that I need it for. If I suddenly want a new main OS I will choose a *nix OS as my next one. Linux has come a long way thanks to the popular Ubuntu distribution. (But I’ll probably use some other dist. :p ) For gaming I can just get a PS3 or something as most games are released on consoles these days. Though I don’t play many games any longer.

So I’ve heard that XP isn’t fast and stable. BS IMO. Those who don’t think so don’t know how to use Windows or a computer. So here are some useful tips for those who want to learn some more. (Some of this may also work in Vista.)

Faulty hardware or drivers is your enemy. Any obscure hardware may require drivers that Windows doesn’t like. Buy from known vendors and manufacturers. I can recommend Corsair for example. Their powersupplies and RAM-sticks are good, fast, and stable. :p Any hardware that gives away a lot of heat may make your system unstable. Make sure you have a good airflow and clean fans. Dust can make your computer a lot warmer and more unstable. Clean your fans with compressed air in a can. Avoid the vacuum cleaner as it may damage your components.

Computers that you buy pre-installed with Windows usally have a lot of crap that you don’t need. If you have a Windows XP CD, then download nLite and remove all things that you don’t need. There are plenty of guides that tells you what each service, program and other stuff do. Google is your friend! (As always.) You can also integrate Service Pack 3 etc, or remove the support for printers if you don’t have any for example.

When you install Windows XP I recommend that you create a 10-20GB NTFS partition for it. (May vary a lot if you’ve removed stuff with nLite.) Don’t install any programs or store anything else on this partition. This will give you a less fragmented Windows installation and make your system respond faster. If you like to keep things in order, and you only have one harddrive you can create several partitions for Programs/Games, Media and other stuff. I do this, and I find everything I need pretty fast as I know where I store everything.

Ok, so you already have an installation and don’t have any plans on re-installing Windows. What to do then? Get CCleaner to erase some junk from your harddrive. It can also keep your Windows registry clean from keys that aren’t used any longer, from a lot of uninstalled programs for example. A cluttered registry can make Windows very slow. Another thing you should do is to remove any unnecessary startup items and turn off several services you don’t use.

Defrag your partitions every week. A 10GB Windows partition will only take a couple of seconds or a minute to defrag depending on your hdd speed. My own 50GB half-full partitions I store everything else on takes only a couple of seconds or some minutes to defrag, depending on how much I’ve used them during the week. A defragmented partition finds your files faster when browsing/opening etc. The smaller the partition is the faster it takes to defrag it. A single partition on a single 400GB harddrive for example may take several hours or days to defrag.

Programs, malware and anti-malware. What do you need, and what do you not need? This is the question you should ask yourself. Avoid programs that installs “deep” into your system as some of these applications may make your system unstable (The copy protection StarForce is known to do this for example.) Do you need an antivirus or firewall program? I don’t, because I know what I’m doing. It’s not Windows that just gets the malware, it’s the user behind it. A hardware firewall should be enough for someone who knows how to use Windows. (I use a router with a firewall.) Malicious code usally requires you to do something for it to execute. If you share your computer with others I do in fact recommend that you use anti-malware programs. Never login as an administrator, use a limited account instead. You can run programs as an admin by rightclicking on them and choose Run as administrator.

Use Firefox with the extension NoScript. Only allow sites that you trust to use Javascript and plugins. In Opera you have Site Preferences that can turn on Javascript and plugins for sites that you trust. Make sure you turn off js and plugins globally in Opera. Most malicious code from websites can’t get to you if you use this. Do the same with e-mail. Don’t let your programs execute plugins and javascript without you knowing it. And if you really need to wank off to something, install Linux in a Virtual Machine and surf those suspicious websites from that one instead. :p

Other ways to get malware is to open something you’ve got through MSN for example. Always ask the sender what it is before opening. Any programs you download should be checked with the MD5 sum the developers give to you (MD5summer is a good program for that.) If the developers don’t give you any MD5 sum on their webpage you can test to install the program in a Virtual Machine with Windows installed. It may be a bit annoying, but it’s a good thing to do if you’re very unsure if the program have some malicious code. Usally you can install programs if you trust the source, like a big comapany for example. (I don’t trust download.com though as some imposters uploads strange stuff there. Foobar2000 for example.) One thing to be noted though is that some servers can be hacked and in secret add malicious stuff to trusted sources. It’s a recent trend I’ve read about.

If you did all this and then still got malware? Well, make sure you figured out how you got it first and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Always make backups of your most important data so you don’t loose anything when you need to reformat.

You need to take care of your Windows-installation or else it will become slow and unstable. Linux is better as you don’t need to do many of those steps listed above. Are you a gamer? If not, then ask yourself why you’re using Windows.

Must add one more thing too. Aim for a minimalistic desktop with no desktop icons. A quick launch bar with your most used programs is enough. Well this is how I use my computers. :p