[Razor Blade]

Gawd Damn! Well a few days ago I freshley installed my Windows XP Professional. I must have taken a wrong turn because after only a few days my computer is running like ****. My programs are freezing on me and for some odd reason, my icons look very very strange. Like having jaggies etc .. Just weird crap.

This is really the first time this happened to me and it's kinda weird lol

Anyways I don't want to have to insall this damn OS for a long time, so can you guys tell me your tips and steps you take when doing a fresh install?

An example would be what order do you do things? I thought you were supposed to do Windows Install>Chipset Drivers>Windows Updates>Videocard Drivers>Other Drivers etc.> And then tweaking (like performance and security tweaks) Well that's what I did, but for some odd reason it all messed up :???:

So gimme your tips and advice and maybe it can help others too Thanks guys!

edit: Oh! And also what do you guys install on a fresh copy of windows? Browsers, codecs, programs, applications etc ... I don't really have a solid list I like, so i'm willing to try new things. nthepull

 

[Snake785]

This is what I did. I got nLite and created a new Windows XP installation CD with SP2 slipstreamed and some components that I don't want and need (like system restore, etc). Then after I install that I install all the drivers for everything in my system, then I do windows updates and finally I install the software I normally use like Alcohol 120%, Mozilla Firefox, ffdshow, Real/QuickTime Alternative with one copy of MPC, Office, Winamp, etc. I don't do anything particularly special but you get the occasional time when an install doesn't go well for some unknown reason. But the issue you have could be a video driver issue but that's just a guess.

 

[Samor]

Gawd Damn! Well a few days ago I freshley installed my Windows XP Professional. I must have taken a wrong turn because after only a few days my computer is running like ****. My programs are freezing on me and for some odd reason, my icons look very very strange. Like having jaggies etc .. Just weird crap.

This is really the first time this happened to me and it's kinda weird lol

Anyways I don't want to have to insall this damn OS for a long time, so can you guys tell me your tips and steps you take when doing a fresh install?

An example would be what order do you do things? I thought you were supposed to do Windows Install>Chipset Drivers>Windows Updates>Videocard Drivers>Other Drivers etc.> And then tweaking (like performance and security tweaks) Well that's what I did, but for some odd reason it all messed up :???:

So gimme your tips and advice and maybe it can help others too Thanks guys!

edit: Oh! And also what do you guys install on a fresh copy of windows? Browsers, codecs, programs, applications etc ... I don't really have a solid list I like, so i'm willing to try new things. nthepull

I reinstall too often, so maybe I can help.

Installation order (using non-slipstreamed cd):
- Delete old partitions, make new ones, format them, run XP installation
- Install network card drivers, enable windows internal firewall temporarily because its still low on security updates (paranoia mode)
- install mobo drivers if needed (via 4in1 here)
- install a load of crap at the same time, this includes windows updates, videocard drivers, soundcard drivers... essential programs... I usually install a lot without restarting. That can be risky though, so no warranties given.. if you want to be safe, restart when the computer asks it (this will dramatically waste your time though).
- after sp2 installation, I disable the firewall and install partition magic and fix up the errors pre-sp2 winxp makes with partitioning larger than 130gb harddrives. After that I update the USB drivers to 2.0 and start installing USB devices (USB2.0 portable hd here with 150gb, if I use it before the sp2 installation windows thinks it has errors and starts to remove stuff from it =P ).
- run more security updates while installing everything I forgot...
- Then use the system, and while using it you'll regularly have that "oh yes, I need that too" moment.
- reinstall if for some reason you don't like your installation (anymore).

Problems?
- Jagged icons? is your desktop set to 16-bit colors instead of 32-bits?
- installed some crap that's auto-starting and eating system resources? run msconfig and check if you haven't loaded up too much crap (startup tab).
- check your soundcard drivers
- make sure usb (2.0 I assume) is properly installed, and not running on 1.1 drivers
- disable sp2 virus warnings after you installed a scanner. Also, if you're behind a router+firewall turn off the windows one.
- don't install mcafee or norton bloatware

Stuff I use:
- avg antivirus free edition, low on resources, works quite well. I don't run all that many tweaks, my tweak is to not run that much
- mozilla firefox
- mozilla thunderbird
- nescesary evil: java runtime. This can be a resourcehog (I use it for azureus and openoffice).
- For movies: real alternative, quicktime alternative, matroska, divx, xvid. No need for the quicktime and real players that way.
- irfanview (disable the thumbs.db evil and get this much faster and better alternative instead)
- I used to use spybot and adaware, and I have them installed, but the ms antispyware beta seems to make them obsolete. I keep them around though, just in case.

As snake said, making a sp2 slipstreamed install cd (with nlite) is quite nice. It allows you to turn off all kinds of crap beforehand, and shortens installation time a lot.

..more when I think of it

 

[KillerShots]

I just ran through this myself not so very long ago...

1. Set up a firewall between your computer and the internet to be in place during the entire installation. Windows has nothing when you first install it, and it's vulnerable to some nasty stuff that doesn't require you to be an idiot to make you vulnerable.

2. Install windows (I did a quick re-format because the system has always been clean)

3. Activate windows (again).

4. Run windows update. Drop by every hour or so to run it again and again until it eventually gives up trying to install new stuff.

5. Now, install all motherboard drivers (AGP miniport, IDE, USB, etc. - hold off on audio / video until all this is done).

6. Now install all video / audio drivers

7. Click on Start, right click on my computer, click on manage, click on device manager. Look for items with a red asterisk or a yellow question mark. Fix them.

8. Now you're done. Don't install anything or you risk destroying your nice clean setup .

 

[Razor Blade]

Thanks for the replies. guess just had one of those bad installs, so I did a new one.

Took me a while after disabling services and optimizing it for speed, but it runs so great now. Thanks for all the tips guys. Definately getting use out of them!

 

[michaelmcclan]

desktop problem

my computer has xp professional installed,and i deleted a few old files and now i have no start bar or icons.all i can do to access anything is to hit cntrl,alt and delete to get task manager up and go to the program i need.can anyone help me?i downloaded error doctor and it said i have 200 errors on my system and it cleared 85 of them but wont do anything more cause it was a free trial....what can i download or use to fix it?

 

[Cid Highwind]

Maybe you can use your winxp install disc to boot and use it to fix your installation?

 

[Celine]

Strange... I thought the system folders are now hidden by default and anytime you browse to them you get a big fat warning. Did you change the folder view options? Leave the "Hide protected system files" option alone.

It's not like the win95 days when every day there would be scores of people on the BBR WinXP help forums because they decided to do a little "spring cleaning" and deleting "unnecessary files".

michaelmcclan it's hard to help when we can't see the exact error messages you're getting - troubleshooting via forum exchange is very risky especially if you don't know what you're doing. I strongly recommend you get someone knowledgeable over who can sit in front of your PC and walk you through.

You could try booting with the XP cd and do an installation repair, though.

Edit: er... what Cid said.

 

[KillerShots]

Geez, people... if you'd just follow the 8 steps I outlined above, and pay special attention to step 8, you wouldn't be running into these sorts of things

 

[GCFreak]

This is what I do after I do a fresh install of Windows.

-Install Forceware, Webcam drivers, etc (Sound Card don't need drivers, WinXP has them built in )
-Install security programs, Disable Security Centre.
-Install all other useless Junk.

And yeah, just a normal way of getting things installed.

 

[hooloovoo]

How to install Windows:

1. Make partition(s)
2. Install Windows.
3. Install Hardware drivers (or AV first if you're paranoid).
4. Install software/games/whatever else.

It's pretty simple. If there are any problems after this then either it is probably unrelated to the installtion itself (e.g. poor installation medium, hardware incompatabilites, poor drivers) or you are doing something fundamentally wrong somewhere. And when there are so few steps and they are basically not changeable ... its quite hard to see where that might be :\

Make sure you have the latest drivers too. Not necessarily the latest of course ... For example do not trust Windows built in drivers, especially for graphics and network (I've found those two to be particularly poor), but you should double check everything. And remember, just because the official Microsoft driver has a newer date doesn't mean it is better (it probably isn't).

 

[Coolsvilleman]

I agree with samor on most things except these.

- install a load of crap at the same time, this includes windows updates, videocard drivers, soundcard drivers... essential programs... I usually install a lot without restarting.

I highly recommend against this. Typically on a fresh install a full reset from button click to system functionality should take 20seconds or less. Maybe programs do not fully install until after windows resets and especially in the case of drivers if more than one is installing at the same time and installing the same file but different versions a.k.a a *.dll file then windows and the registry may get confused. My experience is not to do this. Waste 20 seconds now to save 5 minutes later.

- after sp2 installation, I disable the firewall and install partition magic and fix up the errors pre-sp2 winxp makes with partitioning larger than 130gb harddrives.

This should not be a problem if you use partion magic before formatting your drives.

- installed some crap that's auto-starting and eating system resources? run msconfig and check if you haven't loaded up too much crap (startup tab).

make sure to check the non-microsoft services and disable the suspisious looking ones. google really helps to identify bad ones.

- don't install mcafee or norton bloatware
- avg antivirus free edition, low on resources, works quite well.

i recommend avg free as well.

- For movies: real alternative, quicktime alternative, matroska, divx, xvid. No need for the quicktime and real players that way.

i actually recommonded to forget all those things and install videolan instead. it has its own builtin codec's and supports all those formats.

- I used to use spybot and adaware, and I have them installed, but the ms antispyware beta seems to make them obsolete. I keep them around though, just in case.

I don't recommend any antispyware programs. If you use firefox and do not click on banners or go to any "naughty" sites then spyware should not be a problem.

- As snake said, making a sp2 slipstreamed install cd (with nlite) is quite nice. It allows you to turn off all kinds of crap beforehand, and shortens installation time a lot.

be very careful. This tool is powerful and will let you remove drivers your system may later need.

anyhow good luck installing your fresh windows pc.

 

[hushypushy]

michaelmcclan, you might just be completely SOL. reformat your computer

and dammit...you didnt need to ressurrect an old thread. people are still responding to RB's original post :hdbash: im gonna close this thread just to prevent a bunch more misunderstanding