Windows XP Installation Guide

This guide has been superseded and is no longer being updated. Please see my mainWindows XP Installation Guide on the Guides forum.

 

I didn't really know the proper place to post this, and since I only posted in the Asus forum, I figured I'd post it here. Please (mods) if you think it's better suited elsewhere, move it there. Thanks.

 

nice guide EBE

 

This should be moved to the software section or guide section. Great guide though.

 

Great guide indeed, I've saved it to a .txt file incase I need it in the future.

 

great guide.

if you want some more guides (including how to install windows ):
http://www.tweakhound.com/

 

Thank all of you for your appreciation. Please, feel free to materialize it by rep-ing me

asenna: thanks for the link, useful! Hopefully my guide contains additional information (by what I see it's broader than theirs) such that it's not redundant.

 

Thank you so much, loads of helpful hints! Not agreeing with you on the XP UI though, the win2k-look is just plain dull IMO! Also (a bit OT, sorry) the firefox extensions, i'd definitely add adblock and filterset, tab mix plus, noscript and maybe ie tab (comes surprisingly handy!)... Nevertheless, a big hand for taking the time to write the guide, it's great!

Funny asenna should mention that... asenna = install in Finnish I think i'll try Vista out (dual boot!), since there oughta be installation guides, that even the non-rocket scientist types like me can follow... My reps definitely for the guide!

 

ruoste i didnt know that .i have chosen the name because it was the greatest formula 1 driver ever

 

Very very nice!

I'll give the admins a heads up about this.

 

Amazing job on this guide E.B.E.! I've copied it to the Guides forum as well so new visitors to the forum find it there more easily, but we'll leave this open in the Asus forum as well for discussion here.

 

Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Great job!

 

Like I said, UI is a matter of personal preference.

Yep, these are probably useful. I don't use them myself.
For adblocking, a (possibly not so effective, but more lightweight) option is to remove ads from the user stylesheet. Since it appears that guide is no longer online on the Mozilla website, I am posting it in a separate message, right after I finish this.

I don't use a tab extension after an unhappy experience with I think an extension called "tabbrowser extensions" or something like that which made the browser run very very poorly. Oh BTW I don't recommend against tabmixplus, if my extension worked poorly it doesn't mean that this does.

noscript -- if that disables JavaScript by default, I'd recommend that novice users do not use it. Webpages won't work and they won't know why.

IEtab and filterset - I don't know what those do so no recommendations there.

TY coriolis for the heads-up, abaxter for the move and all the rest for positive feedback.

 

Mozilla Firefox: How to disable (more than 90%) of the ads from the user stylesheet

This tweak was originally posted here: http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/tips#lay_adblocking but now the referred URL is empty.

This is an alternative to Adblock. I'm unsure how much of the Adblock functionality it provides, cause I've never used Adblock. The advantage in using this method is that a new extension will not be loaded. That will save (some) system resources.

Locate your profile folder. In a default Firefox installation, this will be:
Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\profiles\<profilefolder>

The profilefolder will be named something weird ending in .slt.

If you moved your profile folder following e.g., my instructions in the first post on this thread, then the profile folder is located (obviously) where you moved it.

In the profile folder, navigate to chrome. Rename userContent-example.css to userContent.css. Edit the file and add the code in the text attachment to this message.

Restart Firefox. You're done. Almost all ads will now be hidden from webpages. They will still be loaded however! This has a good side: the server will have no idea that you are bypassing ads. and a flipside: the browser will spend time / bandwidth loading the ads; ad servers are sometimes quite heavily loaded.

Hope this helps.

 

This guide really adds value to the forum.
While I was reading it,I got the feeling that it was written some time ago. How long did it take you to compile it all together?

 

Uh, well actually, I wrote it the last Saturday Ok, and two hours on Friday evening after work, but on Saturday I formatted for like 4 hours so those don't count.

I was able to write it quickly simply because I have experience with the stuff.

 

I know, many seem to like it!

Thanks for that also, never heard of that one.

I've had some bad experiences with tab-something extensions also, but this one is very good as-is and seems like an integral part of the browser with no bugs or a noticeable effect on performance.

You're right. There's a message on the bottom of the screen as a default when scripts are blocked, though, but all in all it's a hassle for someone just wanting to surf without interruptions. Just thought to mention because it is highly recommended on the Firefox community it seems, and the increase in security is worth the trouble in my opinion. Trusted sites just need to be enabled once, etc...

IE tab opens the same page with Internet Explorer engine instead of Firefox at a touch of a button. Filterset is for Adblock, and effectively removes the need for you to manually filter ads from sites with Adblock, since keeps an up-to-date list of ad servers and blocks them automatically. Works very well.

Again, sorry for the OT, I'm aware that this is not a Firefox forum

Cheers

Edi

 

Thanks for the great guide! I haven't read it in its entirety yet, but I definitely plan to do so once I get ahold of my laptop... (It has been a long time since I last reformatted my desktop, so I am overjoyed to have stumbled across this great resource!)

There is one thing I'd like to ask at this time, though:
I noticed that you made a distinction between Symantec Antivirus and Norton Antivirus. I was somewhat confused by this, because my understanding was that Norton is a product by Symantec... but I did a little bit of research, and I have realized that Norton is their "Home & Home Office Product", whereas they have "Enterprise Products" called "Antivirus Corporate Edition" and "Antivirus Enterprise Edition".
So, are you recommending the latter products versus the former?

 

I recommend neither. I think the enterprise line is as bloated as Norton AV.

Symantec Antivirus is an older software, different from the Norton line, very lightweight (might be a stripped version of Norton, I'm not sure), which has unfortunately been discontinued, that's why I found it nowhere for download. Many institutions e.g, universities, are still using the last version. You might obtain a download if you dig deep for it on the Web. I attach a screenshot of it.

I'm unsure if it's legal for me to redistribute my copy, I don't think it is. I would have made it available if I believed it were.

 

Oh, I see now. Thank you very much for the clarification.

I am a student at University of Toronto, and I came across something that seems to fit your description ( http://antivirus.utoronto.ca/). I am quite sure that it is Symantec Antivirus v9.0.1, but they refer to it as Norton AntiVirus in some cases (e.g. the above page's title). I guess I will just have to install it to find out...!

 

I use AVG and Avast! AV on various computers. I have also had good luck with Kapersky AV as well.

I usually turn off all resident protection, and set up scheduled scans - for example a critical system files scan every morning at 3am and a full scan weekly on Sunday at 2am on my desktop.

Nothing makes a fast computer slow better then the 7 resident protection engines that scan everything your PC does... For less 'careful' users like my familys PC at home, I do leave most of th resident protection on, since it reduces the number of phone calls I have to deal with when I'm away at school

 

Either I'm used to it, or the Symantec Antivirus doesn't slow down the computer significantly. That's another good part for a lightweight AV software I'm going on holiday so I'll use the computer a lot offline, I'll turn it off and see if I see any difference. I'll report after that.