New laptop must dos

Once a product you own gets old you start treating it with less care. Its only natural

likewise when you get a new product you treat it with the upmost respect in the start.

So, what are some of the MUST DOS in terms of OS to make your laptop both:

(1) FASTER
(2) SECURE

And how do go and do this with quick instructions?

One need not mention setting a password for the account or having the latest windows and drivers update. What about other less obvious stuff?

I can think of:

(1) turning OFF autorun. I turn it off from both control panel and group policy gpedit.msc.
(2) checking msconfig to make sure only things i need will boot when i start windows.
(3) turning off universal plug n play
(4) turning OFF fancy useless stuff in windows like transparency, etc (althogh you may like it though).

 

Must Dos:

1) Get a good AntiVirus, if you want a good Free one, then go with Avira AntiVir, if you want the best PAID ond, then go with NOD32.

2) Disable the annoying autorun on all media.Disable System Restore, Disable Error Reporting

3) update windows, run DEFRAGMENTER

4) after you have configured your system and updated to your likes, back everything to a file via an imaging software like Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost for easy restoration in the future.

 

What is the meaning of MUST DOS?
I can't understand it. Someone please explain? Thanks.

 

He means things that are vital to running your system fast and secure.

you are right Dark Silver, his wording is confusing. MUST DOS sounds like MUST DOS! as in MS DOS. he should've said Must Do's

 

Must-do's

Yea, I thought he was claiming that he must run DOS on his new laptop at first...

 

I always do a *clean install*..just to make it *mine*
and, a Good AV Program for me (Avira AV), SAS, Revo U, and CCleaner, other misc. programs are added afterwards


Cin

 

Ok thanks I understood. Wakarimasta.
The thing you MUST DOS. For me,
CCleaner(fix registry erros), Defraggler(disk defragmenter), Antivirus(avira or avast free), windows live messenger, spywareblaster(passive protection zero resources), Tune-up utilities(some little tweaking, registry errors fixer and registry defragmenter), adobe photoshop cs3 extended(design n art), adobe illustrator cs 3(design n art), MS office 2007, RMclock(undervolt), Bittorent, ACDsee, Nvidia system tools(overclock GPU), Digital Cel Flipbook(2D animation), WINRAR and VLC media player, Mozzila firefox, MY PICTURES AND MUSIC(not software but my collection).

Games,
Warcraft III TFT(DotA and F/A II), Left 4 Dead and GRID.
Still got more.

 

Am i the only one who likes auto-run

 

Oh I never responded properly. My apologies.

Nowadays, my new laptops must do's:
- reformat cleanly into XP SP3 (I hate Vista)
- install XP drivers after I find them
- install XP Inspirat Theme set to make my XP look like Vista (I like the black toolbars and whatnot, no aero though it's annoying)
- essential softwares, as others have mentioned

I do foresee my must do list change from installing XP to installing W7 soon though.

 

no, you're not alone! I only use it for some things... I believe one should trust in your antivirus enough to allow autorun, if it makes things easier.

 

must do's in my case.

hm.
install clean from usb stick, do the update thing and get all drivers.

add to windows home server, disable system restore

disable defrag if it's an ssd.

done. those are the must do's for all systems here.


the like-to-do's.

install firefox (incl. glasser and such).

regedit taskbar buttons to fill the screen width for easy access.

reconfig vista search to only scan my folders, not appdata (for performance and for actual usability, i only want my files, not my appdata files).

install desktop fences, as i like it.

install avethumbnailsizer to make the thumbnails as big as half the screen. then, use "mouse swiping" for fast "mouse-alt-tab" over the taskbar.

install apps i like



oh, and the last is a nearly-must-do, but especially like to do: system idle tasks and boot file defrag in the end (while the defrag is not really needed for ssd, it's an all in one batch file here on the forum and it's great).

as one can see: only 3 must-do's. i have an easy life

 

Could you explain that?

 

There isn't a lot to do when you get a new laptop. People do seem to make it so much more complicated to the point where you can't even enjoy the laptop because you're busy installing all these other programs (not bloatware mind you), while other people on other OSes mock us for "having" to do this. I'll make this simpler, just find good, reliable antivirus, and enjoy your laptop. Maybe do a clean install of Vista. Now if you want a computer which is a tiny bit faster, do what everyone else is doing, by installing maintanence tools, and doing all these registry tweaks. I don't think anyone is willing to buy a laptop, that they have to but as much work as they paid for it into it. It will work out the box, it's just how badly do you want it to work faster. That's just my opinion.

 

You can also use CCleaner, it's free and it can speed up your laptops if you use it regularly to clean the registry, etc.

 

but sometimes there are genuine concern over certain issues like say turning off autorun may be important for some people cause they probably dont like the popups and also dont want the usb to start instaling things on the go when you plug it in

 

Clean install, update, secure, and image backup.






I also pray to the divine god of the internets for a bountiful () harvest.

 

I add a key to HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMEtrics called MinWidth and give it the value -99999.

then, after the next logon, my taskbar buttons are as big as they can be in width. some examples:

some software i've developed
Firefox
A small renderer I've developed
DVD ripping on a quadcore with ssds (tons of windows, yes, it's legal here)

I like it that way (and thus have huge issues with win7 doing it exactly the reverse way: making them as small as possible )

 

Some of my must-do's with new notebook: (I) repartition the disk and install Linux (LinuxMint) on the second partition, (II) in addition to the lists above of must have progs I install (A) Advanced System Care, (B) WinPatrol, (C) Virtual Dimension (I simply can't work without this one), (D) 7-zip, (E) digestit, (F) foxit and/or stdutility, and (D) some undervolting prog like Notebook Hardware Control or RMClock.
I also have several antispyware scanners and my favorite antivirus.