Maintaining top performance for Windows XP Pro

[Ken Nielsen •]

I have been all Mac for 20 years, so I know that there are routines that you need to run to keep a computer happy. Now I have added Windows XP to the computers I use so I want to keep it running in best form. What would you recommend?

[Ken Nielsen •]

Like on the Mac (before system X) you would need to 1. zap the pram, 2. rebuild the desktop, 3. run Norton utilities - and that, ladies and gentlemen would be the best thing you could do. And the Mac would love it and hum like a bee. If you didn't do it, you would be the victim of regular system crashes. So, it's a vital subject for the professional. (When you're relying on these machines for your income, you definitely don't want downtime.)

I'm sure there are, 'must have' things to do with XP that, similarly, only the experienced have discovered through daily operation year after year.

[dave milbut]

actually ken, xp is the most stable os ms has ever released. prior to xp (95/98/me) you pretty much needed to reinstall the os every 6 months or so to keep it stable. i ran xp pro for almost 2 years without a glitch on my last system. from the day of xp's release to the day i retired the system about a month ago.

[Ken Nielsen •]

It sounds like the Mac is the one that needs to be 'bottle fed" to keep it happy. OSX is a solid system but there still is maintenance that needs to be done on a periodic basis.

A great deal of the Mac Photoshop forum has ongoing information on system maintenance - always a well-followed topic.

If Windows doesn't need it, then all the better, but I can see now that there is much more attention needed in staying out of the woods on viruses. I'll do all of the things you recommend on the lounge thread - thanks for that input.

Ken

[dave milbut]

no problem. it's not that it doesn't "need" it. as i said in the lounge, the monthly defrag can make for a happy system. OH. one thing about defrag in xp... run your favorite apps 4 or 5 times... open close, open, close. xp will remember what apps you like the best and when you defrag, will position them near the start of the drive and make sure they're contiguous so they run faster.

ALSO... once you get everything installed and running nicely (including all windows updates), go into start> programs> accessories> system tools> system restore tool and set a "restore point". that way if you have any problems with drivers or a funky ms update later on, you can just hit system restore and bang, you're back to square one with a clean running system.

what kind of laptop is it? brand? processor speed? memory? hard drive(s)? etc...

[Ken Nielsen •]

My new honey:

<http://www.averatec.com/notebooks/3150p.html>

[Ken Nielsen •]

"just hit system restore and bang"

Restore point sounds like the history palette in Photoshop, a really neat deal to be able to backtrack to a point where things were working perfectly, does this really work well? This could be a real time and trouble saver.

Where is sytem restore in case I ever need to hit it?

Somehow, I get the idea that if I never went online with this machine I would be better off. You know, do all my online surfing on a Mac?

[dave milbut]

Restore point sounds like the history palette in Photoshop,




well it's not really BANG. :) Takes about 5 minutes.

does this really work well?




It worked so so in windows me. I've used it about 3 times in the couple of years w/XP and it's been flawless.

Where is sytem restore in case I ever need to hit it?




start> programs> accessories> system tools.

Tip: In case of trouble you can start windows in "safe mode" by hittin f5 (or with a couple more choices, F8 - gets you cd support too). from there you can run restore from a vanilla desktop.

Somehow, I get the idea that if I never went online with this machine
I would be better off. You know, do all my online surfing on a Mac?




naw it's not that bad. i'm on all the time with cable access. get a good firewall ( zonealarm <http://www.zonelabs.com> is free and excellent) and with anti-virus and safe computing (don't open attachments from people you don't know, etc) you'll have no problems. I've been using windows since the dos days and I've NEVER had a virus. (well once at work, but that was nimda and it attacks open, unpatched iis installations... now i'm allowed to install my own patches! <g>)

[dave milbut]

and to stay away from viruses and spyware, get mozilla!