New computer - installing XP myself......

[Fausto]

I'm getting a new computer made up - PC Specialists - and as I have a retail boxed XP O/S I have saved some cash and ordered the computer without O/S.

I have reformatted and reinstalled XP on many occasions but never to a fresh pooter so I have some questions.....

1- I assume installation will be the same as before (disc in - follow instructions)?
2 - Will I need to get drivers for the new motherboard?
3 - Will I need drivers for the other hardware such as DVD and H/Ds etc?
4 - This is a home recording/studio computer so I hope to never connect it to the internet........ so ... do I need to install SP2? - or indeed update XP at all?
5 - Can I get the installation to limit what gets installed to the bare minimum required to run my software. i.e. no O/E, I/E - any suggestions as to what else I can do without ?

Any suggestions?

[D-Rider]

I'm getting a new computer made up - PC Specialists - and as I have a retail boxed XP O/S I have saved some cash and ordered the computer without O/S.

I have reformatted and reinstalled XP on many occasions but never to a fresh pooter so I have some questions.....

1- I assume installation will be the same as before (disc in - follow instructions)?
2 - Will I need to get drivers for the new motherboard?
3 - Will I need drivers for the other hardware such as DVD and H/Ds etc?
4 - This is a home recording/studio computer so I hope to never connect it to the internet........ so ... do I need to install SP2? - or indeed update XP at all?
5 - Can I get the installation to limit what gets installed to the bare minimum required to run my software. i.e. no O/E, I/E - any suggestions as to what else I can do without ?

Any suggestions?

The word "Yes" comes to mind here ....

Disk in - follow instructions

XP has a lot of drivers but you may be best advised to get the latest drivers from the hardware manufacturer and install them

Drivers for other bits and pieces .... case by case

Install SP2 .... well I would .... and the latest security updates from the Microsoft website

And, you should have some control over what you install ... its a good few months since I last did a clean install so I can't remember what exactly.

Hope it helps .... and I'm sure others will be alond to shed more light / correct me

[falcomunky]

What D_R said plus you should get some basic drivers on supplied CDs that come with the various parts of the poota so you can get it all up n running n then updated as soon as you get it online.
Oh, I think SP3 is out sometime soon as well...

[BFG]

If it's not too late, partition the hard drive. If windows were a car, the driver's seat would be in the engine compartment. Splitting the hard drive into partitions is like installing a bulkhead.

You can do this during the install, when you are asked if you want to use the whole hard drive for windows, instead of saying yes - say no and enter a size.

Allow about 20Gb for the windows drive, or more if you can spare it. (Note - always avoid splitting any drive 50/50 for windows).

Once installed, you can then use disk manager to create another partition in the remaining space. C: would be the windows partition and D: would be for your data. Then move your "My Documents" and other folders to the D: drive.

It makes for a much more stable PC. Most of the big manufacturers do this on all their business machines. HP, Dell Etc.

[Fausto]

Thanks for that fellas.

I heard SP3 was due soon too and will look out for that.

As most windows updates seem to be for security measures do I really need them?

I won't ever be going online with this PC to avoid risks and clutter so any driver updating will have to be done via another PC - not a problem though I assume.

I think XP will be getting an 80GB H/D all to itself anyway as it is recommended to keep O/S and music recording/sound banks etc on separate Drives.

And the big question....... when I install XP and it asks me if I want to do a custom install (or however it phrases it) will it be obvious what to leave out and what will be vital ? I really want the bare bones of an O/S.

[BFG]

I won't ever be going online with this PC to avoid risks and clutter so any driver updating will have to be done via another PC - not a problem though I assume.

I've tried to do this before and it's just too impractical. You might have to relent on this as so much software now expects an internet connection.

I think XP will be getting an 80GB H/D all to itself anyway as it is recommended to keep O/S and music recording/sound banks etc on separate Drives.

True. ANY data in with an operating system is just a ridiculously moronic thing to do. Why windows is like this out of the box is unfathomable. It's like putting passenger seats in the engine compartment.

Separating data will also make your system run faster. If you have a choice of drives, choose the one with the fastest spin speed and seek time for windows. Smaller is sometimes better too. If you can find a 40Gb HDD running at 10,000rpm and dedicate this to windows, it'll run fast.

Another trick - set your swap file (virtual memory) to double your physical RAM + 10% - switch off the "let windows manage it" option and set upper and lower to the same size - then get some advanced defrag software and move the swap file to the start of the disk. It's like adding a turbo, especially for dealing with large data files.

And the big question....... when I install XP and it asks me if I want to do a custom install (or however it phrases it) will it be obvious what to leave out and what will be vital ?

Nothing is obvious I'm afraid, and the custom install does not give you the opportunity to avoid installing a lot of crap - some of which you have to remove afterwards.

I really want the bare bones of an O/S.

I know how you feel. SP2 is a monster which doubles boot time and slows down your machine, and SP3 will be worse if it comes out. However, many things in XP are broken, and fixed by the service pack. Yet, much of the service pack is fluff. It's just windows I'm afraid. It's a crap product.

One great way to get a bare bones OS is to let the big boys do it for you - HP, Dell, Sony, etc they all have their own flavour of windows and they've stripped out all the crap.

I know this isn't an option, but the point is there's plenty of stuff on the net about how to speed it up.

Once you've done this, use something like Norton Ghost to create an image of the disk. SHould you need to re-install from scratch, you just do it in one hit. :)