I'm about to reinstall XP on an old notebook, but I'd like to do without all the extras that come with XP (and what's on Dell's XP reinstall disc). I've looked at a few websites but I didn't really get a whole lot out of them.

I use the notebook for:
Internet (lots)
MS Office (little)
Listening to music (on an external HDD)



Any suggestions, good websites, help?

5/3/2010 12:47:09 PM

first thing i used to do on a new xp install was get rid of the MSN browser

5/3/2010 12:52:28 PM

just get an xp install disc from the torrent community (OEM i'm assuming...depending on your license), and install with that instead of restore cds.

after installation, disable services you don't use
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

and disable entries in your msconfig after installing software


what are the specs on the notebook? as long as hard drive space isn't an issue, i wouldn't worry about whatever comes with a base install of windows xp. by optimizing your services/msconfig you dictate whats running in the background which is all that matters

5/3/2010 1:10:58 PM

^thanks. I'm not familiar with torrenting... I'll look into it though. HDD space is sort of an issue. I like to use this as a mobile media machine, thus the more storage I can get the better (yeh, I could buy a larger HDD, but I don't feel like spending the money). One recent issue has been slow performance; I've done the dell diags and chkdsk with no issues found, thus I'm thinking there's just too much crap on it (even with disabling some programs in msconfig).

Not to mention, I'm a little OCD and I don't like all that shit I'll never use

Specs:
XP Pro
Dell Latitude D600
Intel T2300 @ 1.66GHz
1.5GB Ram
80GB HDD

- I thought about pulling the ram to see if a stick is bad... but it's reading the full amount (1.5 GB)... still worth it? The thing is just about new (or refurbished) since I got everything but the case and ram replaced last fall. It does seem to r/w to the HDD a lot though (when just sitting there).

- Another question; what's up with it accessing an external HDD via USB during start up? If I have my HDD plugged up, it takes forever (meanwhile, I can see that it is accessing the external HDD via the HDD's lights); If it's unplugged it boots pretty fast.

[Edited on May 3, 2010 at 1:26 PM. Reason : .]

5/3/2010 1:21:06 PM

my laptop is a D810 simular to yours. just use the xp install disk theres no crapware on it, and then your drivers cd but watch what you put on. only drivers, no utilities.

Then what synapse said. Hell I do that on all my computers.

5/3/2010 1:52:11 PM

with those specs a fresh install of xp should scream, regardless of doing the service config i link to above.

as far as removing windows features, you're not going to save *that* much hdd space...maybe 500MB or so. i would only bother with that stuff if you're installing on a 4GB SSD or something like that.

go through that service config if you're concerned about disk i/o (assuming a fresh XP install). if it's not a fresh install, then go ahead and make it one.

where did you get your xp pro license...is it from dell or did you buy/acquire it some other way?

5/3/2010 1:52:55 PM

^^ thanks. now that you mention it, I think all the dell crap was probably off of the drivers & utilities disc and not the reinstall disc
^dell

Quote :

"as far as removing windows features, you're not going to save *that* much hdd space...maybe 500MB or so."

b...b...b...butt

Quote :

"Not to mention, I'm a little OCD and I don't like all that shit I'll never use"

I'll remove what's easy enough then.


[Edited on May 3, 2010 at 2:06 PM. Reason : .]

5/3/2010 2:02:57 PM

double the posts, double the fun.

[Edited on May 3, 2010 at 2:04 PM. Reason : .]

5/3/2010 2:02:57 PM

http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html

This program will allow you to create a brand new image for XP. You can remove components, add in service packs, even add in new programs to install. Perfect for manufacturer CD's because you can remove all those useless programs like antivirus installs.

5/3/2010 3:20:53 PM

I came here to post nlite

5/3/2010 4:39:30 PM

Quote :

"I came here to post nlite"

5/3/2010 4:57:55 PM

Quote :

"I came here to post nlite (I used it recently for a very similar situation)"

5/3/2010 5:42:35 PM