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The Elder Geek is another guide for disabling services. Both guides work well together, and they help you figure out what the fuck Windows Management Instrumentation and Distributed Transaction Coordinator do.

There is nothing illegal about nLite or vLite. nLite is the XP version of vLite and has been around for a while. The only thing it does is provide a easy way to slipstream service packs updates and hotfixes along with other software(like Firefox). They added features that also allow you to easily include your serial # to make it so you do not have to watch the installer. It also allows you to change what features of windows are installed. Slipstreaming is a feature that Microsoft included with their OS and is a useful tool for installing XP or vista on a machine or many machines with ease.

Boot optimization is a subset of overall system optimization. As has been said, we rarely boot up these days (for me it is every week or two). But we do use our systems, some more intensely than others. In our household, two systems have more than a gig of RAM, one has 1GB, and the other two are 256MB and 320MB low-enders. Machines with 512MB or less benefit greatly from process reductions.

(1) To get started, click Start, then Run, then type in Services.msc

(2) Go through the list. If you don't need a service, disable it. If you are not sure, turn it off for this session only (i.e. click Stop). For example I don't have a printer on this computer, so I don't need the print spooling service ever.

(3) Know your services. Many web sites will detail the services for you. Here's the first link I got on Google to get you started.

(4) As others have mentioned, remove the "free" trash your computer manufacturer bogged your machine down with.

(5) Turn off the "helper" apps -- you don't need the Microsoft Office "quickstart" thing, the Real player nor the Quicktime icons in your system tray. Etc. Get to know your system tray icons and what they are supposed to do.

(6) If you are having trouble turning off system tray thingies, or want to do further tweaks, try running MSConfig -- Start, Run, MSConfig, {enter}. The last tab lists some of the things that are starting at bootup. Go through the list (MS doesn't make this easy -- the MSConfig window can't be enlarged, so you have to increase the column sizes, then scroll to the right and back again, etc.). You can get online help via Google -- here's another starter search link.

(7) Run Task Manager -- its free with 2000/XP and it comes in handy, yet uses little CPU or RAM. I run mine all the time, with the "minimized to system tray" checked. This way it shows me when something is pushing my CPU to 100%. Anyway, run it and click on the Processes tab. Then click on Mem Usage -- at the bottom will be the programs using the most memory. Many can't be stopped, but the biggest offenders should certainly be looked at more closely. Also, this list should not run much more than one screenful. If it does you definitely have some more pruning to do. Some processes don't list all the RAM they are taking up -- e.g. my Opera browser can use up to 200MB, but never lists more than 80 to 100MB for itself. So, to perk up your system (if the free RAM is low), try closing and restarting Opera (this would probably work for Firefox as well).

You can make yourself Slipstreamed XP Install disks with SP2 so you don't get infected. See
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2 _slipstream.asp or http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd. htm. It is well worth the time. Make a disk for next time.

Nah, your data is fine. Windows is just really, really bad at external drives. I kick the power out of mine all the time, and this happens. Here's my fix. You can leave the drive plugged in.

1. Do this registry edit to force viewing of hidden devices. Reboot.
2. Open Device Manager.
3. Select View > Show hidden devices.

What you will have is a whole heap of devices that are faded (i.e. hidden) under the USB drop down (usually "USB Mass Storgae Device", and also under Disk drives (you should be able to recognise your drive).

1. Remove all of these hidden devices, then eject the drive and remove the other few entries. Reboot.
2. Log in. Plug your drive back in, and let it hardware detect. Check My Computer, and you should be OK!

Don't quote me on this, but if I had to guess I would think this has something to do with the prefetching that XP does. It prefetches both Boot and Applications by default.
For a guide on how to change these settings then go here http://www.theeldergeek.com/prefetch_parameters_-_ altering.htm
I have noticed a huge difference on machines which have a 2-3 year old install of XP on them. Even though programs may not even be installed anymore (Acrobat Reader 5, and now they're running 7), it'll still be prefetched, thus slowing things down. Maybe in your case, though I'm not sure, XP is still prefetching the SP0 Boot code in addition to the SP2 Boot code. Try turning the prefetching on boot off and then back on and see what it does for you.

---Alex

He means that you can slipstream SP2 onto a CD with a CD burner. A DVD burner isn't necessary

The site I've used for the last couple years on every fresh install is The Elder Geek. He lays out every service, what it's used for, and whether he recommends it be disabled or not. The site also has a lot of other valuable information about the innerworkings of XP.

you could try a hosts file, kept my family safe for a long time, you can also check out what you can do in the group policy (if its WinXP Pro)

I have an XP Pro CD and I just type in whatever license code is on the sticker attached to the box in question. Then I install SP2.

You do know that you can slipstream SP2 into a Windows CD, right? Just do it once and you'll never have to wait for SP2 to install again. Here is a tutorial:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd. htm

First of all, I think you should just look at keeping the existing system, just improve it. Changeover cost in hardware/software is going to be high, even if it's free software. Here's what I'd do to try to stay with Windows 2k or XP (throw this all out if you're on 98/ME and get a real OS!):

1. Antivirus
First of all, why no antivirus? Any reasonable Win2k/XP system should be able to run one. If you want something with very low cpu impact, try Eset's Nod32. Also exclude the directory that the DVR uses to write the videos from virus checks. The videos are unlikely to get infected, and virus checking on those directories will just muck things up. (I'm assuming that this is why you aren't using antivirus.) But everything else then can be protected.

If you have licenses for *any* antivirus product, try it again with excluding the videos directories. Any antivirus product worth more than a warm bucket of spit should be able to do that.

2. Disable services.
Disable every unneeded service on these machines. A *lot* of them shouldn't be on. These systems should be doing practically nothing but writing video files (ok maybe some backups, or transferring files to another server for backups). A decent guide to this is here: http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm.

3. Consider turning off Windows networking.
Disabling SMB/Netbios calls should stop most viruses/worms/etc. If you need to transfer data for backups and such, use SSH and SFTP instead. SFTP is what you'd use on a Linux/Unix system, and is *much* more secure.

Free Win32 SFTP client:
http://winscp.net/eng/index.php

Free Win32 SFTP server:
http://itefix.no/copssh

Nice, and not too expensive pay SFTP client (Tunnelier) and server (WinSSHD):
http://www.bitvise.com/

(And you shouldn't be getting email-borne viruses -- these systems shouldn't be used for email.)

You can also use SSH on this to restrict all kinds of other access as well, while providing VPN-style access. Very, very nice. (e.g. you can only Remote Desktop or VNC through SSH)

4. Block ports and such, and firewall it.
Setup a firewall between these systems and the outside world. Restrict ports to *only* those needed (e.g. SSH on port 22). If possible, restrict outgoing data to *only* those IP addresses that need access. Yeah, IPs can be falsified, but it's an extra layer of defense.

You could do this through a software firewall, or even just some cheap $20 hardware firewall boxes.

The XP firewall is better than nothing, but it's only incoming. Much better incoming/outgoing freebie firewalls are available from these companies:
http://www.wyvernworks.com/firewall.html
http://www.jetico.com/

(I'd probably do the hardware firewall, but if you're cash is tight, or the time/cost of installing all these extra hardware boxes is high, at least deploy a software firewall.)

5. Other Windows hardening options
You can also try these two freebie Windows hardening programs. They probably aren't perfect, but they help:
Harden-it: http://www.sniff-em.com/hardenit.shtml
Secure-it: http://www.sniff-em.com/secureit.shtml

And decent googling should turn up lots of different hardening guides to Windows as well.

After these you should have antivirus, you're blocking ports, you've disabled almost all virus vectors, and should have systems that are reasonably secure and stable.

Yeah, you have Windows and not sexy or politically correct OSS. But it's what you have. If you can make it work, use it. Fixing up your Windows boxes is probably a lot less time and money than swapping over

There are ways to change the text of the "Start" menu http://www.theeldergeek.com/change_text_on_xp_star t_button.htm but the point is that it you want to you cannot (easily) uninstall those two peices of software (and I want that space back!)

Here it is: Change text on XP start button

Check this site out, it tells you most of the services you don't want, and the ones you definately don't want to kill.

http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm

Three pronged attack ,

First a strong router firewall , basicaly block all ports to the windows box that you dont require (so basicaly only ports 80 and perhaps 20/21 if your require FTP etc) couple this with a software firewall so any outgoing traffic does not leave the computer.

Switch off all unrequired services in windows , there are plenty of guides to this onlinehttp://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.h tm thats one for example which should help stem alot of problems.

and thirdly a good colection of anti-spyware stuff , spy-bot ,adaware , and perhaps the MS one should be able to catch alot of the crap .

from then on , it should keep it relativly safe if you dont dont do anything silly .
I occasionaly still need to use windows for some work things , luckly i can keep it totaly off the network

There's a registry hack to rename the "my computer" icon anything you want to. There's another for renamingthe "my network" icon as well.

mvps.org has a lot of the registry hacks needed to make security policy changes. So does windows registry guide, labmice, elder geek, and technet.

Good books to get are the XP Registry Guide and xp hacks. But the easiest thing to do is to run a copy of XP Pro.

XP Pro needs a paired down version of Windows 2003 Server "Security Configuration Wizard (SCW)"

What choice? With XP (both Home and Professional) Microsoft Messenger is installed and running whether you want it or not! In addition, it is a PITA to remove. I think the DOJ forced Microsoft to make it easier to disable, but that of course assumes that the typical user is capable and aware of the need to remove it!

Details here:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/messenger_removal.htm

However, note (from the above source):
In none of the cases below is Messenger actually 'removed' from the system. You can hide it, prevent it from starting, disguise it, and fool the system into thinking it's not available - but it isn't removed. It's still on the computer and a part of the operating system.

Which is why they allow you to switch to the classic interface. Its just not there by default because some pencil pusher thought the new one was better.

http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd. htm

http://www.neowin.net/articles.php?action=more&id= 94

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2 _slipstream.asp

[DHCP Client Service] "This is how your computer gets a Dynamic IP address so you can connect to the internet. If Internet Connection Sharing is enabled, you need DHCP Client. Also required for most DSL/Cable connections." [*]

Install the Windows XP off a CD that includes SP2 slipstreamed in, and your survival time online 'unpatched' goes up dramatically. Something about a reasonably good firewall that is turned on by the default installation...

Not an easy feat for Joe User without an MSDN subscription. It'll take a while before the new CDs hit the channel. I suppose they could leach it, but then they may get hidden "extras" if you know what I mean.

Want to make your own slipstream install CD? Go right ahead.

if you want to spare time when doing multiple installations, you can always use slipstreaming http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstream_01.htm

Well, fair enough. It likely has *some* sort of schedule. Unfortunately, it always seems to be using CPU time, and from the description from this site and most other sites I have seen, it sounds pretty close to effectively random :P. It's not like you can specifically choose when to run it anyway....

Looking at those KDE screenshots reminds me a lot of this old cartoon.

Showing off pictures like this or this just shows that people don't quite get it -- it like they just managed to reinvent Windows 95 plus a couple extra features.

Meanwhile the modern Windows user is used to looking at stuff like this. Totally different user experience to what you see on 'last generation' desktops. (Of course, all the Windows users on slashdot turn off this fluff, but after watching a totally new user play around with XP a bit, you realize that "task-oriented" features are actually helpful.)

I'm not saying that KDE isn't a good "power user" desktop, but the proprietary folks keep raising the bar, and having a "Start Menu" isn't enough to cut it anymore.

Why not go with a slipstreamed copy of WinXP that includes SP1a and RU1? Hell you can even make it install all of your apps and drivers automatically, or even tweak the hell out of it! Now from the initial install you've got a protected system, plus if your relatives system gets too screwed up they can pop in their cd and reinstall XP and all their default apps without being tech savvy!

Jonah Hex

You can slipstream all the patches for XP and install from that.

Actually, you can also change Windows so that the shortcut key ("Keyboard Navigation indicators") is always shown. In Windows 2000 this option can be found in Display Properties, Effects. In WinXP it's Display Properties - Appearance - Effects. Here's a page that shows how to find this menu item in WinXP, see the UI-51 figure.

Maybe Windows XP Home is different, but the option there is:

Control Panel-->Admin Tools-->Services-->Messnger

There are a number of good sites telling you what whose services are, what they do, and suggesting if you should change from the default settings. Here is one of my favorites.

well, critical updates are *mostly* distributed by the ever-popular windowsupdate service. I recently created a slip-streamed, unattended CD-R for XP Pro that has SP1a && corp activation (via corp $erial) && m$ft jvm && every critical update & patch. And, if you want, you can download WinINSTALLER to create .MSI files from any/all your programs and automagikally install those too. It's basically what the dell "repair" disks. See this, this, this, this, and this

well, critical updates are *mostly* distributed by the ever-popular windowsupdate service. I recently created a slip-streamed, unattended CD-R for XP Pro that has SP1a && corp activation (via corp $erial) && m$ft jvm && every critical update & patch. And, if you want, you can download WinINSTALLER to create .MSI files from any/all your programs and automagikally install those too. It's basically what the dell "repair" disks. See this, this, this, this, and this

Go here for a full list of what is good and bad to disable in the windows services screen.