Quick Q :: Anyone stripped WinXP down to bare basics?

Harrowed

Has anyone stripped WinXP down to bare basics?

The reason I'm asking as I'm one of these Anal retentive people who likes to rip out all the "crap" from their install in the hope of speeding the workings up.
Most people would call this tweaking but I'm talking about removing inherit WinXP features etc..

I'll give an example, loading the Default (apon creation) user Hive and removing 90% of the default confiurations. Outlook Express defaults, IE customisation defaults etc..

If you've never had a look at some of the things I'm talking about check out SysInternals Autoruns tool.

Disable silly little things like the Wireless Networking service when you don't even have a wireless connection.
OR, some of the freaker "tweaks" from the "explorer" tab.
Address Book, Microsoft Outlook Express 6, Netmeeting 3.01, Outlook Express... etc etc...

The fun part is trying not to BREAK too many things at the same time.

*G*

P.S.. I seem to love to ramble!

*clicks Submit before something freaky happens and I somehow finish what I want to say!*

orno

yup...i once tried that to see how small i could make my win xp install...i managed a win xp sp2 with nothing but the bare minimum in just a bit under 340mb..

followed the guides on msfn.org with a few modifications

nLite works great too though

Harrowed

340 megs? That's nice!

Could install it onto a 512 meg Thumbdrive!

ERD Commander 2005 etc are nice alternatives too.

orno

512 mb for sure is achievable
but i stopped bothering about reducing size once i got access to a dvd burner...now i just fit on as much as i can to auto-install (MS Office + Antivirus + Firefox + other "essentials").

Make it a totally customized unattended install.

Works like a charm!

Harrowed

Same.. although I have been loving the latest builds of AutoPatcher.

Makes life easier.. And just make your own modules after each new patch..

Helios

I run a minimum windows.

I dun are about the design.. i just want the best performance.

I run Debian in a text mod for god's sake lol

DJGuardy

Just a question...in your bare bones strip down of Windows XP, was it possible to remove the main theme that is deafult? I mean, could you leave the install with just the Windows Classic theme, because my PC runs so much faster with the Windows Classic Default.

Omego2K@

Gerardus™

when you run xp, it's better to install more ram into your mainboard. Most people are running xp and only have 256mb ram installed..
Well it should be enough and it runs fine when nothing else is installed.
But after awile after installing programs, you will notice things are working slower.
Also when installing programmes, a lot of them will start up when you turn on your computer.
All these programs are running in the back, for easier access, but they all use ram. Even when you set everything to better performance in windows, like using the classic theme and stuff, it wont help because they are not the problem, the processes running in the back are.
So either turn them off in msconfig, or install more ram.

Alacarde

lo, im running Windows XP Pro with only 64 MB RAM. And it loads just fine, fast and quick. I just disabled all the useless services, and removed Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. Those are the two you want gone.