do you have any XP install and setup tips?

i think i'm going to install XP in a VM tomorrow, i haven't used it for over 2 years now, so i'm probably a bit out of touch with everything. i was hoping someone could tell me some good setup tips, everything from slimming down XP with that program called vlite, i think, to how to secure it, and which programs you use, like deep freeze.

i thought about installing XP while i was walking home from a friend's house, i was listening to my favourite podcast - security now, i love listening to the spinrite ad and wondering why all the testimonies use the same expressions? "spinrite saves the day" and "lo and behold" etc (i think gibson doesn't realise everyone knows he makes them up lol). anyway, they started talking about a script that downloads all the XP updates and makes an iso so you can put them all on a dvd and install them all in one go without reboots. has anyone tried it, it's this -
http://www.heise-security.co.uk/articles/80682

 

You probably have these services links, but here they are.
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm
http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/security/page_3.htm
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=896115&postcount=44
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/wwdc.htm (Windows Worm Door Cleaner)

Here's a tweak link I used when I only had 512MB ram. 'Step 4 - Tweaks' can be useful for speed. They also mention other programs later on that can help with security and tweaking.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/OptimizeXP.html

I use Sandboxie to surf and have used Returnil to virtualize my system partition. Both are good and have free versions. They also work very well together . I can't help with the n-lite yet, that's my next step. There guide is helpful. Here's the link to the site.
http://www.nliteos.com/index.html

I also have a link to move the my docs folder to another partition if you need it. I seriously doubt that you need it though. I hope this helps a little.

innerpeace

 

Its nLite. vLite is for Vista.

**For slimming down XP, you should be careful with what you remove (always read the descriptions) and you should just remove a few components at a time then test it. You can use VMware Player or other similar program to do a test install.

**Some programs have particularly components that need to be kept, you can check for them in this thread.

**If you do plan on using nLite to create a custom CD, you should consider integrating Xable's XP SP2 Update Pack. This way you dont have to download and install lots of individual hotfixes later.

**Also you may be interested in addons. You can integrate addons for various programs such as Firefox, KMPlayer, and Notepad++ to name a few.

 

Hello,
I would not bother with too much tweaking - the benefit is outweighted by compatibility problems later.
Full as is XP install takes only about 1.5GB, so it's not that much of a big deal, add all sort of updates etc - you go up to 2.5GB. You can also try my guide, if it interests you.
Mrk

 

thanks for all the help i'm not in the mood to install XP now, but i'll use the links when i do. i might not use nlite if it can make things unstable, i wanted to slim it down a bit, but i'll use a drive with more room instead. i'm not going to tweak loads of stuff, i just want to secure it and have a very basic install. i thought of a really good security/privacy program i want to write that no one has done yet, it's a really good idea i'm going to make lots of money from it

 

You don't mention which VM you plan to use, I just want to add that I do like Virtualbox a lot because it offers the feature to attach virtual disks in immutable mode. Which makes applications similar to Deepfreeze obsolete.

Immutable disks are great when you plan to fool arround.

 

i've never used that VM, i've got vmware, i think with Virtualbox you can have a Virtualbox program as a window that sits in the task bar, so it looks and acts just like a normal program like parallals i think.