How long since you tweaked your computer? Note: this includes un/installing software, even for just trialling it, or changing some parameters of your existing setup. Reinstalling an image made for backup purpose, or reverting to a pre-existing snapshot with ISR software, does not count, nor does Windows update. Please feel free to add any comment.
As a rule I don't "tweek", if by tweek you mean changing Windows settings and/or making the computer do things it wasn't intended to do. Doing these tweeks is sometimes easy enough to do, but as time passes you tend to forget how you did it. Over time as these tweeks accumulate, your system becomes more and more customized and things may start to happen. Now which tweek is causing the new problem? Turning features on or off via a radio button is another story. If thats what you mean by tweeking that would be fine for me.
Different people define 'tweak' differently. I'm just going to 'borrow' Sully's words (hope Sully won't mind) and put it as "I do things to my computer".
If "tweaked" can be defined as implementing small changes or trying little experiments/modifications, then I've been tweaking on XP a fair amount this week. Been experimenting with adding DropMyRights to the context menus. So far, it works on executables and shortcuts to them. Not working on non-executable files yet.
Pretty much an ongoing state of affairs for me. I'm always dialing something in... usually because I just learned a new tip, trick, or setting. Recently, with the addition of a 2nd Win7 machine (given to me by a friend), I've not only been adding and subtracting software, but I've been wrestling with Homegroup networking. What is amazing is that Microsoft tries to make people believe it is all so simple now, but if you start searching for solutions, you suddenly find how many users are pulling their hair out trying to network a couple Win7 machines. Fortunately, it's all good with me, and I never get frustrated with computer problems. I know I'll get to the bottom of it sooner or later.
If tweaking means trialling programs then everyday. Hmm I think the poll should be more in the lines of How often do you Tweak your security setup ? that would yield far more interesting results
The only tweak I do with system wide settings is at initial set up.Installing and uninstalling software was a little to often More like daily,but have settled down before I break something.
Most tweaking ends up having security implications or considerations. Granted, some tweaks might not, but this forum also has threads about other softwares and about hardware, so I think the OP's poll is just fine, and there was no need to create another one.
No security programs - see my post in twin thread - One week or less: in virtualised mode I try all new softwares I see and like.
set it perfectly [for me] no tweaking needed after initial tweaking xp pro turn some services off and remove programs i never use i make all but a few programs portable sometimes i find a new interesting program such as mixcraft which i made portable
I would say that tweaking is something a little more specific than what is suggested here, at least to me. I would say that installing/removing applications is just that, trying software. Rather a lot like trying on many different pairs of shoes to find what you like, or many pairs of socks to find one that won't feel uncomfortable. I would say that modifying options, program or OS, from prompts, is much like choosing options on a television or radio. You set your bass level, you create presets, set EQ. Later you want to modify, but these are all standard features that are open to user preference. I would say that tweaking would be more in line with pimping out your new shoes with kevlar shoestrings and giving them a coat of kevlar for protection. For a television it might be opening up the inside and replacing a capacitor for better audio filtering. I know a guy who installed a computer in his new Subaru so that he can tweak the engine. In other words, tweaking to me would be something to customize that is outside of "typical" parameters. A registry tweak to do something, a setting using devcon for some piece of hardware, even tweaking services requires a very "non typical" type of approach. Thats just me though. Sul.
I install Windows, setup/tweak everything and forget about it until the next reinstall. If I find something new/interesting on the internet, I might try it out, once a month or so.
Ive disabled a few services and narrowed down some startup entries. Tweak and break look very similar words to me.
I've kept everything the same for the last 3 years,got more important things I enjoy then sitting behind a PC all the time.
I don't think I ever stop "tweaking", going by your definition. I don't mess with my security setup often, as I have far more fun and important things to do on the computer than spend time worrying about what may or may not happen while I'm on it. I do however like to play with other types of software, "spruce things up" in the form of wallpapers and such, and just generally play and work with my system.
Well if you define tweaking as setting up my system and configuring it then it was just a week ago. (I formatted my PC since i got some new hardware to play with)
I don't tweak my OS anymore. In the past, I've spent days trying to speed up my machines by cutting services, resource hungry appearances only to realize that by restoring an old image I had to start all over again. Besides I've also realized that performance speed was uniquely affected by security applications conflicts or the wrong combination of them. My Vista (considered a slow OS by many) is as fast as XP when using few and carefully tested applications. Last but not least, when I tweaked my machines sometimes some peripheral appliances or even programs wouldn't work properly and it would take ages to find out why, and in some instances it was due to tweaks... Tweaking and configuring Windows are two different things for me.
I don't do actual tweaking that often. However, the description included installing and uninstalling software. I install new or updated software as often as every day. Every few months I do a bit of clean up and uninstall about 30 programs I don't use.
