Windows XP Initial Configuration
At work I don't have a fixed Windows environment. So every time I need one I get a newly imaged machine and need to reconfigure it. These are the steps I always go through to configure my Windows XP environment to prepare it for development work.
- Create an OldIcons folder on the desktop and dump all icons into it (excluding MyComputer and the Trash). Icons such as IE which can't get moved get deleted.
- Unlock the taskbar, add the quicklaunch toolbar.
- Download a zip with essential utilities and unzip it to c:\mine. Make a link from c:\mine to the Desktop. The zip includes a subset of a larger set of free Windows software I normally keep with me.
- Open the start menu, right-click and configure it.
- Check show clock
- Uncheck hide inactive icons
- Customize start menu
- display admin tools
- display control panel and my computer as menus
- hide everything else
- Customize a command prompt icon and put it in the quick launcher.
- Increase buffer size to 999
- Turn on quick edit and insert modes
- Lucida Console font, yellow screen text
- Change the default view to List, edit the folder options from the Tools menu - view everything, hide nothing.
- Run and configure Process Explorer (already included in the zip). Include username, handles, threads, working set size, remove company, description, lower pane.