Well, I had my first major experience with Nlite and Windows XP tonight. I installed a new 160 GB Seagate hard drive into Mom’s Compaq Evo 510 and I used Nlite to slipstream SP2 into Windows XP, since SP2 is necessary to properly use a drive that big.
The resulting image was far too big to fit on a CD, so I started pulling stuff out.
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2008/01/nlite-and-windows-xp/
I picked up a spare Linksys WRT54G recently, and tonight I finally got a chance to try DD-WRT, a free replacement operating system, on it.
Amazing is an understatement. The biggest complaint I usually hear about wireless networking is range (and when people complain about reliability, they almost always mean range), and DD-WRT offers several solutions to this.
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2007/11/if-you-have-wireless-you-need-dd-wrt/
Firefox is a better browser than Internet Explorer by a long shot, but at times it’s made me wonder if it’s strayed from its original mission of being a lean, quick, simple browser based on the Mozilla engine.
I’ve seen several “Optimizing Firefox” guides and most of them talk very little about performance, and the ones I did find were not only disappointing, they also appear to be widely copied verbatim without attribution. So here’s what I do to shaq-fu Firefox into shape.
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2007/07/optimizing-firefox/
Antivirus software is the worst culprit in PC slowdowns. I am not alone in this belief. I don’t suggest going without (not completely) but it’s certainly possible to save lots of money, eliminate subscriptions, eliminate most of the overhead, and still practice (relatively) safe computing while running Windows.
Use Clamwin, the Windows version of ClamAV, and don’t engage in risky behavior (more on that later).
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2007/06/replace-your-antivirus-software-with-this-freebie-and-regain-your-performance/
Want Diskeeper’s features without ponying up 50 bucks?
Sorry, I can’t help you. The combination of JKDefrag, Scandefrag, and Pagedefrag is better and it’s free.
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2007/06/the-best-defragmenter-for-windows-nt-2000-xp-and-vista/
So, I rebuilt a Dell Dimension 4100 last night. I didn’t make any hardware changes other than replacing the Western Digital hard drive inside, which was on its last legs.
Along the way, I learned a few things.
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2006/12/i-rebuilt-a-dell-dimension-4100-last-night/
Those of you who bought my book (both of you) know that the biggest secret to speeding up Windows 95 and 98 was removing the extra junk nobody used–especially the stuff Microsoft deliberately made impossible to remove via normal means.
In Windows 95, all it took was modifying INF files with a text editor to remove MSN, IE, and the other obsolete software it shipped with from the get-go. Win98 got a bit more complicated. But with 2000, Microsoft started getting nasty–putting encrypted data in multiple places, so even if you hacked the INFs, it didn’t do any good.
But several people still figured out how to do it.
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2006/05/windows-2000-without-internet-explorer/
So Symantec is saying that IE is more secure than Mozilla-based browsers because there were 25 security vulnerabilities disclosed in the first half of 2005 for Mozilla, as opposed to 13 for IE.
Such reports are fine for Clueless Information Officers. Let’s analyze this like someone who actually knows what to do with that thing that sits between your ears.
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2005/09/another-meaningless-security-report/
I’ve been seeing more and more advertisements for paid survey sites. And the promises keep getting more and more ridiculous.
I think it’s a scam. You can make a little bit of spending money filling out surveys, but don’t let anyone hoodwink you into thinking you’ll get rich. Look at it as a way to spend a couple of hours a week to make a little bit of extra money, and nothing more, and you stand to do OK.
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2004/12/why-do-people-pay-35-for-lists-of-paid-survey-sites/
Defragmenting on a regular basis isn’t the only thing to overall system performance, but it’s a major factor. Fortunately there are some free tools that do a good job of it. Unfortunately they don’t come with Windows.
Here’s how to automatically defragment your system and your registry.
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2004/12/ways-to-keep-your-nt2kxp-system-defragmented/
