Time to reinstall Windows XP - Part 1

I decided that I was unhappy with the performance my most recent install of Windows XP, which is probably 3-4 months old. I like Windows and have always used it. It's a nice OS, but I rarely use it at all these days. I use Fedora Core 6 Linux for 99% of my computer needs. But anyhow, off we go to get the ultimate XP setup! Well, as long as it works well I'll be satisfied. I'm keeping a log of the install in a text file on the XP desktop and will dump the text here as I go along. Here's what I have so far:

9:34 AM 1/18/2007 - Install Windows XP on my computer.

Booted with XP disk. Formatted first partition with FAT32.
Installed the OS.
Rebooted.

Devices: Audio, USB and Video not recognized.
All others appear to be ok.
What to do first?
NVidia GeForce FX5200 128MB/AGP video card.
Display looks good but moving windows around is very choppy.
Resolution set to 1024x768.
Using hardware wizard get's nothing.
Let's try the NVidia cd that came with the card.
That worked well. The hardware wizard said click 'back' if you have the manufacturer's cd, so I did and the wizard found the driver automatically. No need to go with the NVidia install off of the cd.

Audio Controller. Tried 'update driver' in the Device Manager. Perfect! It found the driver for the on-board C-Media AC97 audio controller. No need for an install cd.

USB Controller. No luck with the Device Manager on this one. Can't find drivers. Probably have to wait until Windows updates are almost complete before this works.

Display is still choppy. Think I'll reboot and see if that changes.
Oh yeah, it changed! Back to 800x600! I used the NVidia control panel in the tray to change it back to 1024x768. Also had to change to 32 bit color. Now display is pretty good.

Guess it's time to go into the Windows Update phase of the new install.
No! Decided to download and install CCleaner, SpyBot and Adaware.

Installed Adaware and updated program, ran it and here's what I got.

Ad-Aware SE Build 1.06r1
Logfile Created on:Thursday, January 18, 2007 10:01:04 AM
Created with Ad-Aware SE Personal, free for private use.
Using definitions file:SE1R145 17.01.2007
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References detected during the scan:
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Alexa(TAC index:5):10 total references
MRU List(TAC index:0):17 total references
Tracking Cookie(TAC index:3):4 total references
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Summary Of This Scan
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Total scanning time:00:00:19.484
Objects scanned:76788
Objects identified:14
Objects ignored:0
New critical objects:14

All this on a new Windows installation that's barely 30 minutes old and has been actively on the Internet 3 or 4 times, and that was to set my home page and download the three programs above. Ok, that was Adaware. Now SpyBot 'Search and Destroy'. That scan apparently found 2 items that AdAware missed. Another instance of Alexa and a 'mediaplex' cookie. No big deal, but WTF? 30 minutes? Geesh! No wonder I use Linux. CCleaner found 18MB of junk and 10 registry keys that are trash so I get rid of all of it. Why so much junk on a fresh new barely used install? This has always been the case when I install Windows XP. I find it interesting, don't you?

That's enough of that crap for now. Onward to the Windows updates!

First update. Trust Microsoft and install Windows Update. Accept the suggested updates.

* Update for Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 2.0 and WinHTTP 5.1 (KB842773)
* Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool (KB892130)

Reboot.

Second update. 18 updates available. I install them all. I'm a trusting soul. At least the computer seem snappy up to this point.

* Q329048: Security Update
* Q323255: Security Update (Windows XP)
* Q329390: Security Update
* Q329115: Security Update (Windows XP)
* 329170: Security Update
* 811630: Critical Update (Windows XP)
* 810577: Security Update
* 814078: Security Update (Microsoft Jscript version 5.6, Windows 2000, Windows XP)
* Q329441: Critical Update
* Security Update for Windows XP (815021)
* 817606: Security Update (Windows XP)
* 823559: Security Update for Microsoft Windows
* Security Update for Windows XP (329834)
* Security Update for Windows XP (KB828741)
* Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 6 (KB834707)
* 810833: Security Update (Windows XP)
* Security Update for Windows XP (KB835732)
* Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - January 2007 (KB890830)

Time to reinstall my GRUB bootloader for Fedora and the other Linux distros. Booted off of the Fedora install DVD. The bootloader restore went off without a hitch. Got my boot menu back and all is well. At this point in the installation and configuration of Windows Xp the boot time for XP is about 20 seconds. That's pretty damn quick! At that point the Windows 'welcome' sound plays and the desktop is about ready. I have to admit that I don't have a Linux distro installed that boots that fast.

Third update. Next post.