When I installed Vista on my laptop, I did so as an upgrade from Windows XP. Soon my computer became almost unusably slow and I was experiencing random crashes. One of our programmers had installed Vista from scratch and he had no such problems. So I did what I used to do every six months or so with Windows XP, a complete re-install.
I have become a minimalist in many ways, so this was a good chance to do some housekeeping and only install the minimums (which ended up being pretty significant). I detailed this process and I am sharing it with you here. It would be interesting to find out what applications you consider essential when doing a complete re-format. I have changed some of the specific steps to be a bit more generic.Using this list, I will do the same exercise for my Unbuntu box.0. Make sure all data is backed upI generally put all my data in an external hard drive that is shared amongst my internal network, so this step is pretty easy. Things like bookmarks and setting are committed to subversion where the repository is stored externally.
1. Install Vista Ultimate (at your own risk 
)
Write down all the configuration steps you take, such as removing the sidebar, changing resolution, etc… so the next time you just go through the checklist.
2. Set up Wireless/Internet Connection
3. Microsoft Update
4. Get Updates from PC manufacturer (Latest firmware drivers)
5. Change domain to internal domain name
6. Uninstall un-needed programs
7. Map Network Drives
8. Map Network Printers
9. Install AVG Free (Anti-Virus and Spyware)
10. Install Firefox 2 with the following plugins:
Del.Icio.Us toolbar
Alexa Toolbar
Firebug
Web Developer
Minimize to Tray and Minimize to Tray Enhancer
Cobalt theme or or Blue Ice
Netvibes.com as the home
Make icons small
10a. Netvibes Bookmarks
I like to have a centralized list of all the web applications I use frequently.
Google Mail
MindMeister
Zoho Projects and CRM
Google Docs
Google Calendar
Eventum
Trac
FlowChart.com
Notifir.com
ConstantContact.com
11. Install Spybot Search and Destroy
Update
Immunize
12. Install Ad-Aware SE Personal
13. Set Power Settings
Use advanced settings
14. Taskbar and Start Menu Properties
Removed hidden toolbar
Enabled Administrator Links on program files
changed icon size for programs to be small
15. Right Click->Properties
Put My Computer on the Desktop along with Network
16. Install QuickBooks 2007
17. Install Daemon Tools
I have a folder on the external driver where I store frequently used CD’s and DVD’s in the ISO format.
18. Install Outlook 2007
Downloaded for free from 1and1.com for my Exchange account
19. Setup Users
20. Install Adobe Photoshop CS2
I have not learned Gimp sufficiently enough to dump Photoshop yet. But I’m getting there…
21. Install Acrobat Reader
22. Install Flash 8
I still do some flash work here and there.
23. Install 7z
24. Install FileZilla
25. Install NotePad++
26. Install Camtasia+
27. Install Audacity + Plugins
28. Install GoToMeeting
I’m looking at some free alternatives, maybe even Skype, but I have not found a good replacement yet.
29. Install JRE 6
30. Install ArgoUML
31. Install DBDesigner
While I usually create database schema’s by hand, this is a good tool for quick prototypes. Especially because it exports the schema for you based on the UML diagram.
32. Install Skype
33. Install Azureus
34. Install Joost
I still have some beta invites here.
35. Install XAMPP Windows 1.5.4
I use this for Symfony development.
36. Installed Putty
37. Install WinSCP3
38. Install iTunes
For the video iPod.
39. Install 3GP Converter
Converts my movies to iPod format.
40. Install EasyEclipse for LAMP
Install RadRails
41. Install Tortoise SVN
42. Install FreeMind
I normally use mindmeister.com; however, this solution is good for offline work and is compatible with mindmeister.com
43. Install VMware Converter
I will use this to make this install an image that I can put in VMware on Ubuntu.
44. Install Instant Rails
45. Install Cygwin
I have to have my Linux command prompt.
46. Install OpenOffice
47. Install DIVX
48. Create a backup image the system (thanks to all the suggestions to do this)
It’s been weeks since the re-install and all is going well.
This list used to be over 200 items long… now it takes much less time to do a re-install. I have put all these applications that I need to re-install in one location on my external hard drive and I have a document with links to all the applications that should be downloaded in order to get the latest version. The other big factor in saving time, was setting up all my data remotely and using web services whenever possible.
What are your essentials?
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