Slimming Down Windows XP

By Bold_Fortune
in Essential Guides

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Rising Star

lhnz

Posted
Posted
Lovely guide - i do my modding myself as well - not as good as yours.

hve you thought of having like an installer or a program that does it all for you? that would be easier for most ppl. Like the installer / program would ask "Do you have a printer or plan on using one" If yes, do not delete the files, if No the delete the filed etc etc etc etc

ill wait for that.

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Yep I shall too, and it should also make a backup of all of the changes it makes...

So that if there are problems you can repair the damage via Windows or Dos...

Would be nice if the program explained what all the services are and so on, so that you could see which you wanted/needed.

Maybe I ask to much. :pinch:

  • 3 weeks later...
Apprentice

astalavista

Posted
Posted

Great guide.

Nlite sucks! it is full of bugs and u can't imagine the doo doo that new users get into playing with that pcs of Sh!T software.

furthermore if u plan to use the latest build it can't even integrate hotfixes properly.

you ended with screwed up hotfixes.

Nlite is great if your a home user and has endless time to keep formating his computer bec. it keeps crashing bec. of nlite.

Grand Master

Gone

Posted
Posted

Nice job :woot: :yes: :D . I'll read the whole thing when I have time. I can't wait to have a guide stating how to remove HP software and then get it to actually work. Parts 1-10,000!

EDIT: I hate HP software, it was like going through computer hell. Just to clarify why I put 1-10,000 pages. They are the biggest pain. :angry:

Experienced

Zxian

Posted
Posted
Great guide.

Nlite sucks! it is full of bugs and u can't imagine the doo doo that new users get into playing with that pcs of Sh!T software.

furthermore if u plan to use the latest build it can't even integrate hotfixes properly.

you ended with screwed up hotfixes.

Nlite is great if your a home user and has endless time to keep formating his computer bec. it keeps crashing bec. of nlite.

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Just to be fair... nLite has its quirks... but that's why its still BETA. Would you like to write a program that can remove all the components of Windows, and yet still keep all the dependencies of the parts that you want to keep? It's a hefty task (Bold could probably tell you that better than me).

To play the devils advocate, I've run my desktop on an nLited XP-SP2 install with all the post SP2 hotfixes integrated since then, and I've never had any problems whatsoever. If you are having troubles, then you probably didn't read up on what not to remove for your programs.

But anyways, I think that Bold already covered in the beginning of his guide that he didn't want this compared with nLite, and that he encouraged Nuhi to continue with his efforts (at least that's the message I've got from the guide and Bold's forum).

(btw... it's kinda low to downtalk the software because of where you'd find it... you know what I mean)

@WinXPHE - You can probably use this as a guide as the title says, but as for exact files, I'm not sure (and I don't think Bold is either) since he hasn't worked on a 64-bit system AFAIK. Use what Bold has provided and work your way from there.

Rising Star

Mike_Wilson

Posted
Posted

If you actually read up on tools such as nlite or other unattended measures such as http://unattended.msfn.org/ then its easy. If you want to remove WMP then just remove v10, u can keep the core WMP files intact easily which saves hassel, you can also use the WINNT.SIF file to limit what windows installs but the files are still on the cd if you want to install them.

Also why in the name of god would you want to remove directx, never remove directx from a windows system.

Mentor

Bold_Fortune

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Seems like personal enjoyment of your PC (Personal Computer) would be a fair assessment of what it's all about.

If you enjoy tinkering with individual files, that's cool. If you want to take out whole components, that's cool too. Whatever turns you on. Whatever you want to do.

I have chuckle a little at the rules makers who tell us "you should" or "you never should."

Want to rip out DirectX? Do it. It's up to you, baby. It's your PC. Enjoy it.

-------------------------------------------------

I don't delete all DirectX files...just nearly all of them.

I keep a few DirectX files because NVDVD Player needs them to work.

I also found I need 2 files that belong to DirectX for WMP 10 to do all the things I need it to: "dsound.dll" and "quartz.dll"

I don't play games on my computer so I really don't need the extra graphics and sound support DirectX gives.

These are the files that belong to Direct3D that I keep:

d3d8thk.dll....Microsoft Direct3D OS Thunk Layer

d3d9.dll.......Microsoft Direct3D

d3dim700.dll...Microsoft Direct3D

These are the files that belong to DirectShow that I keep:

devenum.dll....Device enumeration.

msdmo.dll......DMO Runtime

qdvd.dll.......DirectShow DVD Playback Runtime

quartz.dll.....(DirectShow Runtime). <-- I need this file for WMP 10 to do the things I need it to do.

These are the files that belong to DirectX that I keep:

ddraw.dll......Microsoft DirectDraw

dsound.dll.....(DirectSound). <-- I need this file for WMP 10 to do the things I need it to do.

ksuser.dll.....User CSA Library

-------------------------------------------------

http://www.hollow-refuge.net/Bold/viewtopic.php?t=229

Veteran

Herby

Posted
Posted

Great guide! (Y)

Here are 2 dll's you can add to the list: :)

unregister "%windir%\msagent\agentpsh.dll" (Removes Microsoft Agent Property Sheet Handler)

unregister "%programfiles%\outlook express\wabfind.dll" (Removes Find People from StartMenu -> Search)

  • 1 month later...
Rookie

aashiq

Posted
Posted

Very good guide but it will take me a while to read up and understand all of it :)

The first WinXP SP2 with all the hotfixes CD made by myself, I ended up deleting WMP and for some reason, now I can't install a DVD player, any chance of me going about that?

Since this error, I have removed the Windows File Protection error and tried to install Media Player 10 (or any other version for that matter) but it doesn't install. Any suggestions?

Mentor

Jexel

Posted
Posted

you know what would be nice is a program that removes all the safe unnecessary stuff in windows that won't cause any problems under any circumstances, cause chances are somebody will manually delete something which they didn't mean to delete causing errors.

Great guide btw, though it was a pain to read.

Mentor

Bold_Fortune

Posted
  • Author
Posted
you know what would be nice is a program that removes all the safe unnecessary stuff in windows that won't cause any problems under any circumstances,] cause chances are somebody will manually delete something which they didn't mean to delete causing errors.

Great guide btw, though it was a pain to read.

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Well Jexel, I don't have such a program. However, I do have a list of files and folders which are Perfectly Safe To Delete

Perfectly Safe To Remove Files and Folders

Grand Master

MtnDewCodeRedFreak

Posted
Posted

I won't be surprised if when Windows Vista comes out, that there'd be a guide to "slimming down Windows Vista".

Lol.

  • 2 weeks later...
Mentor

zedaxax

Posted
Posted

available but not free....

yes you spent a life time on this masterpiece

in a way i agree

yet if you were in for it for the money you would have designed a programme and sold it

so now maybe when vista comes out you will be ready to rape it blissfully - and make cash on the knowledge you have gained.

are you ready?

/ shushu

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