WinXP questions

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Gawd
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Jan 7, 2002
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I finally got around and bought winxp- upgraded from win98se. Installation was smooth and easy.And I got a few questions.
Should I enable windows automatic updates and windows firewall?
I also had a hard time installing custom themes. I downloaded a few and found none to have the .theme extension when I was browsing for them. Do I have to download anything specific for those themes to work?
And are there any tweaks or optimizations for winxp?
 
Enable automatic updates if you don't want to do it yourself. You have to decide about the Windows Firewall, because we have no idea what your hardware/software environment is, meaning do you need it or would it be redundant.

As far as theming, use google or search engine of choice to find one of the billion theming sites out there. Then you can research the different skinning programs available and figure out how and what you want to use.
 
As far as tweaks: There are a bundle, but many of us feel that they're overrated / unproven / otherwise useless. I'm in that camp, and my sole exception is disabling the Indexing Service. It speeds disk searches, but puts a heavy strain on the HD in order to create that search index. I don't search enough to warrant that tradeoff.

Otherwise, I'm of the opinion that:
Services consume a negligible amount of resources
Security belongs at a higher level (e.g. firewalls)

Otherwise, I'm right on board with djnes' comments. I use Windows Firewall with my tablet's WiFi connection but not on the wired LAN, where I'm behind a Linksys box.
 
The windows firewall gets the job done, but it blocks everything. If you want to send files through aim or something without having to disable it everytime you can get something like ZoneAlarm. As far as automatic updates, you can just let windows do it unless you are paranoid about that kind of thing. As far as custom themes you can get ThemeXP, it's pretty nice. If you don't want any third party programs you can find some cracks that will fix the themes file to allow them to be in the pulldown menu from the display properties.
 
ThirtySixBelow said:
The windows firewall gets the job done, but it blocks everything. If you want to send files through aim or something without having to disable it everytime you can get something like ZoneAlarm.
Click to expand...
...or you could just punch that setting into the Windows Firewall. I've got no problems running needed ports through mine. It's not an all-or-nothing deal.

That said, if you'd rather run ZA or others, that's fine, too.
 
For doing the theming you are looking for, you can either go with a program, or patch your uxtheme.dll.

Window Blinds themes won't work with just a patched uxtheme.dll.

You need to get the correct patch for your service pack revision or you will be in a world of hurt.
 
Im currently connected through the net through a router which has a built in firewall. Thats why I was asking if I should also enable the winxp firewall.

As for custom themes- how much of a drain are they on system resources? And would 3rd party custom themes cause any stability problems?
 
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