New PC / Laptop Checklist!

This is a generic checklist will work for both PC's and latops this is what I do when I get a new system. Or just clean off my Older one. THis list was inspired by LurkingJayhawk!

Setp #1

BACKUP!!!! Your stuff! I don't know how much stuff I have lost over the years because I formated and forgot to back something up! Makse sure all the stuff you need is stored safely off the Hard drive n some other media CD/DVD/ eternal HD I jsut bought a 120GB HD and external enclosure for this purpose!

Step #2

Proceed with format / Reinstall windows. It is important that you format completely wipe the hard drive before you reinstall windows. When reinstalling XP it will ask you wich you want to do. You want a clean install. This will give you a good starting point. This generaly takes about 30 to 40min on the Area51-M and will leave you with deafault Windows XP settings.

Step #3

Driver installation after you ahve your fresh windows install it is time to update your direvers!. Most drivers cah be found at Alienwares web site but here are some here who perfer to use third party Dirvers for the videocard and I reccomend getting some of the other drivers straight from uniwill as they are more up to date.

Video Card Drivers (Third Party)
www.omegacorner.com

Uniwill OEM Drivers for (Alienware Area51-M)
http://www.uniwill.com/UserDownload/N766S/N766S.htm

The rest you can get from
www.Alienware.com

Step #4

Tweaking your new rig! This is the best part! Its wher you get to see what this beast will do!

Serivices Tweak. this is a great listing of allthe services that run in windows xp and 2000 and what they do. You can eliminate what you dotn need and it will drasticaly improve preformance by 20% to 30%. I swear by it!
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

Winpatrol This badboy lets you know eveything that is running on your computer and ask you if you want it to run or not if you do not recognize the program i suggest clicking not. This will inform you if any nasty lil programs install themselves over the net when you inedvertantly clicked the yes button this will also let you pick and chose what programs launch when windows starts up and kill the ones you dont want.
http://download.com.com/3000-8022-10129149.html

TweakUI. This is a great little app from microsoft that they give away for free! It adds alot of useful option s that the regular windows install does not have!
http://download.com.com/3000-2341-28...ml?tag=lst-0-1

Step #5

Benchmarks this is the time youwant to bench mark after you have a freshinstall and fully tweaked system with no extra software guming up the works!
Here are the main three
Primarily Gamming Benchmarks

3DMark®03 Download
http://www.futuremark.com/download/?3dmark03.shtml

3DMark®2001 SE (build 330) Download
http://www.futuremark.com/download/?3dmark2001.shtml

Aquamark 3 (Best Real In Game BenchmarK!)
http://www.aquamark3.com/am3-mirrors.htm

General Benchmark
Sandra 2004 (Very nice all around benchmark!)
http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/index.h...x86&langx=en&a=

Step #6

Install your software now is the time to start installing all your Software / Games.


BIOS- It doesn't realy matter when you update your bios as that is completely seprerate from the OS you can do it before or after. In my opinion Iwould do it before the bechmarks just to see if they make any difference.

Follow these steps and I'm sure your Laptop or PC will run like new and be more stable jsut be careful what you install afterwards and keep your startup folder to a bar mininmum only what you need winpatrol will help with that. THis will keep your system running smooth also regular scans with Spybot and Adaware are a good idea too.

I installed all the drivers below in no specific order jsut I did do the Video card first because I felt it was the most important!

Not the whole thing just the important files MP3's game saves pictures stuff like that! Besides I hate restore CD's I dont want my machine back the way the factory had It I want it my way!

The factory does not install anything that will hurt your sytem I jsut prefer to do a Full reinstall so that I know exactly what has been done to my machine! Im a control freak like that. You may never need to format and reinstall the OS on your machine I do it every 4 months or so jsut to keep my mahine nice and clean I also download alot of software and try it out figure out I realy don't need it uninstall it and find there are still remnats of the install on my machine. If you are on dialup a full reinstall can be a big pain because then you have to re downwload all the past updates unless you get the free cd from microsoft that has them all on it. I format and reinstall just for my sanities sake but you may not want to or need to.

I agreee and I have seen no adverse reactions and have run Office and Photoshop with no problmes!