How to setup a new machine
It is an understatement to say that this section is a work-in-progress.
Partition the hard disk
Create a small (50-100 GB) C:, D: and E: partition. You can leave the remaining space as drive F: or give it another letter.
Why? Because when something goes wrong with an operating system partition, you will need to wipe it out and reinstall everything.
Why? Because when something goes wrong with an operating system partition, you will need to wipe it out and reinstall everything.
Install the operating systems
Install these operating systems on these drives, in this order:
C: - Windows XP
D: - Windows 7
E: - Windows Server 2008 R2
You will want to install the operating systems on empty partitions. I believe that you get consistent drive letters by starting the installation of Windows 7 and Windows Server from within Windows XP and choosing the D: and E: partitions. After the operating system is set up, I like to change the drive letter of the primary DVD drive to V: ("V" as in "Video"). I then change the drive letter of the other optical drive (if any) to M: ("M" as in "Music", because the other drive usually is just a CD-RW drive). This isn't just cutesy - it allows for a consistent set of drive letters across all machines, even when they each have a different number of hard drive partitions. Along those lines, I'll have Gladinet use Z: as it's drive letter.
Also note that a serious consideration in all of the upcoming recomendations is how much of a security risk does a particular program represent, how much overhead does it come with (does it insist on always running in the background and constantly checking for updates) and does it behave in an open, standard manor.
I am tempted to install Linux as well - since I don't use it for anything serious, it probably can co-exist on my data partition.
C: - Windows XP
D: - Windows 7
E: - Windows Server 2008 R2
You will want to install the operating systems on empty partitions. I believe that you get consistent drive letters by starting the installation of Windows 7 and Windows Server from within Windows XP and choosing the D: and E: partitions. After the operating system is set up, I like to change the drive letter of the primary DVD drive to V: ("V" as in "Video"). I then change the drive letter of the other optical drive (if any) to M: ("M" as in "Music", because the other drive usually is just a CD-RW drive). This isn't just cutesy - it allows for a consistent set of drive letters across all machines, even when they each have a different number of hard drive partitions. Along those lines, I'll have Gladinet use Z: as it's drive letter.
Also note that a serious consideration in all of the upcoming recomendations is how much of a security risk does a particular program represent, how much overhead does it come with (does it insist on always running in the background and constantly checking for updates) and does it behave in an open, standard manor.
I am tempted to install Linux as well - since I don't use it for anything serious, it probably can co-exist on my data partition.
Don't forget...
Almost every one of the programs listed here needs to be configured in a reasonable way. Some of them are pretty good by default and some of them are pretty bad. There's more to almost all of them than just installation.
Scary Advertising After This?
I'm trying an experiment placing Google Ads on some of my pages. There might be one at the bottom of this page. While I am happy to make a little money form your clicks on these ads, please keep in mind that I do not necessarily endorse the products being advertised. In fact, they probably are competitors for the products that I have already recommended on this page. (That is the smart way to advertise.) The official rules for running Google Ads state that you cannot encourage your readers to support your site by clicking on the ads. At the moment, I believe that I am doing the opposite - I am encouraging readers to think twice before installing anything that I haven't recommended. After a reasonable amount of time, I will decide whether or not to keep advertising at all based on the quality of the ads that generally come up. If my readers are being mislead into off-brand security programs, the ads will go. On the other hand, if the ads are for generally good things like Netflix and stuff from Microsoft, I'm okay with keeping them. (I also need to look into what can I do to filter out the ads for things that I really don't want my readers to use.)
