So I got my brand-spanking new desktop machine today (my old one barely lasted two years before it gave up the ghost), and I thought it would be fun to keep track of everything that I do to get a machine all set up "properly" for my needs.
Step 1: reformat. I don't care what machine I get, who I get it from, etc. I always reformat it first thing -- this way, I can be sure the machine is setup the way I want it to be with no happy surprises. Today, I booted my new machine once just to see the state of things. I had 20+ desktop icons, and about 15 tray items. The amount of shovelware that gets put onto new machines is outrageous!
Step 2: install the OS. This time, I went with Vista Ultimate SP 1, since it's been RTMed. I usually go with the latest OS for whatever hardware I've got. So far, it works just as well as Vista pre-SP1 did for me -- no issues so far.
Step 3: configure the machine. This is always a blast! The first thing I do is make sure I have some form of network connection available to me. Then I start the configuration by ensuring there are no problem pieces of hardware by getting whatever drivers I require. In this case, I needed a driver for the wireless card (since it's a draft n card, it's pretty new) and one for the SM Bus Controller. Both were blindingly easy to grab. Once all the hardware has been taken care of, it's time to do the Update dance. You know the one: update, reboot, update, reboot, update, reboot. This went really smoothly though -- I only had to reboot one time, though I did get about five batches of updates. Vista does a pretty good job of updating items "in place."
Part of this step is also setting up the OS the way I like it. For instance, I always configure Explorer to show me all files, and show file extensions. I also setup the display resolution, what desktop icons are shown, get rid of the Sidebar, etc.
Step 4: Installations. Now comes the fun part! Here's the list of everything I installed to get my machine up and running:
- File Transfer Manager (this pretty much has to be #1 since I need it to grab software from MSDN)
- Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite
- Office 2007
- Virtual PC 2007
- MSDN library (April 2007)
- Platform SDK
- TortoiseSVN
- Once #7 is installed, I fetch 1.1 GB of RB dev stuff
- Bison (from #8)
- DirectX SDK (from #8)
- TextPad
- WinRAR
- Mozilla Firefox (and AdBlock Plus & AdBlock Element Hiding Helper extensions)
- Mozilla Thunderbird
- REALbasic (latest version, in this case: 2008r1)
- "Utilities" -- this is a folder full of helper applications I drag from machine to machine. It includes:
- accesschk
- DbgView
- depends
- Filemon
- Magnifier
- Portmon
- procexp
- Propmon
- tcpvcon
- Tcpview
- I also transfer over all my old music and documents from the previous machine, as well as favorites links and other settings.
- Trillian
- Other OSes for VPC (usually: Windows XP, Windows 2000 and one Linux distro)
- WinDbg
- PEBrowse Pro
- Adobe Acrobat Reader (it's horribly obnoxious.. but I use it just enough that I need to have it)
Step 5: Software configuration. This is where I wander through the applications I've installed and start to configure them the way I like them. For instance, always-on tabs in FireFox, setup my e-mail accounts, etc. This part basically fills up time while I'm downloading and installing all of the software from Step 4.
All in all, it usually takes the better part of 8 hours to take a new machine and get it set up to the point I'm entirely done with it. That's partially due to downloading things fresh instead of storing them on disk -- cutting that out would probably reduce the amount of time a fair amount. But I'd still say that it takes at least 5 hours to get something to the point I can actually be productive on it.
Having not gotten the machine fully set up (I still am waiting for some stuff to download from MSDN), I can't tell you exactly how well the new machine works out for me. But I can tell you that so far, I'm really liking it. New hardware is always a blessing, and it's nice to be back at a desk to get work done (instead of feeling lazy while sitting on the couch with the laptop). I may report in after a week or two, but I doubt it'll be needed. Judging by the machine so far, this is going to be an awesome work box!
Hm, why Acrobat Reader instead of something like FoxIt?
@Joe -- mostly out of habit. I've been using Acrobat Reader for so many years, it's just the "PDF thing" to me now.
Very funny. I am doing exactly the same thing. I'm staring at a 24" lcd and it is very nice. Not just the picture, but I found quickly that even viewing spreadsheets is much easier since you can see so many columns without scrolling.
About a year ago I quit using Outlook and went with Thunderbird. So, I installed TB on the new PC, then grabbed the entire Thunderbird folder in the Local Settings\Application Data\ folder off the old XP box and put it in the correct place on the new Vista box. To my surprise, I launched TB and everything is *exactly* like it was on the old PC. Multiple email accounts, Filters, old emails, everything is identical..nothing at all to configure..sweet.
New PC's are fun :)
Usually I get Firefox first so I don't have to mess with IE as much.
Also, I use to use TextPad, but found that Notepad++ is a little nicer in many ways.
I second the nomination of Foxit. I got mad at Adobe because it was bloated and slow and was getting more so with each version, and then wanted more and more attention.
I also reformat computers as soon as I get them. Even brand new ones. But I do try and make sure I have disks to go with them. At there very least I can use the included version of Windows to reformat the computer
i refuse to install acrobat, foxit is the way to go. Windows Live Writer is another thing I need, for sure. No Vs2008?
You might also check out Programmer's Notepad. Free fast and flexible alternative to TextPad...
It's good stuff.
http://www.pnotepad.org/
I've been so happy with TextPad that I own my copy. It does everything I need, is fast as hell, and is familiar. I don't use it for programming so much as just random browsing of files.
I'll have to check out FoxIt -- thanks for the tip!
As for VS 2008: nope, we've standardized on VS 2005 for now. Changing compilers is a scary business because of the way some of our lower-level functionality works. When you get to the point you find yourself manually making stack frames for some methods, you have to be more wary of compiler changes. ;-)
8 hours ?
OMG !
LoL, Norm... I downloaded and installed around 40 GB of stuff (excluding moving my music collection over). That takes a while. If this was a personal machine, that number would be much, much smaller.
Btw, I downloaded and tried out Foxit, and it is really nice. Thanks for the tip -- no more Acrobat Reader!
Excuses excuses :P
Even my recent misadventure with the new mini didn't take me 8 hours to fix up
You really still prefer a desktop over a laptop? I made the change last fall and much prefer it.
@Norman -- yeah, but you old fogies can get by with just a text editor and an assembler, right? ;-)
@Christian -- Yeah, I do prefer a desktop to a laptop for daily work. Desktops are more powerful which lets me get my work done better. Also, I have huge hands -- I need the full-sized keyboard, number pad, and mouse. The whole trackpad thing only works for so long. ;-) But I don't mind working on my laptop either. When the weather gets nice, I sit outside in the garden and work. No complaints there!
pffttt ... text editor and assembler
All them new fangled things
Just a disk editor and write the damn binary straight into a file and run it :)
As for needing a full size keyboard why not just use yer laptop at a desk and a second monitor and then when it' a nice day just take the laptop with you ?
As for "power" how many compiles do you do anyways ?
The rest of the time the CPU is sitting waiting for you to type anyways.
@Norman -- I've just never gotten used to working daily on a laptop. It's a nice "treat" when I need a change of pace (I'll drag it with me to Lis' school on weekends and work from there with her), but in terms of a daily machine, I just love my desktops and always have.
Plus, my only laptop is my personal one, which makes the division of work & play a lot harder.
I've been a laptop only guy for nearly 10 years - basically since it was really practical to do so
Now my laptop is a pretty well equipped one, I have fast wireless to any other resources on my network so it's not really an issue
I've done this just recently for my new laptop so I'll chime in..
First things first (after drivers):
1. Firefox, Thunderbird, Notepad2, Foxit, Filezilla, Putty and Most everything else Aaron mentioned.
2. Uninstall all the bundled crapware.
3. I've got another "routine" that I go through every time, too:
Run services.msc and stop+disable all services I don't use (Indexing, restore, error reporting, etc).. This provides a decent boost in performance.
4. msconfig and look at the startup items. Disable any orphaned items, etc.
I've been using a MacBook for about a year now, second screen with a real keyboard and mouse when at home. Laptops are great, and I'm going to keep it around, but the lack of real peripherals is what gives me the most... inconvenience. The power is reasonable, but of course, I could always use more.
But what I really need is a good Mac with bootable, interchangeable hard drives - Mac Pro. This way, I can keep older and beta OSs around to test on. I'm buying one probably in another month to get exactly that. I find myself more of a desktop person, but I do often need to keep a laptop around. I'll go back to using .Mac sync to help keep my data synchronized and Hamachi so I can easily get to my files from anywhere.
I'm looking forward to it. Have fun with the new PC, I'm still using my custom-built PC for games. I swear, I'll never go back to buying pre-built again. I've had so much more fun this way, and I know *exactly* what is in there, which makes me feel more comfortable.
I just hope none of the crapware you get is Stopsign or McAfee, or any of that sort... =]