As a developer, what changes do you make to a vanilla Windows install?
When I get a vanilla Windows system, there's a bunch of stuff I change to make it more developer-friendly.
Some of it I remember every time, other stuff I only do as and when.
Examples:
- Show extensions of all file types
- Make hidden and system file visible
- Turn off Windows Defender
I seem to remember a blog post from Jeff on this topic, but can't locate it!
What else do you do, and do you have any tools that automate this process?
Solution 1:
Indeed I do the above, plus deactivating Zip support (regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll), activating the underscore on Alt shortcuts (Advanced Appearance), replacing Courier New by Andale Mono (replace with your favorite font) in all program settings (after installing it, of course), installing my favorite utilities (UnxUtils, Sysinternals', SciTE, FileMenu Tools which has Command line here and lot of other goodies, etc.) and so on.
Oh, and indeed also deactivate dual keyboard support (French/English), deactivate task grouping, install VirtuaWin (4 desktops), CLCL (clipboard manager), AutoHotkey and my favorite macros, and lot of other freewares, more or less must have.
No automation, alas.
Solution 2:
I install Cygwin to have *nix command line tools and Xemacs to have a useful editor.
Solution 3:
I install:
- The usual suspects: Visual Studio, Sql Management Studio, Firefox, Chrome, etc...
- Paint.Net
- Notepad++
- Launchy
Solution 4:
The first thing I do is open a command prompt and then open the properties for it:
- Switch on Quick Edit. Why is this off by default?
- Increase the window size. Why limit it to the size of a postage stamp?
- Increase the vertical buffer to the maximum possible. Why limit it to a few hundred lines?
- Change the foreground colour to white instead of grey. Why make it less readable than it could be?
In summary: WHY?
Solution 5:
Using the Add\Remove Windows Components in Control Panel, I always remove...
- Games
- Document Templates
- MSN Explorer
- Outlook Express
For the look and feel I...
- Revert to the classic start menu; however, if it's Vista, I leave it as is because I like the indexed search feature.
- Revert to a classic desktop with large icons and make sure that My Computer is the first icon (versus My Documents)
- I also perform the things you mentioned above
Before installing any software I...
- Install any outstanding Windows updates
- Run a Disk Clean Up
- Run Disk Defrag
- Setup scheduled tasks for Clean Up, Defrag, and other personal tools
For tools (outside of my IDEs and other necessary development tools), I install..
- TweakUI
- IE6, IE7, Safari, Chrome, Opera, and Firefox
- Install the set of Firefox plug-ins I always use for development
- 'Open Command Prompt Here' shell extension
- Install Consolas and set it as the default font for my editors (IDEs, Notepad++, etc)