I helped a friend clean up her PC and secure it. Did I miss something?

[miss_kitty]

It's a Dell, with XP SP2 Pentium 4 with a 111 GB capacity on her c drive. It was 20% full, yet her games were freezing (interactive journey-type games)
Here's what we did (I directed, she did it, so she will know HOW to do it next time)
1) disk clean up-it took FOREVER. I came home after 45 minutes of only 3 bars and left her w/ instructions to Defragment when the Clean up ended.

2) Disk Defragment. She saved the screen for me. I saw maybe 5-6 blue lines. She called her mom who said "Honey! your dad will be so proud! You're Defragmenting!" The capacity gain was 2% after that

3) Adjusted the start menu so not all the boxes are checked. I am researching some stuff I did not recognise, to see if it's really needed.

4) Removed expired MacAfee trial crap.

5) I have broadband, she has dial up, so I downloaded freeware and share ware and stuck it on a CD to take it down there, while we were waiting for numbers 1 and 2 to run.

6) Installed a) Firefox; b) Free Kerio Firewall; c) AdAware and Spybot and Spyware Blaster (ran them too, took out nealy 200 pieces of spyware); d) AVG anti virus; e) Ran a couple of GRC programs to close Plug and Play, shut down M$ Messenger, the DCom patch back up.

7) Installed and ran CWShredder

8) Installed and ran ccleaner.

So now I need to know if there are other things (other than getting a Mac, smartasses :)) to do. I loaded Hijack This, but we are waiting to run it to see how her computer runs NOW (Games are working and the speed is amazing her), and I don't want to have a bunch of stuff in the logs that we can remove.

Also there are two sign ons for her computer, she's the admin. Is there stuff we need to address on the other side (We cleaned history and cookies and cache on Iexploder. Firefox showed up on that desk top)


On Edit: We COULD NOT install AVG because there is an issue with her Roxio (ver 4. something something) CD driver-a program she used to use before it started fucking up. We tried the Roxio site, but had a problem there trying to get the update. Anyone know a workaround?

[SlackJawedYokel]

1. Lock down IE, hard.

Find out which sites she *has* to use it for and allow only those.

Other than that, you could try streamlining XP by turning stuff off: http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12.

It wouldn't hurt to update her drivers, audio/video/MB.

If it were *me*, I'd ditch Roxio and just use the CD-burner feature in XP(if it isn't on, you have to turn it on in Services) for now.
If she really needs more functionality, buy Nero.

Sounds like just getting the spyware off is enough. :D

Cletus

[miss_kitty]

2. Great. She's really excited about getting this fixed up

she told her SO "no more IE use", but I know that certain sites like windows updates and possibly her work requires it.
So is Services in My Computer>Manage? and do we lock down IE and make exceptions through IE>tools>options>privacy and/or Security?

We tried to access M$ windows updates and couldn't get the page to load. (She Does have SP2) so we weren't able to update her drivers. We might try that next weekend.

I was thinking of having her ditch the Roxio, I suggested it (great minds :P). If I can get something else turned on and working for her-well more disk space :woohoo:

Thanks for the majorgeeks link. I'll mess around with it on my computer for a few days!

[SlackJawedYokel]

6. Yes, it is under manage and yes, use tools/options.

And I'm surprised when I encounter a site that *requires* IE... like Buy.coms *purchase* page... wtf?

We tried to access M$ windows updates and couldn't get the page to load. (She Does have SP2) so we weren't able to update her drivers. We might try that next weekend.
Find out the video, audio and motherboard manufacturers and update thru them... Nvidia or ATI and probably Creative for audio/video. Though audio might be thru motherboard.

I was thinking of having her ditch the Roxio, I suggested it (great minds :P). If I can get something else turned on and working for her-well more disk space :woohoo:
Not to mention that Roxio is basically crap.
XP supports simple file/folder drag and drop burning.
Like I said, if she finds she needs more than that, get her to purchase Nero.

I'll mess around with it on my computer for a few days!
It'll help speed things up for sure.
Also, don't forget to set her ram cache if she's using less than 1GB.

Good luck.
Cletus

[miss_kitty]

9. er-Ram Cache?

where and how much? thanks :silly:

[SlackJawedYokel]

12. It isn't a *necessary* tweak, but...

it can be helpful on some machines.
http://www.petri.co.il/pagefile_optimization.htm

Typically the OS handles this and does a perfectly good job of it.

Do a search for pagefile optimization or optimizing ram cache for more reading.
The topic is like a religion to some, so venture on at your own risk. :D

Found this page, has good info.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/OptimizeXP.html

Cletus

[canetoad]

3. Couple of extras

Grab Safe XP from
www.theorica.net/safexp.htm
It turns off many nasty vulnerabilities in XP.

Then a registry cleaner or two. I use Reg Seeker from
www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

and also RegScrupXP
www.lexundesigns.com/LexunFreeware/

I find that using two, one will find obsolete entries that the other does not. After cleaning the registry, have another go at installing AVG.


To finish up, check out BlackVipers definitive guide to XP services. BV seems to have gone MIA but this page can be found at
http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12

It's tedious but worthwhile to trawl through all services (Start\Programs\Admin Tools\Services) and manually adjust each one to suit. SafeXP handles many of these.

[miss_kitty]

4. Thanks

this is great! I love doing this!

[miss_kitty]

5. I can't find this path on mine (XP, SP1)

(Start\Programs\Admin Tools\Services)

Is 'programs' 'All programs? I don't find admin tools on the menu anywhere (I am the only user, and the admin):dunce:

[SlackJawedYokel]

7. Right click on your My Computer icon.

and go to Manage.

Cletus

[canetoad]

8. aaaah sorry

I turn off all the new-fangled XP bells and whistles and use the old style menus.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

10. Run the Spyware/Adware software in Safe Mode. And ..... watch

out with the Reg Cleaners!! Back up before you run them. Run the Error Checker on the Harddrive then defragment. Also if certain Administrative functions are missing, you may have some damaged system files. So if worse comes to worse back up all her data, as mentioned above, and do a clean install of Windows.

[miss_kitty]

11. Great! we did back her registry already. I'll dump it on a disk too

I have never run Spyware removers in safe mode-not even on my own-I suppose I should try that. Where do I locate the error checker?

:hi:

[Crazy Guggenheim]

13. Click on My Computer - Right Click on the disk -

Properties - Tools tab. Click the Error Checker - click all the boxes. Then click Start. It will ask you if you want to scan on the reboot and say Yes/Ok. Then reboot. Tell me if you can you can even get that far since the system may be damaged.

On Edit:

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.