Does anyone know how to strip-down Vista?

[Darwinsbulldog]

I have a Fujitsu Lifebook U1010:-

http://www.cnet.com.au/fujitsu-lifebook-u1010-339279553.htm

It has a little 40Gig hard drive on it, and I have dual-booted Linux and Vista.

The trouble is Vista takes up too much room-almost all of the 20GIG partition. Does anyone know how to get rid of all the bloatware?

[Deanus-Maximus]

I have a Fujitsu Lifebook U1010:-

http://www.cnet.com.au/fujitsu-lifebook-u1010-339279553.htm

It has a little 40Gig hard drive on it, and I have dual-booted Linux and Vista.

The trouble is Vista takes up too much room-almost all of the 20GIG partition. Does anyone know how to get rid of all the bloatware?
Install 7...:p

[Loki]

Or you could always replace the toy hard drive with a real one.

Easy and fairly cheap these days. Back up the old one and all the settings onto the new one and away you go.

[SinisterDexter]

I imagine a good bottle of red wine and a few well-placed compliments wouldn't go astray.

[Darwinsbulldog]

Thanks for the input. Having taken apart a few laptops and being left with spare parts, I would rather not replace the disk on this tiny thing. Not adverse to bribing a helper with alcohol and pizza, but is windoze seven any better?

Thinking of rolling the thing back to XP.....:confused:

[atheist_angel]

I just get real picky 'bout what updates, I install with win os's. The os's start slim enough, but let all the updates download and it gets real fat overnight. I also uninstall as many of their 'complimentary' extras I can. Win is enough of a space eater already without all that crap.

[cyclist]

The only cutting down I have done in the past on XP machines is to make a lot of Automatic or Manual Services to Disabled. It's amazing how many services are running that you don't need.

Apart from that, I haven't used Vista in any great depth, so I don't know it as well as other versions of windows.

James

[davo]

I dunno, I have the same problem with XP, with the same size harddrive.

One partition of linux and the other XP, I have removed basically everything from XP and there is around 16gig of space just 'taken up' somewhere in the OS. It's ridiculous. I have run everything I can trying to clear it up I have no idea what is taking all the space up. Page file I have set manually and other assorted stuff like cleaning all the caches, defrag (using ultimate defrag) etc still no idea :( windows confuses me, I am looking now too see if I can get a visual pie breakdown of the file sizes so I can drill down into the OS and find where the space is all going ... again just time to do it.

[Darwinsbulldog]

XP rollback would be most space-economical.

Another, larger HDD and Win7 would be good if you have a tame nerd handy.

In your position, I'd ditch Windows and go Linux Mint, but I confess to having a spare XP Winbox handy for those very few things that must be Gatesware.
Yup. I only use winXP because I run Endnotes Bibliographic software, otherwise I would ditch it totally. But I have nearly 11,000 citations and abstracts now, and I don't know any easy way to convert it all to a Linux-based database.

[atheist_angel]

Yup. I only use winXP because I run Endnotes Bibliographic software, otherwise I would ditch it totally. But I have nearly 11,000 citations and abstracts now, and I don't know any easy way to convert it all to a Linux-based database.
Have you looked into Zotero (http://libguides.mit.edu/zotero)?

[davo]

Installing 7 is a nice idea .. but costs a lot too. XP runs a lot faster as well.

I need windows on my lappy as I have to review code on the platform, so when I am finishing up on a site I will flip over to it and do the last checkup on IE and assorted fixes if needed etc.

Also as my lappy has a built in media centre I haven't bothered to sort out mythTV on linux, a lot of the video in and out, the tv tuner etc all built in it's easier just to reboot into the doze ... keeps my workplace seperate from my 'play' as well.

For the life of me I dunno why windows on it has just expanded and expanded .. will have to get around to checking out if some temp files or something aren't being deleted even tho it says it has ... no idea

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

I dunno, I have the same problem with XP, with the same size harddrive.

One partition of linux and the other XP, I have removed basically everything from XP and there is around 16gig of space just 'taken up' somewhere in the OS. It's ridiculous. I have run everything I can trying to clear it up I have no idea what is taking all the space up. Page file I have set manually and other assorted stuff like cleaning all the caches, defrag (using ultimate defrag) etc still no idea :( windows confuses me, I am looking now too see if I can get a visual pie breakdown of the file sizes so I can drill down into the OS and find where the space is all going ... again just time to do it.I often find this too. Basically what I do is I look into the system32 folder.

There are a lot of unnecessary hotfix backup directories (all beginning with "$") I get rid of, and also some "SoftwareDistribution" folders that are not necessary and are just used to cache the windows updates. Gotta go to explorer's folder options and allow it to display hidden and system files though otherwise you will not see them.

Also, I just compress the entire C drive using NTFS compression, and I find I can recover half the free space taken by Windows and installed programs, and to some extent I have noticed a small improvement in performance too. Even the startup performance improves. This is on a Pentium 150 with 96MB of RAM and a 3.2ish GB (Seagate Medalist 3220 or something I think) hard disk.

For the laptop, at the end of the year, I am considering giving Linux Mint a try. Black has mentioned it so many times I have been taking a good look at the site and also looked at some Youtube videos.

I think one of the best things about UNIX compared to Windows is the command line shell. It's just way better. Although I'm not sure about how their version of batch files work. I'm just too used to MS-DOS style batch files.

[Darwinsbulldog]

Have you looked into Zotero (http://libguides.mit.edu/zotero)?
yes, I have AA, but it does not handle really large DBases as well as Endnotes...I have 11,000+ records.

[Darwinsbulldog]

I often find this too. Basically what I do is I look into the system32 folder.

There are a lot of unnecessary hotfix backup directories (all beginning with "$") I get rid of, and also some "SoftwareDistribution" folders that are not necessary and are just used to cache the windows updates. Gotta go to explorer's folder options and allow it to display hidden and system files though otherwise you will not see them.

Also, I just compress the entire C drive using NTFS compression, and I find I can recover half the free space taken by Windows and installed programs, and to some extent I have noticed a small improvement in performance too. Even the startup performance improves. This is on a Pentium 150 with 96MB of RAM and a 3.2ish GB (Seagate Medalist 3220 or something I think) hard disk.

For the laptop, at the end of the year, I am considering giving Linux Mint a try. Black has mentioned it so many times I have been taking a good look at the site and also looked at some Youtube videos.

I think one of the best things about UNIX compared to Windows is the command line shell. It's just way better. Although I'm not sure about how their version of batch files work. I'm just too used to MS-DOS style batch files.

thanks Croc, I will try your suggestions. ;)

[cyclist]

Installing 7 is a nice idea .. but costs a lot too. XP runs a lot faster as well.

if you're interested, I can get Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for about $155 and the full Home Premium for about $250. These are legitimate versions.

James

[davo]

I think one of the best things about UNIX compared to Windows is the command line shell. It's just way better. Although I'm not sure about how their version of batch files work. I'm just too used to MS-DOS style batch files.

there are no file extensions on linux, just permissions on files. (tho file extensions are used by some programs to identify file types, linux can do this from the header of the file)

so you can create a file with a line by line of what you would do on the command line, chmod +x it (make it executable), then run it. viola.

[Xeno]

...so you can create a file with a line by line of what you would do on the command line, chmod +x it (make it executable), then run it. viola.A gratifyingly sonorous result, no doubt. ;)

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

there are no file extensions on linux, just permissions on files. (tho file extensions are used by some programs to identify file types, linux can do this from the header of the file)

so you can create a file with a line by line of what you would do on the command line, chmod +x it (make it executable), then run it. viola.I've seen extensions on linux though. Things like *.tar.gz and what not.

Sure there are no extensions on executable files (thus making it a pain in the ass to tell whether it is an executable or a text file) but I'm sure one can easily add it to there without any real side effects:

like "./a.out" or "./omg.lol" etcetera.

I think that the fact one has to create the file with execute permissions sounds like good security to me. Although it's rather false in the sense any old app can change it with little difficulty.

I think another thing that is attractive about Linux is it's excellent for programming. As well as that, you got the best window managers on the planet such as TWM and what not.

Definitely a look into (for DB's laptop) for old PCs too since it is not very resource-heavy compared to Windows NT based systems.

[Darwinsbulldog]

Thinking outside the box on Mr Dog's lappie, what about using the entire HDD for Winbloat, and setting the BIOS for USB bootability (if possible) running a Linux dist off a USB stick (or even an outrigger HDD) for the second OS?

Depends on what the BIOS will let you get away with, of course
Nice idea Mr B. I already have a SD card with Linux on it. [The usb requires a dongle on this model, a PITA!

But blowing away the Linux partition in favour of windows:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::ee k::eek::eek::eek::p

[davo]

I've seen extensions on linux though. Things like *.tar.gz and what not.

Yea but it's not needed by most programs, it's for humans.


Sure there are no extensions on executable files (thus making it a pain in the ass to tell whether it is an executable or a text file) but I'm sure one can easily add it to there without any real side effects:

like "./a.out" or "./omg.lol" etcetera.

Yea for human readability. You tell if a file is executable by it's permissions or type:

file filname

And it tells you what it is. Eg mp3 with no extension.

The point is the system doesn't care.

I think that the fact one has to create the file with execute permissions sounds like good security to me. Although it's rather false in the sense any old app can change it with little difficulty.

Only if they have permission too, and you can do this on windows too.