{"id":70,"date":"2014-01-19T23:14:10","date_gmt":"2014-01-19T23:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/?p=70"},"modified":"2014-01-20T02:12:42","modified_gmt":"2014-01-20T02:12:42","slug":"installing-windows-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/2014\/01\/19\/installing-windows-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Installing Windows 7"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So the time has come for a re-install of Windows 7.<\/p>\n<p>Base install took over an hour on reasonable hardware (X2 240, 4GB).\u00a0 I fail to understand why.\u00a0 Then there were the 101 updates plus 49 optional updates.\u00a0 Time for SP2? I think so..<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/micha.name\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/20140119_WindowsUpdate.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-72 aligncenter\" alt=\"20140119_WindowsUpdate\" src=\"http:\/\/micha.name\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/20140119_WindowsUpdate-300x111.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"111\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/20140119_WindowsUpdate-300x111.png 300w, https:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/20140119_WindowsUpdate.png 551w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>UPDATE:\u00a0 So it took nearly 5 hours to install all the updates.\u00a0 After the obligatory 3 or 4 reboots, there were another 8 or so updates (and 2 reboots) before Windows was finally up-to-date.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from normal configuration, the following are the software packages which I consider to be essential to make Windows 7 usable and safe:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Safety:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Antivirus Software. The 2013 winner was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.avast.com\">Avast Antivirus<\/a>, and one I&#8217;ve used a lot in the past. As a bonus Avast now includes Anti-spyware protection.<\/li>\n<li>Firewall.\u00a0 Windows Firewall is ok for incoming threats, but for preventing outgoing connections you need a third-party firewall.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.comodo.com\/home\/internet-security\/firewall.php\">Comodo<\/a> is good.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Usability:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>X-Mouse.\u00a0 There&#8217;s registry tweaks or <a href=\"http:\/\/joelpurra.com\/Projects\/X-Mouse_Controls\/\">this<\/a> simple program.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/code.google.com\/p\/altdrag\/\">Alt-Drag<\/a> to drag and resize windows.<\/li>\n<li>Multiple Desktops.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dexpot.de\/\">Dexpot<\/a> is the best I&#8217;ve found recently.<\/li>\n<li>Console Replacement. <a href=\"http:\/\/sourceforge.net\/projects\/conemu\/\">ConEmu<\/a> is quite good.<\/li>\n<li>Notepad Replacement. I like <a href=\"http:\/\/notepad-plus-plus.org\/\">Notepad++<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Essential Software:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Archive Manager.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.7-zip.org\/\">7zip<\/a> is my choice.<\/li>\n<li>SSH Client.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.putty.org\/\">PuTTY<\/a> is really the only option. A 64-bit version is <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.splunk.net\/64bit-putty\/\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.piriform.com\/ccleaner\">CCleaner<\/a>\u00a0is a quicker uninstaller and easily manages autostartup programs as well as various other system utilities.<\/li>\n<li>PDF Reader. \u00a0I like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxitsoftware.com\/Secure_PDF_Reader\/\">Foxit<\/a> as a lightweight alternative to <a href=\"http:\/\/get.adobe.com\/reader\/\">Adobe Reader<\/a>, although <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nitroreader.com\/\">Nitro<\/a> is quite good too.<\/li>\n<li>I like to run the following Gadgets to keep an eye on system performance:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/addgadgets.com\/all_cpu_meter\/\">All-CPU Meter<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/addgadgets.com\/network_meter\/\">Network Meter<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/addgadgets.com\/drives_meter\/\">Drives Meter<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Applications:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.seamonkey-project.org\/\">SeaMonkey<\/a>\u00a0for internet (Web browser, E-Mail, IRC)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.libreoffice.org\/\">LibreOffice<\/a> for general productivity.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gimp.org\/\">GIMP<\/a> for image processing.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/\">Steam<\/a> for gaming.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So the time has come for a re-install of Windows 7. Base install took over an hour on reasonable hardware (X2 240, 4GB).\u00a0 I fail to understand why.\u00a0 Then there were the 101 updates plus 49 optional updates.\u00a0 Time for SP2? I think so.. UPDATE:\u00a0 So it took nearly 5 hours to install all the updates.\u00a0 After the obligatory 3 or 4 reboots, there were another 8 or so updates (and 2 reboots) before Windows was finally up-to-date. Apart from normal configuration, the following are the software packages which I consider to be essential to make Windows 7 usable and safe: Safety: Antivirus Software. The 2013 winner was Avast Antivirus, and one I&#8217;ve used a lot in the past. As a bonus Avast now includes Anti-spyware protection. Firewall.\u00a0 Windows Firewall is ok for incoming threats, but for preventing outgoing connections you need a third-party firewall.\u00a0 Comodo is good. Usability: X-Mouse.\u00a0 There&#8217;s registry tweaks or this simple program. Alt-Drag to drag and resize windows. Multiple Desktops.\u00a0 Dexpot is the best I&#8217;ve found recently. Console Replacement. ConEmu is quite good. Notepad Replacement. I like Notepad++. Essential Software: Archive Manager.\u00a0 7zip is my choice. SSH Client.\u00a0 PuTTY is really the only option. A [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[12,14,13],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77,"href":"https:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions\/77"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micha.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}