Setting up a new Windows XP computer for myself
If a laptop, disable tap-to-click on the trackpad, if there is one.
If the keyboard has CapsLock key to the left of the A key, remap it to
behave like another Control key. If Escape key is above the
function key row, and backquote/tilde key is below it, then swap their
behaviors.
Note: Only use one of keyfix.reg or keyfix2.reg, not both. To use
one of them, save it to a file on your computer, then find it in
Windows Explorer, right click on the file name, and click on the word
"Merge". Then reboot your computer for the change to take effect.
- keyfix.reg - swaps Caps
Lock and left Control key, and swaps Esc and backquote/tilde key
- keyfix.reg-commented.txt
- the previous file with some comments embedded to explain the parts of
it.
- keyfix2.reg - makes
Caps Lock key behave like left Control key, but leaves left Control key
alone. Swaps Esc and backquote/tilde key.
- keyfix2.reg-commented.txt
- the previous file with some comments
I originally learned about the tricks above from somewhere else I've
forgotten, but this
web page has that info, plus other useful-looking things to tweak a
Windows machine.
Consider creating one account with administrative privileges, and not
normally using it, except when installing software, and having a
separate account that I normally use that does not have administrative
privileges. Can be kind of annoying at the times when you want to
install new software, but supposedly safer.
Software to install:
- If no anti-virus software comes provided, Trend Micro PC-cillin
- If no Microsoft Office came pre-installed, consider installing
that if it will be useful
- Firefox
- Thunderbird
- TightVNC viewer, and server if I want to be able to remote
control the machine
- Wireshark
- Adobe Reader
- Cygwin, including these packages:
- X11
- emacs, version 22 or later, the X11 version
- emacs-el package, too
- openssh
- vim
- rsync
- common CLI utilities, like diff, file, etc.
- wdiff