Power User Setup for Windows XP

[dr_ml422]

anyone think seagate has a hard drive like my new avatar? a 250gb would b about the last upgrade.

[dr_ml422]

real time protection is having the program loaded at bootup and it's always running

every time I turn off avast with my daughters it shuts down like 6 modules
Geez

Hi Chewy. By this you mean it shuts down about 6 processes using up resources? or 6 programs that you would like to be running and ready 4 use?

[MilesAhead]

@dr_ml422 an alternative to memory-resident anti-virus is to run Sandboxie. Instead of trying to filter everything coming in through your browser and checking if it's good or bad, when you launch a browser, as example, it copies the browser config files and registry settings to the Sandbox. Then launches the browser. So if say some IE Helper Object decides it wants to copy a phony cmd.exe to C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe the file would actually be copied to SandboxFolder\Drive\C\System32\cmd.exe and sit there harmlessly. Basically it intercepts disk writes by the sandboxed program and anything launched by that program.

When installed it uses a service that it sets to Automatic=>started but I changed it to Manual and once I close down my sandboxed program, I can close the sandbox and kill the service in a few seconds. So the rest of the time it's not hindering performance at all.

Worth a look:

http://sandboxie.com/

[dr_ml422]

this sounds good Miles. is it an alternative to avast, or just a replacement for its memory resident anti-virus? also does sandboxie need to b on when i close my browser and just doing pc work or w/e? technically the pc is still online and receiving some input, especially w/programs that provide automatic updates like imgburn, etc... if I could replace avast w/this then its a great deal. thnx.

[MilesAhead]

check it out

@dr_ml422 I advise you to check out the page because it gives a very good explanation of what it does and how it works.

Basically though if you want to set it up so that it is not started at bootup and is easily started and disabled, do the normal install then in your services applet stop the service, then change the startup type to Manual. When you click the Sandboxie Control program it will start the service.
Then you can right click on any executable and select "start sandboxed." It also provides a button to start the default browser sandboxed.

To kill the service without having to go into the services applet I use this command:

C:\Windows\system32\sc.exe stop SbieSvc

There's a forum on the Sandboxie site with helpful users(one of whom gave me the command above) willing to suggest tweaks and easy ways of using the utility.

The only proviso is Sandboxie doesn't like some hardware. So during the install it may crash your system(I tried it awhile ago and gave up on it for that reason... but it probably just didn't like my old hardware. I'm using it
on 2 machines now with no problems.) So I would not have anything important going on in the background during the install. You might want to create a Restore Point first if you use System Restore. Anyway, if it installs without a glitch, then it should work fine on your system.

Check out the forum and you'll get an idea of what can be done easily and what can't. To me it's a better approach instead of looking at what's coming onto your machine and trying to figure out what it is, Sandboxie just doesn't let it write to the HD. Another reason I set it up in Manual mode is I install lots of little utilites that I've used for a long time, so I
don't want the driver to interfere. But if you run a stable system with
a fairly constant set of programs you may want to go with the default install and just leave it. The author spends a lot of time on the forum so
you get the straight skinny direct.

[dr_ml422]

Sounds like a plan. will check this out then give update. Thnx Miles.

[Chewy]

an interesting screenshot

[soup]

If that's yours Chewy, what happened to the other process, didn't you used to have 18 running?

[Chewy]

I guess they died and withered on the vine from neglect at never being used

[dr_ml422]

I guess they died and withered on the vine from neglect at never being used

Hi Chewy. I don't get your screenshot. Is that greyed process something to take note of? or was it just greyed when you posted? What's the message?

[Chewy]

Hi Chewy. I don't get your screenshot. Is that greyed process something to take note of? or was it just greyed when you posted? What's the message?

It's taken me 2 years to tweak this setup, my registry and windows are probably bloated and bursting at the seams

I have never gone anywhere near this long w/o a clean install

Last summer when I got hit bad with vundo and outerinfo I figured I was a goner but on a lark I started down the malware removal path

If you notice I am running no av or extra fw protection and my only spyware protection is spybot sd helper and immunize which just integrates into IE

wdf is my wireless, the grey is random

[dr_ml422]

I just googled wdf. it says it's part of windows media player 10 to decrease compatability problems. You're talking something different that's your wireless router?

[Chewy]

I did make not it that far down my services when i was doing the eldergeek's tweaks

Windows User Mode Driver Framework

stopped and changed to manual startup

down to 15 now(not counting IE or task manager)

thanks for reminding me of an unfinished job

wonder what I broke now?

[dr_ml422]

No av or extra fw. You still using that nat behind a router? ElderGeeks and MajorGeeks 2 different sites? Is your ISP include the nat? Or is that something separate you hooked up? How about the router is it also separate from your modem, or included?

[Chewy]

cable modem with a super weak nat, wireless router with a slightly stronger nat

windows xp firewall

66,400 protections in spybot(immunize)