Ok so I am am gonna format HDD running XP and reinstall everything.
What are your top suggestions for tweaks for Windows, codec packs, essential/useful apps eg. Winamp as a media player, etc etc? I know this is kind of a vague question but I am really looking for a list of apps/tweaks that you thinkk are essential.

I currently have Winamp, Firefox and run pretty much default XP settings. Also have VLC media player, and Spybot as some examples of useful apps but I would like suggestions for things that could make my computer run and look better eg download managers, desktop themes with live data like clocks, weather etc - basically anything you think is cool and that you use or recommend to install when starting fresh.

uTorrent for torrents, iTunes I use for music, chrome I use as primary internet browser. If I can think of more I'll let you know. Just did a reinstall myself.

This is what I normally chuck on after a clean install. I find the more times I format the less s*** I bother putting back on. If I don't use something very often I don't chuck it on.

update windows
virus scanner
firefox
install flash
spybot
msn/live/icq
utorrent
winamp
vlc
photoshop
cuteftp

Dont forget Ccleaner

i always set up start button classic, turn off all fancy visuals, set theme to classic and i install a few xp power tools

cant go past image resizer (right click image resizing, should be part of windows default) and tweakui, so i can put back on classic file search in explorer (the new one is retarted)

all this stuff gets done before i do windows updates and what not

revs list was pretty much on the money for software, obviously without the wow install at the end

Windows 7

dont forgetm irfanview for image viewing :)

Vista 64 install

windows updates
disable UAC
disable firewall
disable defender

firefox
utorrent
ffdshow codecs
media player classic
foobar2000
pidgin
steam
photoshop
daemon tools
itunes (due to iphone)

If you were smart you'd have created an image and BAM 5 mins = fully installed fresh OS :)

If you were smart you'd have created an image and BAM 5 mins = fully installed fresh OS :)

How do you do this in Windows in a way that's portable across different hardware?

You can make a sorta skeleton build with apps installed so you ghost it on then do the drivers and you're done.

Vista actually supports it pretty well, you can prepare an OS in the pre-deployment stage so it dumps the drivers and it is ready for new hardware on the next boot.

Even without doing this vista is fairly robust. The main problem would be HDD controller drivers but is not so much a problem these days. Uninstalling these before swapping hardware would force them to reinstall on boot which would for XP installs.

I had a mate with an old AMD Nforce system, move his install to an intel 775 system and then to his new intel i7 system. All booted in without an issue, loaded new drivers and away he went.

Always better to do a fresh install but it isn't always completely necessary.

It's also handy to download drivers for your network card and save them on a USB drive or something before you format

Then you can atleast get an internet connection to download any other drivers you need after the install.

It's also handy to download drivers for your network card and save them on a USB drive or something before you format

im quite happy just using the drivers on the mobo cd . .. .

Why not just buy a new harddrive and use that.

Dont forget to backup your steam folder.

+1 to what Rubba-chicken said trog ... it's actually quite easy. Used to do that when i worked for the government doing 100 to 200 rollouts. After awhile we decided to create ghosts based on certain paramters but overall you can just use a default install with no driver inclusions and then go from their.... plug and play will do the rest.

I just did this last week, and have done a few for other people in our house in the last few weeks. Similar to Rev's....

Update windows
Create restore point (just in case anything goes wrong)
Avira antivirus
Winrar
Install WLAN driver
Drivermax (finds all the latest drivers for you rather than going to individual sites)
Maybe another restore point here
Office (customized so it's just Word, Excel and Powerpoint)
.NET
Skype
MSN, with apatch
uTorrent, then add my RSS feeds)
Ccleaner
Acronis True Image, perhaps create a backup image
Auslogics disk degrag, maybe registry defrag if you really want to.
Powertoys

And then just any other personal programs I use, like paint.net, firefox/chrome, etc. I also do a few tweaks to windows and firefox to improve performance, turn off a few unecessary functions, etc.

I use KMplayer instead of VLC as I find it works a bit better on my netbook than VLC, so I just whacked it on both machines.

run msconfig when your finished and make sure you have the bare min loading on start up

type system configuration or msconfig in the start menu search thing

I just have an 'install' folder that contains all my saved exe's, drivers, ISO etc.

icq

people still use this? srsly?

I usually use nLite to remove a bunch of crap from the xp cd & integrate the latest service pack.

Essential programs I have that get installed straight after I format:
Photoshop & Lightroom
MSN
ACDSee, like irfanview but not free with (imho) a better interface.
Firefox, Thunderbird, Filezilla & Opera
VLC, Mediaplayer Classic + FFDShow

That's not counting drivers & stuff which I usually just download the latest version of right before I hit format.