A new system and brand new fresh XP-SP2 install. Working great. What I need to do now is install stuff like MSOffice, some other work apps that I use, and not forgetting an anti-virus app (I'm already being careful to not expose my new machine to the internet more then necessary). I have Norton AV/Internet Security.On my old system, I had everything known to man on my C: install of XP, and after that slowed down I installed a multi-boot XP instance to D: for FS. I really got sick of the rebooting to change the XP, though.Hardware tweaking aside (which I look forward to doing), how can I have my cake and eat it too as far as applications go? I know I can create seperate hardware profiles- is this a good way to go? I do worry about the intrusiveness of Norton AV, but I really like the e-mail protection that it offers, as well as file scans for viruses, of course. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to optimise FS performance while also taking care of virus protection and other housekeeping/work applications that I really need to install, other than a multi-boot configuration? I have set my XP login for various users (myself and two cats actually :) ). Would logging into the same instance as another user give me any advantages as far as setting up a performace-optimized session versus all the housekeeping stuff- and how best to handle anti-virus apps?Thanks- I must say that I really appreciate the useful help on this forum too.Bruce.

The way I have my system setup is:1. OS (winxp) on main drive2. Programs & games on 2nd seperate drive3. backups on a third drive. Infact I have 2 drives here that contain exact copies of each other (Just incase one fails).At the very least if you use only one hard drive, you should partition it. Have the OS partition @ maybe 9-10GB & leave the rest for your programs & files. That way if you need to format in the future, you'll only need to format the OS partition & in doing so, keeps your other stuff safe from being errased.Now as for Norton..... Yeah that program is just evil :-sae IMO.I've known far too many people with computer problems that were also running Norton. Removing Norton almost always corrected the problem.That & I find it just so invasive. It really does take hold of a system.I prefer to use on of the freeware anti-virus programs that's available.Both "AVAST" & "AVG" anti-virus are good & have a host of capabilities while not being such a system hog.I'm sure there's other good ones out there as well.As for setting up different user accounts...Well if you're the only user, I don't see it making much sence. I certainly don't see any real performance benefit (nothing that would be worth writing home about anyway).Hope this helps a little :)Cheers.

Hmmm, you must have a couple of bright cats. Will they be vying for time with you on the new system?Norton is not a good solution, especially for a gaming rig. And there are far better options out there. There's a number of AV's, some of them very good and free (AVAST and AVG come to mind). The best mail protection is to not allow anything on your system unless you know it's safe. That's where Mailwasher comes in. It allows you to preview all mail while it's still on your ISP's server. Anything you don't want or are uncomfortable with can be deleted (before arriving on your system), bounced, blocked, or all of the above. Very handy tool. http://www.mailwasher.net/With regard to a new Windows install and then throwing all your apps on board, my first priority is to minimize the Start-up stuff. Seems that every app that's intalled in Windows wants to run at start-up, when all I want it to do is work when I actually clcik on it's icon. Seems simple enough, but some of the software developers want their stuff running in the background all the time. Any gaming rig (even if it's used for more normal and mundane stuff) should have minimal services and programs running in the background. One of the first things I do after a fresh Windows install is place an icon on the desktop for Task Manager. Using TM I can easily keep track of what programs and services are running at any given time. Another handy tool I use is What's Running http://www.download.com/What-s-Running/300...4-10256718.html .Two apps I install soon after Windows is aboard is my registry cleaner and disk optimizer. I use Registry Healer and Perfect Disk. Both are payware (Registry Healer is outstanding, Perfect Disk I won't be renewing my subscription to because it leaves two services running after I use it. The developers don't seem to mind this sort of bad coding, so they probably won't mind not seeing any more of my money). There are a number of freeware options... find the ones you like and go with them.When installing all your apps do so one at a time. Install one, run your registry management program, then your disk optimizer, then reboot before installing anything else. Check TM to see if the previous app has anything running at start-up that you don't need. Kill of it's start-up stuff and then do the same routine with each new app you install.System services configuration is important as well. Blackviper has the definitive services config database, but he's been offline for some months now. An excellant alternative is our own Ken Salter's FSAutostart. Every gamer should be using Ken's little gem, but he also has simple and concise suggestions for each Windows service. Using his suggestions you can easily configure your system's services from within Windows.A couple more must have apps: CCleaner. The best system cleanup tool around. Freeware http://www.ccleaner.com/ NTRegopt. A handy tool for keeping your registry organized and compact. Freeware http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ .Try to keep all the stuff running (when you don't actually need it) to a minimum. I'm a bit paraniod about what's running on my system, so I use the tools mentioned above to maintain a clean computer. At start-up I have 12 services running and my AV (AVG). That's it. Nothing more needed, and my system works just fine for all my other apps. And of course it's good to go for FS9. Simple and clean is the rule.Hope this helps,GregEdited because I still can't type.

Thanks Jaimee and Greg. I will go look at some of those apps you refer to, very interesting.Yes Greg- the cats wait their turn to fly the simulation :). Actually, one of them sits on my lap for much of my PC time and does appear- at times- to be faintly interested in the monitor display :)Bruce.

Hello,I did install OpenOffice see : www.openoffice.org , it "like" MSOffice , same look and feel and it is FREE!! I have NO MSOffice.

Thanks Emile. I already have MSOffice running :)Bruce.