On 1/27/08, Darcy James Argue <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hey all, > > I finally obtained a copy of WinXP Pro and installed Boot Camp on my > MacBook Pro, so I could have a dual-boot machine for those rare > occasions when I need Windows. I had to defrag my main HD before > installing, but other than that everything went fine -- except that I > initially created a Windows partition that was *far* too small (the > minimum is 5 GB, and that's what I went with, but once you start > installing all the updates, Firefox, QuickTime, etc, you run out of > room almost instantly. So I had to start over. > > I went back and reapportioned my HD, this time giving the Windows > partition 20 GB. That gives me a little more breathing space, but all > the same, I am wondering: > > 1) What Windows components are safe to uninstall? For instance, I will > never need MSN, Outlook Express, Microsoft Messenger, etc. Anything > else I can safely ditch? I'd love to get rid of Internet Explorer, but > I think I need to keep that around for Windows Update, no?
You should probably keep them. Just don't use them. 2) Are there any issues with installing Windows programs on an > external FirewWire HD instead of the internal HD partition? I have a > FireWire drive which I've reformatted for FAT32, so that I can see it > when I'm booted into XP. So far so good. My thought was to install all > non-OS programs to the FireWire drive to conserve space on my internal > HD. But are there any issues with doing that that I should know about? > Do some Windows programs, components, etc. want/need to be on your > internal HD? No, they don't need to be installed there. They might put a driver or two in the Windows directory. That is about it. You should be able to put them on a different drive without issue. (I was disappointed to learn that Boot Camp requires you to dedicate > space on your internal HD -- I had originally intended to install > everything Windows-related on the FireWire HD alone, but that's > apparently not possible.) Eh, well, it's not that big of a deal. I too have a 20 gig Boot Camp partition. I generally have about 15 gigs of space free on my internal 160Gig drive, and most of my data files and audio things are on external drives. I still haven't installed Finale for Windows yet -- wondering if it > would be okay to put in on the FireWire drive? Should be. Firewire works within Bootcamp 3) I installed the 90-day McAffee antivirus trial. Not sure if I > ultimately really need antivirus/anti-malware software. I believe > David Fenton gets by without? Any tips on how best to protect my XP > installation from all that crap out there? AVG. http://www.grisoft.com/. Free, works fine. Best way to NOT get a virus is not to have the computer connected to the net ;-) And to run regular windows updates to get patches to the microsoft software. You should also look into Parallels or the VMware program. That is a GREAT way to run Windows while still in Mac OS X. I frequently run Band in a Box using that with Garritan Jazz Band (in Windows). Works fine. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
