More Tips for WinUAE modded Windows 2000/XP/2003 with nLite:
1-From these nLite modded Windws OSes, 2003 has the fastest bootup time, XP has the second and win2k the third. But if you are using these OSes in low memory setups 128mb or less, you should consider the size of the OS memory footprint to make the most appropiate choice. Server 2003 requires 24mb ram minimum, XP will run with 20mb ram and i have tested win2k with 12mb ram!
2-All these OSes despite their different resulting size when their cd is modded to the extreme with nLite, will occupy aproximately 370mb to 400mb of disk space when installed!
Note. I once did a 378mb install of XP on my harddisk, when in normal systems it occupies at least 1100mb!
3-Disabling windows services will reduce performance penalties that these oses infringe by default to the user. But you should be carefull what you remove. You can do this either using nLite or after an install running the msconfig program
This is what i remembered i removed (remember some OSes dont have some of these services):
Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Fast User Switching
Human Interface Access Devices
Indexing Service (Slows the hard drive down)
Messenger
Net Logon (unnecessary unless networked on a Domain)
Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)
Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)
Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)
Server
SSDP Discovery Service (this is for the utterly pointless "Universal P'n'P", & leaves TCP Port 5000 wide open)
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Telnet (disabled for extra security)
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Upload Manager
Windows Time
Wireless Zero Configuration (for wireless networks)
Workstation
4-Windos shutdown takes lot of precious time, much like 20 seconds in average. You can reduce this time by makin this tweak:
Go to regedit and change the key :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\WaitToKillServiceTimeout
I set mine to 0 ms and now i shutdown way fast. Experiment with the settings.
5 - Turn off System Restore on ALL drives and turn off Hibernate and remove the Hibernate file from the root ( C: ) ( file is 300mb+ ), if you didnt do that with nLite
6 - Remember to use the WinUAE settings in your favor. Change WinUAE priority, give it the highest you can and remember to disable the gui at startup, so that when you start WinUAE it boots directly into the emulated Amiga.
7 - CD autorun or auto play feature in windows is annoying for our goal of hiding the windows enviroment. Disable it! The settings for autoplay and cd recording can be tweaked by opening explorer or my computer, right click on the cd-rom drive, then click properties.
8 - One feature that I can do without is error reporting. Every time a program crashes I do not want to send a report to microsoft.
Open Control Panel
Click on Preformance and Maintenance.
Click on System.
Then click on the Advanced tab
Click on the error reporting button on the bottom of the windows.
Select Disable error reporting.
Click OK
Click OK
9 - By modifying the file boot.ini you can change the names of OS , how they appear in boot menu (i.e. You can change "Microsoft Windows XP" to "Amiga OS"). Additionally, you can change the amount of time the menu is displayed for and the default OS.
10-If you really want to push performance to the limits. Use Windows XP Embedded, which is a program made by Microsoft that works the other way round compared to nLite. You can choose the components that will be included for the OS build. You can create working XP builds that occupy much less resources. Deep knowledge of XP and WinUAE will help you build the ultimate WinUAE modded Windows. I warned you, it is not a task for the casual user, but if you get something done this way, it would be awesome. Please drop me a mail with your achievements if you go this route!
So if any of you have now gone this path of modifying Windows OS and hide its propaganda to use WinUAE much like a real Amiga please do dare to post your achievents and constraints!
