Build a PC from parts to software

Why you should consider it: Take the plunge with us for a step by step guide to assemble your PC from a collection of boxes and cables right through to a fully installed operating system. Along the way there will be handy hints and tweaks to a better build and more performance for the PC.

We’ve breathed life into many a PC here at the labs and as such we’ve gotten pretty good at it. A PC can be a jumble of parts one minute then with a flurry of activity like a race car pit area…before long…a working PC. We enthusiasts often forget our humble beginnings and forget what it is like to build a PC for the very first time. We forget that sometimes what we see as the simplest of tasks is intimidating territory for others. This is a complete step by step guide on how to assemble a PC from a box of parts to a working computer with WindowsXP fully installed, updated and tweaked. This guide will take you from parts to software the right way.

It isn’t surprising that assembling a PC from a collection of parts then installing the OS is thought of by many as better left to the professionals. It actually is very simple and after the first time it only gets easier. Take the plunge with us for a step by step guide to assemble your PC from a collection of boxes and cables right through to a fully installed operating system. Along the way there will be handy hints and tweaks to a better build and more performance for the PC.

Roll up the sleeves and let’s get to work and remember that this guide is not intended to recommend any particular brand name of hardware or software.

The basic parts list

A PC begins as a collection of parts and there are absolute must have components to get you any chance of exclaiming “It’s Alive…it’s alive!”. First things first a PC case is required. The style of case is a personal choice but there is a checklist of minimum requirements. A power supply is an optional inclusion but ensure that if the case does come with a power supply that it be a minimum of 365 Watts and have enough molex power connectors to meet your needs. A molex connector plugs into devices such as CD drives and hard drives; one for each.

The PC case should have a bare minimum of one fan included at the rear of the case. This fan exhausts warm air from inside the PC and make no mistake that a PC can generate a good quantity of heat. Too much heat means hardware problems which can cause software errors so make sure the heat INSIDE the case has help getting out. PC cases also include the necessary screws and motherboard standoffs necessary for installing the components.

Most people look at a PC case as just a box and they all look the same. Often a consumer will look at a PC case without a power supply and wonder why it may cost more than the box next to it with a power supply.

The reason is that specialty cases can come without power supplies as those PC cases are targeted towards enthusiasts who prefer to choose their own power supply wattage and manufacturer. These specialty PC cases may have more options and options to meet the needs of the enthusiast rather than just a box to house the PC parts. In either situation 356 watts is the bare minimum these days and 465 watts is recommended but not a must.

An optical drive, hard drive and floppy are the basic storage mediums in a PC. The optical drive can be a CD, DVD, CDRW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD RAM or any combination. Which one depends on what your requirements are. Some choose to get a DVD and CDRW as separate drives.

Optical drive.

Floppy drive.

Hard drive.

The poor floppy drive appears to be hanging on in desperation. It’s a must have in a PC but a rarely used component. Manufacturers just haven’t taken the plunge to put the poor floppy out of its misery. It’s a very inexpensive component and won’t break the bank.

A video card is always a heavily debated subject and the web is “stuffed to the digital gills” with product reviews. Our advice is to get a video card that serves your needs without breaking the bank. It’s no use getting a power-hungry, top of the line gaming card when the biggest task it faces is surfing the Internet and sending email. The expense doesn’t justify the means.

The same advice goes for a motherboard choice. Today’s motherboard packages come with a plethora of options; onboard sound, USB, 1394 (Firewire) front audio and a host of other ways to “geek out”. Take a moment to take stock of your needs now and look ahead a year or two in the future. Answer simple question such as do you have or plan to get a printer? A scanner? You’ll most likely need USB ports and these days USB ports are a stock item on motherboards. Add a USB camera and better check that the motherboard has at least 4 USB ports. Get what you need to support what you have now without limiting yourself for the near future. There is no sense going overboard getting every available option “just in case” you decide to go that route. Chances are that if you don’t have an immediate plan for an option…chances are that it won’t be in your plans by the time your either buy a new computer or technology changes.

Motherboard packages typically come with the necessary cables to connect a floppy, hard drive and optical drive. The number of included items besides the motherboard depends on the particular manufacturer, model and price point. It is rare to buy a motherboard that does not include the floppy cable and at least one cable necessary for the hard drive and optical drive.

To use an analogy RAM is best described as the immediate part of your mind that reacts quickly to questions or situations while the hard drive is that place in the back of your head that requires a bit of thought to retrieve a memory.

System RAM is the place where the PC “thinks” the fastest in cooperation with the CPU (Central Processing Unit) and GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). In an AMD based system RAM speed optimally should match that of the Front Side Bus speed of the CPU. For example a processor with a 333 FSB should have ram that runs at 333 MHz. This RAM is commonly known by other names such as DDR 333 or PC2700. There is DDR 266 RAM and DDR 400 as well.

Computers do not respond to obscenities alone and to provide interaction is the keyboard and mouse. These come in a wide variety but one thing is for certain. The keyboard isn’t just numbers and letters anymore. It is an interface with quick shortcut buttons, wheels and controls designed to put the PC’s functions at the click, turn or press of a button.

Last but not least is the processor. (CPU) It is the brain that drives the Frankenstein that is about to wake. “Boxed” processors come with an approved heatsink.

And of course the heatsink.

There you have it. PC case, power supply, floppy drive, hard drive, optical drive, motherboard, cables, mouse, keyboard, processor and heatsink. Everything is good to go….with the exception of a monitor. Do your research and go to a store and compare computer monitors for quality and features just like you would do with televisions. And remember…Just because you are looking at computer monitors in a store doesn’t mean you have to buy from that store.

Four screws, tab A and a lot of head scratching

Everyone knows a story of assembling a toy on Christmas Eve to have it waiting for a child the next morning. It’s a nightmarish scene of a living room with parts scattered from one end or the other while someone stands in the middle pondering whether to burn the instructions or if they are upside down.

A computer is infinitely easier to assemble but there is the right way and then there is the BETTER way. Most people haven’t even seen the inside of a PC let alone considered assembling one. It’s a matter of plugging one device into another. There is no requirement for an engineering degree and late nights lit by an acetylene torch. PC doesn’t stand for Pretty Complicated or Possibly Confusing.

Let’s talk about static electricity. Static electricity and PC components don’t necessarily see eye to eye. It isn’t highly recommended to shuffle through the house in socks for a few minutes then go play with the PC parts. If you live in a climate where you’re constantly being “ZAPPED” then static electricity is something to be aware of. It can potentially damage the sensitive electronic devices such as a processor. The best defense is a anti-static strap. This strap grounds you to another metal non-painted source such as the case itself or a desk. Even the act of touching a grounded object such as the bare metal of a PC case is enough to harmlessly discharge static electricity. If you are highly concerned then use an anti-static strap. They cost a couple of bucks. We’ve successfully built a lot of PCs without wearing an anti-static strap but we also remembered to ground ourselves once in a while. It’s pretty difficult NOT to ground yourself while building a PC. There’s just too much manhandling of the PC case not to.

A PC case is quite simply a box that houses the components of a computer. All PC cases are the essentially the same. If the analogy that all cars are the same because they all can go from point A to point B then another rule applies. All PC cases can be as different from one another as cars differ from one another in size, color, options and price.

For this guide a Lian Li PC6070 case is used. Lian Li PC cases are more for the enthusiast as they have many features that more affordable PC cases do not. The basics are the same for every case though. Begin by having a look at the PC case. Remove the side panels which are held on by screws or thumbscrews at the rear of the case. Have a look at the case and become familiar with it.

The Lian Li PC Cases have a removable motherboard tray and PSU cover which is the reason for the gaping holes at the far left of the previous image. The side panels have also been removed.

Removable motherboard trays have the advantage of easy access to mount the motherboard, processor, heatsink, ram and peripheral cards. The tray slides out so there’s no cramped quarters.

Motherboard trays look similar regardless of being removable or fixed. Both panels of the case have to be removed for the next step. There are a series of holes or screw holes scattered across the tray. These are in designated spots to accommodate for all the different motherboards. Not all motherboards place their mounting holes in the exact same configuration. A PC case should always include the required motherboard standoffs.

These can be brass (left) or a clip style (right).

HINT: Always work with the PC case on a flat surface with the motherboard tray horizontal. It’s much easier to work this way.

Remove the motherboard from its protective anti-static bag and observe where the holes are. They are usually in every corner and midway along each side with one in the center area of the board. If you’ve never installed a motherboard before you may be confused as to which holes on the motherboard tray line up with the holes on the motherboard. The easiest solution is to carefully place the motherboard on the tray itself and take note of which holes line up. Screw in the brass standoffs to the motherboard tray (or push in the clips from the backside of the tray) at the appropriate locations which line up with the holes on the motherboard.

Standoffs are to keep the motherboard circuitry on the bottom side of the motherboard from connecting with the tray. Screws, which are also included in the kit bag that came with the PC case, go through the motherboard to turn into these standoffs. This secures the motherboard firmly in place.

Once the standoffs are in place the next step is to install the backplate.

The PC case may already have a plate installed at the rear but motherboard packages can include their own. The reason is that the connections on the motherboard (USB ports, audio ports, etc) may be in a different configuration than the PC case included plate. Backplates are clipped in and to remove them push from the outside of the case or give a gentle tap with the butt end of a screwdriver. It should pop out. Make sure that any blocked holes on the motherboard package backplate have been cleared before snapping the plate into place. The easiest way to do this is to look at how the plate lines up with the motherboard while everything is out of the case.

The power supply goes in before installing the motherboard. The Lian Li cases have a removable plate which is screwed onto the power supply. Most case do not have this option and the power supply is installed from inside the case up towards the back. In all installations put all four screws into place before tightening any one.

At this stage a bit of cable management may be in order.

Power supplies have have several connections and a few will go unused. There isn’t so much a problem with putting every device on one power line. It’s more a problem of if the power line is long enough to reach from an optical drive at the top of the case to the hard drive near the bottom. That’s why power supplies have two or three “lines” with molex connectors. One line may be used to power the optical devices at the top of the case and the other will reach to the hard drives.

Cable management is an important step. Physically see how far cables have to reach and where they can be hidden and here’s why. At a local hardware store a handy and cheap cable management system comes in the form of cable ties and anchors.

Cable ties bundle wires together.

Wire cutters will trim off the excess tie.

The cable anchors have adhesive backings to “stick” them to various surfaces such as the inside of the PC case. The cable tie runs through the adhesive anchor before it’s tie anchor loop. The ties and anchors can be used to keep unneeded wires tucked neatly out of the way.

A complete guide on cable management ideas is available for further reading. Don’t expect to get it right the very first time. It may take a few times repositioning the anchors and ties to get it just right but use them to keep the cable clutter under control. A tidy case is a better case.

Next go the optical, floppy and hard drives. Floppy drives are 3.5 inches wide and go in the top available bay just out of habit. Optical drives are 5.25 inches wide and PC cases typically came with 3 available spaces but now 4 is more common. Some people have a DVD drive, CD drive and CDRW drive. The bezel drive bay plates pop right out with a little push from inside the case.

Hint: Whenever possible try to leave the top bay empty. The space above a drive is handy to hide power supply wires in.

In go the drives and should sit flush with the bezel of the PC case. Screws hold the drives in place and this is why both sides of the PC case are removed. Most times screws are used on both sides of the drive to secure it.

HINT: How tight is too tight? Most of us don’t have a torque meter wrench so using pounds per square inch of pressure is wasted here. Excessive force is bad. Do not grip the screwdriver for dear life and turn with all your might. Screws should be firmly snug without fear of over tightening. If you start to think….”I could strip that screw soon”…chances are you are using too much force.

HINT: Do not use a magnetic tipped screwdriver. Magnet and hard drives tend not to like each other.

Hint: Do not use a power screwdriver. These can easily strip screws.

The motherboard standoffs are in place, the backplate is snapped in, drives are in, the hard drive is in and the power supply is in. Next comes the motherboard. A PC case that has a removable motherboard tray makes this an easy job but for those cases without here’s a hint.

HINT: Front bezel connectors (Reset, HDD LED, ON/OFF) can be awkward to place on the connecting posts after the motherboard is installed. Place the motherboard on an edge of the case. Remember that the case should be laying flat with the motherboard tray horizontal. The front bezel connector wires should be just long enough to connect with the motherboard “outside” of the PC case making it much easier to fit “little tine plugs on little tiny posts.”

Refer to the motherboard manual for proper positive/negative orientation of the front connectors. Usually the negative wire is black or the negative wires are a common color. The plug tables typically face “up” or towards the far end of the board where they were installed.

The following images is with the motherboard spun 180 degrees.

Now the motherboard can be slipped carefully into the case, lined up with the backplate and the motherboard standoff posts. Use washers if they came with the motherboard mounting kit inside the PC case.

These go on the screw first before the screw goes through the motherboard mounting holes to the standoffs.

HINT: How tight is too tight? Most of us don’t have a torque meter wrench so using pounds per square inch of pressure is wasted here. Excessive force is bad. Do not grip the screwdriver for dear life and turn with all your might. Screws should be firmly snug without fear of over tightening. If you start to think….”I could strip that screw soon”…chances are you are using too much force.

The motherboard is in place and secure. Install the processor and heatsink next. Processors are commonly sold in boxed sets where the processor comes with an approved heatsink. “Approved” does not necessarily mean the best but it is what the manufacturer guarantees will work to cool the processor. Heatsinks can come with a thermal pad or thermal paste. A thermal pad is a square of material that looks like bubble gum. It is on the base of the heatsink and usually protected by a removable strip. The purpose of the thermal pad is to provide superior contact between the processor and heatsink as opposed to direct metal to metal contact. On a microscopic scale the processor and heatsink faces are a jagged mess of “valleys and mountains” which diminishes the amount of contact area even though you may think metal to metal would be better. The thermal pad fills in the surface providing more area to transfer heat from the processor core to the heatsink and thus be dissipated. Thermal paste is superior to a thermal pad due to the fact that the amount can be controlled; less is better. The optimum goal is to have metal to metal contact with the thermal paste only filling in the “valleys”.

Installing a processor and heatsink can be intimidating for some on the first try but it is rather simple. With AMD processors there are a series of pins which fit like a plug into the motherboard. Two corners of the AMD Socket 462 processor (the most common at this time) are missing one pin in each corner which forms an angle.

The socket has the matching pattern and after the locking lever on the side (right in the following image) of the socket is raised, the processor just drops into place.

The lever is returned to the locked position and the processor is installed. It’s that easy. If the heatsink came with a thermal pad, that bubble gum flat square already on the base of the heatsink, then the heatsink can be clipped into place. Boxed sets come with installation instructions.

If the boxed set came with thermal paste in a tube or packet (like a ketchup packet) then you can apply the thermal paste before or after the processor is in the socket; it doesn’t matter. Applying thermal paste is similar to filling a crack in the wall with putty; apply a small amount and spread it out evenly.

It doesn’t take much paste at all. Don’t goop it on because the goal is to spread it out to form a thin “hazy” layer. The paste should appear translucent in parts and the trick to spreading the paste is a business card. Yes…a business card. Simply cut the business card into three to make the perfect thermal paste spatula.

Use an edge of a business card to lightly spread the paste. I found the best method to work the paste from the center out to each of the four sides then lightly run across the processor core face to make for a smooth and even amount.

Do not be concerned if a small amount makes its way off the processor core onto the face of the processor.

HINT: 99% Isopropyl Alcohol is your friend.

If the job is “botched” there is a very simple and 100% safe method for cleaning off both processor core and heatsink base. Run out to the nearest drugstore or pharmacy and look for a bottle of 99% Isopropyl Alcohol.

HINT: Use a Q-TIP or cotton makeup pad dipped in the Isopropyl Alcohol to clean off the paste.

Wait a few seconds as the alcohol evaporates quickly and start the thermal paste application again. There is no need to apply thermal paste to the heastink just in case that fact wasn’t made obvious.

The last step to installing a heatink is to connect the heatsink fan to the motherboard.

If the boxed set came with a set of instructions take the time to read them.

The RAM goes in next. The most common RAM used currently is DDR RAM. RAM clips into a slot on the motherboard and it goes in one way only. There is a notch on the RAM which lines up with a notch on the DIMM slot. A DIMM is what the RAM clips into. The following image is an example of INCORRECTLY installed RAM. Note the notch in the RAM NOT lining up with what appears to be posts in the purple DIMM slots.

RAM drops into a slot with a clip at either end.

The most common order that RAM is installed is from the DIMM nearest the CPU socket out. As always refer to the motherboard manual to double check for special installation order depending on the number of RAM modules used. Motherboards usually only have 3 DIMM slots available and specialty motherboards which have 4 DIMM slots can require specialty RAM such as Registered RAM or Registered ECC RAM.

You can count on the fact that if you walk into a computer store and ask for a 256 MB stick of RAM then you’ll most likely get a stick of 256 MB DDR266 (PC2100) by default. It’s the most common request. Just make sure that for an AMD system you know two things; processor front side bus speed and what the motherboard will support for RAM. The safe rule is to have everything match. For example an AMD processor with a front side bus speed of 333 MHz will run optimally with RAM that is DDR 333 (PC2700) and on a motherboard that supports that speed of processor and RAM. It’s a matter of a quick question to double check. Today’s AMD motherboards are commonly supporting RAM and processor speeds up to 400 MHz but it’s a good idea just to make sure.

A firm push at either end of the RAM clips it into place with a gentle snap.

The clip will automatically snap into place. To remove the RAM just unclip.

Peripheral cards are installed next into PCI slots and the video card into the AGP slot. A motherboard has an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) slot for the video card. This slot is ALWAYS offset from the 4-5 other slots. Remove the appropriate PCI slot covers on the PC case before installing any peripheral card. The AGP slot in the following image is green and the PCI slots are white.

The video card slides into the AGP slot with a gentle push and use the same screw that held the PCI slot cover in place to anchor the video card. Note that you may have to use a bit of gentle pressure to make line the up video card anchor point with the PC case screw hole. The following image shows the video card just going into the AGP slot. Press the video card firmly into place.

Now take on the job of connecting the drives. Which end of what cable goes where? The motherboard package will (or should have) come with a minimum of one floppy and one EIDE connector. They are extremely easy to tell apart simply because one is narrower than the other. In the following image the floppy is the ribbon cable with the black end.

Which end of the cable plugs into the motherboard and which end plugs into a drive? Manufacturers are beginning to color code the cables. The odd connector out (sometimes can be blue) connects to the motherboard but the simplest way to tell is on a EIDE ribbon cable there are two connectors that are closer together. It is this THIRD connector at the end of the cable that is furthest from those two that plugs into the motherboard. In the following image the connectors at bottom right corner of the picture are what plugs into the motherboard. Note how the blue color code is used.

If the motherboard only came with one EIDE ribbon cable then a hard drive and optical drive can go on the same ribbon cable but one device must be set as MASTER and one as SLAVE. These settings are controlled by a jumper pin on the device itself. The products manual or web site will have instructions on how to set these. The other solution is to buy another ribbon cable and put one device on each cable and always at the connector on the end. Devices come at a default setting of MASTER and the device that is designated as MASTER always goes on the end connector of the ribbon cable.

The reason for trying to keep devices on separate cables is quite simple. Think of the ribbon cable as a one way road. If a car is on the road then it must complete its journey prior to another car beginning a journey in the opposite direction. If the hard drive and optical device are on the same ribbon cable and you play a lot of games or music then you’ve got a pretty busy single road as data moves from the optical drive to the motherboard and data moves from and to the hard drive to the motherboard. If you rarely use the optical drive then this doesn’t matter as much. Just think where your “busy” roads will be and remember that you can always change it in the future.

Ribbon cables have a bump on the female connector plug and the drives have a notch in the male connector to ensure that they are plugged in correctly.

Time to double check.

• Read the motherboard manual?
• Read the instructions that came with the boxed processor set?
• Power supply in?
• Motherboard in and secure
• Optical, hard drive and floppy drive in, secure and connected?
• Processor and heatsink installed?
• Heatsink fan connected to motherboard?
• RAM installed and securely clipped in?
• Video card installed and secured to PC case?

One last step before you plug in the monitor, mouse and keyboard and that is to connect the power supply to motherboard.

At this time you may want to look over cable management again. The best practice is to keep a tidy PC. Use those cable ties to secure stray power wires. Tuck ribbon cables neatly away trying to keep them as low profile as possible. Think of those ribbon cables as deflectors. Cool air is drawn from the bottom front of a PC case and the aim is to have those ribbon cables be as non-intrusive to that airflow as possible.

Once you’ve double checked everything, put the side panels to the PC case back on and connected the monitor, mouse and keyboard you can plug in the power cord to the PSU and get ready to fire up the PC for the first time.

Nervous?

Batteries to power, turbines to speed!

When the computer is turned on for the very first time…it’s pretty dumb. In fact it is brain dead. The computer doesn’t know what time it is or what it really should do first. You have to tell it some basics to move onto installing the software. When you first turn on the PC it will audibly BEEP once at you. This single beep is like the computer telling you that “IT’S ALIVE!”. Multiple beeps of any combination of long or short means the PC is having some problems and it’s time to double check your hardware setup and read the manual.

Right when you first turn on the PC press the DELETE button on the computer. Do not press and hold the DELETE key down but press it repeatedly about once a second. You don’t need to hammer on it like a video game either. Shortly after that beep a screen will come up that looks similar to the following image. This is the BIOS (Basic Input Output System) screen and the functions contained within these menus control the basics of the PC’s hardware.

The following few simple necessary steps will get any PC working properly. These are the most basic settings and the BIOS can be quite extensive and explored at a later time upon further education.

Use the arrow keys to move from one menu choice to the other and press the ENTER key to access that menu. STANDARD CMOS FEATURES is the first place to go. In there is the setup for the system time and date. A visual check will tell if the PC “sees” the all the drives. Most, if not all, times the default settings are what is required.

Pressing the ESC key returns you back one menu step or in some cases to the main menu. From the main menu use the arrow keys to move to ADVANCED BIOS FEATURES. Press ENTER.

This is where the boot order is set. The computer starts up and looks to certain devices first to get the information it needs to continue the booting process. Upon first setup I prefer to set the boot order to have the computer look to the floppy drive first then the optical drive and finally the hard drive. When installing WindowsXP which as a self booting CD the PC will look to the floppy first then to the CD drive where the WindowsXP disc is and give a choice to boot from that CD or to continue on to the hard drive.

After the operating system is installed you may choose to go back in and set the boot order to FLOPPY>HDD-0>HDD-0 or just leave it as is. It really doesn’t matter either way. Changing the boot order just means a saving of a second or two in the boot order process. It won’t hurt the PC.

Another important step is to set the processor speed correctly. It is becoming more common that manufacturers have equipped their product with a BIOS that can automatically detect the processor and set the right clock speed and bus speed (GHz and Front Side Bus). This may have been done for you automatically but that is why you read the motherboard manual…just to double check where the BIOS setting for this is and to confirm that it was done.

One setting that has caught me on more than one ocaission is BIOS USB keyboard support. If using a USB keyboard then enable this to ensure that the USB keyboard support will work in the BIOS menu at a future time. Read the BIOS section of the motherboard manual to determine if this is an available setting. If it isn’t there then don’t worry about it.

HINT: Read the motherboard manual carefully. Most of the explanations for settings will be obvious. If any setting does confuse then it is safe to leave it at the default setting. There are many forums and BIOS guides on the Internet which go into BIOS details at greater length.

This may be a good time to remember to put the WindowsXP installation CD in the optical drive. Return to the main BIOS screen and choose SAVE AND EXIT and press ENTER. The computer will reboot automatically and begin the boot sequence. A message will display instructing you to press any key to boot from the installation CD. Press any key and the WindowsXP disc will start the installation process.

Installing WindowsXP

The WindowsXP installation process is very easy and is a matter of making the correct choices. Since this is a brand new installation on a brand new hard drive choose TO SETUP WINDOWS XP NOW, PRESS ENTER.

The next screen will be the EULA (End Users License Agreement) screen. Press F8 to acknowledge that you’ve read it. I never read it but it’s there just in case you didn’t understand that you should have a legitimate copy and shouldn’t make copies for your friends.

Since this is a new hard drive it is like a blank chalkboard. WindowsXP needs some direction as how to set the disk up. A complete guide of setting up a hard drive and how to organize it can be found here. Most new users create only a C: drive and dump absolutely everything on the C drive. I think of that as having a house with only one room. It can get messy. The HARD DRIVE SETUP REFRESHER GUIDE will explain a lot of very useful information on how you may choose to setup and organize the hard drive and the basic first steps of that guide will be covered here.

Choose TO CREATE A PARTITION IN THE UNPARTIONED SPACE, PRESS C.

A partition is what will eventually be a drive area that is displayed on the desktop. WindowsXP thinks in megabytes for this process. 1024 megabytes equals 1 gigabyte. I like Windows to have 4 GB of space as programs and pagefile will be installed to another partition on the drive. If you choose to have Windows, pagefile and programs all on one drive then 8 GB will be more than enough room. Remember that hard drives are now sold at a minimum of 40 GB with 60 and 80 GB drives being the better price per gigabyte deal. In other words you’ll have more than enough space.

Key in the amount of megabytes that you want the partition to be. If you use the keypad part of the keyboard then remember to press NUMBER LOCK first as the keypad will be defaulted to the arrow functions instead of numbers. Press ENTER to accept the choice.

The next screen will reconfirm the setting. If it is correct then press ENTER.

WindowsXP will ask you for a format choice. At this stage choosing the QUICK makes little or no difference in how long it takes for the computer to format the drive since the drive is new. FAT or NTFS is up to your personal choice and will not make a difference in how the software performs. Most choose FAT. NTFS can be a more stable OS format choice in a server situation but this is a standalone PC so the difference is negligible.

WindowsXP will double check with you if this is really what you want to do. Press ENTER if you are sure.

The system will format the drives which will take a few minutes.

Windows will automatically begin installing software after the formatting completes.

Most of the next few screens are “go get a cup of coffee” screens. WindowsXP will continue on its merry way installing the operating system stopping at various points to collect some basic information.

Yes…I said to go get a cup of coffee.

One of the first choices is language layout. WindowsXP defaults to the US style which is pretty much the choice in North America. Note how the mouse is now present so use it to click your choices or NEXT if the default is acceptable.

The next screen asks you for your name and organization. This can be anything you want. Your name could be FRED and the organization could be FRED’S FAMILY. This information will be used later on in other software installs to identify you.

Now Mr. Gates would like to know if the software is legitimate. Enter your product key at this stage. The product key will be found on the jewel case or documentation that came with the software. Type it in carefully and double check before choosing NEXT.

Computer name and password can be anything you want. You could call your PC “Shazam” or “Lisa” or “Fred” if you so choose. The administrator password is a root level password that only you should know as it can be used to allow only the ADMINISTRATOR access to certain functions of Windows while denying others. It really is a good idea to have a password that is a combination of letters and numbers, lower and upper case of at least 8 characters.

Bad passwords are names of your children or pets or your phone number or simple words like ADMIN. A good password would be very hard to guess such as 9LUQo0dL. You may even choose to do a word play with numbers and letters. “I am a PC guru” may be easy to remember and typed like “1mApCg00r00” It’s longer than 8 characters but that doesn’t matter. It is hard to guess but it’s easier to remember. It also has a combination of numbers and letters and upper and lower case.

Windows will double check the system time for you and if you’ve set the BIOS correctly then this will be correct. Make sure that the TIME ZONE is correct for your location as well.

WindowsXP will detect if the PC has a NIC card present. Choose TYPICAL SETTINGS to have WindowsXP automatically configure the system. IT pros will go into CUSTOM SETTINGS for specific network configurations.

The next screen will ask you if you want to change from the default WORKGROUP name for the network. This is a home computer and it is connected to the Internet which is, in a sense, a network. It is just fine to leave it as WORKGROUP.

During the installation process the monitor may flicker to black. This is correct and is just the installation process installing default video drivers for the video card. One of the first confirmation messages for this process appears as follows. Click OK.

It’s pretty obvious what the answer to this question is. Click OK to continue.

Just when you thought you were done WindowsXP surprises you with another screen. Choose NEXT located in the lower right corner.

Sometimes WindowsXP can’t install drivers for the NIC card. This is not a problem and simply requires installation of the NIC drivers from the motherboard install disk in order of Windows to properly set up the Network Interface Connection. This will be done at the completion of the Windows setup procedure.

The choice is yours.

If you are a single user of this PC you can just enter YOUR NAME or if you have a family you can setup different login accounts for each user. You can do this now or add new users later on through the ADMINSTRATION menu in the CONTROL PANEL of WindowsXP. You have to enter YOUR NAME to continue. This doesn’t have to be your real name. It can be anything you want.

The Microsoft people are so polite. Choose NEXT.

Windows has finished installing and you are now at the desktop.

Now you can choose to ignore the rest of the guide and install any other necessary drivers from the motherboard installation CD and perform a WINDOWS UPDATE to update the OS or continue to learn a few easy steps how to setup and tweak WindowsXP for better organization and performance.

Getting the most from the basics

Choose START>CONTROL PANEL>ADMININSTRATIVE TOOLS>COMPUTER MANAGEMENT.

COMPUTER MANAGEMENT will bring up a screen and choose DISK MANAGEMENT from the left hand menu. This will show the C drive already in place and the rest of the drive ready for partitioning and formatting.

Optical drives such as the CDROM will automatically default to the next available drive letter. Right click on the CDROM drive and choose CHANGE DRIVE LETTERS AND PATHS. Click CHANGE and choose the letter Z from the pull down menu. Click OK and YES to the next warning screen.

What this does is virtually move the optical device to the end of the alphabet. This makes the drive letters of D through Y available for the hard drive. If there is more than one optical drive then move the other drive to Y making D through X available as assignable drive letters.

Creating partitions on WindowsXP is a far simpler affair than the “old days” of DOS. Right click on the unpartitioned space and choose NEW PARTITION.

Choose NEXT.

The primary partition was already created during the first Windows setup steps therefore the EXTENDED PARTITION will be chosen automatically. An extended partition is not a drive but, to use and analogy, a ‘truck bed” upon which the boxes or logical drives will be put upon. You only create this once and it is important to choose the maximum size of remaining space. Choose NEXT.

Windows should automatically show the default maximum space available and have it entered already. Enter the maximum disk space number if it isn’t and choose NEXT.

The process is automatic and upon completion choose FINISH.

You will be returned back to the main COMPUTER MANAGEMENT menu.

Right click on the newly created EXTENDED PARTITION and choose NEW LOGICAL DRIVE.

Choose NEXT.

Now the LOGICAL DRIVE button will be automatically chosen as the only choice. Choose NEXT.

Now if you read the HARD DRIVE SETUP REFRESHER GUIDE you will have learned a bit about how to organize your drives. You will also have taken the time to make a few notes on paper as to how you want to set up the hard drive. The first logical drive will show up as D: and the next as E: and so on. These drives are created one at a time. Enter the size of drive in megabytes. Remember that 1024 megabytes equals 1 gigabyte. In this screen I am setting up the pagefile drive which will show up as D:. I entered 1536 megabytes or 1.5 gigabytes as the size. Do this by clicking the up or down arrow or clicking in the window and highlighting what Windows chose and manually entering the number. Choose NEXT.

You can assign a drive letter at the next stage. Since this is a new drive and the optical drives have already been moved to the end of the alphabet the next available drive letter will default.

Choose to format the partition. Formatting the partition makes it available to put data on. You have a choice of file system; FAT32 or NTFS (FAT if less than approximately 500 MB). Allocation size is safe to leave at default but there are other choices of cluster size which can be used to make the drives more efficient depending on the type of data that is being stored on them. (large single files versus many smaller files). At this time you can choose to name the drives or this can be done later on. Naming the drives doesn’t affect system performance and is more for organizational purposes. I named one of my drives MUSIC because that drive has all the MP3 files in it. Click PERFORM A QUICK FORMAT to speed up the formatting process and choose NEXT.

The formatting process will complete and then click FINISH.

Repeat this process until you have created all the logical drives that you planned. Setting up a hard drive this way will take less than 30 minutes depending on how many drives you create. If it is just a big D drive then you’ll be done in less than 5 minutes.

HINT: Right clicking on any drive in MY COMPUTER will bring up a window where the drive name can be changed.

If the computer already set up a network connection and the computer is hooked up to the Internet you can download the WindowsXP Service Pack 1 network installation to an empty drive. If the NIC card requires specific drivers then install only those from the motherboard installation CD. The other specific drivers such as video card drivers, audio drivers, etc should be installed after Service Pack 1 is installed.

SP1 is a big download of 134 MB. If you have read the HARD DRIVE SETUP REFRESHER GUIDE then you may have set up a drive that stores all your software downloads for future use if needed. If ever you have to reinstall windows then keeping the network installation of SP1 saves you from downloading it all over again.

Click on the SP1 executable and the process begins. Choose NEXT.

Archiving the files or not archiving the files Service Pack 1 replaces is your choice. I never have archived the files. Choose NEXT.

The service pack will automatically proceed and when it completes choose FINISH. The computer will automatically reboot to finish the installation process.

Tweaking WindowsXP basic features

Windows Messenger automatically comes up every time the computer boots and most annoyingly reminds you every so often that you should sign up. If you don’t want to here is the simplest way to disable it. Right click on the messenger icon and choose exit.

Click on MY COMPUTER and double click on the C drive. Choose SHOW THE CONTENTS OF THIS FOLDER.

Rename the MESSENGER folder to something like MESSENGEROLD.

The next time the computer boots MSN MESSENGER will be a thing of the past and will never bother you again. If you want it back…rename the folder to MESSENGER and reboot.

Setting up the system properties is an important step. Click START and right click on MY COMPUTER and choose PROPERTIES.

This can also be accessed by clicking START>CONTROL PANEL>SYSTEM. I prefer to turn off automatic updates as I like to control what updates are applied to the computer by Microsoft and when. A manual update for the operating system can be done by choosing WINDOWS UPDATE from the tools menu on the top toolbar in Internet Explorer. To turn off automatic updates uncheck the box KEEP MY COMPUTER UP TO DATE.

Choose the REMOTE tab from system properties and uncheck ALLOW REMOTE ASSISTANCE if you don’t want anyone to be able to remotely access your computer. If you’d like Microsoft Tech Support to be able to help you where they can remotely access your PC then you will have to re-enable this. I recommend keeping this disabled for security reasons.

Choose the ADVANCED tab and choose SETTINGS under the PERFORMANCE category.

Choose the ADVANCED tab in PERFORMANCE OPTIONS and choose CHANGE for virtual memory.

By default WindowsXP sets up a space on the C: hard drive to be accessed like memory. It sets it to be a minimum of 3 times system RAM to a maximum of 6 times system RAM. That’s a lot of wasted space especially for a computer with 512 MB of RAM installed. Since there is a minimum and maximum amount the size of virtual memory or PAGEFILE can fluctuate. That means it will constantly be resizing and defragmenting the C: drive.

So it is time to move it to its own partition and make it a static size that is better suited to the system. At the default screen choose NO PAGING FILE and click SET. This will clear the pagefile that Windows set up.

Now click on the drive where you want the pagefile to be and choose CUSTOM SIZE. Enter the size of the pagefile with both minimum and maximum as the same number. I chose 1024 megabytes (1 gigabyte) which is MORE than enough. Choose SET and click OK. When you exit system properties Windows will ask to reboot the system which is just fine. This reboot resets the pagefile to the new settings you entered.

The HARD DRIVE SETUP REFRESHER GUIDE made a suggestion of creating a temporary drive which will house all the Internet Explorer and system temporary folders. Create a folder named SYSTEM TEMP and double click on it. Copy the location by highlight it in the address toolbar and pressing CTRL-C.

Go back to the SYSTEM PROPERTIES menu by clicking START>CONTROL PANEL>SYSTEM or right clicking on MY COMPUTER and choosing PROPERTIES.

Choose the ADVANCED tab and click on ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES.

In the top window highlight TEMP and choose EDIT.

Paste (CTRL-V) the address of the SYSTEM TEMP folder replacing the VARIABLE VAULE shown and click OK.

Repeat this for the TMP setting. You may have to do this for each user which means you must log in as that user and make the change.

In the SYSTEM VARIABLES window highlight the TEMP name and repeat the same steps. Do so for TMP as well.

Click OK and then choose ERROR REPORTING from the ADVANCED tab menu.

Choose DISABLE ERROR REPORTING but leave the checkmark in place. You don’t need Windows offering to “phone home” each time the computer may have the slightest problem or nervous twitch which any computer user knows happens.

Click OK and OK again to get out of the system properties pop up windows. Open up Internet Explorer and choose INTERNET OPTIONS from the tools menu. If you don’t want to have the MSN screen coming up each time you open Internet Explorer you can choose USE BLANK or navigate to the web page you do want to come up automatically and choose USE CURRENT.

You can also choose SETTINGS from the TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES section and, as mentioned before, move that folder to the TEMPORARY drive you created. Simply choose MOVE FOLDER and highlight the drive where you want the TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES folder to be.

Highlight the drive and click OK and click OK again. The computer may want to log off and make you log back in to complete the process. This process may also have to be completed for each user.

A quick look at the TEMPORARY drive shows the two folders in place. The contents of these folders can be deleted every so often (Once a month) and the reason for doing this is simple. Every time windows installs a piece of software it creates temporary files which were that folder was located on the C drive. This constant data access defragments the C drive thus affecting overall system performance. By moving this folder off the C drive it cuts down on defragmentation. This applies to the TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES folder as well.

Conclusion

Now the computer is ready for the final installation of video card drivers, audio card drivers and any other necessary components. The motherboard installation disc will have the necessary drivers for the onboard components. A CD will have the drivers for any third party cards such as an audio card. It’s always a good idea to visit the home page of the motherboard maker or third party hardware maker to get the latest drivers as the drivers and software that came with the hardware may not be the latest version.

This guide was intended for the new computer user to hurdle the apprehension of building and setting up a PC. It’s a good idea that we veterans pass on the simplest of steps so that new users can begin to travel the same road as confidently as we do. The first time PC builder always has many questions and I hope this guide has answered many of them.