Install advice.

bothered

Right I'm going for the clean install of windows. I did a repair install to get me going after a new Mobo and graphics card (nf7s and 9800 pro) I will be getting a new CPU and memory. Then I want to format C and reinstall windows etc. What is the prefered order of installing drivers, it's time to get this PC up to speed.

bothered

Aw c'mon guys. I'm probably the only here that doesn't know this already!

profdlp

I'm sure others will disagree, but to get the ball rolling:

1) Chipset drivers, including IDE and other storage (SCSI, SATA, etc)
2) AGP driver (May be included w/ Chipset drivers)
3) DirectX
4) Video drivers
5) NIC drivers
6) Sound
7) Everything else, in no particular order

The first four are the ones that really matter.

During the installation process System Restore is actually very useful. Once everything is installed (including apps & tweaks) I like to make an Image of the boot drive on another partition then hide it (using PQMagic). At that point I turn off System Restore.

BlackHawk

I go:

1) Chipset drivers (and AGP if not included)
2) DirectX
3) Video drivers
4) Rest of the drivers
5) Autopatcher XP
6) Essential must need programs
7) Tweaks and disable unneeded services
8) Do a Ghost Image ICSH's

bothered

Thanks guys, that's pretty much as I thought. I thought I'd ask because I've seen other threads where people have a definate preferance.

Spinner

Sorry I'm late on this one, but for future reference; After SP1 has been installed, the first critical update you should install is the IE SP1 patch (KB832894). Install it individually, then after a restart, you can download the others in bulk. This simply allows you to side step flaws in the current Windows Update system where a patch or fix is applied twice through two different update patches un-necessarily.

Cheers.

bothered

All noted. I hope to be doing this next week. I'm going to post in the pub as to why I'm busy.