10/5/03 Note: I stopped using the User Accts, they were a pain to use and you cannot use older software for all accts unless they are all Administrative Accts, which in that case I just have one acct, the Administrative Acct. The software has to be made for XP, in order for it to be used by all user accts, when you install it, it will ask you if it is to be used by all users. Other then that, XP Pro has been one GREAT OS, I have no maintenance tools other then what comes with XP and no Virus program, because I do not use the email and I only install software that I have purchased at a store, no downloads to it. The gaming experience is Awesome on this Machine. I had one of the Hardrives crash and had to reinstall everything on the 2nd drive and I did not get a replacement because it was an OEM purchase, other then that, it has been purring like a kitten. I did forget to clean the filter on the front of the case, cool feature, forgot it was there, clean now, was pretty dirty : )

After I got the BIOS all setup and running smooth, it was time to install the OS on the New Harddrive. With XP this was pretty straight forward, I put in the cd and restarted the Computer, booted right to the Setup Program. One choice that I made in the install process of XP was, that I went with the NTFS file system for more Security and Encryption, it is slower then the Fat32 file system, but with this System I do not think it will matter. After the Install was finished, the next thing I did was to install all the Drivers and Software for the Mobo and the Graphics card, then I registered XP. After it was registered, I went to Windows update and installed all the updates. Then I went to the DirectX 9.0 page and installed DirectX 9, my system is built to use all of the features in DirectX 9. Xp installed all the rest of the Hardware drivers, all of it was new, so there were no compatibility issues. Next I went to all those Shortcuts in the Taskbar and unchecked the Startup when Windows Boots boxes in their Preferences, I want as few programs running in the background as I can. Next I went into My Computer and right clicked on the E: drive and Formatted it to NTFS, so I could start installing Software on it.

I noticed that the Administrator Acct. you setup when you first install XP is not shown at the Logon Screen, the only way you can access this account is to Boot into Safe Mode, then it will be there along with the Administrator acct you set up for yourself. When you Logon under the Actual Administrator acct in Safe Mode, if you right click on a Folder and go to Properties, you will notice it will have a Security Tab, for setting Permissions for folders and files, don't mess with this stuff unless you are sure about what you are doing. Well everything installed, I then setup an Administrators acct, named it Admin., Administrator is already taken for( Safe Mode ).

Next I set up three user Accts, one for my Wife, myself and my son. You do this in the Control Panel-User Accounts, I setup the Admin Acct here to. With user acct. you want to set the Permissions to Limited, for your Admin. Acct, set it to Computer Administrator. One problem I had with User Accts after I installed some Games, was that Half Life and Counter Strike would not start in the User Accts. After trying many different things, I finally Right clicked the shortcuts in each Users Acct and went to Properties-Compatibility Tab and set it to Run in Windows 98, they started.

I installed a Photo Program and it ask me if I wanted to have the software installed in the Common Files for All Users or Private, this is designed to be Multi-user compliant. Legacy or older software will not give you that option and will have to be installed in each User Acct. Here is a Link to a MS Support Doc about running Programs\Games in User Accounts: Limited User Acct Problems

Went into the NVIDIA nForce Control Panel, this comes with the Graphics card and setup my Speakers, as shown in picture.

After all the Software was install, a week later, I Defragmented the Drives.

The XP Pro install was smooth sailing, except for a couple of programs, but that was really the Softwares problem, not XPs, I am impressed with XP, good job Microsoft !!!