25 Jan 2017 • Windows post-install for developers

This is just a checklist for myself covering what to do with a fresh Windows installation. It covers disabling all the annoying crap Windows comes with by default, updating manually because Windows Update is broken in Windows 7 SP1, and a list of handy programs.

  1. Install drivers and reboot.
  2. Go to services.msc, stop and disable: Superfetch, Windows Defender, Windows Firewall, Windows Search.
  3. Go to Control Panel and view by small icons. Go to Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Local Users and Groups, Users, right click Administrator and enable it. Log in as Administrator. This is now your user account, and you can delete your old one.
  4. Right click the start menu, click properties, use small icons, never combine taskbar buttons, unlock, drag to left, lock. Under the start menu tab, click customise, then disable Devices and Printers, Games, Help, Highlight newly installed programs, Music, Pictures, and Use large icons.
  5. Click the start menu, right click Computer, Advanced system settings (in the sidebar), Startup and Recovery settings, disable Automatically restart. Close that window and go to Performance settings. Uncheck lots of crap.
  6. Right click the desktop, enable Windows Classic theme.
  7. Go to Control Panel, then Action Center and disable UAC (in the sidebar), then go to Change Action Center settings (also in the sidebar) and disable problem reporting and all the messages (except for maybe Windows Update). Go to AutoPlay and disable that too. Go to Mouse and disable enhanced pointer precision. Go to Sound and select the No Sounds sound scheme. Go to Power Options and disable monitor/PC sleeping.
  8. In the start menu, search for folder options. Go to view and show hidden files and known extensions.
  9. In Computer, right click your C drive, go to Security, Advanced, Change Permissions, click your name, Edit, check full control, click OK, check "Replace all child permissions...", click OK.
  10. Install Firefox.
  11. Install MSVC Community 2013. Uncheck all the optional features. This download is huge so start it first!
  12. Install the Windows 7 convenience rollup update and its dependencies.
  13. Download Autoruns, Process Explorer, and Process Monitor.
  14. Install Color Cop, AutoHotkey, 7-Zip, Everything.
  15. Install Git for Windows, Notepad++, and Vim.
  16. Install Renderdoc, Apitrace, Intel GPA, and the DirectX SDK.
  17. Install GIMP, Inkscape, Blender, Wings3D, and Meshlab.
  18. Download the Cygwin installer. Install tmux, openssh, lua and vim.
  19. In a cygwin shell, run ssh-host-config, and follow the prompts. chown cyg_server: /var/empty; chmod 700 /var/empty; net start sshd.