How I made it faster- the yearly windows reinstall

Every year my computer starts behaving very strangely. Programs get really slow, the start menu takes forever to load, the OS crashes randomly, and other strange things happen. This year's strangest thing was that for reasons unknown, Visual Studio decided that Notepad++ was my default web browser every time I launched a web application. I have no idea how this happened and it has defied my efforts to fix it. As a result, I find it easier to just reinstall windows and everything else from scratch. This usually takes me two days to get everything the way I like it, which is much less time than it usually takes me to go through and fix everything (if I even can fix everything, and yes, I have timed this). This time around, I decided to change things a bit and I've noticed that some things are much faster.

Visual Studio
I develop web applications in C#. That's really all I do at work (besides read blogs and drink coffee). Therefore, when Visual Studio prompted me to do the "common" install, I hit "custom" for the first time ever. I then got rid of everything that wasn't C# and web application related. No C++, no C++ diagnostic tools, no VB, no installation packager or whatever it is, just C# and web stuff. I also got rid of things that I never use like the icons and other crap packages. I also gave up any plugins that I don't directly use. I just started using my fresh Visual Studio install, and this thing flies now. It loads really, really fast. It still takes forever to load my solution (it has 14 projects in it, but I promised that I wouldn't complain about my project setup in this post, and no, I wasn't the one who added those projects) but everything else is fast. I also have several plugins turned on, including ReSharper, CodeIt.Right (like FxCop but useful), and the TeamCity personal build thing. Also, unlike my previous computer, I only have one version of Visual Studio installed (2008) as opposed to four versions (I used to need all four of them too).

Sql Server
Again, the only thing I care about in Sql Server is the database and the client tools. I don't use Reporting Services, Business Intelligence, the legacy DTS stuff, or any of that extra crap. I don't need it at this time. So I hit "custom installation" again and chose only those components that I actually use. I also found that I no longer need Oracle to be installed locally so I don't have that installed either, although I doubt this is speeding things up any because I had it turned off unless I was actively using it.

Other Software
So before I started randomly installing all the stuff from Hanselman's tool list, I made a list of all the software installed on my old computer. I then started crossing out things that I can't remember using in the last six months. I installed what was left, including Launchy, Nant, NUnit (sorry MbUnit, but some people at my work don't like you so I can't use you anymore. . . at work), DisplayFusion, ReSharper, Firefox, Subversion, and Notepad++. So far, I have yet to find something that I miss. Please also note that I didn't install Tortoise SVN this time around, which brings us to the next most useful thing that I installed:

Cygwin!!!!!!11!11!1!1!!one!11!!
I love this thing. It basically gives me a Bash shell on windows. It has all the unix commands that I'm used to using. It has alias and ln. It has hundreds of packages, including subversion. It's find totally pwns windows find. It has grep so I can do something like alias devenv=`find / -name devenve.exe | grep devenv.exe` and I get to type "devenv" and it launches Visual Studio without me having to fuck around with my Path or other environment variables. I also have vi and nano, which rule (I use nano when I need to change one stupid line of a config file because I find it simpler to use for that purpose than vi, but vi is for anything more complex). I have only begun to figure out the coolness that is Cygwin. I also get Python and Perl and probably Ruby, although I haven't actually looked for a Ruby package yet. Be warned, however: If you are not familiar with Unix, including commands, the file system, and concepts like fork(), it probably is not for you. Also, when you want to launch a program and not have the shell sit there and wait for the program to terminate, the correct thing is to add a '&' to the end of the line, i.e. /devenv.exe &
will launch Visual Studio and kick it into the background so I can do other stuff with the shell.

The results
My computer loads faster. A lot faster. This is probably due to a combination of factors, but I would say the biggest difference between this computer and the last is Sql Server only has two services running now instead of like 1000 or something (I'm exaggerating but you get the idea). I also don't have Tortoise slowing explorer down, although I may reinstall it if I find that I'm not more productive using svn from the command line. Visual studio starts faster. I also don't have to worry about which version of Visual Studio launchy decides to launch for me either. It also stops faster when I close it.

The moral of the story:

The moral here is really stupidly obvious: Don't install crap that you don't use or need. This really shouldn't need to be said, but I find that a lot of people just hit "default install" when they shouldn't be. They also install crap that they don't use and don't need. That being said, may I present:

Jeff's guide to the obvious: Volume 1

1. Always use custom install when installing software. Pick only what you need. This applies to everything.
2. You can always run setup again if you need to add something.
3. Don't just install something because it "looks like you might use it"
4. Any software that you don't use in more than six months, get rid of it.
5. Any software that you don't immediately start to love and use frequently, get rid of it
   
6. Don't just install everything off of Hanselman's tools list (uh, not that I ever did or anything. . . . )
   

Follow these simple instructions and I guarantee your computer will run faster and have less random behavior, although having Notepad++ be your default browser is useful sometimes.