Great info.  I've been wondering which drivers to do from the disk, thanks!

you wouldn't happen to have a link to get the asus mobo update besides rapidshare?

What are the benefits of using the Intel graphics driver over the Asus one?

netomx wrote:

Hello. Im gonna tell you some secrets that I implemented in my EEE, hope you like it


1. Installed Windows XP Lite SP2
- This image has only IE and Windows XP, nothing more. No themes, no nothing . I like it because the ISO was only 130 mb. You can make your own copy with your original Windows XP SP2 CD and nLite. The only problem with my ISO was the horrible startup file, but that was fixed by XPize ;-). Also, I changed my CDKEY with Magical Jelly Bean program, so now I use my campus CDKEY

2. Installed drivers the manual way.
- I don't like installers: leave garbage of logs and programs that i'll never use (like Realtek manager, just waste memory and an icon in the taskbar). The only drivers I used with an installer were the sound (you MUST use the installer) and the chipset.

3. Install XPize
- This wonderful utility will change a lot of icons, including the theme and the startup screen. It looks gorgeous!
http://www.xpize.net/

4. Shutdown time
- To reduce the shutdown time, we need to modify a registry file. Open regedit and go to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/ SYSTEM/ CurrentControlSet/ Control
When you left click the CONTROL folder, settings will appear on your right. Edit "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" to 5000, that's a good setting. Reboot and the settings works.

5. Remove the pagefile
-This is for the normal wearing of the drive in the EEE. (Thanks to Qatz!)
Open regedit and search for this string:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PagingFiles"
Double click it and delete everything inside of "Value Data:"
Reboot your system and manually delete "C:\pagefile.sys".
Delete the pagefile, how? On the explorer, click in Tools, then Folder Options, then View, select Show hidden folders and files" and uncheck "Hide operating system files (recomended)". Now you can delete the file.
In my opinion, ill suggest to use from 250 to 500mb in pagefile, im trying that and i want to test if everything is ok

6. Move My documents
- Right click on My Documents, then properties, then MOVE, select a folder in your SD card, and you're ready.

7. CCleaner
- This program eliminates all temp files, including web pages, etc, all in 2 clicks, Right click on the Recycle bin, and a left click "Run CCleaner".
www.ccleaner.com

8. 7-zip
- Like WinRAR, but light-weight and open source!
www.7-zip.org

9. ASUS ACPI
- This program is to control the volume and WiFi under Windows. Install it

10. FoxIt PDF Reader
- PDF Reader, just like Adobe. It's free, and light-weight.
www.foxitsoftware.com

11. Remove unwanted apps running at startup
- Run "msconfig", then go to "Start", then deselect ALCMTR, reader_sl (if you use Adobe Reader), AsTray (a tray from Asus, don't know it's function), RTHDCPL, and SkyTel.

12. Use Tim' Freeware Power Center
- Small utility to show the battery status on a nice little bar
www.northro.com/pw.7z

13. Auto hide tray icons
- Right click on the start bar, then properties. Check "Hide inactive icons" then go to customize. Ill recomend hide everything except MSN Messenger and wireless.

14. Activate cache in your SD card.
- I dont know if actually works, but I did it. Go to My PC, then select the SD Card and right click, then properties. Then go to hardware, select "USB 2.0 Card Reader" , then properties. Select directives, and check "Optimize for performance".

15. Reflash your bios.
- If you got the original 0204, I suggest you reflash it to 0204, but of this link. It will activate USB 2.0 and the webcam will work on Skype and Messenger.
http://rapidshare.com/files/67739813/701-ASUS-0204.zip
or
www.northro.com/701-ASUS-0204.zip

Hope you like my little tweak guide!

Any suggestions, are welcome

UPDATE 1:

16. Orchesta Sound Scheme
- I love the sound of this theme, try it yourself!
(Ill upload it on the night).

UPDATE 2:
Download the Intel video drivers instead of using the ASUS one!
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_ … p;lang=eng

UPDATE 3:
New mirror for the bios

Id say this was sticky material. Alot of good tips.

How can I install the new Bios?

14. Activate cache in your SD card.
- I dont know if actually works, but I did it. Go to My PC, then select the SD Card and right click, then properties. Then go to hardware, select "USB 2.0 Card Reader" , then properties. Select directives, and check "Optimize for performance".

That will only affect read/write performance on SD.  However, you must also be careful to dismount the drive before disconnecting or you may corrupt it since cache may be in use at any moment.

Nice guide. Regarding step 6, though, I've seen that in most guides, and while I think moving the My Documents folder off to a SD card should be done, I just wanted to note that I've taken that a step further and moved my entire profile over to my SDHC card so that things like Application Data, cookies, Local Settings, and things like that don't start eating up the little space I have left on the SSD.

If other people are interested, this is how you do it: (Note, these instructions assume that you will not be removing your SD card!)

1) Login as the user you intend to use from now on (I'll call this "myAccount"), this will create a subfolder called myAccount in C:\Documents and Settings

2) Login as another user (I used the local Administrator account, but any account that is in the administrators group and is not "myAccount" will work)

3) Move C:\Documents and Settings\myAccount to D:\Documents and Settings\myAccount (replace "D:" with whatever drive letter your SD card is using)

4) Go to Start->Run, type regedit and press enter to get the registry editor (!disclaimer: incorrectly modifying your registry can cause serious problems, so proceed with caution)

5) Browse to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\

6) Under ProfileList you'll see several sub-keys that start with something like "S-1-5-21-", click on each one and look for "ProfileImagePath" under the Name column. You'll want to find the one that matches your myAccount, so the Data for ProfileImagePath will say %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\myAccount, once you find that, double click on ProfileImagePath to change the value to D:\Documents and Settings\myAccount (again, change the drive letter or path as necessary to match where you moved the profile to).

7) Now log off of the Administrator account and log in as myAccount. That should do it.

I didn't use Windows in the default configuration much before I moved my profile, so I'm not sure if it has a significant impact on performance, but I'm sure read/writes to an SD card are slower than the SSD, but for me, having available space on C:\ for system components (updates, pagefile, etc) is more important than possibly running a little slower. In fact, I also installed all my additional programs onto the SDHC as well because for me, having a variety of programs (I've only had the computer a day and I already have about 700MB of additional programs installed), even if they run a little slower, is better than only having a few programs that fit or jumping through a lot of hoops to slim XP down (although I did do most of the recommended optimizations from the manual).

Edit: Sorry didn't mean for this to be so long or to hijack this thread, if a mod wants to, feel free to split this post to a new topic (if that can be done here?).

Last edited by Void (2007-11-15 2:11:17 pm)

netomx wrote:

14. Activate cache in your SD card.
- I dont know if actually works, but I did it. Go to My PC, then select the SD Card and right click, then properties. Then go to hardware, select "USB 2.0 Card Reader" , then properties. Select directives, and check "Optimize for performance".

It is a delayed writing from buffer option.

Positive Side - Reports as writing done much quicker, programs become more responsive.

Negative Side - Even though it says it finished writing to a file, it is not so, it still writing to it, you can't eject the media or you will lose data.

netomx wrote:

ArchiMark wrote:

>15. Reflash your bios.
>- If you got the original 0204, I suggest you reflash it to 0204, but >of this link.

Excellent post, netomx!

However, think one of your BIOS numbers is incorrect... ;-)

0204 ? It really exists

Im actually using 0401 and its working OK

So you're saying that people with 0204 should re-flash to 0204?

I admit, I'm still a little confused.  Either you are saying there is more than one version of 0204, or that OS changes can change your BIOS revision, neither of which make any sense to me.

Not to say that I didn't benefit from reading your very helpful tweak guide.

Last edited by silurius (2007-11-16 1:11:30 am)

This will free up 8.5 MB of space unless you already opted out during an nLite.

1. Add/Remove Programs -> Windows Components
2. Select "Accessories and Utilities" (don't uncheck) and click the Details button
3. Select "Games" (don't uncheck) and click the Details button
4. Uncheck "Internet Games"
5. Click OK until Wizard appears and allow it to remove the above.

I dont know what is that, but if I was you, ill erase that