Two Ways To Put Windows On A Diet
Dear Fred, I was curious if you've heard about nLite. if you haven't, here's a generic description: nLite lets you choose which components to remove from Windows 2000, XP or 2003 before installation. By removing unneeded components you gain on your system speed and security. It supports removal of almost any component and few services. You can make a bootable ISO and easily slipstream Service packs with a click of a button. Use the easy cd-key implementation so you don't need to enter it during setup. If you have heard of it or even tried it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. I've been using it for several months now and I find it to be a interesting and powerful utility. Installing Windows is much faster and I don't have to spend time entering my name, key or other info. My favorite feature is Component Removal. I can trim Windows of its bloat and it will only use 40-50% of its default installation size. Sincerely, Kevin
Thanks, Kevin! nLite has shown up a few times on the
LangaList:
http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-10-04.htm#3
http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-05-09.htm#5
http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-06-09.htm#5
It's been more than a year, and a new beta version 1.2 is available for
download, so it's worth bringing up again. nLite v1.2 offers a raft of new
features, the best of which include burning .ISO support; a "remove duplicate
files" option; "format drive" support; and others.
The free nLite guides you though the process of finding your Windows
installation files, choosing which programs and other files you don't want, and
creating an .ISO file, which you can burn to CD. You then can use that CD to
install a custom "lite" version of Windows. It's the real operating system,
minus undesirable bloat.
You can instead use LitePC's $39.95 XPlite, which is similar, but removes
components after, rather than before, installation.
Think of nLite as a deployment tool that creates a new, faster and up-to-date
replacement XP installation disk, and XPlite as an uninstall utility that
removes components Microsoft made "unremovable."
Read about XPlite here:
http://www.informationweek.com/windows/showArticle.jhtml
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