as I keep it on a short leash.
With great appreciation for what others have taught me,
may I share my strategy that keeps at least this part of I.T. stress free :
* nLited XP Pro unattended install disc w/ current SP & updates,
followed by imaging the system partition after the baseline apps
are installed & everything is tweaked.
(currently using Paragon Drive Image w/ great satisfaction - no failures)
only 8 minutes to reimage a fresh install of a 12 GB system partition from bare metal -
Reincarnation at its finest !

* Deep Freeze from Faronics - so, in a way, who cares what happens?
Every time I shutdown the pc, the entire session is erased - nothing persists.
I reset "My Documents" & "Favorites" to another partition,
& copy any program updated config/ .ini files to another partition for Save/Backup.
- of course, you can run Deep Freeze in the 'thawed' state
to allow new app installations or updates to persist,
then lock the rig down again w/ "Frozen" state.
*Autocomplete/password saves disabled,
so there's no personal/financial info onboard even if I am compromised -
it's all in a hidden, hot-keyed plain text file.
* Webroot AntiVirus/spySweeper to prevent drive-by browser malware downloads,
with the real-time AV turned off - I only use it by R-click scanning specific files.
* Avira AntiVir services set to Manual,
& the Classic Scheduler is only "Started" when I want to update.
I also use the AV scan function only by R-clicking specific files,
including all pertinent files on the system partition.
This does take an extra second to begin scanning,
but then, it doesn't run in the background,
chewing up RAM & resources like SpySweeper & the rest of the system hogs do.
Services :
AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic Guard
"C:\Program Files\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avguard.exe"
AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic Scheduler :
"C:\Program Files\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\sched.exe"
These 2 .exes are set to hotkeys for instant access, obviously - this IS AHK, right?
