For those of us who are installing a new Windows computer or simply want to improve the performance of an old one, Mark Kaelin, Chad Perrin and Scott Lowe at Tech Republic prepared 3 great lists of things you should and shouldn't do:

• 10 Things You Should Do to a New PC Before Surfing the Web
• Boost Security by Disabling These 10 Windows XP Services
• 10 Windows XP Services You Should Never Disable

10 Things You Should Do to a New PC Before Surfing the Web

Mark Kaelin, Tech Republic

It is only natural, when you get a brand new PC, especially one with broadband capabilities built-in, you want to connect to the Internet and see it action. For many, the browser and the World Wide Web are the "killer-apps" of the modern PC—the Internet is what you have a PC for, everything else is just extra fluff.
However, connecting to the Internet with a new unprotected and unpatched PC is practically inviting the nefarious and malicious to infect your PC. According to research published by Sophos in July 2005, there is about a 50 percent chance that an unpatched PC will be infected with malicious software within 12 minutes of connecting to the Internet. Once infected, it is almost impossible to get a PC clean again without completely re-installing the operating system. (We are restricting this conversation to Windows PCs for the moment.)

1. Make a "starter" CD ROM
2. Remove the promotional applications
3. Install antivirus software
4. Turn on a software firewall
5. Install printers and other peripherals
6. Establish a password for the administrator account
7. Create a new user account with password
8. Turn off unnecessary Windows services (see below)
9. Establish a system restore point
10. Install and configure a router

 Read the original article or download a PDF copy

Boost Security by Disabling These 10 Windows Services

by Chad Perrin, Tech Republic

As I pointed out in the article 10 security tips for all general-purposes OSes, an important step in the process of securing your system is to shut down unnecessary services. As long as Microsoft Windows has been a network-capable operating system, it has come with quite a few services turned on by default, so it's a good idea for security-conscious users of Microsoft’s flagship product to shut down any of these services they aren't using.
If you're running Microsoft Windows XP on your desktop system, consider turning off the following services. You may be surprised by what is running without your knowledge.

1. IIS
2. NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
3. Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
4. Remote Registry
5. Routing and Remote Access
6. Simple File Sharing
7. SSDP Discovery Service
8. Telnet
9. Universal Plug and Play Host
10. Windows Messenger Service

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10 Windows XP Services You Should Never Disable

by Scott Lowe, Tech Republic

 There are dozens of guides out there that help you determine which services you can safely disable on your Windows XP desktop. Disabling unnecessary services can improve system performance and overall system security, as the system’s attack surface is reduced. However, these lists rarely indicate which services you should not disable. All of the services that run on a Window system serve a specific purpose and many of the services are critical to the proper and expected functioning of the desktop computing environment. In this article, you’ll learn about 10 critical Windows XP services you shouldn’t disable (and why).

1. DNS Client
2. Network Connections
3. Plug and Play
4. Print Spooler
5. Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
6. Workstation
7. Network Location Awareness (NLA)
8. DHCP Client
9. Cryptographic Services
10. Automatic Updates

Read the original article or download a PDF copy