Request for XP Advice...

OK.

I know there are some loyal friends out there. My wicked-cool Google Analytics account tells me so.

I'm needing some advice.

I'm going to be putting together a DVD data disk to support XP Professional systems. I've got a ton of tools picked out for it (mostly the stuff on my USB drive).

On my Windows 2000 disk like this, I have a good collection of Microsoft support essentials: W2K SP4, various security patches and drivers (major ones), etc. But I don't really know what specialized Microsoft stuff to collect for XP.

Let me be specific...I'm looking for stuff from Microsoft. Critical patches and software "enhancements" for the business environment. Things that I might want to have handy if I loose network access but still need to install or to save the time to download off the net.

Here's what I have so far:

XP SP2. (I don't see a real need for this as our images already include the SP2 level on the install, but figure it would be good to have anyway.)

WindowsDefender. (Even though it is buggy beta, some protection is better than none.)

XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools (unpacked)

IE6 SP1 - In case I ever need to do a clean reinstall.

User Profile Hive Cleanup Service (I like this extra level of protection for my users. I've seen to many corrupted profiles on my W2K systems lately...)

Update for Windows XP (KB918005) - Patches XP laptop systems to address battery drain in specific circumstances.

We don't really use the .NET framework software on our machines, but it is a big download so maybe that would be good to keep handy....

I'm nosing through Microsoft's Windows Update Catalog (a really handy manual update download resource for IT sysadmins) but so far not much has struck me. (You need to be running IE 5.5 or better to view this page.

So team, what else do you recommend? As Dwight would say, "Comments are open!"

Here are some links in gratitude:

Picture above is from "Websites as Graphs" Put in your website and it will (slowly) display a graphical image of your site-map. Pretty. via BLDGBLOG.

Hunt Down memory leaking apps in Firefox: Leak Monitor. via downloadsquad. So to answer Dwight's question to me...I haven't had any bad memory leaks with Firefox (even with those tons of extensions I run) even with just 512MB system RAM. The worst offenders I've caught were java-script leak problems with: GMail, CNN, and, yep, Chron.com. Go figure. Then again, I usually don't leave Firefox running all day. I open and close as needed.

FEBE and CLEO: Firefox extensions to back up your extensions. FEBE lets you take an installed extension and repack it as an installable .xpi file. Handy if you have made some "tweaks" to them. CLEO will take the extensions and/or themes you select and package them all as a single .xpi so you can install at once. These tools look to be really useful! via Lifehacker.

This new Shuttle product the XPC X100 looks trim and proper with a high coolness factor. Might make a nice living-room pc.

In the "Creepy" department. BLDGBLOG has found "Transformer Houses." These bizarre things are attempts to conceal ugly power sub-stations as residential homes. I've seen cell-towers made to look like trees, but this is creepy. Anybody know of any similar things around Houston?

See you in the skies,
--Claus