Fully new build from mid-late 2020, a mini-ITX powerhouse.

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/user/furinkan/saved/#view=62DfvK

Case: Phanteks Evolv Shift Air
Mobo: Asus ROG Strix B550-I mini-ITX
CPU: Ryzen 5800X
GPU: Gigabyte RTX-3070 8gb EAGLE OC
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32gb DDR4-3200 CL16
PSU: Corsair SF600
Cooler: Corsair H60 AIO
OS drive: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB M.2

Contents

OS reinstall March 2022
1. Uninstall everything
  1. Games and launcher
  2. Apps to reinstall later
Window 11 setup notes

I'd like to watercool it sometime with a custom loop. It'll be damn tight in this case but maybe it can be done.

OS reinstall March 2022

Some notes on doing this. I've been seeing too many BSODs to be healthy, and the underlying cause is either kernel or Ntfs.sys with a roughly even split. I'd like to try out Win11 anyway, and a clean install would be best for that.

I've just bought a new PCIe 4.0 SSD to use, and an external USB M.2 enclosure so I can grab data from the old drive later if needed.

Uninstall everything

Remove as many apps as possible to ensure there's less to worry about later.

Manually save stuff that's not in a default location, mostly in %appdata%/../Local/

Games and launcher

COD: BattleNet
Cyberpunk: GOG
Obduction: Epic Games Launcher

Apps to reinstall later

Signal
Zenkit To-Do
Putty
Hashcheck Shell Extension
CDisplay
WinRAR
Chrome
Adobe Creative Cloud (eugh)

Window 11 setup notes

We want to get around the initial need to bind our local account to a Microsoft account, so we do this during install/setup. It'll let us have the username we want:

Install OS, attempt to login with MS account test@test.com, random password, let it fail.
Create a local account with the username you want, then finish installation.

Get Chrome, sign in

Signin to 1Password extension, get app, sign in with app

Now we can bind our local account to our MS account:

Windows -> Settings -> Accounts -> Your Info -> Sign in with MS account

This will link your MS account to the local one you created during installation: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/switch-from-a-local-account-to-a-microsoft-account-395203bf-9f1b-eb24-b042-5b8dae6c1d20

Download and install Dropbox

Fix order of pins on taskbar

Disable start on boot for various MS apps

Load unpacked Chrome extensions from Dropbox

The Great Suspender (may not be needed any more with Chrome's builtin tab deactivation)
Bypass Paywalls Chrome
Redirector (just sync over your redirects)

Explorer Folder options

View
- Decrease space between items
- Display full path in title bar
- UNCHECK Hide extensions for known file types
- Launch folder windows in separate process
- Restore previous at login
- FINALLY Apply to all folders

Install Pragmata Pro from Dropbox

Turn on network discovery and sharing, so the NAS becomes more visible, then map \\iowa\cargo to U: drive

Get AltSnap instead of AltDrag: https://github.com/RamonUnch/AltSnap/releases

Add config blacklist for new Alt-Tab feature: https://github.com/stefansundin/altdrag/issues/145#issuecomment-946221972

Load ublock settings and lists from cloud storage

Setup putty, SSH keys, default settings. Load private key into 1Password

Install notepad++, attach config to Dropbox/Apps dir

Update SSH pubkey everywhere:

roberta
arkroyal
suomi
illustrious
vector
asval
iowa
unifi
ocular
funicular

ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIISjFHfP6t3LLM9D7uWroYCrSdcZqN17tl5eQ/eJlKgq furinkan@wa-chan 2022-03-21

ssh-rsa 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 unifi-and-openwrt-rsa@wa-chan

Install AutoHotKey and use it to remap some useful Win+foo shortcuts.

Create AutoHotKey.ahk and put that in the Win-R shell:startup location

#e:: Run, XYplorer
#c:: Run, calc
#n:: Run, C:\Users\furinkan\Dropbox\foo.txt
CapsLock::Ctrl

Volumey seems useful, maybe install that too: https://github.com/G-Stas/Volumey

It's available in the MS Store as well, which is nice: https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/volumey/9MZCQ03MX0S3?hl=en-au&gl=au&cid=storebadge&ocid=badge&rtc=1

Something like Ctrl-Alt-Shift-H for headphones, and Ctrl-Alt-Shift-K for speakers (Katana).

Disabling search from the Start menu: https://twitter.com/furinkan/status/1786370228580229126

Run regedit, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search
Make a new DWORD (32-bit) called: BingSearchEnabled
Ensure the value = 0
That's it, instant improvement