Windows XP Pro Installation Question

[Robert--]

Hi. I'm currently helping with a first-time PC build and my partner and I
today installed the Windows XP Pro 32-bit OS on our system and encountered
something odd. According to the Microsoft article on installing an OS in
Windows XP, at the end of the build: "Part 3: Completing the Installation,"
we successfully got all the way to Step 19, the "Help Protect your PC by
turning on Automatic Updates" page where I declined to check Enable Automatic
Updates and checked "Not right Now" instead (I had a reason for doing this).
After continuing the Setup, the computer jumped all the way to Step 25, to
the "Thank You...click Finish" page!
After Setup finished, we got to Log On to our new system directly and bypass
the "first time" log on "Enter Administrator account and Password" Step which
was outlined in the Install Manual that came with our XP Pro software.
Lastly, the standby / hibernate button on the Shut Down screen is also
greyed out and unusable at present (Do we have to manually enable it?) We
did, however, find the Microsoft article #330909 which might apply to our
case but are unsure.
Is this normal for a first-time, clean installation of XP Pro or was our
installation faulty? The program seems to otherwise work just fine and we'll
add software drivers, etc., later. Has anyone else encountered this and is
this normal installation behavior or not?? Thanks in advance.

 

[Andy]

Hi. I'm currently helping with a first-time PC build and my partner and I
today installed the Windows XP Pro 32-bit OS on our system and encountered
something odd. According to the Microsoft article on installing an OS in
Windows XP, at the end of the build: "Part 3: Completing the Installation,"
we successfully got all the way to Step 19, the "Help Protect your PC by
turning on Automatic Updates" page where I declined to check Enable Automatic
Updates and checked "Not right Now" instead (I had a reason for doing this).
After continuing the Setup, the computer jumped all the way to Step 25, to
the "Thank You...click Finish" page!
After Setup finished, we got to Log On to our new system directly and bypass
the "first time" log on "Enter Administrator account and Password" Step which
was outlined in the Install Manual that came with our XP Pro software.

If you entered a user name during setup, that person becomes the
administrator.

Lastly, the standby / hibernate button on the Shut Down screen is also
greyed out and unusable at present (Do we have to manually enable it?) We
did, however, find the Microsoft article #330909 which might apply to our
case but are unsure.

You have to install the Windows driver for the video card in order for
standby to work.

Is this normal for a first-time, clean installation of XP Pro or was our
installation faulty? The program seems to otherwise work just fine and we'll
add software drivers, etc., later. Has anyone else encountered this and is
this normal installation behavior or not?? Thanks in advance.

It's normal.

 

[DL]

Untill you install all the hardware drivers, from manufacturers, for your
system the setup is not complete, & niether will your sys function as
expected.
Disabling auto updates would seem in your case to be unwise, amending
autoupdates for critical updates only maybe a better option.

 

[Robert--]

Thank you, both Andy and DL, for your replies to my Post. I do plan to
install the hardware drivers next (I've already downloaded the latest drivers
using my current, operational computer and will transfer these to the "new"
system). Regarding the Auto Updates concern, I DO plan to install all
Microsoft Updates but only after installing, configuring, and updating the
new system's Internet Security Suite first. (I did this on our current
system as well). Afterwards, we will do the MS Updates: security, software,
hardware, etc. Thanks again.

 

[DL]

If your system is under a firewall provided by the initial install of the
security suite its not neccessary to update the suite prior to installing
critical updates, and if you havent installed hw drivers then your sys may
not function correctly any way, nor may updates install.
PC's get infected in the initial setup if no incoming firewall is active, or
they are not behind a NIC

 

[Robert--]

DL thank you for your new post. Regarding my reasons for the order that I
plan to do things, firstly, my version of XP Pro has SP2 included on it so
the MS firewall is turned on by default. I will use that first and later
switch to the firewall on the Security Suite. Secondly, having an ISS adds
protection by including virus protection to the system; by updating the ISS
program from the start, this ensures that the system has the latest "version"
of everything; firewall, virus protection...everything. Also, I do in fact
plan to install all hardware drivers first, before installing the ISS (and
before going on-line), as it's easier to do it that way since I would have to
shut down the ISS firewall and anti-virus protection anyway in order to
install the various hw drivers.
The odd way I seem to proceed, by installing the ISS before installing
the MS updates (this includes Auto Updates), is that it only takes a few
minutes to install and configure the ISS but it takes quite some time to do
MS updates. Sadly, I've heard of people being "attacked" while on the Net
updating their systems while using MS updates. Thanks again for your post.