Surface Pro 2 + Visual Studio + SQL Server, Here we go!

1. Received my Surface Pro 2 via ebay, sweetness! It feels like my Bday!

1. 
   
2. Has base Windows 8.1 (82 GB Free), walked thru the pesky setup, next, next, 
1. I created a Local Account instead of using the "MSN/LiveID" thing
3. Firmware Update (Disable Auto Updates, there are known issues with updates bricking a surface or 2!)
1. Firmware Update
2. Had a little scare, after reboot, it showed a dos black screen with "Certmgr succeeded" and was hung there, I unplugged and rebooted and it was ok
3. Apparently some folks have had there Surface pro brick from stupid Windows Updates!
4. Configure Windows Update to "Not install updated automatically" or just Disable the Windows Update service,
4. Then I Instaled StartMenu, TextPad (I know most of ya'all use Notepad++), Virtual Clone, Chrome,  
5. A word for Chrome users, Chrome SUX in Surface, so I downloaded an extension chromeTouch that is supposed to help with the Surface Pro / Chome interop, The biggest pain I see is that I can not easily select text on a web page (WTF) when Im in chrome, thus its a pain, but everything else is cool. IE in surface is nice! Actually nicer than a normal laptop.....
6. Tuned the OS a bit by disabling windows services not needed per: 
1. Disable pesky windows Services!
   Stop UAC!
7. Move Recovery Partition to USB, Delete Recovery Partition on C:\ this saves 5.2 GB
8. Install SQL Server Express Advanced Svcs: 4.2 GB: DB Engine only + SSMS
9.       after install: (72 GB Free)
10. VS 2012 Premium : 5.45 GB (unchecked Blend and Lightswitch,)
11.       after install: (73 GB Free)    
12. Office 2010: Word, PPT, Excel, tools only : 2.12 GB
13.       after install: (73 GB Free)    

So all done! I got a Surface Pro 2, with VS .net, SQL......Ill update on dev experience shortly...Overall im loving the Surface Pro 2.


Some TODO's that I hope to do include
Battery Life Tuning
Disk Space Tuning (We only git 75 G free!)


And to go over the Surface Tips here:
Surface Pro Hints Tweaks