[jr2]

Well, the primary benefit of using a modified Windows would be, for example, Windows XP Black Edition (all patches included, some bloat removed), or Micro / Mini XP -- extremely / moderately lite versions of XP that can run on ancient, low memory hardware and still be able to bring up the start menu without choking. 

Usually the uploader is the person who put that edition together.  You can do the same thing your self, if you know what to get rid of using nLite (XP) or vLite (Vista/7)  (not sure what they've got for 8/8.1 for slimming down).

You say you only trust official sources, hmm.  I guess.  But how do you know Nuke didn't sneak Skynet into an FSO commit when you download the latest branch to test out? 

[The E]

Because a) Nuke does not have commit access to the FSO svn, b) I know how to read diffs and patches, c) I know the FSO source about as well as anyone else on the SCP team, and d) I trust the others on said team not to do something illicit.

And yeah, all those unofficial editions? I don't trust them on principle. They may be clean. They may run better. But they are, on a very fundamental level, insecure, and the sad fact is that I trust Microsoft more. Simply because MS is under much greater scrutiny than any of those uploaders.

[Nuke]

yea my coding isnt that good. not to mention your desktop computer does not have the cpu power to run an ai capable of waging war on humans.

and just because i get my iso from mocrosoft, doesnt mean i dont apply a few, uhm, lets say, optimizations.

though i kinda dont care about security, break into my rig all you will find is a bunch of bad graphics, a lot of bad code, a lot of bad pcb designs, some nude pics of my former sister in law and a lot of pics of cats. im not the cia.

[S-99]

Optimizations can be applied pre-install by remastering the windows iso.