Recent Windows 10 Patches Causing Problems

[Clara D.]

If you want to amuse yourself some hackers set themselves up for those scams and when they get called youtube the results.

I haven't been able to get the "CONGRATULATIONS FOR PAYING YOUR VISA ON TIME" people to phone--sex with me

I'll keep trying though!

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

From The End of a Chapter for Be & BeOS – OSnews

He can call it "PalmOS" but it's not actually PalmOS.

 

[Kara Spengler]

I have been tempted to turn the tables on those callers but usually settled for wasting their time. Eventually they figured I wasn't using Windows.

Even the non-scammers waste their time. I once had a legit company want me to buy a computer product I did not want and when they asked why I said they did not want a full explanation. They insisted they needed one so we went back and forth until I finally gave in. About a semester of 'intro to networking' later they probably just recorded something generic for my reason.

 

[danielravennest]

So I upgraded my backup computer to Windows 10 today. So far, so good. This is a test run before I do my main computer (this one), which has a lot more stuff on it, and is 10 years old.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

For a 10-year old machine, be aware that the Windows migration tool does not check BIOS comparability. If you do not have UFEI BIOS, Windows may not be able to discover the drives at boot. It won't warn during install, just refuse to boot after.

Discovered that the hard way.

 

[Kara Spengler]

So I upgraded my backup computer to Windows 10 today. So far, so good. This is a test run before I do my main computer (this one), which has a lot more stuff on it, and is 10 years old.

For a ten year old computer you may want to give the specs a think ... and not just the minimum specs either. A linux install may be better for keeping your machine feeling snappy.

 

[Clara D.]

For a ten year old computer you may want to give the specs a think ... and not just the minimum specs either. A linux install may be better for keeping your machine feeling snappy.

A 10-year old computer should be able to handle w10 as long as it has 4G (absolute minimum) ram, it's going to be either a core2 or i-series. My now-perished Core2Quad did just fine.

Main concern would be as Veritable mentioned: Bios and the UFEI.

W10 also tends to suck down drive space, so partitions may need to be resized from W7. Or just add a 120G (minimum) SSD.

[eta]Highly recommend the SSD, from running W10 on a single-drive laptop it's main performance issue is that it gets drive-bound and due to various bugs pegs out the drive at 100% so splitting between OS-SSD and everything-else-HDD would mitigate this. I'm eventually going to get a cheapo Kingston mSata when I have an extra $30[/eta]

[eta2]Some of the various 100% Drive fixes...They won't cure it, just reduce things that might trigger it >_<
Personally, I suspect Cortana/Search since they keep fucking with it, but (at least for me) disabling windows search entirely removes too much functionality.

* Install whatever version of Intel RST and Chipset Inf is appropriate (M$ Default Sata Driver is buggy af)
---- Tricky, you'll need to find the latest version that supports your chipset.
* Disable Sysmain Service (aka Superfetch)
---- Services.msc -> stop, then disable Sysmain
* Disable "Tips & Tricks" "Windows welcome experience"
---- Under Settings - System - Notifications and Actions
---- FWIW, I also disable all app notifications except Cortana, Focus Assist, and Security
*Disable drive indexing (if you have an SSD, it's not really all that necessary anyways)
---- Explorer, drive properties, [ ] Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed
*Make sure "searching Windows" is set to Classic, not Enhanced

If anyone has any other ideas I'd be interested.
[/eta2]

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

The Intel Core i-series processors came out about ten years ago, and I can tell you that Windows 10 runs just fine on at least a first-gen i7. If you've got a UEFI-aware BIOS, a Core i-series, and at least 4GB of RAM, you should be fine. I'd replace the hard drive with a reasonably-sized SSD, however. I did that for my nearly ten-year-old laptop, and the difference in performance was impressive.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

I disable Cortana.

 

[Kara Spengler]

I disable Cortana.

Yeah, i never use it, siri, or google. They are annoying by randomly throwing a dialog on my screen.

I find alexa useful because it is connected to my lights.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

I use the Google lady on my phone because she's actually competent, Siri and Cortana are like parodies of a stupid robot.

Got no reason to even try Alexa.

 

[Clara D.]

I disable Cortana.

I do too, but the inherent borkyness of how it's tied with search still haunts me.

Don't need my laptop to listen to me.

Not like the built-in mic picking up fan hum through the frame makes me comprehensible anyways

 

[danielravennest]

For a ten year old computer you may want to give the specs a think ... and not just the minimum specs either. A linux install may be better for keeping your machine feeling snappy.

This PC was literally designed to play Crysis. I bought it to develop for Blue Mars, which used the same graphics engine as Crysis 2. Intel i7-920 4C/8T, 2.66 GHz, 6 GB memory, 750 GB system drive, Nvidia GTX 260 GPU (which is badly out of date, but I haven't needed heavy-duty graphics since then). So it is snappy enough. The only reason I am upgrading is end-of-life on Windows 7 (which I got the OS back when it was brand new).

My 3rd oldest PC is 2006 vintage, which I got soon after starting to use Second Life. It won't start any more, and I suspect it needs a new motherboard. If I do that, I was planning to use it as a Linux machine to run computerized machines in my workshop. That's assuming I ever finish painting and rewiring the basement and buy such machines.

 

[danielravennest]

The Intel Core i-series processors came out about ten years ago, and I can tell you that Windows 10 runs just fine on at least a first-gen i7. If you've got a UEFI-aware BIOS, a Core i-series, and at least 4GB of RAM, you should be fine. I'd replace the hard drive with a reasonably-sized SSD, however. I did that for my nearly ten-year-old laptop, and the difference in performance was impressive.

Yeah, my backup machine is fairly new, and it came with a 250GB solid state drive. The difference in boot time is huge. I moved my 2TB spinny drive from the former backup machine (which won't boot any more), and that's where I store data files, while the SSD is just for OS and applications. I'll have to check the motherboard manual on this machine. It's an Asus P6T, whatever BIOS that came with.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

I use the Google lady on my phone because she's actually competent

Yep, I do too. She's pretty useful for accessing functions on my phone, such as a countdown timer. When I'm doing laundry, I can just pull out my phone, say "hey Google, set the timer for 34 minutes", and it's done. I only wish she had a name.

 

[Free]

I only wish she had a name.

Her name is Google. It's a dumb name, but don't tell her that.

I also use her to humiliate Alexa.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Her name is Google. It's a dumb name, but don't tell her that.

I also use her to humiliate Alexa.

Have you seen the scene in southpark where cartman sets up a ring of smart speakers talking to each other?

 

[Clara D.]

[eta2]Some of the various 100% Drive fixes...They won't cure it, just reduce things that might trigger it >_<
Personally, I suspect Cortana/Search since they keep fucking with it, but (at least for me) disabling windows search entirely removes too much functionality.

* Install whatever version of Intel RST and Chipset Inf is appropriate (M$ Default Sata Driver is buggy af)
---- Tricky, you'll need to find the latest version that supports your chipset.
* Disable Sysmain Service (aka Superfetch)
---- Services.msc -> stop, then disable Sysmain
* Disable "Tips & Tricks" "Windows welcome experience"
---- Under Settings - System - Notifications and Actions
---- FWIW, I also disable all app notifications except Cortana, Focus Assist, and Security
*Disable drive indexing (if you have an SSD, it's not really all that necessary anyways)
---- Explorer, drive properties, [ ] Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed
*Make sure "searching Windows" is set to Classic, not Enhanced

If anyone has any other ideas I'd be interested.
[/eta2]

Well, my drive usage issues were apparently due to Lenovo mucking about with power management drivers...

Roffle. Their app is suddenly telling me my battery is "unsupported and can't be charged." But it's charging. It won't let me set the thresholds now though.