Windows 10 Help for Old Codger

[Ellie]

Can anyone pls advise me or point me in the direction of a thread on Windows 10, specifically for calming it down?

I seem to remember there were a lot of tips on the old forums (yes, I'm late to the party, but I'm old) I could make use of now I'm being forced to switch to Win 10 on my trusty desktop work/gaming/on 24/7 machine.

I don't use my desktop for banking, etc, it's mostly for work; Gmail, Company website, Google search, and Second Life (on low settings).

Details:

CPU: i5-4460
Memory: 8 G
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 750 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
SSD for Win & for Second Life
HD for storage, everything else

The Win 10 install is part of low budget renovations to include a new case (most USBs not working), perhaps a new PSU now, & a new monitor next month.

I've already started reading up here Black Viper's Windows 10 Service Configurations - Black Viper | BlackViper.Com as I've used his configurations for Win 7 for years, but still not really confident, so tend to use safe configuration.

No tip is too basic for me.

My family IT expert once said, "Ellie, you know enough about computers to be dangerous."

 

[Essence Lumin]

Can anyone pls advise me or point me in the direction of a thread on Windows 10, specifically for calming it down?


No tip is too basic for me.

My family IT expert once said, "Ellie, you know enough about computers to be dangerous."

I don't understand your question. Could you be more specific what you mean by calming it down? Windows 10 works fine for common needs without tweaking I'd say although that is a really general statement. Windows 10 is considerably happier with 16 GB rather than 8.

 

[Ellie]

Thanks, not sure exactly what I'd gain from 8G more memory with current specs.


By calming down, i mean the whole process of making a machine just run the essentials, rather than do what the OS thinks is best for me.

Optimization, perhaps?

e.g. NOOO!!!! I DO NOT WANT AUTO UPDATES as soon as I turn my puter on!

Visiting the auto start menu and disabling any programs that do not need to autostart, I think that's almost everything except one or two essentials.

As I mentioned, I'm an old codger who has become very comfortable with Win 7 & wants as much as possible to have Win 10 do what I tell it to & no more.

 

[Sid]

I personally use the 'Jim will fix it method' with windows 10.
When I got it, I installed it, changed the color scheme added my own wallpaper, installed the apps that I need and use. And that's it.

In the past (many moons ago by now) I tweaked systems as a hobby, now I feel it more as a pain in the **, so I came to the point that I took a decision:
I do wherever I need the PC for and the Microsoft guys (Jim in my method above) will do what they have studied for.
So automatic updates on. And I simply follow the instructions that they give on the updats screens. (Not the ones from those windows scammers on the phone of course)

And I had no problems ever so far. Never reinstalled. It runs smoothly for over 2 years now on my latest system. And years before that on the previous one.
So they must do something right over there at Microsoft's Brewery.
On top of that I let McAfee Total Protection optimize and update whatever they want.
It turns out to be a smooth combination for someone who turned into a lazy PC guy over the years, like me.

 

[Ellie]

Ta vey much, Sid!

I did try your hands off approach with my new (desktop backup) laptop.

I lasted about 4 days before I wanted to murder Cortana and started turning off stuff.

Thinking I will just use Windows Defender and no third party app for security.

 

[Clara D.]

Ta vey much, Sid!

I did try your hands off approach with my new (desktop backup) laptop.

I lasted about 4 days before I wanted to murder Cortana and started turning off stuff.

Thinking I will just use Windows Defender and no third party app for security.

DoNotSpy or whatever it was became "iffy" -- they started including scumware* in the installer. I use this instead:

O&O ShutUp10++: Free antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11

With this tool you have full control over which comfort functions under Windows 10 and Windows 11 you wish to use, and you decide when the passing on of your data goes too far.

www.oo-software.com

*IMHO Norton and McAfee are scumware -- they come as "extras" in other installers.

For ditching built-in apps I don't use:

O&O AppBuster - O&O Software GmbH

O&O AppBuster: Free uninstaller for unwanted apps Download Version [version], file size 1MB.Released on: [releasedate] When setting up Windows 10 and 11, Microsoft not only installs the operating system alone, but also a whole range of additional apps - some … Continue reading →

www.oo-software.com

Just turn off Cortana, trying to actually remove it breaks things . . . oops.

Also, leave the Windows Store installed.

To try to avoid unwanted spontaneous reboots, set Active Hours and toggle your internet to metered -- the last requires checking manually for larger updates.

Setting up active hours on Windows 10

In this guide, we show you the steps to configure active hours to prevent Windows 10 from restarting your device when you're actively using it automatically.

www.windowscentral.com

Setting up an Ethernet metered connection on Windows 10

In this guide, we'll walk you through the steps to configure an Ethernet connection as metered to reduce data usage on Windows 10 on capped internet data plans.

www.windowscentral.com

Windows Defender is "mostly good enough" compared to the various free options and won't advertise itself at you constantly. And there are very few "paid for" that give you your money's worth.

I use third party AV because I intentionally go to bad places for my TV watching. Winderps Defenderp does fuck-all for browser hijackers.

 

[Ellie]

"Just turn off Cortana, trying to actually remove it breaks things . . . oops.

Also, leave the Windows Store installed.

To try to avoid unwanted spontaneous reboots, set Active Hours and toggle your internet to metered -- the last requires checking manually for larger updates."

Thanks so much, Clara D., That is exactly what I was looking for!

 

[Sid]

I never saw Cortana if I remember correctly.
Now I wonder if it never ended up in the Dutch installation version.

 

[Ellie]

For Sid, just in case...

How To Uninstall McAfee Antivirus

 

[Sid]

I use McAfee since my first PC. A 386 in the stone age.

I needed them once, when my PC got infected by a fairly new virus years ago and started to act strangely.
One phone call was enough. A Dutch McAfee employee worked for more than an hour with my PC (with permission of course), explaining every step he was doing. Found the source and cleaned the system. It turned out to be a Trojan.

No extra costs. And a nice summary of his work in my mail.
Excellent customer service.

 

[Clara D.]

I use McAfee since my first PC. A 386 in the stone age.

I needed them once, when my PC got infected by a fairly new virus years ago and started to act strangely.
One phone call was enough. A Dutch McAfee employee worked for more than an hour with my PC (with permission of course), explaining every step he was doing. Found the source and cleaned the system. It turned out to be a Trojan.

No extra costs. And a nice summary of his work in my mail.
Excellent customer service.

I use Kaspersky Free, despite the epic FUD cause by the idiot that didn't clue that submitting a sample to a Russian Antivirus sent things to Russia, and that's a StupidThing(tm) when you're doing shit for the USA#1 Goobermint, but rather than own their stupid it became ZOMGRUSSIA. (Kaspersky moved to Switzerland after all that.) Kaspersky and BitDefender typically compete for highest detection rates vs performance loss on comparison site, and of the Free AV's that I've tried, has less advertising pop-ups (still has them though.) Avira is also okay, but I'm not sure the hack to kill the advertising still works.

Admittedly, I deal with my own tech issues aside from calls to the cable company when Internet goes all wrong, so I have no idea what their customer service is like. (it's probably shite for the Free version.)

A company resorting to injecting themselves into other installers doesn't inspire confidence, and it's a horrible thing when some poor user ends up with multiple AV's because they blindly just click *next* on installers.

 

[Clara D.]

I never saw Cortana if I remember correctly.
Now I wonder if it never ended up in the Dutch installation version.

Europe in general has much better privacy protection than USA#1, so there's likely stuff "missing" from the Winderps you get over there

 

[Clara D.]

Thanks, not sure exactly what I'd gain from 8G more memory with current specs.

SL will suck vaguely less with 16G. All the unoptimized crap soaks up RAM. Especially if you run Chrome at the same time

I have an even older computer with only a second gen i7, and more ram definitely helped.

The GTX750 is a fine card, but only has 2G of Vram. If things weren't epic levels of stupid with pricing, I'd suggest upgrading, for now it's "good enough until things possibly quit being stupid."

 

[Ellie]

Good to know about the RAM. Not Chrome, but often use Opera for the VPN.

A better card will have to wait for a really large project scheduled for the end of 2022 - and as I don't do much needing Ultra in SL, it sucks less than it used to.

The i5-4460 & GTX750 pairing was a suggestion by made NeoBokrug Elytis on the old SLU, many years ago, and the computer was put together for me after I chose the parts by my local hole-in-the-wall puter store in 2016, so its running fairly well, considering it's age, much like myself.

 

[Clara D.]

Good to know about the RAM. Not Chrome, but often use Opera for the VPN.

A better card will have to wait for a really large project scheduled for the end of 2022 - and as I don't do much needing Ultra in SL, it sucks less than it used to.

The i5-4460 & GTX750 pairing was a suggestion by made NeoBokrug Elytis on the old SLU, many years ago, and the computer was put together for me after I chose the parts by my local hole-in-the-wall puter store in 2016, so its running fairly well, considering it's age, much like myself.

Opera is Chrome with extra bits TBH, most browsers are Chrome, other than Firefox and Safari.

I'm running an 11 year old Thinkpad. 16G of ram and SSD for the OS made a world of difference. And an external GTX1050Ti

 

[Romana]

I had the GTX750Ti in my last system (it was an upgrade from the 550, and as high as that motherboard would support. It ran SL, but clubs and crowded events sent FPS down to single digits.
My current current has a GTX-1650. Not the highest -end card for sure, but overall my minimum FPS now is what my maximum was before..
I've been using just Windows Defender for a while now. McAfee doesn't play nice with my music software, didn't used to, anyway, and I don't feel the urge to find out if anything's changed. My experience with their tech support wasn't anywhere near as good as Sid's. YMMV.
I use Acronis for backups, and they're added some sort of malware protection lately which so far hasn't interfered with anything, so that's running, too.
I recommend using a backup program of some sort in case something gets FUBAR. Windows Restore only does Windows, and sometimes can't run, depending on what's borked. Several of them have free versions. It's faster to restore from a disk image and restores everything.

 

[Ellie]

Yeah for old things still running well!

My first laptop, a S10 Lenovo, ran SL for years with some tweaks. I crashed a lot but came back fast!
Made attending my mentor's classes and a few other things quite the challenge, I remember.

 

[Ellie]

Extra huge hugs to Clara D for all the great advice provided here. I forgot to rerun ShutUp10 after i clicked in haste and repented at leisure after an unexpected update due to late night power outtage.