[ThorSanchez]

I'm not an expert but that sounds like windows defender security settings checking things before loading them, you can switch it off or use other providers. It's also worth going through the startup settings to switch off a lot of the junk which they've decided people need running. 8gb should be fine, I can run it on a netbook with 2gb (albeit with lots of stuff switched off). It's not ideal to have to manually fiddle with stuff, but that's what I find I have to do with linux too.

My personal pet peeve is them upgrading my drivers to 'safe and modern' windows drivers for game controllers, control surfaces, human interface devices, video & audio devices, midi stuff, etc each update (their driver design seems to be - make the yellow triangle go away, but don't actually use the device beyond the most very basic level if at all) - I've had to reinstall hardware drivers so often that I have a folder on an external drive for it now.

That's great if switching stuff on and off is an option. But my work laptop is pretty well locked down. No admin rights, no access to some pretty basic settings. Security and commonality are given precedence over performance.

[photolady95]

I shouldn't have said upgrade. But as a Tech and Moderator on another website, can't say which, I've been given a link to download Enterprise when I'm ready to go that way. It's not illegal and it's open to others or it wouldn't be available to download in an open forum. The link is visible to anyone wanting it.

[FoxbatK]

Finally motivate me to switch to an AMD Ryzen system with Windows 10 (fairly used to it thanks to work) instead of the overclocked FX-8350 setup I've got going now.

[Larrymc]

I do use Win10 at work on a laptop and it does what it's supposed to do (Office stuff) but I prefer the old Win7 on my home PC.
I suppose it is going to happen soon enough: "accepting" Win10.

---------- Post added 05-02-19 at 09:38 AM ----------



Thanks for that.
I will certainly use this when the time comes (for the home PC when Win10 will have taken over).
I might give it a go on the office laptop which already has Win10.

An alternative to IObit is Revo Uninstaller it has way less of the IObit nags and offers to provide other of their software. I've used different versions of it since my XP days. Its free if you do not want the pro version. It is very effective in dealing with the programs you want to delete.

[jpzk]

As for things to turn off, be sure to disable the "Advertising ID" function in Windows 10

How/where do you disable that ?

Found it. Thanks for the advice.
How about all of the other junk showing under the "Privacy" section in Win10 ? Do we really need all that stuff?

[slartibartfast01]

I am running Windows 10 Pro 1809 on my 2008 Toshiba Protégé Laptop (Dual core Centrino). Some of the Toshiba "added" buttons do not work, but the pen works. I upgraded it from 4GB to 6GB and dropped in a SSD. Even the SD card reader is able to read my SDHC 32GB cards. It has a DVD/RAM disk burner in it too.
I run LR v6.14 and have taken it to Europe twice. It began with Vista 32bit I upgraded to 64x when I went to Windows 8.0 and I have not looked back. Since it is so old, I bought a Lenovo Flex 5 with 16GB that runs just a bit slower than the Toshiba.

As for things to turn off, be sure to disable the "Advertising ID" function in Windows 10. That cleans up a lot of the MS spam. One of my complaints about Windows 10 is that it insists on putting Skype a microphone and camera garbage on my desktop that does not have a camera or microphone. I can't get to the default Skype account since it was associated with a old Hotmail account that I explicitly deleted. So when ever I have tried to get Microsoft to "fix the issue" they send a message to get permission to an account that does not exist. Go Figure.

Toshiba themselves decided not to support a Windows 10 update on a large number of laptops including mine so thanks very much Toshiba.

[PDL]

How about all of the other junk showing under the "Privacy" section in Win10 ? Do we really need all that stuff?

I have customized my Privacy section to a large degree. I also have done a little work in Group Policy Editor (only available when using Windows Pro, Enterprise and the new kid on the block "Workstation") to set specific attributes on security.

Now for the caveat: I worked as a Windows System Administrator for almost 30 years (MS-DOS (pre Windows), Windows 3.x - Windows 95, Windows NT (Workstation and Server) 3.x-10 Windows Server 3.x-2008. All of this was in global corporations with 100's of servers and 1,000's of desktop/laptops. I have a pretty good idea and knowledge on how to lock down a Windows device.
Your mileage will vary.

---------- Post added 05-03-19 at 12:59 PM ----------

Toshiba themselves decided not to support a Windows 10 update on a large number of laptops including mine so thanks very much Toshiba.

That is exactly what they did to me on mine. However, I have looked for and found ways to get around Toshiba's lack of foresight. My machine is really hard to kill at the moment. Slow, yes, but it works and when I am out of the country, most people ignore it because it is so old and clunky. Eleven years of good service and it was a replacement for a stolen 2005 Toshiba Tablet PC. In theory, it was free - er sort of

[sqrrl]

That's great if switching stuff on and off is an option. But my work laptop is pretty well locked down. No admin rights, no access to some pretty basic settings. Security and commonality are given precedence over performance.

Ah, in that case you're stuffed. All you can do is go cap in hand to the IT guys at your work and hope they have some spare time somewhere down the track (having worked in IT it's probably up there with flying pigs).

[slartibartfast01]

I am running Windows 10 Pro 1809 on my 2008 Toshiba Protégé Laptop (Dual core Centrino). Some of the Toshiba "added" buttons do not work, but the pen works. I upgraded it from 4GB to 6GB and dropped in a SSD. Even the SD card reader is able to read my SDHC 32GB cards. It has a DVD/RAM disk burner in it too.
I run LR v6.14 and have taken it to Europe twice. It began with Vista 32bit I upgraded to 64x when I went to Windows 8.0 and I have not looked back. Since it is so old, I bought a Lenovo Flex 5 with 16GB that runs just a bit slower than the Toshiba.

As for things to turn off, be sure to disable the "Advertising ID" function in Windows 10. That cleans up a lot of the MS spam. One of my complaints about Windows 10 is that it insists on putting Skype a microphone and camera garbage on my desktop that does not have a camera or microphone. I can't get to the default Skype account since it was associated with a old Hotmail account that I explicitly deleted. So when ever I have tried to get Microsoft to "fix the issue" they send a message to get permission to an account that does not exist. Go Figure.

Finally tried installing Windows 10 on my Toshiba Satellite Pro and all my fears seem to have been unjustified. Even the webcam still works. Only annoyance is my Synaptics Touchpad scrolls in the opposite direction. Currently trying to find a way to reverse it. I also installed "Open Shell" to male the Start menu more like Windows 7.

[jeallen01]

An alternative to IObit is Revo Uninstaller it has way less of the IObit nags and offers to provide other of their software. I've used different versions of it since my XP days. Its free if you do not want the pro version. It is very effective in dealing with the programs you want to delete.

I used Revo Uninstaller for many years - but, recently, I found the IObit "version" much easier to understand, and far more selective and definitely more effective - and so I'm happy to live with the "nags and offers" in return.

---------- Post added 05-09-19 at 07:59 PM ----------

BTW: I have totally failed to update my old ASUS 1225B from W7 Home to W10 Home for the THIRD time - after several hours the update seemed to be about 98% complete, but then the screen flicked and it rebooted. Did that again and then got a "failed update" message!

Then it rebooted and gradually reinstalled W7 Home and, amazing, totally "as was" before the "update" was attempted, and everything still works - unlike the after the first 2 attempts 18 months ago when I had to virtually rebuild the whole W7 installation from scratch twice ( a very unpleasant and time-consuming experience). Therefore, MS seems to have substantially refined and improved the post-update failure reinstallation of the old OS process.

OTOH, I am now getting repeated Windows Update messages that the update had failed and I need to try again - how the hell do I stop those?

[jeallen01]

W10 update 1809 just "slaughtered" my ACER N4620G!

Whilst it worked OK on the main laptop and the very old ACER X275, it took an age to install on the N4020G which is a weird nettop - roughly an ICore 3 laptop m/b in an extremely small desktop enclosure - and now hangs the m/c at the Boot spash screen!

Think it's probably to do with the odd HDD/SDD configuration - the original 500GB HDD and a recently fitted 1/2 physical size "weird" (again!) SDD installed in an unusual type of expansion slot - then the UEFI "Intelligent (maybe!) Boot" decides to boot from that as opposed to the HDD (don't ask me why - I don't understand!). Probably going to have to remove the SDD and hope it reboots from the HDD!

[beachgardener]

repeated Windows Update messages that the update had failed and I need to try again - how the hell do I stop those?

Is there an error message?
in update history, find the failed, right click them, view details, might give you a error to look up.

[MossyRocks]

For those looking to lock down and secure a windows system, or more or less any system, a good start is the CIS benchmarks. They have them for most of the popular consumer and server operating systems as well as for various applications that are problematic security wise. There is a lot more than can be done but those get most of the low hanging fruit, even if they won't stop nation state level threats.

[PDL]

On my old Toshiba and my Asus eSlate I had to use this to get to Windows 10 1809. Pain in the behind, but it did work. This was after 1809 would not load on either device for months.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3159635/windows-10-update-assistant