Windows 10: Cloning Windows 10 + Steam games from hdd to M.2 sdd AND reinstalling Windows 10 w/out...

Hey all, I haven't used windows in quite awhile and just recently bought a used 2017ish Asus GL552VW budget gaming laptop i7 2.6ghz, 16gb ram, GTX 960m to play various Steam games I know I won't be able to play newer AAA titles, mainly got it to catch up on sub-$10 RPGs from the past 15 years, came with activated Windows 10 home on a 1tb hdd. I have a Toshiba 500gb M.2 sata sdd on the way, and I'd like to transfer everything to that and just use the 1tb hdd as storage for non-operational files pics, music, etc. The Asus's previous owner deleted and uninstalled most of their stuff, but it boots and runs slower and with more hiccups than I experience on my daily driver 2013 MBP i7 3ghz, 8gb ram, 500gb ssd that's never had an OS reinstall. Even though cloning to the M.2 ssd will possibly/hopefully fix a lot of the general lethargy, I'm worried there will still be unseen bloatware/malware/etc in the background from the previous owner's use that may continue slowing things down or making games not run as well as they could.


I've been researching my options and it looks like I can clone the entire disk image from the hdd to the M.2 sdd and reset Windows through the system tool, but I'm confused about whether it's possible to keep all the Steam games I've already downloaded and started playing or if I'll have to re-download everything. Seems like it wants to erase them even if I choose the "Keep my files" option in the reset tool. I only have phone internet at home with 22gb 4g + 15gb hotspot/month, limited options for fast/reliable wifi nearby so mostly use Steam offline, meaning Steam online game saving is less of an option and would be ideal to not have to redownload everything. Given all this, what's my best option? Can I do a full Windows 10 reset after I've cloned to the M.2, then just copy and paste the Steam files from the 1tb hdd to the M.2 sdd before wiping the hdd and they'll run just fine? Any help is appreciated, thanks!

:)

 

SDD and a HDD windows 10

I have Windows 10 installed on a 525gb SDD. I have a 1tb HDD that I'm using for my data. I've been reading a lot of conflicting tweaks to use on the SDD. Help!

1. Should I eliminate the swap on the SDD? I do a have a windows managed swap file on the HDD.

2. Should I turn off indexing on the SDD?

3. Should I turn off system restore on the SDD?

Most of the articles I've been reading have been a couple of years old. I know that the current SDDs are better but do these same tweaks apply now?

Any info and suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

[Solved] Windows 10 keeps reinstalling KB3119142

I noticed quite some time ago that KB3119142 (Update for Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Update 4 Redistributable Package) kept reinstalling itself for some reason. At least once daily. Sometimes up to several times a day. I just ignored it. It didn't seem to be doing any harm. And I figured they'd eventually fix it. Well...days turned into weeks, weeks into months, with no end to the problem in sight. It dragged on unsolved for at least the last few months. Literally reinstalling itself hundreds of(at least a hundred, felt like more) times in that period of time.

So I finally googled it a couple days ago. And just got around to fixing it today. Which appears to have worked. And it couldn't have been easier to do. I feel so stupid to have let it intimidate me for so long.*Oops!

Below are links to the thread that I got the fix idea from, and the official MS support info page for KB3119142(from which I quoted the above).
http://www.tenforums.com/windows-up...-windows-10-keeps-reinstalling-kb3119142.html
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3119142