Windows 10: How to make Win10 lean & mean on older PC.

Hi,
Have not upgraded from Win7 yet, later this year. No experience with 8 or 8.1.

Want my old Dell D630 to run as quickly as possible. It is my understanding that keeping the apps at a minimum may assist in that effort? Read somewhere WinX might actually use less RAM than Win7?

So just asking ahead of time what some of the experience here might suggest doing (aside from a clean install, will definitely do that after WinX is registered) to keep this machine running lean & mean.
I like Win7 & am not particularly interested in WinX except that it's free & may be the last Microsoft OS I will never have to pay for. Perhaps will end up liking WinX (& all the extras) but at least for this machine would like it to run as fast as possible.

Any tips members here can provide to achieve lean, mean & clean status be much appreciated *Smile

thanks

:)

 

I have Win10/64-Windows Installer Service issue

There was no error code. All done in last day or two is clean machine, delete files, run SuperAntispyware, Reimage, CCleaner, Malwarebytes and Norton. Was attempting to make Win10 lean and mean. Thanks for your response.

 

Past Calendar items on Windows Live does not appear on Nokia Lumia

I find this cut off deeply frustrating and, frankly, unbelievable. I would like at least a year's retention. It may be 'mean & lean' but for me it's just the former.

 

You call a Windows store near you and see if you can bring it in for them to help you and ask to be sure that there are no fees... http://www.bing.com/entities/search?...do&FORM=SNAPST

 

So then you're telling me not to bother posting here?

 

NO I'm not but please wait for other replies offering solutions. I'm just a member like you trying to offer a easy solution. Very sorry if I gave you a bad impression.

 

Please don't post run Disk Cleanup or Defrag, etc. Looking for WinX specific tips:
e.g. are there apps that can be uninstalled right away as they will be of no use. If didn't make use of it in Win7, don't need in it WinX.

Windows 10 has new potentially memory hogging features like Virtual Desktops and desktop Metro Apps
If true can this be simplified?

thanks

 

I would not even consider using Windows Store staff to streamline and optimise my machines, lol...

OP, what specs does your laptop have? If it's got a generic, small, 5400rpm drive then you'll want to do some stuff for that, for sure.

I streamline the crap out of my machines whether they need it or not.

 

You can read these 2 very helpful links to prepare for the upgrade... https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...tallation.html

and https://www.tenforums.com/installatio...ixes-list.html

 

I would search for compatible drivers first. I found out the hard way that direct in-place upgrading from 8.1 causes constant 100% (on 1 core) kernel CPU usage since the drivers aren't fully compatible with 10 despite the upgrade assistant saying that no incompatibilities.
After clean installing, turning off Auto updates, then manually installing the latest Windows 10 drivers from each respective manufacture, Windows 10 runs much faster and has much less bugs. CPU usage is now 0-1% at idle and there are far less background tasks and apps compared to an in-place upgrade. However, since MS doesn't give a product key for Windows 10 upgrade, you need to do an in-place upgrade, then clean install and just get all your files and folders back on the Windows.old folder.

 

WD Black 320 GB Mobile Hard Drive: 2.5 Inch, 7200 RPM, SATA II, 16 MB Cache

Will update "My System Specs"

What streamlining for WinX in particular.

thanks

 

Have been all over the upgrade-installation tut. & did quite clearly say have yet to upgrade to WinX, why would I look @ common faults/fixes - yet.

I'm saying after the machine is already up on a clean install & running WinX.
What other tweaks can I perform to make it run faster e.g. apps to remove & what I already posted above.

Please post only to the question asked. Will be beneficial to those who may search this thread down the road.

 

So that disk is decent, I'd just do the standard stuff that you already know, disable indexing, create a fixed size pagefile, etc. Then go through Settings, Control Panel & Services disabling everything you deem unnecessary, heh!

To be fair, I've found Win 10 to be decent on low spec boxes, but anyway...


Some Specific Windows 10 Stuff:

Use a Local Account rather than a MS account, doing that will cut out a load of nonsense right there.

Go into Settings->Privacy and disable everything or, at least, everything you don't need. Background Apps is the major hog here.

Settings->Update & Security->Windows Update->Advanced Options->Choose how updates are delivered - disable peer-to-peer file sharing.

Settings->WiFi->Manage WiFi Settings - disable WiFi Sense password sharing.

Disable System Restore.

Startup apps are now disabled in Task Manager.


Uninstall unwanted store apps:

Open Powershell and type: Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers

This returns a list of all the installed apps, you use this to find the PackageFullName of the app you want to uninstall.

To uninstall an app type: Remove-AppxPackage PackageFullName

Using Remove-AppxPackage PackageFullName uninstalls the app from the user account but leaves the app on disk, ready to be installed for other users...

If you go to C:\Program Files\WindowsApps you will see each app has a 'companion' folder with 'neutral' in the name.

If you use the command: remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -package NeutralFolderName -online it removes both folders from disk.


Disable MS Spy Telemetry:

Create a new registry DWORD value in: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection

AllowTelemetry = 0

Then disable two services: Diagnostics Tracking Service & dmwappushsvc.


Disable Cortana:

In task manager right-click Cortana and choose 'Open file location' to find out where Cortana's folder is. Rename this folder (add .bak to the name), it will fail and show a 'try again' dialogue, end the Cortana process and quickly press the try again button before it starts up.


Remove OneDrive:

From Run or Command Prompt: %SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall


I'll post anything else of special note if it occurs to me.

 

Wow, ask & ye shall receive *Wink

That is a lot & good stuff. Going to take a while to digest all of that.

Cortana - a personal assistant, guess I can probably do without. Siri is a better name tho ;0)
Guess I won't know what apps are unwanted until I play with a bit. Thought I read somewhere each app was almost like having an additional browser window open, probably not but sounds wasteful.

That is exactly the kind of info I was hoping for.

This Telemetry business sure has a bunch of Win7 users angered. Half the reason I hear for not Upgrading to WinX because of.

Thank you Nus this will be of help *Smile

 

First, when installing/doing repairs of Windows 10, you better Use Express Settings when prompted, it will prevent oobe loops. Plus you can now toggle anything you don't want (and there are many) after the setup has finished (I'm automating this part using a simple batch file, will post it after more testing).

Using a Local Account is mandatory for a "lean & mean" experience. There are many hard-coded internet-enabled things that only activate with a Microsoft account.

The first thing you need to do after Windows 10 Setup completes and you are staring at the Desktop, is to reboot your PC. ASAP

Next, harden privacy under Settings - basically not sharing anything, disable updates from more than one place and WiFi Sense.

There is absolutely no need to uninstall store apps, since you can just disable live tiles in the start menu and don't let apps run in the background under Settings-Privacy. Even if you can disable/uninstall the store, don't do it. You will lose basic functionality like Windows Search or even the good old Calc (bold move by Microsoft).

OneDrive can be safely disabled from it's right-click menu. No need to force it with dism/regedit stuff.

As long as you disable Cortana and search on the web, your Start menu and taskbar search will be very fast and much more useful than in previous Windows versions.

You will also find out that "WinX" is "lean & mean" by default regarding services: no need to force-disable them since unused functionality will result in it's services automatically being closed and resources freed. (unless you get a bug - like my current 57 Game Bar processes - looks like I will say goodbye to the Xbox app!)

When it comes to security, Windows Defender still sucks, and can hog resources like mad. Best bet is to replace it with something more competent (my choice would be Avira, I just can't get people still supporting the likes of AVG, McAfee or Norton - probably because I wasn't born yesterday and my memory serves me good)

When it comes to daily file browsing experience, replacing default apps for music, videos and photos will decrease the chances of slowdowns (Aimp, MPC-HC, IrfanView are some of the best in their class).

When it comes to Windows looks, you will be tempted to use style patchers, logon changers etc. like in previous versions. Just don't. Instead, use an aerolite theme (create it yourself or download it pre-made, tenforums members have shared many).