Don't let the 'Grinches' put you off Windows 10

[RV_]

I like some of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes' articles because he gets to the heart of the matter. In this one he is myth busting big time. Privacy is one of my concerns and I came to the same conclusions he did. As well as the other conclusions he came to.

 

Read and bookmark this article so you can myth bust when you hear the Windows myths coming your way. As we said when I was a Texan "Some folks wouldn't be happy if you hung them with a new rope." But many repeat what they read, not what they actually tried and tested.

 

If nothing else the picture of the Grinch and his Windows myths is a must see, and a grin waiting to happen.

 

Excerpt:

 

"While naysayers continue to come up with reason after bogus reason for Windows users to avoid Windows 10, based on my experience over the four months since its release, it's now Microsoft's best operating system to date.

 

Regular readers will know that a few years ago I made the transition from Windows to OS X for my workhorse systems, a move that to this day I don't regret, but that doesn't mean that I don't regularly make use of Windows. Why wouldn't I? I have over two decades of experience with the platform. And when it comes to Windows 10, I think that after four months of maturation following general availability, this is Microsoft's best operating system release to date.

 

But Windows 10 is also facing a level of challenge unlike any before. While some of it is down to genuine concerns, most stem from media hype, lies, rampant fanboyism, or a gross misunderstanding of how tech works. While I don't care about your beliefs either way, I do care about misinformation. And the amount of Windows 10 misinformation being spread is staggering, and almost daily I find myself being exposed to, or dragged into, conversations about Windows 10 that have little or no basis in reality

.

What I'm going to do here is try to address some of the misinformation that I've come across voiced by the Windows 10 critics - which, because of the time of year I'm going to refer to as "Grinches" - which, for whatever reason, seem determined to fabricate and spread nonsense.

 

If you're fervently anti-Windows 10 then I don't expect to or want to change your mind (I honestly don't care what OS you choose to use), but if you're sitting on the upgrade fence because you've heard bad things about Windows 10 and are not sure what to believe, my hope is to inject some clarity (and sanity) into the debate.

 

I'm going to address four of the most commonly voiced concerns, and I'm going to start with what seems to be the hottest topic - privacy."

 

He goes on to cover Privacy, Stability, Forced updates, and Performance. For a short article it is remarkably informative and vcan be found here:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/dont-let-the-grinches-put-you-off-windows-10/?tag=nl.e539&s_cid=e539&ttag=e539&ftag=TRE17cfd61

[Jack Mayer]

Interesting article and in general I'm in agreement. My only gripe with 10 is that the WiFi interface is challenged at times. And getting control over it is not real simple....but in relative terms that is a minor gripe. Overall I really like it...and it has been stable for me.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

Jack, I have had no problem with WiFi and recently I have had the opportunities to use many different Motel systems.

[RV_]

Jack,

I haven't had any WiFi issues at all with W10. None of my W10 upgrades were clean installs. We have some older WiFi only devices too. My wife's desktop was upgraded directly from W7, has only Wi-Fi, and had that before too. Hers was second to get W10 after the test bed laptop, is a traditional mid size tower and I installed a dual band dual antenna Rosewill from Newegg tuner card in it. I use 10 daily on my new Surface Pro and again no issues. The older Toshiba, a Satellite L755D-S7107 W7 machine was my first test of Windows 10 and it has had flawless Wi-Fi performance.

 

My suggestion would be to go to the vendor website and uninstall your WiFi Adapter drivers and reload the latest if the vendor has it, if not then the big search for the right one for your model WiFi adapter. I use Speccy from Piriform for those kinds of model descriptions. Or you can get them from Windows but I haven't done that printout in a long time. If it is a laptop I'd also do a mechanical check on the adapter connection to the mobo and antenna. Those adapter snap on mini connectors are easily left half on, perhaps from the factory. I'll assume that the wireless router is good because it is the only unit giving an issue?

 

I'm about to go on a heck of an odyssey because we have two Internet Radio alarm clocks in the bedroom, five WiFi streaming devices now, two Amazon Fire full size TV boxes one on my desktop QHD, one Roku 3 in the guest bedroom yet to be set up, the new Voyo micro desktop, and now the TV itself which connects with 4 bars and sufficient speed to watch streaming 4k from YouTube with no stuttering at all. Then we have three Kindles, one Amazon Fire HDX 7" tablet only for backlit kindle reading, unlimited photo storage, and downloading movies for free one at a time from Amazon without having to buy, and it gets removed and another can be downloaded for use offline. I can hook it up to the new TV wirelessly I believe but at worst via HDMI. That feature is great for long trips and were we to full time again I'd download movies from public/private with permission WiFi to watch later in the rig. That and several more perqs only with the Fire tablets, then two Windows Phones, two laptops, one Surface Pro, and two desktops all using WiFi. Mine is plugged in as the media server for DLNA only. All will need to be reconfigured along with my new AC1750 Linksys router. half are tedious actual inputting of the router PW, the rest can be done with a button push.

 

My systems with 10 are not part a problem thank goodness.will make the trip fine.

[Dollytrolley]

RV said.....

 

"I'm about to go on a heck of an odyssey because we have two Internet Radio alarm clocks in the bedroom, three WiFi streaming devices now, two Amazon Fire full size TV boxes, and now the TV itself which connects with 4 bars and sufficient speed to watch streaming 4k from YouTube. Then we have three Kindles, one Amazon Fire HDX 7" tablet only for backlit kindle reading and downloading movies for free one at a time from Amazon without having to buy, and it gets removed and another can be downloaded for use offline. I can hook it up to the new TV wirelessly I believe but at worst via HDMI. That feature is great for long trips and were we to full time again I'd download movies from public/private with permission WiFi to watch later in the rig. That and several more perqs only with the Fire tablets, then two Windows Phones, two laptops, one Surface Pro, and two desktops all using WiFi. Mine is plugged in as the media server for DLNA only. All will need to be reconfigured along with my new AC1750 Linksys router. half are tedious actual inputting of the router PW, the rest can be done with a button push.

 

My systems with 10 will make the trip fine."

 

Whew RV..........and you only have a 400Amp service??

 

Drive on...........(Thats a LOT of.........Windows)

[RV_]

Naaa,

I am in a new, bigger house, on our five acres where the old one was which is gone. We came off the road after 7 years of fulltiming to care for our two remaining elderly parents, one remaining now. But it really isn't a lot of devices, we have two desktops in two home offices, one for her and one is mine, three tablets one about to be sold, three kindles two about to be deregistered and sold, One Fire HDX 7" tablet used as a backlit Kindle only giving us in the end one each, two laptops both about to be sold (they were for resale only and refurbished by me, then kept to test Win10), the streaming devices in the living room are the Voyo Micro desktop computer running Windows 8.1 dual boot with Android 4.4 the TV itself, and the Amazon Fire TV. My 27" desktop has the old Fire TV for streaming to it, and the older Roku3 is in the Guest bedroom TV. Then our two Windows 8.1 phones both Lumia 735 " selfie phones, and our Internet streaming clock radios on each side of the bed."

 

I run only the 40" TV, and a smart Streaming Blu-ray player in the RV, and our Windows Tablets of course.

 

Not much power draw from any but the TV and the desktop power supplies.

[Jack Mayer]

My wifi issues are ONLY W10. Everything else is fine...W7, tablets, etc. ONLY W10 acts funky.

 

Lets see:

 

1) random drops with difficulty reconnecting. VERY difficult to reconnect. But it does always reconnect over time.

2) Inability to refresh the AP list in a timely fashion. Sometimes it takes minutes for an AP to show up on the list. Even though other devices show it immediately.

3) No consistency in connecting to and forgetting APs. It acts almost randomly at times....although I realize it is NOT random

 

Probably I push the wifi harder than most, since I test a myriad of routers and other devices. I do reboot the system often when doing that, but even in normal usage it drops the connection at times and is VERY difficult reconnecting.

 

I bought my sister a new custom built laptop and it does the same thing. I'll be back up there tomorrow to try to beat it into submission.

[docj]

Since I own a laptop that I've had to revert to Win 8.1, I'm in no hurry to have it "upgraded" to Win 10 again. I'm pretty sure the problems were driver-based, but until I know that I have a complete set of the critical drivers I have no guarantee that an upgrade won't result in the unstable platform I had experienced. I may wait a few months and then do a clean install rather than trying to go through the upgrade again.

[RV_]

Jack,

I believe you have that issue. I'd just never seen it happen on any of these here until this evening. My buddy the used car dealer asked me to tweak his Toshiba laptop. He said it has been running slow since he upgraded to 10. He's a friend who is always getting infections and fights downloading updates. His acted weird not showing me the available wireless so I could start downloading some tools. It said that my security settings would not let me download updates, then the same with Malwarebytes. I downloaded from my ASUS T200 because it is getting wiped and factory restored to 8.1, then 10 as ASUS encourages updating that model. That to keep my systems from being infected by USB drives. I cleaned 10 infections with Malwarebytes then ran Norton Power eraser and the WiFi kept dropping.

 

So I'll run it down and let you know if it is fixed and how. But despite the 2 Trojans, and eight adware PUPs, and two rookies, being found and reported cleaned out, I'll do a factory after anyway. What I am hearing is that some of the drivers just need to be uninstalled/removed then rebooted where Windows will find and load it uncorrupted in many cases. If that doesn't work I'll factory restore. Funny but it's a Toshiba Satellite L755 like my tester, but much newer. Mine has no issues. OK if I find a solution I'll let you know.

[Jack Mayer]

Thanks Derek. The two laptops that are the worst are my NEW Toshiba, and my sisters NEW HP. Both with W10 from the manufacturer, and both new within the last 2 months. Danielle's upgrade on her 13" Ultra ASUS is pretty good.....it does drop the connection, but not as much. And in her case it could be other things.... I'll be interested in anything you find.

[RV_]

Will do. I can mess around because it is likely getting reverted then factory restored, then allllllllll the updates. I had a driver that Windows update kept giving me for a few months and it screwed up my tablet and would not connect at all. I uninstalled it by going to control panel, device manager, network adapters, right click on it then uninstall or remove, I forget which. Then reboot and it loads the earlier one, or rebooting made it work on the reinstall. For the other folks reading who aren't as experienced as you are Jack let me let me let them know that after removing a device driver with device manager, it will reinstall on reboot.

 

Is yours the 17" L755? Both of these are, mine older, and his slightly newer.

[DJW]

RV

 

I was having the same kind of problems as Jack. I have a Qualcomm Atherus AR 9285 WiFi adaptor in my HP Probook 4530 laptop. I went through the device mgr and uninstalled the AR 9285 and then did a reboot and Win 10 found the new driver and reinstalled. It seems to working better now

 

Dennis

[airstream harry]

Jack,I have the same problem. Drops the connection then does not list the AP to reconnect.Or it says limited connection. takes awhile but finally works.

c u on the road

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

This is interesting. I added Win10 to my HP that was factory Win 8. It doesn't drop the connection, but after every update or extended period of time that the computer is off- 3-4 days, I have to reset the video stuff so they don't automatically start when scrolling a page.

[Jack Mayer]

Jack,I have the same problem. Drops the connection then does not list the AP to reconnect.Or it says limited connection. takes awhile but finally works.

c u on the road

That is pretty much the behavior I see on many of my machines. Sometimes it will show the AP, allow you to connect, then says "Cannot connect to this network", and NOTHING you do will get the connection - except time. "Sometimes" rebooting will get it....but not always. Using manual ipconfig's and flushing DNS, etc. does nothing. IPs never get reassigned so the machine is not communicating to the AP. All other devices during this timeframe can get connected and reconnected fine. And it is on a variety of routers both old and new. So it is definitely something to do with W10.

 

I have no real desire to debug W10, but I'm being forced to. This happens often enough that it is beyond annoying. On my sisters machine - since she is not computer literate - it drives her bonkers. In my case it stops me from working sometimes. Usually if you come back in an hour it is fine. But it is strange that rebooting does not seem to help - at least reliably. I really don't have any theories at this point. Once I start digging deeper I may. This is the type of stuff I NEVER, EVER see on Android. My Android devices work first time, EVERY time, with no weird behavior..

[docj]

Sometimes it will show the AP, allow you to connect, then says "Cannot connect to this network", and NOTHING you do will get the connection -

 

My Toshiba that I reverted to Win 8.1 refuses to connect to one of our two phone hotspots. It used to connect fine, but now it simply won't. It connects Ok to the other hotspot, to the WiFiRanger and to the park wifi but not to Galaxy S4 Mini. I've given up worrying why.

[RV_]

This one had the same behaviors but when I tried to download the new version of Java it said that Windows security settings would not allow that download. So I tried to download Malwarebytes free for a check it said the security settings would not allow that download. The information box looked real and it set me off on a wild goose chase trying to find some security setting. I finally tried to download Malwarebytes (MB) again, go the same message so I downloaded MB on my main computer to a flash card and ran it from there. IT took forever but found 15 or so pieces of malware, two rootkits and three Trojans. All through the scan by MB, a box from Windows defender intermittently popped up saying Defender had found and was removing malware too, while MB was still running. When it finished it had removed or quarantined 15 pieces four of which were serious and the rest PUPs usually adware that is no good anyway.

 

Once I had removed all that malware it now connects perfectly and boots/runs fast. This morning it allowed me to download all the programs it would not while infected. The slow while infected computer is fast as it can be with a rust drive. I did not have to do a factory restore to fix all issues on this friends computer. That system for reference is a Toshiba Satellite P775-S7100.

 

My Windows 10 test bed laptop is a Toshiba Satellite L775D-S7107, that came originally with Windows 7 Home Premium. I'll detsail what I did to "refurbish it.

 

In case anyone wonders what refurbished means when I do it, bear in mind I will not buy, or as in this case, accept in trade for setting up the new computer and its security, any computer that has a bad motherboard or screen, batteries and RAM are cheap, as are SSDs recently

 

I started this one as I do on all used computers before doing anything, with a thorough vacuuming, then, for a refurb, cleaned it inside and out, and got the dust bunnies out of the radiator. This so it could run cooler while factory restoring and doing all the Windows updates to Win7. I still put a cooling fan on them for the first restore to get it functioning without thermal interruptions for computers that run hot for other reasons.

 

Once cleaned and reassembled, I factory restored and named the computer "owner" on setup with no Microsoft account in Windows 7. For my computers I name them Derek's or Lynn's (Tablet, desktop, laptop) these are for resale so both of the laptops were named Owner, and Owner1 respectively. I do set them up with my Guest account login credentials for Internet, this keeps any nastys off my network.

 

After the factory restore I do all the Windows updates over and over until all are done. Then I get the bloatware removed leaving only MS Office trial if loaded in case they want to buy it. I also use Control Panel/Programs and features to remove Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, Adobe Air, Java, and any toolbars installed. Then I remove all Norton, McAfee, AVG, Kaspersky, or other preloaded AV trials, despite claims they are free or good for a year. Important ! I always go to the Vendor's actual website and get their removal tool, which has different instructions for use by vendors. I keep copies. I then in Windows 7 load Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebuytes for security. I load all my free utilities to resize pics, Libre Office, CCleaner, Speccy, VLC media PLayer,and a few more then do a full registry cleaning with CCleaner and then a clean with it. Then, in this case, I burned an image of the setup, and updated system and saved it on an external drive.

 

I then upgraded the system, as it was now set up, to Windows 10. That way I did not have to redo all the system updates for 7 if I needed to revert for any reason.

 

Cleaned up after with CCleaner, checked all functions and used it for a day just browsing with it.

 

Then I cloned the hard drive to a 256GB SSD and swapped them out saving the old drive in the SSD box marked as set up Win 7 original disk. Now when I sell it I can always start back there. If the customer wants the spare drive I charge them $75.00 to cover my labor and the drive which used ir worth only 30 bucks or so. But loaded as a master drive to start fresh from with any SSD failure it is gold. Assuming the person does regular backups of data they can rebuild the system to the hard drive in no time, then clone to another SSD or not, or just sell it with a factory restored rust drive.

 

I would suggest that all having issues make sure that there are no nasties in the system with both a Malwarebytes scan and a Norton Power eraser which restarts to check for rootkits then scans the system and must be able to connect, thus running MB first, and if it found anything Defender or MSE second, and then Norton Power eraser.

The safe websites are:

Norton Power eraser: https://security.symantec.com/nbrt/npe.aspx .

 

This one was infected, not a Windows 10 issue or hardware or driver in this one case.

 

 

On edit: I was on hold for Dell support they answered while I was composing the above. I just posted the incomplete post until I could get back because I had to reboot the machine to check out a mouse/kb set they are replacing.

[RV_]

My chosen programs for refurbished computers, and most are used on my own system as well. When a computer is infected with malware or adware your search results have all kinds of trap results that will not get you where you need to go. I will make another post with the safe vendor links for all the security program removal tools, all the free programs I use and their links, and all the programs I put on the computers I sell.

[RV_]

Jack,

I just tried something on the computer I just disinfected and it gave such good results that I used it on my big Dell desktop, both with terrific results. The only confusing thing is that the backing up the registry just says backup. Then while it is backing up it offers if the backup is taking too long and alternate. Just wait a minute! it will do the backup to the registry. Also while it is backing up the name is listed below in the space. Write the name of the backup down, and yes it will be an A drive or B name. Don't fret with it just write it down in case.

 

Now as I always do, got to control panel/Recovery/Configure System Restore/ and at the bottom click on Create button and name the restore point: Before System tweak.

Then run it without taking the time to look through the settings, remember you can revers it immediately. One last thing, do a CCleaner clean Checking Old prefetch files under advanced only for this one then after uncheck it as it leaves a lot of temp files.

 

After the tweak restarts once slowly and you are booted again, then power off, not restart, and leave it completely off for at leas 15 seconds by a watch or longer, overnight is fine, just be sure that RAM has had time to bleed all the voltage.

 

Now turn the computer on, and watch the faster boot, better response times, and I bet your network connect problems are resolved. If not then just restore as they explain in the video on the Major Geeks download webpage. Watch the video before using, and read the Major Geek write up if you want. here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/tweaking_com_simple_system_tweaker_(formerly_simple_performance_boost).html

 

If you can't watch the video now then wait to install until you can watch it. This can be used by noobs too but I will not be held responsible for any problems any of you have because of it. I would only recommend doing it after making a system restore point in Windows, then making the Registry back up in the Simple System Tweaker program.

 

Jack, one more thing. The Major Geeks download page has an error in the description. Simple System Tweaker 2.2.0 is made for Windows 10 not just 8. You can verify that here on their website. I just direct to the Major Geeks Site for the video. Check the Windows versions it works with on their website here: http://www.tweaking.com/content/page/simple_system_tweaker.html

 

Jack, try it and let me know on the computer giving fits in Windows 10. If you revert it will all go back anyway and you can revert the tweak changes via their backup or your system restore point you made first.

 

Hope it works as well for you as it did for me just now. I am tweaking my other systems directly except my Surface Pro because I haven't used it enough.

 

Bottom line. On my Dell 2720 main desktop system, and the Toshiba I just disinfected, it worked great.

 

Update: On my second laptop, and old Compaq CQ 60 I refurb'd it worked wonders. I will try it on my ASUS T200. Since it is being sold I am trying 10 on it with all my stuff on it that I have already saved. It was the one that had a bad WiFi driver installed from Windows update several times until they finally got the right one and it's been fine. Yes I let the likely bad Wireless adapter install each time because if my WiFi didn't work I'd just remove it in device manager and restart and it would load the old one again. After several bad installs Windows update finally loaded one that worked. I am tweaking my Wife's Windows 10 system which has had no issues. I won't do my Voyo because it is dual boot with Android 4.4 and may brick it. But for my Windows systems that only load Windows this is my tweaker from now on. It only needs to be done once unless you do major installs or uninstalls.

 

Update: I installed and ran Simple System Tweaker (SST) on my wife's old HP desktop. It originally was Windows 7 and has a fast Quad core AMD processor, 8 GB RAM, and a Toshiba high end very fast 256GB SSD. IT sped hers up half again as the increase she got with the SSD. I like this program. It is as safe as one can get but for noobs who are in too much of a hurry to wait for the backup to save, or think that every time their computer slows down they need to rerun it, despite not having made and changes to their system or major installs uninstalls or upgrades to a new Windows version, this may not be a good idea.

 

I hesitate to say this will work the same for others. And if you do, and it does not, and you did not have a backed up computer like I have, including images and clones in some cases, did not make a system restore point, then did not make the backup they have on the program itself, then did not shut down all programs before doing the tweak, and did not restart, then after it restarted, did not shut the computer down again completely, keeping the power off for at least 15 seconds, then please don't blame me if you brick it because those were all the steps I took, and always take, to recover from a new program that I later, after installing and running it, might find screws my system up. But SST is as safe as it gets without having me doing all the tweaks, and SST did many I usually haven't. I left all the SST default settings as they came from installing. I will not mess with SST's safe settings until much later, and after being in the SST forums and learning a lot more about SST.

 

IN other words, YMMV.

[RV_]

The ASUS T200 upgraded to Windows 10 without a hitch. It did say it had too little space and I have a 100GB SSD in the dock's drive bay so elected to use that for the install only. I was concerned that the tablet would then have to remain on the dock! But as I originally thought the extra space was just for swapping the images and storing the Window old file. I separated and ran the rest of the downloads and cleaning as a tablet fine. So batting 1000 thus far. I used Tweaking on it too just fine. Runs very well, and very fast.

[Jack Mayer]

The ASUS T200 upgraded to Windows 10 without a hitch. It did say it had too little space and I have a 100GB SSD in the dock's drive bay so elected to use that for the install only. I was concerned that the tablet would then have to remain on the dock! But as I originally thought the extra space was just for swapping the images and storing the Window old file. I separated and ran the rest of the downloads and cleaning as a tablet fine. So batting 1000 thus far. I used Tweaking on it too just fine. Runs very well, and very fast.

I did a similar thing on an HP Stream with only 32GB of flash storage.....in my case I used a USB thumb drive for temporary storage. It worked fine.

 

WARNING: do not accidentally start an install without the extra storage. I had one start on me and it killed the system. As in....start over...reload from recovery disc and wait the 4 hours of install time. VERY PAINFUL. My mistake, but I paid dearly for it.

[RV_]

Jack,
It started without my adding the storage. It said there was something that needed my attention and I thought that when I pressed start we would address that first. Turns out I started the upgrade without. Then it stopped and told me it would not proceed until I added more storage. Apparently they had more folks than just you do that, and made it safer in that respect. It would not proceed without the right space. It rejected a USB external WD my Passport 1 TB drive.

 

That was weird because I had the same SSD size of 64GB, not 32 GB that my wife's Venue 11 Pro had, and it did not need any additional storage when I upgraded it to 10. It also offered to use disk cleanup to delete files I no longer needed. Now, just like when I learned to do images, it's not making the image that is hard. It is restoring the image when you need it. And that requires practice. Two years ago I failed to be able to restore an image to my native Windows 8 2720 and nothing I did worked. I went to the MS website and they said that all, even Acronis, that none of them worked with the Windows 8 and above systems. One guy on the MS forums was getting no help, in warranty, from Acronis. The only one I hear that has worked is Macrium reflect free or paid, and EaseUS Todo backup!

 

After I settle down I will be experimenting until I find a program, free or paid, that will make an image, and restore it reliably. I will use a cloned drive in my wife's desktop midsize tower so no actual system or data will be at risk. Microsoft needs to address that and come out with something better than the Win 7 Create a system image which does create one, but no one I know has been able to restore one to a windows 8 machine by booting from the disk it makes or any other easy way, as directed and easy with Win7.

 

Now sure, I have seen some techies talking Linux boots and command line registry editing and that is not acceptable. I'm talking as easy as Macrium if it works. That will be much later. I still have to revert the ASUS T200 to be able to factory restore it and then upgrade if the person wants after naming it User3 and having no identifiable info but my Guest WiFi password in it. I always do all the Windows updates, and load all my free programs. It still has all my personal info on it. I prefer to start from factory and overwrite everything through all the updates and upgrades.

 

Did you try the tweaking program to see if it got your Wifi working? I am amazed at how much faster it makes all the systems I have tried it on without changing a thing.

 

BTW Jack just to compare here is my list I am working up into a post here and an article for elsewhere. Anybody have additional suggestions? They must be free. And for the average and slightly above user.

 

 

Free software websites to download safely, with no PUPs: http://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/top_freeware_picks.html

Note, if you don't know what a PUP is, don't suggest download sites. For example CNET and another old faithful, FileHippo, inject unknown to us software/tool bars for extra money. Some could be harmful if the wrong folks are supplying them.

 

Utilities and tools:

 

EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition 10.8 http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/easeus_partition_master_home_edition.html

 

MiniTool Partition Wizard Free http://download.cnet.com/MiniTool-Partition-Wizard-Free/3000-2094_4-10962200.html?part=dl-&subj=dl&tag=button

 

Mini Partition free 32 or 64 Bit Bootable CD Partition Wizard: http://www.partitionwizard.com/partition-wizard-bootable-cd.html

 

Foxit Reader free (Replaces Adobe reader) : https://www.foxitsoftware.com/downloads/

 

CCleaner: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

 

Speccy: http://www.piriform.com/speccy

 

Simple System Tweaker: http://www.tweaking.com/content/page/simple_system_tweaker.html

 

Backup, Cloning, and Imaging:

 

Macrium Reflect Free: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

 

Easus Todo Backup Free: http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm

 

Replacement and Free Software:

 

VLC Media Player: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

 

Image Resizer for Windows: http://imageresizer.codeplex.com/

 

Libre Office ( MS Office Replacement): http://www.libreoffice.org/

 

Security:

 

Microsoft Security Essentials: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/security-essentials-download

 

Norton Power Eraser: https://security.symantec.com/nbrt/npe.aspx

 

Malwarebytes Free: https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/

 

Browsers:

 

Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/Internet-Explorer-11-for-Windows-7-details.aspx

 

Opera for Windows: http://www.opera.com/computer

 

Opera Browser for Mobile Phones and tablets: http://www.opera.com/mobile

 

FireFox: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

 

Google Chrome: https://www.google.com/chrome/index.htm l

 

Adblocker plus for Internet Explorer: https://adblockplus.org/

 

 

Vendor AV Removal Tools:

You must use these tools for any uninstall of their respective antimalware because they have deep roots in the boot functions of the system as well as once booted. Just using the Control Panel Programs and Features to uninstall alone will cause issues later. Biggest mistake made out there. Each has their own instructions, some you run only the remoaval tool alone. Others use the uninstall in Windows and then the removal tool after reboot. Whatever you do do not run two real time antimalware programs at the same time, or even have them installed on the computer at the same time, with one exception. Malwarebytes Premium can run with MSE, Defender, or any other antimalware program at the same time, but no other, none. Of course on demand scanners like MalwareBytes free, Norton Power Eraser, etc. can be run and installed together. Many malware criminals have websites that have names similar to the real vendor sites and hope you will go there and download the programs along with their malware. Of them all I only trust Bleeping Computer and MajorGeeks other than the actual vendor websites. Thus the safe links below.

 

Norton removal tool: https://support.norton.com/sp/en/uk/home/current/solutions/kb20080710133834EN_EndUserProfile_en_us

 

McAfee removal tool (MCPR): https://service.mcafee.com/webcenter/portal/cp/home/articleview;jsessionid=jBB_dS4bezgVg4wqNZruDLf-7yMFUfLPlJCNXCA2valJxUKNjKnl!-1751169405!974596003?articleId=TS101331〈=en-US&prior_tid=1565778173&AnswerID=16777216&turl==http%253A%252F%252Fkb.mcafee.com%252Fagent%252Findex%253Fpage%253Dcontent%2526id%253DTS101331%2526actp%253Dsearch%2526viewlocale%253Den_US&searchid=1377118723844&_afrLoop=251874250958004#!%40%40%3FAnswerID%3D16777216%26_afrLoop%3D251874250958004%26articleId%3DTS101331%26centerWidth%3D100%2525%26lang%3Den-US%26leftWidth%3D0%2525%26prior_tid%3D1565778173%26rightWidth%3D0%2525%26searchid%3D1377118723844%26showFooter%3Dfalse%26showHeader%3Dfalse%26turl%3D%253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fkb.mcafee.com%25252Fagent%25252Findex%25253Fpage%25253Dcontent%252526id%25253DTS101331%252526actp%25253Dsearch%252526viewlocale%25253Den_US%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D1zh3cjxys_4

 

AVG removal tool: https://support.avg.com/SupportArticleView?urlname=How-to-uninstall-AVG&l=en_US

 

Webroot removal tool: http://www.webroot.com/prodCheck/?pc=64150&origrc=1&oc=221&mjv=7&mnv=0&rel=6&bld=38〈=en&loc=AUS&kc=ppc%60lkik%5E%5Eafhgpewgfa&opi=2&omj=6&omn=1&osl=en&errid

 

Bitdefender removal tool: http://www.bitdefender.com/uninstall/

 

Kaspersky removal tool: http://support.kaspersky.com/common/service.aspx?el=1464

 

TrendMicro removal tool: http://esupport.trendmicro.com/en-us/home/pages/technical-support/1037161.aspx

 

Avira Removal tool: http://www.avira.com/en/support-download-avira-antivir-removal-tool/1/

 

Emsisoft removal tool: http://tmp.emsisoft....w/emsiclean.exe

 

F-Secure Removal Tool: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/f-secure-uninstallation-tool/

[Jack Mayer]

Derek, I did a restore from HP media - supplied by them. BECAUSE....there was no restore disc made for that Stream I messed up. It was not my machine. And I did not think to make the rescue/restore disc prior to attempting the upgrade. My mistake, as I said. That mistake cost me $50 for the media. They sent a USB stick that it reloaded from just fine. Booted into it and did the restore. The machine itself cost $179 at purchase. The restore cost $50. Now THAT is almost a "throw away" machine.

[RV_]

Hooo boy have I been there, done that!

I thought I would have to buy a Vista laptop that I did a year ago when I tried to disinfect it. He wanted a complete factory restore. I had a Vista original disk to copy if needed so I wiped the drive and rebooted and pressed the key to star a restore only to find the recovery partition was empty with only an empty Kaspersky folder in it. I knew I was in trouble because it was long out of warranty but I tried calling HP anyway and they did not have the ability to reproduce that old image for any amount. I ended up finding every driver but it took several days. Charged my quote of $40.00 for a restore and updates.

 

BTW, there's a good and very useful utility to see all your drivers when troubleshooting an issue. I use it and it's free, I forgot to list it in my utilities. I first used it to check drivers for that Vista barebones system.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/driverview.html