1) Disable hibernation. Run a command prompt as admin and write:
powercfg /hibernate off
This disables fast startup and hibernation. Hibernation is practically useless with SSDs and efficient sleep modes in current laptops. Fast startup is entirely useless with for the same reasons. If this wasn't obvious: SSDs are no longer optional for modern computers.
2) Either set a complex password + PIN or no password. Setting a poor password means other people on your network can potentially access your PC. A complex password + PIN however means that anyone who wants to access your PC needs to brute force a complex password, while you can use a simple PIN to login yourself. Make sure you have the complex password written down in a safe location though, you might need it sometime. If you set no password, Windows generally doesn't allow network logins.
3) Obviously while following the above advice, create two user accounts on your PC. It's not fun having to reinstall (or try to recover from a recovery disc) because your user profile is corrupted. It's also handy if a program is severely misbehaving (common with games) and you can't end the task, just switch user and you're good. Make sure to make both users administrator accounts.
4) If you have no preferred backup solution, use file history to backup files. Storage media fails and accidents happen. Backups are very important so you should carefully examine other options here, but if you're lazy file history will work.
lafoxxx wrote on 2020-05-06, 18:16:
Also -- regularly check disks using CrystalDiskInfo. If you hear music playing -- buy new disk immediately and copy all files from the problematic disk to it.
Terrible advice. A lot of the time, HDDs will give you no warnings before failing. Always have a backup of all files that are important.
lafoxxx wrote on 2020-05-06, 18:16:
Also -- C: should be located on separate disk device. Small SSD (120 GB) preferred.
When you'll have to reinstall Windows or replace the disk, your data will not be lost. You'll just need to install the required software (when overwriting existing disk paths -- copy the configs if needed) -- and you're "back in business".
Just remember not to follow any tutorial that tells you to use junctions for this; it messes with Windows Update at times.
I wouldn't recommend it anyway. Windows is pretty fragile and any deviations from the standard setup should be considered carefully. You should always have a backup and transferring the files from backup shouldn't be that much work. Plus Windows 10 has some options for reinstalling while leaving user files anyway.
FFXIhealer wrote on 2016-12-14, 03:58:
Jorpho wrote:I hear running "netsh winsock reset" is useful for when the Internet goes down.
Please be very careful about telling people to do this. This isn't a "fix" so much as it is a "bulldoze the entire TCP/IP stack and replace it with a brand new one" step and is a very drastic procedure to do on a PC if the situation doesn't actually require it.
I've read this a few times and never with any reasoning. What problems exactly are you expecting out of this?