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I made a new one and compared the total size with one that was about 2 weeks old.  Here what I got:

4,288,978,944,  Date: 1/27/2020

4,309,909,504,  Date: 2/16/2020

You always want to separate the office and public networks. The easiest way to provide that is a router with a guest wifi channel, such as a TP-Link Archer C7.

In this case, there is a single cable modem and then router that is hardwired CAT to all the computers.  I’ll have to check, but there may be a switch to provide more ports.  But, one router feeds all public and office computers.

I would install DeepFreeze from Faronics

Excellent idea.  Would something like “Reboot/Restore” do the same ?

And what about additional software for malware ?  Other than Defender.

The office machines should be backed up to an external disk / network machine. What do you have at present?

The backup on the office machines are two portable USB hard drives.  Probably 5+ years old.  Not sure if the users are backing up manual or letting Windows do it.

Thanks Paul for your comments.

Mike

 

PKCano:

Sorry I was confusing in my post.  I know about the Master Patch Listings and I know about the versions (1909, 1903…etc.) listings in each month.

What I was asking is, for example…if the January 31, 2020 listing showed all the previous patches and is just an update of all the previous monthly listings.  Hope that makes sense.

[Mike]

Lot’s of good information here.  Thanks.

For the record, while the Windows Image Software (Recovery) program that’s built into Windows 10 (brought up from Windows 7), is pretty bare-bones.  It’s works amazingly well once you figure out the limitations.  For instance, I backed up an OS only in about 10 minutes.

After reading the comments and then suddenly sitting up in bed at 4AM, I had one of those Aha moments.

The reason why you need a repair disc along with your backup drive is simple:  You can’t boot at all into an installed Windows environment, or even to the into the Safe mode repair options that are part of a Windows installation.

Thanks to all,

Mike

 

• This reply was modified 5 years, 1 month ago by Mike.

Yes PKCano, that all makes sense.  Where I was confused is:

1) If the System Repair Disc is required to boot, then why (on the menu) make it optional.

and

2)  Reading my Windows 10 Inside Out 3 book it says:…….making a system repair disc is redundant if you already created a recovery drive…….

Just wondering.  Thanks for your help.

Mike

Hi,

Every program or App is different in the way they use either CPU, Memory or GPU.  But based on what you said, you probably could use more RAM memory.  One question you may want to ask yourself:  Is the cost of the memory worth it on an older laptop?   In may case with an older HP, it wasn’t and I basically “ate” the cost of the RAM upgrade….even running Linux on an SSD.  Luckily, I was able to use the SSD for another computer.

Are you planning on trying to use Windows 10 on this laptop?  Or, just sticking with Mint ?  If you just use Mint, may I suggest Mint XFCE.  That’s a pretty bare bones version of Mint that doesn’t have all the menu (Windows like) look.   Linux Mint XFCE is pretty fast too, about 30% faster for me with the same components, RAM and CPU.

Mike

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LHiggins

Thanks everyone for the advice and points.

Let me say that the value of this forum and the people here is top notch.  If you’ve every contacted a MB or processor manufacturer…..or for that matter tried clicking on endless link and reading documents that link around to the same ones………..you know the frustration.

Thanks to everyone.

That explains why there is a VIA IEEE 1394 Host Controller listed in device manager.

[Mike]

Alex5723,

That’s an excellent article. Thanks.

But while it explains the dropping of 1394 support and how to add 1394 drivers back……it doesn’t explain why on a clean install of 1909 I have the 1394 drivers installed and ready to go. Weird.

 

From reading the article, unless I can’t read, they should not be included with Win 10.

Thanks.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Mike.

Good point Kathy.  Just ran it and it just showed updates for Bluetooth and Thunderbolt.  Nothing else I could see.  Perhaps I’m not looking in the right place ?

Thanks Kirsty,

(Sorry about the paste above that had to be fixed.  Thanks.)

That’s a good post/thread with better information than Intel’s.

1.  What I can’t figure out is if I have a i9-9900-x processor, isn’t that a 9th generation ?  If so then it doesn’t appear to be on the list.  However I do have the Intel MEI software (why I don’t know) which seems to work with the processor.

2.  I’ve used the Intel Detection Tool (CSME) and it reports back “May be vulnerable” which is one of three output states (Vulnerable, May be Vulnerable and Not Vulnerable).  That report is worthless to me.

That’s why I’m confused on this issue.

I’d appreciate any other ideas.

Mike

If it isn’t an Autoplay setting, defective SD card, or defective SD slot………..

Could it be that you’re using OneDrive and it’s trying to sync to the SD card ?

Check out this conversation:  https://forums.windowscentral.com/microsoft-surface-pro-3/428090-sp3-keeps-forgetting-micro-sd-card-then-remembering-again.html

[Mike]

I’ll try to give you my opinion on some of these.  Others here on the forum should also comment.

Firstly, you say that it’s not necessary to use most of the old Windows 7 maintenance/backup/system repair tools because Windows 10 now does most of that stuff automatically.

That is true.  Windows 10 is pretty automatic in doing what Microsoft thinks best.  That includes most of the items below.  But, you can delay or change many of those to manual, and you can force many of the features below if you haven’t left your computer on for awhile (mainly searching for OS updates).

Defragging? Disk Checking?

Even with Win7, I only defragged a couple of times for the entire life of the OS…and I moved hundreds-maybe thousands of files around. You can certainly check it, but if its not fragmented that much…..then why ?

Windows 10 will automatically disk check for errors if you have hard shutdowns or drive failure.  But you can manually start it (just like defragging).  Again, I don’t think you have to do that on a regular basis unless you’re having problems with your hard drive.  By then you’d better be thinking of a new drive.

By the time my drive was “toast”, I knew well ahead, and had planned on a new system or maybe just a new drive.  This is especially true since a new SSD drive is pretty cheap.

Updating the system?

Yes, you should update.  You can follow the MSDefcon here at AskWoody and delay the updates, then allow Windows update to proceed…..OR…..just leave it to Windows Update to automatically update as necessary.  That process of delaying is well documented on the net.

Full backup using Backup & Restore?

I would use some of the mentioned Backup Software here on AskWoody.  There are several free or trial programs, and everyone has their favorite.  What’s important in backing up is that you always have two sources to get your backup from.  This is especially true if you lose your only backup or it gets corrupt.

System Repair Disk? System Image? System Restore Points?

Windows Update creates Restore Points as necessary, but you could simply do that yourself before a major update or if you’re installing a new software program.  Of course, if you want to create your own restore point for a Windows OS update, then you’ll have to manually control the update process.  That is explained in several posts here on AskWoody, but you can readily find out how to control Windows update by searching the internet.

Regarding a System Repair Disk, again I would recommend one of the Backup Software programs.

Mike

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Mike.

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Christine

Great find Satrow.  Thank you.

Not sure how I missed that.   It worked fine.  Now for the other—-USB Type C Power.  I’m thinking that might be a feature that provides power through the USB C ports (charging ?).

It’s not the Thunderbolt drivers, I tried those.

Regarding the Turbo Boost.  I’m not sure if I even need that.  It looks like Asus has it’s own app, however I’m not sure I’d use either.   I’m not a big gamer.  I suppose it might speed up rendering.  Maybe.

Thanks Alex5723, I was thinking about that, so I should try it out.  The other way used to work in that you would just plug in your mobile phone to a USB port and drag and drop.  Pretty simple.

Oh wait !   Idea:  I wonder if the MS “Your Phone App” is using a driver that is screwing things up.