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I use a email service for my personal email that has an address that is in the form FerstName@LastName.net. I do not own the domain but rather rent the mailbox from the owner (Hover.com). I have had this address since 1998 and it has survived my switching through several ISPs. There is a rental cost but it is modest.

I reserve this address for friends and family and the few important commercial accounts that do not produce spam. For all other email contacts, I use a few different ‘free’ accounts like those offered by Microsoft, Google and Yahoo. All of these will survive a change of ISP. Only ISP hosted email accounts will be affected by a change in ISP and I simply avoid using such email addresses.

As someone else pointed out, a client based email program, like Thunderbird, will give you a single and (more or less) seamless path to all email accounts.

Well, I did not have the “Defer Updates” option checked and I am quite sure I never removed the upgrade at any time so I decided to try your suggestion of reinstalling the Windows 10 update.

Two and a half hours later I have Windows 10 installed and the version that got installed was 1511 so I am happy. Rather lengthy but completely satisfactory.

Thank you so much for your suggestion. It is not one I would have likely tried on my own.:)

Perhaps someone can offer a solution to the following:

I would like to make a system image on a regular basis, perhaps monthly, and retain the images for several months. That would allow me to restore a system that had become corrupt and to do so with an effective date that dates back one, two, or three months back (or more).

The problem is that only one system image is allowed on any one disk effectively limiting me to only the last system image for recovery. Such a system is unsatisfactory since any corruption could have started earlier than that and there is always the possibility a particular image may not be recoverable. Even if it is recoverable, the most recent image is only a few hours old on the day immediately after its creation.

Data files are not a problem since they are backed up daily (in my case by Norton 360) and I make a semi permanent copy of these incremental data backups monthly so I have several of them going back several months.

Like my data files, I would like to have several backup copies of my system image that go back several months. Actually, I do not require the data files that are included but I see no way of avoiding them.

So, short of having several separate internal hard drives for these images or burning through numerous DVDs for the images, is there a way to keep system images as separate “sets” of image backups?

BTW, I have a couple NAS drives that could be used but Windows (my version, Win 8.1) won’t create an image on a network drive and besides, it would be a rather slow process to image to a network drive I expect.

RetiredGeek;

You may have hit the nail. I have Restore configured to utilize 31.5 GB (14% of drive as I recall) and there are a dozen or so Restore Points taken which are reported as occupying 25.5 GB. That number (25.5 GB) is close enough to the 23.2 GB that WinDirStat reports as “Unknown” to make me suspect they are the same block of space. Besides, I cannot find any other space that is explicitly specified as Restore Point space.

I will keep an eye on it to see how large it grows. Many thanks.

satrow;
I do use the Hibernate function rather often. I have the Power button on the front panel configured to send the system into Hibernate. If I need to leave the system for a few hours, I can simply push the Power button and walk away. Repowering the system is very quick and I need not go through a Save/Load of all my open applications.

This “Unknown” block is not unallocated space since 100% of the SSD is configured as a single drive “C:”.

As for Norton, there is no way I would be so foolish as to trash a smoothly working and paid subscription that has six months to run for the dubious pleasure of installing, configuring, scheduling and maintaining at least five separate programs that Norton does as a single seamless, and largely fully automated, program.

But, I thank you for your consideration.

I love my Gadgets. In particular, I love the set I run that monitors various aspects of my system such as CPU utilization and temperature, network activity, disk activity and utilization, and GPU utilization and temperature plus some other temperatures and fan speeds. Most are from addgadget.com and it is my hope that these are safe as I intend to use them until I hear an explanation regarding exactly what the risk is.
All of these allow me to keep tabs on the health of my system. Any deviation from normal operation is readily apparent and these Gadgets allow alarms and automatic programmed responses to dangerous deviations from ‘normal’. Sure, they eat up some resources but I have way more resources than needed in most circumstances. Without them, it is like flying an aircraft without an instrument panel.
Is there any reasonable monitoring utility or utilities that can be run continuously to provide this information?

To begin with, there is a serious misunderstanding regarding just what a “resource” is when talking about computer system performance. There are only four resources can cause a bottleneck and affect performance.

CPU Utilization: Generally, your comparison did not compare this parameter except perhaps in boot time but probably not even there since most of boot time is taken up with disk IO delays. You could have beneficially run the various systems through a set of routines that would have exercised the packages in their various functions and then looked at the CPU used by the program’s processes as captured by Task Manager. You could even have left the systems go idle for ten minutes or more to see the effects of the launch of an ‘idle time scan’ and it’s interruption should such a feature exist. These types of numbers are far more indicative of a package being a CPU pig.

Memory Utilization: Again, the memory used during actual operation (as opposed to used immediately after boot) would have been a much more indicative of a package’s impact on performance and, again, such information is readily available in Task Manager.

IO bottlenecks: While there can be IO bottlenecks in other areas, such as Networks or Displays, we are generally concerned with disk IO reads and writes when considering a AV package. Again, the accumulated IOs associated with the processes belonging to a package are easily available in accumulated form in Task Manager.

Locks and Latches: This last item is most often associated with multi-user systems and databases so it is not likely a concern here.

Given that you missed most of these items and really only considered memory utilization in a very cursory and incorrect way, I have to say you missed the mark. Boot time and shutdown only occurs about once per day. Nobody cares what the footprint is on disk unless it is taking up the last of the free space. At the current cost of about $50 per TB, disk space is not costly. Approximately the same can be said of memory.

Perhaps more important, is the flaw in comparing the various free AV programs with MSE. The free AV programs are generally just an anti-virus utility and not even very good at that in some cases. Failure to test email for viruses would seem to me to be a serious flaw in any AV program as would an AV utility that did not operate in real time or only operated on user demand. No system could be considered ‘secure’ just because it has any of these packages running except those with MSE. All the others have serious failings as a security package and it would be very incorrect to suggest to a typical user that they are adequate security protection. Even the producers recognize this and use these ‘free’ AV utilities as a loss leader to entice the user into purchasing their more comprehensive package which is not free. Except MSE, of course. It bills itself as a security package and it comes far closer to that description than do any of your comparison packages.

A knowledgeable IT person may be able to collect a free AV utility along with a free firewall and several other free utilities that would collectively be considered a ‘security collection’ but the configuration, operation and administration of the collection is far beyond the typical user. MSE is the only package that is both free and something like comprehensive. It may not be the best security suite but it is free and at least capable enough to be considered acceptable. Personally, I prefer to lay out $15 for each of my three systems and put Norton 360 on each rather than spend my life managing these systems.

Thanks Clint. I have plenty to keep me going with what you have provided. I do have two internal drives. Actually three but the main ones are two WD 1Tb Caviar Black that I added to the old 500Gb original drive when I rebuilt the system a few months ago.

My main objective is simply to remove the main user data in the ‘standard’ location to the second drive. It constitutes about 150Gb in pictures, music and various documents.

I have in mind doing a system image (without the above user data) monthly just to capture the most recent Windows Updates. The user data, which is more important, I plan to back up weekly, keeping and rotating the last three or four copies.

The NAS storage is the destination for these backups but I haven’t decided if Acronis direct backup to NAS is better than Windows backup utilities to a local hard drive with a separate move to the NAS.

@chimo79
My method, and this is my preferred method of ensuring continuity of backup, would be to have more than one internal drive. If one does not have a second drive, a partition, assuming one has the adequate space, will achieve separation of valuable user generated date from the operating system as a first step. The second and most important aspect of this would be to also have hard copied data from these separate locations backed up to other media to ensure recovery in the event of a catastrophic system wide failure. (multi-layered approach to backup)

Snip…..
CLiNT

I use Acronis TI 2010 and I do so primarily because it will backup to a NAS drive whereas Windows 7 Home does not. I seem to be the only person that uses NAS in preference to an external drive of some sort.

I bought the d-Link DNS-323 and populated it with two 750 Gb drives because I wanted a backup destination that was separate from the systems doing the backup and also separate from other systems on my LAN. The NAS storage allows all three of my systems to use them (NAS drives) independently and they are always available even from outside my LAN via the built in FTP server and the Internet. In the past, they also facilitated keeping certain files synched between all systems and sharing certain files. This is less important with Win7. The NAS device is independently powered and the drives automatically spin down when idle and up on demand.

That said, the DNS-323 speed is limited to 10/100 so it is not the fastest game in town but the price is good.

As one poster has suggested, I would like to separate as much user data as possible from system files so I could schedule a data backup independently and more frequently from a system backup which probably only needs a monthly backup. I have been hesitant to attempt the separation of system and user data because I am unsure where the appropriate pointers are found that set the default locations as well as the pointers for Libraries, Homegroup info and Shared and Public files.I do appreciate that some applications may have their own default data locations and even that some may not be configurable. I would at least like to move the ‘standard’ user data files (Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, etc.). Can anyone point me to a reference that covers the configuration and reconfiguration of these files along with Homegroup and Library configurations etc.

I have to agree regarding Soluto. It makes it very clear what is starting, how long each takes and gives options to remove or delay until idle for each item. It also offers some guidance about each item and what others have done. Excellent utility and its free.

What I don’t understand is why my boot time can vary from day to day?????

I have been using IE9 for the last week and find it very good (and noticeably faster than IE8). The problem at the moment, is that I downloaded and have been using the 64 bit version of IE9 and it cannot be configured as the default browser. Neither could IE8 64 bit. The other problem with both is that there is no Flash player for either 64 bit version. So, I am stuck with IE8 32 bit as my default browser and IE9 64 bit for experimentation. Fortunately both use the same configuration data including cookies, Favourites, etc.

I dumped FireFox some time ago because I could never get it to display properly and constantly on a large (24″) high resolution monitor. It is OK if one sits up close to the monitor but it is nearly impossible to have a browser window where ‘everything’ is expanded to about 150% and have that magnification applied to everything in the browser window AND still allow selection of Text Size easily.

Thanks guys. You are giving me the answers I want to hear.

I have been having some trouble with my system crashing and I can’t find the problem. It does a sudden crash (either Blue Screen or just a freeze up) in the short period after a boot when cold. By short period, I mean about 10 min. I may have to reboot several times before success. All fans start OK and continue running OK. No voltages or temperatures appear bad. The Event Logs show absolutely nothing. After the system ‘warms up’. everything works fine and it is rock solid until boot time the next day.

I suspect some temperature related component but can’t narrow it down. By replacing the MB, CPU and memory, I eliminate all those items and get a better system at the same time. If the symptoms continue after upgrade, I will replace the power supply but it was an upgrade about a year ago so should be OK.

I just have to decide on which CPU, MB and memory.

I don’t have a solution for sure but I will offer the following information for what its worth.

I have a piece of software on my system that came with it. It is called Realtek High Definition Audio. This software is designed to work with their sound chips, driver and codec. I understand that their chips are frequently used on motherboards from a variety of manufacturers. They indicate their software may work on other chips and that even when used with their supplied chips and drivers and codecs, one could lose functionality that the manufacturer may have added.

I don’t know if the software I have is their generic version or a special version enhanced by Acer but I would not expect Acer to do much by way of enhancements.

Anyway, in use, the Realtek HD Audio Manager provides, as part of its facilities, a ‘Mixer’. The mixer has a Volume slider for each source of audio. The number of sliders changes as the sources change and it wouldn’t be unusual for there to be 8 or 10. Sources of audio do not need to be separate physical devices. I could have a half dozen browser windows up and if each was supplying audio, then each would have a slider. Of course, there are also additional sliders for things like System Sounds, Windows Media Player (if active), etc. There is always a master Volume slider as well. Under each slider is a Mute button including one under the Master Volume slider.

The Volume and Muteing can be individually controlled for each source of sound. I have never experienced an undesirable unMuteing.

I don’t know what it takes to add something like this to a system. realtek doesn’t usually deal with the end user.

I have Realtek HD Audio Manager that came as part of my system so I don’t know if it can be added separately.

It resides in the System Tray as the volume control. When I open it, I am presented with bunch of audio sliders with a “Mute” button for each one. One is the master volume control and the others are for each application that might be using sound. For example, there may typically be one each for System Sounds, Windows Live Mail, Windows Media Center, and perhaps several for the browser tabs I have open. The volume and/or mute for each can be controlled separately while the Master will over ride everything.I don’t believe the application will over ride these controls.

“I wonder if there is a way to connect the ESATA card with a cable to the motherboard SATA plug in # 2 or # 4 if that would then show up in the BIOS as a Hard drive?”

I can offer the following on this aspect. I replaced a drive in my system that was running hot (but running fine) with a new drive. Because of the heat problem, I decided to use the old drive as an external drive for backup purposes and went to purchase a suitable enclosure. I do not have an ESATA connection on my system (only USB and Firewire) but thought it would be worthwhile buying an enclosure that had both USB and ESATA for future possibilities.

To my surprise, when I got home, the enclosure included a cable/connector device that effectively extended one of my motherboard SATA connection to an ESATA connection without any board or anything beyond a simple ESATA connector mounted on a standard rear panel slot filler clip. In use, the “ESATA” drive is connected to this rear panel connector (which in turn, is internally connected to the motherboard SATA connection). It works exactly like an internal SATA drive and is indistinguishable from one including the requirement to have it connected at bootup and presumably to shutdown before disconnecting it. It appears in the BIOS and can be inserted in the boot sequence if desired.