Setting up Windows 10

 

After a recent failure of my Windows drive, I decided to write this info page for "fixing" Windows 10. Please remember that everything here is optional, and down to your personal taste. I'm a grumpy old git and I don't like change, so, for me, doing these steps makes Windows feel more "original" and functional.

So, you just installed Windows 10 and all is well right? With the exception of all the notifications, Cortana, the constant confirmations, and the horrible console touch screen set up.

Windows Classic

If you're anything like me then you HATE the new Windows layout that they thrust upon us with Windows 7. Designed for a touch screen because they assumed by now we would all be using one, it fails greatly with a mouse and keyboard, and if you're used to the old layout of Windows it becomes harder to find what you want.

To make sense of this jumble of useless things I like to revert to a good old-fashioned Windows Classic look, and I do this by installing Windows Classic Shell.

It's pretty straightforward, and if you can't set it up without further explanation then I suggest you sell your PC and stick with playing Angry Birds on your phone.

PC Settings

This is where things get a little more personal and optional. 

The first thing I like to do is to remove all those irritating notifications that pop up in your face at inconvenient times just to piss you off.

You can find these annoyances in the System tab of PC Settings under "Notifications & Actions". 

Switching these off completely will prevent some of those horrible boxes from popping up in the bottom right corner.

Evil Ads

Now we have got rid of those pesky notifications, you may want to get rid of the targetted advertising that comes ready to use in Windows 10.

Staying in the PC Settings, find your way to the Privacy tab.

Very unlikely that you will want or need any of these so I would turn them off completely.

While we're here though, check out Activity History, Unless you want to share how many times you've visited Porn Hub in the last 2 hours with Bill Gates, I suggest you make sure these are also unchecked.

Diagnostics and Feedback is also worth a look. If the items in here are checked then you will not only be sending stuff to Microsoft but using up valuable disk space as well.

Sadly, it's not easily possible to prevent Microsoft from seeing everything, but we can minimize it.

Everything else on this page can be turned off (unless you want them on of course).

Inking and Typing Personalisation should be your next port of call. This one is completely optional and you should read it and figure out if it is something you need or want. Personally, I turn it off and use Grammarly.

Location, Camera, and Microphone are all personal choices. I turn them all off with the exception of a few choice programs such as Discord. Depending on what you use, you should go through the apps and turn off access to the ones you don't.

You will also find a sneaky "Notifications" tab in here as well. This allows your apps to send you that annoying pop up so I chose to turn them off.

Background Apps

This can be a game-changer if you want to speed up your PC. Letting Apps run in the background can steal precious processor time and give you the opportunity to see the spinning blue mouse cursor much more when doing other things. I generally turn them all off with the exception of "Settings" and "WinZip".

Just reading this properly lets you know what it's up to.

Still, in the Privacy tab, I then focus my attention on Documents. Unless you want Windows Security, or App Installer using your private documents then I would turn this off completely.

Use "Change" to turn this off (unless you want to leave it on?)

I do the same for "Pictures", and "Videos".

File System sounds scary, but it really isn't. 

You only need to read the first line of this to understand how scary it is to leave it on.

Gaming

Unless you're actually going to use this awful thing, turn it off.

Game mode is the only other notable thing in this section of settings

As this was introduced to Windows 10 as a way to optimize your gaming experience, it can actually lower your frame rate. It was supposed to minimize background apps and tweak your card, but in fact, it does none of these things and some cards suffer when it is on. Geforce 1080Ti, 980, and Radeons RX range is affected by this horrible option.

Apps

This is the big one. 

Whilst they attempt to convince you that only getting things from Microsoft's store is the best thing since sliced bread, it isn't. Set this to "Anywhere" to cut out some of those evil confirmation boxes.

Now, scroll down a little and you will see the endless amount of Apps that are installed with Windows 10.

You can select all of these, one by one, and decide if you want to keep them or not. Again, which ones you keep and which ones you dump are your choice.

I'm pretty sure Candy Crush isn't a necessary Windows file so you know what to do...

Default Apps is where you choose what opens what files, and which browser you want to use. Click on the icon and change to your preferred software.

i.e. Microsoft Edge -> Chrome (or whatever it is you like to use)

Offline Maps; I don't use this function so I turn it all off, and you probably have no use for it either if you're only on your PC to play games.

As I don't use the maps anyway, and certainly not Microsoft Edge, I turn all these off as well

Start-Up

I find the icons in my tray really annoying, to fix this I turn off the above as well.

This is where you set up your Porn permissions. Turning these options off will allow you to be a dirty old pervert and I highly recommend it. I've seen all there is to see now and even the existence of furries didn't phase me, so, unless you want your PC deciding what you see and what you don't, turn them off.

This is a lie. It will slow you down and make you tear out your hair until you look like Homer Simpson. That is unless you already look like him then you're fine to use it.

Keep this on Classic, or be prepared for a long wait, high processor usage, and battery life-sapping if you're on a laptop.

No matter what myths you have heard about turning her off, you can't. The reason you can't is that the Windows search service has simply been renamed, thus she will always appear in your running apps in the Task Manager. The old service was called SearchUI.exe for those of you with a nostalgic need.

Turning Cortana off at least is easy.

Just go to her tab in PC Settings and turn everything off. There, she's gone. Even though she looks like she's still haunting your background apps, she isn't.

Services

Your average Windows user/ Gamer never enters the realm of Services, and should not be randomly messed with unless you know what you're doing.

That said, let's mess with Windows Services.

Open the Start Menu in the bottom left, click in the search box and enter Services.msc. This will bring up a window containing all the services available on your system.

More importantly, it will let you see which ones are running, and which ones aren't.

A lot of the ones in the list below won't even be running, but it's a good idea for performance to disable them (unless you know you need them because of something special you specifically do).

Services you can disable

Routing and Remote Access

Alerter

Application Layer Gateway Service** (only if the firewall is not used)

Application Management

ClipBook

COM+ System Application

Distributed Link Tracking Client

Distributed Transaction Coordinator

Help and Support

IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service** (only if do you not use the cd-rw xp record support)

IPSEC Services

Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service

MS Software Shadow Copy Provider

Net Logon

NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing

Network DDE

Network DDE DSDM

Network Location Awareness (NLA)

NT LM Security Support Provider

Performance Logs and Alerts

Portable Media Serial Number

QoS RSVP

Remote Desktop Help Session Manager

Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator

Remote Registry

Removable Storage

Server

Smart Card

Smart Card Helper

SSDP Discovery Service

System Restore Service

Telnet

Themes

Uninterruptible Power Supply

Universal Plug and Play Device Host

Volume Shadow Copy

Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)

Windows Installer

Windows Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions

Wireless Zero Configuration

WMI Performance Adapter

Fast User Switching Compatibility ** (only if fast user switching is not used or the machine have one user only)

Protected Storage

Windows Time

TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper

Task Scheduler

Secondary Logon

Print Spooler ** (only if the pc do not have or use a printer)

Indexing Service

Error Reporting Service

Computer Browser

Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) / Internet Connection Sharing

Xbox Live Networking Service

To disable the above, find them in the handy list, double click them to bring up the service description, then change their Startup Type to Disabled.

And of course, Apply.

User Account Controls

This is the beastie that stops you from doing a lot of things and can be whacked. Most of the confirmation boxes that pop up are down to this simple setting and I suggest turning it to its lowest possible, erm, setting.

To do this, go to your Start Menu and type "User Account Control" in the search box and then find it in the list that comes up and set as above. Please read the various settings before whacking it down to never.

Simply put, they don't work, and if you're running one then all you are doing is slowing down your PC. All Network providers come with a hardware firewall and some sort of security before the internet even dribbles through your phone line, cable, fibre optic, or wifi. 

Windows 10 is equipped with Windows Defender and a host of other things that watch you like a stalker in the bushes.

Basically, if you get yourself a virus, it's your fault for being a deviant and you probably deserve it. Clicking on those pesky ads on your favourite Porn site, or downloading game cheats from the likes of Crack Spider are great ways to get infected. Watch what you do and your PC will be safe.

This all brings me back to Windows Settings and, drum roll;

Updates and Security.

This section itself can make or break your PCs performance in general.

If you leave it on Microsofts settings then your PC speed will suffer, if you don't and you're an idiot on the internet, then you will suffer. 

On the other hand, if you think you can be trusted not to open emails from Nigerian princes (please ignore this if you are indeed a Nigerian princess dating a Nigerian prince), then there are some things you can do to improve PC performance.

Updates in general

Updates are awesome. What updates really are are patches for things that don't work properly. Most of the time, updates don't work properly either and are frequently patched with the next enthralling update from Microsoft.

To help relieve this problem I find it best to delay any updates for as long as possible. Pausing updates is always a good idea. If the update didn't do its job the first time, with a bit of luck it will be fixed properly by the time you actually do update your system. Pause it for 7 days or more.

If you're really anal about updates, you can always stop the service as we discussed earlier.

While we're here, check out the advanced options at the bottom of the list. I have everything turned off here. You can also choose to pause your updates for even longer here.

Delivery Optimisation

Not much to say about this really, but if you read everything here, you will see that having this on could slow you down when in use. Turn it off unless absolutely necessary.

 

Windows Security

This is the fun one. It's almost a complete list of all the things that slow you down when doing, well, anything on your PC.

Virus threat and protection - Turn this off. It is a good thing to run a "Quick scan" from time to time, but apart from that, this is a MHz zapper.

Firewall, I like it and I have it turned on. If you want less hassle when gaming then turn it off at your own risk.

App & Browser Control...

Control being the operative word here. I keep these all turned off.

If you know what you're downloading and trust it, then there's no need for "Check apps and files". If you're not using Microsoft Edge, then you certainly don't need Smart Screen for it. If you're not using Microsoft Store, and why would you be? You don't need this on either.

Device Performace and Health

This is actually useful so I thought I would mention it. It's a quick easy way to see if anything simple is wrong with your PC

Family Options

You either have one, or you don't. This is entirely down to you.

Well, that covers about 1% of setting up Windows 10 so it's not a performance sucker and a notification pain in the arse. There are tonnes more things you can do to "fix" Windows 10, but I think this wall of text and screenshots is enough for my brain for one day.

Make sure you frequently use disk clean-up, or at the very least empty your bin from time to time, especially if you need to save some disk space.

Hope this helped?! Have fun.