windows 10 (Page 3 of 3)

Ok, Russell, next thing I'd check is the start up programs.  These are the programs that get themselves ready to go during the start up process.  There's a few ways to do this, but since you have CC Cleaner installed, we'll go that route since it's fairly easy. 

When you go into CC Cleaner, you'll see "tools" on the left, and then once you click on that, click on "Start up" and make sure you're in the "Windows" tab at the top - you're going to probably see a whole HUGE list of things that start up when your computer starts.  Now, some of those things are important and you don't want to disable them, but others are not so much!  ie: Adobe Reader does not need to start up when you start your computer and run in the background (unless you spend every day reading PDF documents).  If you don't ever use google drive, but it's starting at start up you can disable that too.  This doesn't mean that they won't work when you want them to, it just means they won't be open and ready to go first thing (hogging your start up time unnecessarily).  If you want, you can take a screenshot of what you see here and email it to me, I'll happily look though the list and let you know what you can safely disable on start up.  I tend to be very cautious, and only disable things that I'm 100% sure aren't necessary.  As much as I like the ease of use of CC Cleaner, I do disable the monitor on start up also by the way.    For example, I use a few image editing programs on my laptop, but I have them disabled on start up because while I use them often, I do NOT use them every day.  I'd prefer to wait while they load when I'm ready to use them, rather than have them slow my system down on start up. 

The built in Windows "Snip it" tool is great for taking screenshots!

Windows 10 promises faster start up times.  I hope that it does work well on your laptop!  In the meantime though, having a lot of stupid things starting that aren't needed will go a long way to speeding up not only your start up, the the whole computer in general because - if they don't open on start up, then they won't be open in the background as your using it either (until you need them). 

*I'd have turned this into a private convo. many posts ago - but I think it's good for people to be able to find useful info.  I'm also hoping that if I steer Russell wrong, someone will correct me so I can learn something new too!    Thanks to Doug for the support, and I forgot to mention that I appreciate the info about the SSD's.  I had read a little about the mechanics of them and had a bit of concern re: spinning etc.  Good to know that I chose wisely by not wasting money on one!  I am curious though, what you think about the hybrid drives (500 gb + 8GB SSD).  I didn't get one of those either, seemed kind of gimicky.  I think I'll try Linux when I get some extra time to fiddle around on the computer (who knows when that'll be).  I'm pretty curious! 

Amy my son has linux and he loves it!

Maybe we should open a "Geek" thread..... or is this it?  The topic kinda says it anyway so I guess we'll just keep on.

Amy, (and other interested parties) we mentioned the SSD drives earlier and then "Hybrid" drives vs our old reliable "spinning rust" hard disks.

I'm trying to find a simple way of phrasing this for both clarity and brevity.  SSDs are power thrifty so you'll likely have one in your tablet or notebook, also no moving parts so getting bashed around while running is not a big issue either. But they are not cheap (yet).  Hybrid drives are for the most part the same mechanical drives we are all familiar with, with the addition of a fairly large on-board cache where files used in a particular application can be stored rather than devoting RAM-space, The Cache is usually dumped when the application is closed so it can be made available to the next application you open.  Some will remember a similar function that does not use dedicated memory to do that was referred to as a "swap-file".  The goal is to save the time it takes to find and use information stored on the hard drive.

Conventional hard drives kind of come in 2 flavors.... 5200 and 7200 RPM, the slower ones usually in laptops (to save power) and have average "seek times" around 10Ms or so.  7200s seek in around 6-7Ms, and are the staple of desk-tops and workstations.  They are on mains power so saving a couple of amps is not an issue and the few milliseconds difference in seek time is nothing that most folks would notice.

Where SSDs shine is in something like Solid Works.... where you have literally thousands of little files (like lego blocks of every shape possible) strewn across vast expanses of disk space. Every time you make a modification to your shape/part/whatever, you have to go hunting down the necessary "blocks" to rebuild it...... saving 5 milliseconds on each little piece will add up to seconds or minutes watching the little hourglass spin. Money falls out of the equation and yes you should have that kind of drive for that kind of work!  For us normal folks though..... I got time, (I hope).

Doug - Good, easy enough to understand, info about the different hard drive types.    I thought the hybrid drive wasn't really a big deal.  I know I can add WAY more RAM than I should ever need and devote a portion to cache.  As I was reading about them, that's pretty much what I thought.  I still question if, for what I do, an SSD would make a big difference to me or not. But like you, I don't have unlimited money.  I like to use my external hard drives as back up as well, not as the main source and if I'd have gone the SSD route, it wouldn't have been pretty.  A SMALL SSD drive costs near as much as a HUGE standard hard drive. 

Again, good info.  Thank you!

You can also solve your problem by official find the latest version drivers. Or if you are not good at computer drivers, you can try to use a software to helps you, you can use the DriverDR software.

Elated to report boot time is less then 20 seconds to desktop and browser now were talking

In most cases it is possible to change the motherboard without reinstalling Windows 10, but that doesn't mean it will work well. To prevent any conflicts in hardware, it's always recommended to install a clean copy of Windows on your computer after changing to a new motherboard     

Like iPhones and busses...there'll be another one along in a minute!     

I really like the Geek Thread Idea or just a PC help thread of sorts. If you use a Mac good luck your on your own. Overpriced hunks of Junk. I work in I.T. and the look on peoples faces when I tell them just the price of a new logic board, or a keyboard replacement. Their hearts sink because they paid almost the same price as the replacement parts. The new "M1 iterations" OMG, every component is integrated onto the logic board, so you can't replace the memory or replace the hard drive. it's the whole logic board which is basically the whole mac. Or just ask if your facing some sort of computer issue, I'd be glad to try to troubleshoot with the  chordie community. One disheartening thing and i hope no one is still doing. don't install ccleaner anymore. it is a Russian application and was and is compromised. It is capable of taking your information. Uninstall asap and run Malwarebytes asap. I got compromised a month ago and good lord it's a hassle once someone takes over your email. I used yahoo because i was sure i was a tech and i knew what to look for, just forgetting that my family doesn't know to look at the header of an email to make sure it is coming from the correct address. It sucks!!!!!!!! Finally got everyone off yahoo and onto gmail and i like outlook. changed everyones passwords from "myname&birthdate@eztarget.com" LOL. Feel free to ask for advice. For my Chordie Fam!!!!     

Hey thanks Phil, Yea well working all week on computers i have no desire to come home and sit in front of one. I have begun to pick up my guitar again and of course I have to logon to chordie at the end of a long work week. I have used yahoo for as long as i remember tearing open a pc to see what makes it run. Yes yahoo has been compromised several times and like i said i got hit not to long ago on yahoo. my email got taken over. and i was being hit constantly by someone or maybe bots trying to access my email. I had my cryptocurrency tied to my yahoo email and someone kept sending me access codes desperate to get at it. I wrote down all my sites that i do want emails coming in to me and I signed up with outlook.com. I ended my yahoo account. Oh and i found that whoever was trying to get at my email had managed to get to my email settings and security and added themselves to the do not block list. Hence i couldn't change my own password cuz they had access. luckily with some digging i found the setting in the security section of yahoo and removed them form the do not bock list and changed my password. I took all my family off of yahoo and put them on gmail since it's more user friendly. I made new passwords for everyone. And ccleaner yea just don't use it. Actually a pc does not need to be cleaned out with third party cleaners. there is integrated software within windows that can help you clean out your pc. And of course watch what sites you and your family are going to. I would say we just don't know if when yahoo got compromised your email was in that list. These crooks buy email lists in bulk so they can set their bots to just attack the whole list.