Must have:

Firefox ESR
TrueCrypt 7.1a
KeePass 1.*
Notepad++
VirtualBox


Nice to have:

Check the official documentation. For example 500GB WD Black WD5000LPLX should be very durable on paper. It's certainly better than other 2.5 and 3.5" HDDs.

I would say 10-15GB would be enough for the OS, drivers, some updates, and some small programs.

My WinXP full image backup is 2GB, Win7/8.1 is 5GB.

Excellent tip! The windows 10 context menus are bloody cluttered.

Save as .bat, run as admin:


:: Remove context menu - "Cast to device"
reg add...

Make sure to disable as much crap (system restore, windows defender, windows search, etc.) running in the background as possible.

Prepare a custom .bat configuration file like these:

[Batch]...

G4560 and G4600 support (kinda) Windows 7 and Windows 8.1

Is AMD going to release iGPU drivers for these operating systems?

Make sure to properly configure every aspect of your power plan:

Windows 10 Power Plan Configuration

Why do you need a program uninstaller in the first place? You can test software in a virtual machine or test on your machine and image restore C:\ once you're done. No program uninstaller is going to...

Very interesting reading, thanks for sharing!


What drivers should you install instead?

Apart from ClassicShell you can try Everything but I don't know for which extensions it allows to search the file contents. It's free, portable, uses very little resources and quick on finding stuff...

Save as .bat, run as admin:


:: Disable downloaded files from being blocked
reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments" /v "SaveZoneInformation" /t...

It's OK if you use a firewall to block the outbound traffic. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend it as it's going to transfer data to 3rd party servers.

This is the software I use to make Windows 7 / 8.1 / Windows 10 somewhat usable:


ClassicShell 4.2.5 - to fix the Start Menu and Windows (File) Explorer
KatMouse 7 - to fix the scrolling
7+...

@Ztruker - I think blocking all by default and whitelisting is a much better approach. And you should probably use Windows Firewall Control 5.3.1.0 to lock the rules so that Windows or other software...

I tested very briefly the portable version. Even when you uncheck Help improve CCleaner by sending anonymous usage data CCleaner 5.46 is still trying to connect to some remote servers (3 different...

I don't use (and never will) OneDrive so I can't comment if it's true or not but it's hilarious nonetheless:

OneDrive Down the Road to Madness
Microsoft’s Cloud Service Leaves a Lot to be Desired

Do not let Windows 10 connect to the Internet before disabling all the telemetry crap. Install Windows Firewall Control 5.3.1.0 and block all traffic except Firefox and the DNS service. Watch the...

Maybe you will find this information in your router's user manual.

Brink, thanks for the wonderful tutorial!

It could be useful to mention that you can control the "Let me set a different input method for each app window" with the same UserPreferencesMask key.
...

Thanks, dalchina!

The answer to my questions is:

reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop" /v "UserPreferencesMask" /t REG_BINARY /d "9012038090000000" /f

UserPreferencesMask...

Is it possible to configure "Let me set a different input method for each app window" via the Registry?

If it's not some kind of recovery partition that you intend to use in the future, you can delete it.

You can add this code to your Windows 10 configuration script to set the pagefile to 512MB on...

Careful with setting a different DNS as a 3rd party will collect your browsing history.

1. If your router has a build-in firewall - disable it.
2. Use a cable, not Wi-Fi.
3. Set your DNS...

Something like ZoomIt by sysinternals maybe? It has drawing mode.

Something likeSoftPerfect NetWorx maybe?