Win10 Update Problems

dalchina · 16 Nov 2017

Great news. But don't be lulled into a sense of complacency.. anything can and will go wrong at some point. Keep updating your disk image set for Windows and other data disks, and you may want to enable System Restore (disabled on each upgrade) - although it's not the most robust recovery option).

Removing the redundant partitions created by failed upgrades is not related to your boot time. I find it takes about 13s to the lock screen, but then longer to usable desktop given a number of start-ups. I have just realised my RAM, being a single module, is only single channel- I'd probably get better performance with two.

bubba6532 · 16 Nov 2017

Oh, I understand about the "can and will go wrong" part. I seem to be a living example of that in many ways. In some ways, I'm glad I had to go through this. It forced me to get an external drive to image the laptop disks. By getting one that uses a laptop drive, it was inexpensive, and it's unobtrusive. It works so well, I'm already thinking about getting another. I'll keep the images up to date.
System restore is already enabled, and I've already set a couple of restore points. Any recommendations on how much disk space to reserve for that? Right now I have a fairly ridiculous amount of space reserved, because I don't really know how much space a single restore point takes. I'd like to reserve enough space to be able to keep at least 6 - 8 restore points at a minimum.
Are there any practical reasons NOT to perform a disk cleanup at this point? I notice that Windows.Old is taking up a bit over 22 Gb of disk space. I can't see any reason I'd want to go back to 1511, and it's on the image, anyway.
I was very reluctant to get a laptop computer after maintaining my wife's laptops for the last several years. The one thing I noted about most laptops was that they were SLOW. Eventually, I was pretty much forced to get a laptop for the portability. Even though I'm not really interested in gaming, I got a "gaming" laptop because of the specs. HUGE difference from the laptops I had been familiar with. I don't know if I'll ever want to go back to a desktop, especially with the new gaming laptops currently coming out.

dalchina · 16 Nov 2017

Usually a few Gb is plenty for system restore. Best just to try.

Windows.old should be automatically deleted after 10 days. (There's a tutorial on deleting it if you really need to- best just leave it).

I've never had a desktop, but the upgradability and maintainability, + potentially better performance would be attractive.
With SSDs, the desktop advantage of 7200rpm drives that used to exist has gone.

Desktops can allow you to use more advanced architectures at the top end, for a lower price, and more capable graphics.

For what I need, this laptop (almost fully removable back, good vents) is fine- I just don't like the connector layout- DVD drive and 2 USBs on the right, and a decent screen. I rarely hear the fan.

One thing lacking I've come across- desktops have far more sophisticated BIOS options.

CCleaner is good and reliable, useful configurable options.

bubba6532 · 16 Nov 2017

I've never had a desktop, but the upgradability and maintainability, + potentially better performance would be attractive.
With SSDs, the desktop advantage of 7200rpm drives that used to exist has gone.

I have a quad core i5 desktop with a decent graphics card that's now several years old. You're exactly correct about the upgradability and maintainability of a desktop. I used to think the performance was better, but now I'm not so sure. This laptop I've been working on is now around 2 years old, and it's a quad core i7 with DDR4 memory and a discreet Nvidia graphics card with DDR5 memory, a 7200 RPM HDD, and a SSD I added. The laptop's display is a FHD IPS panel. It kicks the desktop'a performance, and doesn't act like a space heater as it does so. This laptop would probably be considered obsolete now. Asus (and others) now have "gaming" machines with the latest iteration i7 processors that are readily overclocked, built-in video including up to Nvidia 1080 cards, multiple PCIE SSD slots (raid, anyone), as well as fast HDD's, multiple video-out options, etc. The only thing these new beasts seem to be lacking is a built-in optical drive, which your and my machines still do have. An equivalent desktop is a bit less expensive, but not by a great amount.

One thing lacking I've come across- desktops have far more sophisticated BIOS options.

You are exactly correct, and that is about the only thing I find myself missing on this laptop.