Warning about HP Laptops - incompatibility with Win 10 Creators Update

[selden]

Straf,

Another problem is that you usually can't mix memory modules from different manufacturers. Too often modules with supposedly identical timing characteristics simply don't cooperate.

[Straf]

Yeah that's why I swapped them out rather than add to them. Another reason is the DIMM blockage courtesy of the stupidest heatsinks I've ever seen:

IMG_20171204_214318.jpg

But yeah it's going to be a 4 x 2GB or 2 x 4GB purchase which I can't afford right now.

[Mark Oliva]

Try to disable the Windows Update service (they could already protect this, but worth a try), its very easy, and if it won't work you can turn it on again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akF0EiQF5jM

I haven't done this anywhere for a while. It always used to work just fine. I don't have a computer with Windows 10 Home 64-Bit. Our machines all have Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit (with Fall Creators update). I did try it on our laptop, which we seldom use, and it still works like it should there.

However ... as is obvious ... this only prevents future automatic updates. It won't roll back the Fall Creator Update if it's already installed. And if the rollback files have been erased, there's a problem.

If other people are worried about such things happening in the future, do this:

1) Get an external drive.
2) Open Windows Settings.
3) Pick Update and Security.
4) Pick Backup.
5) Define a full system backup that matches your needs. Back it up onto your external drive.
6) Let your backups run as you defined them.

If you then get bamboozled one day by an automatic Windows update:

7) Turn off the automatic updates, as described above.
8 ) Restore your previous system with the backup options defined above.

I do have people with hardware that works only through Windows 10 before the first Creator Update who are successfully doing just this.

Servus,

[selden]

Mouse,

Here are the steps I recommend for creating a fixed-size page file. They all must be performed from a privileged (administrator) account. If a reboot doesn't happen automatically, it'd probably be appropriate to reboot after each step, if only to make sure file pointers have been properly cleaned up. It's important that the page file be created with the minimum number of pieces (i.e. it should be contiguous if at all possible), hence the need to clean up and defragment the disk ahead of time.

You might be familiar with some of these steps from previous experience, but I've tried to be explicit enough for those people who aren't. Many (all?) of these programs can be accessed by browsing through various other menus, but it's often quicker to use Search to find them.

1. chkdsk
Type the single word above into Windows search. then type an Enter

Schedule your system partition (drive C) to be scanned at next reboot
(it can't be done while the disk is being accessed by the system software)
Reboot and chkdisk will run.

2. disk cleanup
Type the two words above into Windows search. then type an Enter

After it does its initial scan, select appropriate categories of files to delete
For a detailed description, see https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...dows-10-a.html

3. optimize drive
Type the two words above into Windows search. then type an Enter

In the popup window, select your system partition (Drive C) and then click on "Optimize"
This works for both spinning hard drives and solid state disks, although it does different things.
It'll actually move files around on hard drives. Supposedly it doesn't do that for SSDs.

4. create page file
Type the words "advanced system" into Windows search.
Select the entry "View advanced system settings"

For subsequent steps, performed in the popup "System Properties" window, start at step 3 on the Web page https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...dows-10-a.html

*except*

set both "Initial size" and "Maximum size" to the same value. If you have enough free disk space, 16384 (16GB) or 32768 (32GB) probably would be appropriate
Reboot.

I hope this helps.

[Mouse]

Thank you Mark

Just so people know - if I seem to have gone a bit quiet compared to usual, I'm downloading Linuxmint 18.3 right now, and rather anxious to just let my system do its thing without accidentally breaking the broadband connection by using the laptop for anything else.

I may be back later to pester poor Red for more advice if I can't get to grips with the instructions

EDIT: sorry Selden - didn't see your comment on the page break. Thank you so much for doing that for me. I am attempting a many pronged attack on the problem. I'm trying Linux, but I will also see if controlling the paging helps with Win 10.

Defrag is automatic and continuous with Win 10.

Download has slowed down! Bye for now - shutting Guild page to eliminate possibility of Win 10 disrupting the download. Prioritisation with this OS is naff!

[Falconius]

Yeah that's why I swapped them out rather than add to them. Another reason is the DIMM blockage courtesy of the stupidest heatsinks I've ever seen:

IMG_20171204_214318.jpg

But yeah it's going to be a 4 x 2GB or 2 x 4GB purchase which I can't afford right now.

That looks like an old Noctua radiator (supposed to be superb) with some extra offbrand fan strapped to it. You only really need the brown one so long as it's oriented right (blowing towards the back). Even if you don't want to take off the LED fan completely you should be able to just move it up the radiator by moving the clips up the tower a bit (it may not be as easy as it is with the new ones, honestly I'd just ditch the LED fan).

[selden]

Defrag is automatic and continuous with Win 10.

The Defrag menu on the Win10 computer I'm using right now does not have a "continuous" option: it can be scheduled for daily, weekly or monthly intervals. It's best to make sure it's done right before creating the page file, since recent work might have crated lots of tiny files, badly fragmenting the disc.

However, I am using Windows 10 LTSB (Long Term Servicing Branch) so it might not be the same as Windows 10 Home edition.

[Mouse]

The default on mine seems to be 'Daily', which is what I meant by continuously. Not really the same thing, I know, but it might as well be continuous compared to the 'once in a blue moon' technique I employed when these things were manual

The current state of the C drive is 2% fragmented, which is what it always seems to tell me when I think to check it every now and then.

EDIT: I also realise, now that I'm not panicking about the download, that I've already done Disk Cleanup just recently. That's how come I accidentally deleted the previous versions of Windows, and why I would have to completely reinstall Win 8.1 if I wanted to go in that direction.

I'm just going to try and make this boot stick for Linux now and see if I can get the system to boot from it

[selden]

The defragger I used to use gave a detailed picture of where the pieces of files were on the disk.I could watch it shuffling things around while it was trying to make the free space as big as possible and putting important files where they could be accessed and loaded more quickly. I stopped using it when I got an SSD. I dunno what "2%" means.

Some defraggers actually do have a "continuous" mode: they instantly try to defragment and reposition files as soon as they've been written.

[Mouse]

Oh I remember those!

Only 2% fragmented - the other 98% has already been defragmented, so in one of those old style disc images it would appear much as if you had just completed a defrag