If you are arriving at this page, you’ve probably heard me on the radio or podcast, talking about Windows 10, and I offered some links to help you out a bit more. This is a complete collection of the items, and I’ll be updating this page as needed during August 2015.
Backup first… even if you aren’t upgrading… backup!
In hour 2 (or the podcast, about 70 minutes in), I talk about backing up… this is the software that I am currently suggesting… the free version. Grab
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
Is your Anti-Virus compatible yet? (Constantly updating page…)
Wow, I can’t believe it, but as of close of business on Wednesday, July 29th, McAfee and Symantec were not listed on this page. Actually, of the 80 or so products, only 17 were on the list at that time. There are some criteria for listing, and not all products will meet these criteria, but… it’s a start.
Upgrade today, skipping to the front of the line…
Do you want to install Windows 10 today, without waiting for the automatic release? Well, it’s available, but it’s not exactly what I would have hoped for, and a seamless method, but you can still do it. Follow the instructions at the Microsoft website that cover how to download, place on a thumb drive (4 GB or larger), and then install Windows 10 from that flash drive. This is how I did it on a few machines…
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
Tweak away!
Start playing and tweaking Windows 10 with this starter guide from Lifehacker. Start exploring, go to town, and have some fun.
http://lifehacker.com/how-to-tweak-windows-10-and-fix-its-minor-annoyances-1720989970
NEW ADDITIONS – Week ending August 8, 2015
Disable Cortana and speed up the experience
Cortana is neat, however, it uses significant amounts of resources, and is not the best at the concept yet. My biggest suggestion if you are running Windows 10 anytime before October… disable Cortana. Winaero.com is just one website with the instructions of how to do it.
http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-disable-cortana-in-windows-10/
Don’t distribute updates if you are on the road
Microsoft is using torrents to send out various updates to other users. This is a grand idea, and helps other people. It’s like a crowdsourcing concept, and enables us all to benefit. The drawback is where people are travelling, or pay for bandwidth by the MB/GB/TB (mobile users, mostly). If you are one of these people, Lifehacker.com has instructions for disabling this feature.
http://lifehacker.com/windows-10-uses-your-bandwidth-to-distribute-updates-d-1721091469
Free Open Source DVD Player
For many years, the way to quick entertainment, especially on long road trips, was to grab the laptop, and place a DVD in, and watch away. I know we did this in our family on a road trip sometime over 15 years back, and it was exciting to put the laptop to this good usage. Windows 10 takes that away from us, and now you have to put it back! Enter VLC / VideoLAN which has been a DVD player around for ages…
Keyboard shortcuts for the diehards… like me!
I use keyboard shortcuts for a whole host of different things. It’s faster than reaching for a mouse, searching for the cursor, moving, clicking, and then moving the hand back to the keyboard. When you consider how fast that I can do that, imagine how much faster I am with keyboard shortcuts. I use them constantly, and with Windows 10, there’s many more options now!
http://www.windowscentral.com/best-windows-10-keyboard-shortcuts
Install it like your computer is brand new!
There are many people who reinstall their operating system every 6 months, just as a part of house cleaning. I’m not that aggressive, but about once a year is good. Reinstalling everything gets you familiar with what you have, only installing what you need, and speeds up your computer. Do a backup first… see above!
http://www.windowscentral.com/how-do-clean-installation-windows-10
Privacy issues are a concern with all operating systems today
We do have access to some settings, if we can believe them. There’s hackers and more that will undo us all, but for now, here’s a good comprehensive link that I came across that will help a little.
http://lifehacker.com/what-windows-10s-privacy-nightmare-settings-actually-1722267229
NEW ADDITIONS – Week ending August 15, 2015
More privacy settings stuff
While it duplicates some of the efforts thus far, here’s more for you to tinker with!
https://bgr.com/2015/07/31/windows-10-upgrade-spying-how-to-opt-out/
https://bgr.com/2015/08/14/windows-10-spying-prevention-privacy-tools/
Tips, Tricks, and Tweaks
Sounds like something spooky… Trick or Tweak… but it’s legit. PC World has assembled a number of good items here.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2875600/windows/windows-10-the-best-tips-tricks-and-tweaks.html
Check back here in a few days, just in case I’ve added something more!
