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You need a swap file if your memory gets close to being full, which with modern bloated applications it probably will. I'd say with 8 GB you might not. But it depends on what you do with the PC. I belong to the school of thought that the paging file belongs in the past when memory was scarce. I would never put a paging file on an SSD to save it from wear. There is a Gavotte RamDisk that can be put in high PAE RAM. I had some experience trying to use it. The option to load a formatted partition from the registry would become corrupted after shutdown. I could only use it in the default mode where it automaticaly fills with a FAT32 file system. It seems that Windows likes to use the swap file a lot when minimizing big applications. There was a pause and mechanical squeal. File copy speed to the ram disk was not as fast as expected. There seemed to be a considerable overhead. I would try to install Server 2003 with normal PAE memory. There are only a few older drivers that don't work, most notably from Creative Labs and likely some older multimedia cards. If you have bad drivers, you can revert to the crippled behaviour of WinXP with the /MAXMEM switch in boot-ini.

What are good software products for editing keyboard layouts? I am currently looking for one that can make them for Windows 64-bit. Microsoft in its infinite wisdom has made keyboard layout in NT a DLL, which has some implications. An old layout for x86 does not work anymore. It can actually include program code, which can do anything, or refuse to load if it checks a license. Programs are usually limited in what formats they can load and output. They may have a native project format that is neither KBD nor DLL. I have the following candidates: "Tastatūras Pianists" part of localization packages "Tildes Birojs" or "WinLogs". Works under Windows 98 and Windows 2000/XP. Produces layouts only for the active system (either in KBD or DLL format). Can import layouts from a file to set up a new system. Can visually edit a dead key layer and, with some trickery, separate layers for Shift and Caps Lock simply by dragging symbols onto keys. The interface language can be set to English when the application is installed. Does not need to be kept running. Does not work under x64. "KbdEdit" requires an expensive license. Works under Windows NT x86 and x64. Has a steeper learning curve. The dead key layer is apparently only editable in a list format. Opens more advanced options. Without a license, produces a bloated, crippled DLL, which requires the service to be kept running and displays a nag screen. The layout does not work under the System login on the welcome screen. EDIT: I have found "Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator" This program is free. It can take an existing DLL from NT x86 or x64 as a base and generate new DLLs for three architectures at the same time: x86, x64 and ia64 (Itanium). This can be used to strip down KbdEdit created DLLs and make them freely usable, or transfer them between architectures. The dead key editor is still in a list format. Symbols can be typed or pasted from an external character map, which this program doesn't include. The installation can be done with the following registry entries: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layouts\b0020426] "Layout File"="kbdx1062.dll" "Layout Text"="Normal" "Layout Id"="00e0" Where 0426 is the language, b002 is a unique ID within the language, and 00e0 is a unique ID within all available layouts. (around 0xcd on Windows 2022, and around 0xaf on Windows 2008 R2). Windows 2022 requires a reboot to show new layouts. I've read reports about them being unusable for others.

"Speaking Clock". It featured two assistants called Checkers and Max. It also included a speaking calculator. If you dragged the assistants they said, "I kinda liked it. Please do it again."

Old is not synonymous with retro. Retro is something made today in the style of the past. The word is usually associated with motion backwards. Maybe if Reactos actually got released, you could call that retro.

The process count is around 90. But memory use is a proxy for the process count. This is where the memory goes. It's quite annoying to open the normal Task Manager and see the long list. I frequently look through that list to unalive a program and notice any new processes to investigate. But now it is full of services that are each in a separate process. It is true that you need to needed to tweak past OS's too. Then computers became faster and we stopped most of the debloating. The situation gets progressively worse with bloat and privacy. There is some new smart Unicode sorting algorithm. I thought I had lost a file beginning with the letter Y. Turns out it was sorted with the letter I (capital eye). I think it is associated with the locale "Latvia". We don't have the letter "Y" in the alphabet. So someone had the smart idea to put it in there. I think this didn't exist in Windows Seven. In a technical context this is nonsense. This reminds me of the numerical sorting from WinXP. There is also the restriction on creation on file associations simply in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. It doesn't work and an Open With dialog always pops up. Has a workaround been found to restore the previous behavior? It is sometimes necessary to put multiple programs on the context menu, a viewer, and editor, a CLI converter. I was able to add Take Ownership the normal way on the * extension (all files) and Directory.

Can't you use Shift-Delete or right-click on the recycling bin and disable it? I always put My Computer in the corner and the recycle bin, even though I don't use the latter.

7+ Taskbar Tweaker is essential. I've now configured the taskbar to look like Windows 2000. I have muscle memory to go for the Show Desktop button on the toolbar to the left instead of near the clock. Disabled all button dragging, and disabled pinning. Dragging is too easy to do accidentally. Somehow on my Windows 2008 computer a window somehow rarely still gets pinned. Once a week or so. Well, I installed Server, which is clean of the main Apps by default. No Cortana, etc. But there are still unnecessary SystemApps that have augmented the shell. If I hide the search bar to give more room, SearchApp still runs. There is a new tiny character map (WinKey+Period), which is always running. And of course Settings, the analogue of which have been deleted from the Control Panel. For the Settings alone, I need to keep Metro-enabling services. Now RAM use is down to 900 MB.

Is there a gentle way of stopping background Metro apps other than removing the exe file? Like is there a service responsible for launching them? I took ownership and renamed StartMenuExperienceHost.exe and SearchApp.exe. I think whoever launches them is now trying to find those files again and again. The Start menu is a pathetic shadow of the real thing and takes a few dozen MB of RAM. There is no need for it with Classic Shell. A fresh install is not so bad speed-wise. Still starts up with 1 GB of RAM used. Now there are no proceses of Edge, of which there were half a dozen or more on the existing installation. The first message I got was that "the administrator" had enabled required disagnostics sent to Microsoft. I wonder how they have disabled control over certain services such as Windows Defender Firewall. They seem to still be stoppable in the registry. Some things cannot be taken ownership of by the Administrator.

I don't see how this offer provides value to an individual consumer. To him it might look similar to the technical support scams. I wouldn't install their updates or Defender if I was paid $30. They take up disk space, are known to sometimes bring anti-features. The exception being something that is actually useful for interoperability, like new SSL certificates (forced upon us by other companies) or a new USB generation, or another technology that happens to be refinement stage about now like the Vulkan thing. But these probably won't be made as part of "security" support.

What is the different purpose for daniel_fix vs 3_USB3x_fix ? I don't know the history. The Daniel_fix driver works. To install it on Windows 2003, the section labeled NTx86.5.1.1 must be renamed to 5.1. The last digit indicates workstation, and server finds no drivers in it.

I see some talk about USB3 in this thread. Is there now a working driver for Intel USB3.0 for Windows 2003?

Yes, I switched to another cable to get an L-connector. It works fine in AHCI mode, which I would try to use anyway. Something is very suboptimal in the "translation" stage. I opened the disk in WinHex and it was obviously laggy when dragging the scrollbar, and the read speed in HDTune was only 3 MB/s. I've since put 3 Windows on it.

I resist installing NET Framework, and only use at most version 2, which comes with NT6. More and more software is built in NET these days. In the past it was mostly enthusiast programs like nLite, CueTools or gaming mods. This is the driver that came up first in my search and is about the same size as another from 2013, so nothing is lost to bloat. I see that there is nothing of value in that control panel. I do not believe that driver upgrades are necessary and don't do them in general. Usually older drivers are smaller. No need for such language. Many people on this forum seek answers about old computers and software. Look, there is an XP and Win98 section. I have two PCs on Intel 7 series and they work fine without bloated software.

What is the copy "Mode" listbox with entries for Wimboot and Compress. I don't see a help-file that describes them. I can see that some would enable compression, which is much extra work for the computer, and that the default choice is blank. And they have traffic signal indicators. It's a big lousy that the latest version is x64 and requires NT6, meaning I can't launch it from an XP boot CD to install Windows 10. I must first install Windows 7 to use it.

I have read mixed opinions about the mode of the disk controller. The prevailing thought is it makes no or very little difference in practice outside of synthetic tests. The IDE compatibility mode came first and works with more software. But here I have a computer with an Intel H77 PCH (Intel DH77KC) with a Western Digital WDS120G1G0A-00SS50. It is connected to a SATA 6G port. When the computer is in IDE mode set in BIOS, the speed to this memory drive is about 3 MB/s (three megabytes). In AHCI mode it is normal over 100 MB/s. When I saw this, I though the drive was broken. Another SSD is connected to a SATA 3 gigabit port and works normally. I can't swap them now to further investigate because of tight cable management.

I only install updates that are known to be useful. There is a sheer volume of them, and I don't trust them. I heard there was one that slowed down the computer for Spectre and Meltdown, but I don't know which one is it. Installing KB4490628 and KB4474419-v3 allowed the driver to load. The control panel extension (Gfxv2_0.exe) still crashes, but it is not immediately required. It is a NET Framework program. I could have looked for an older display driver, but I wanted to understand this problem in case it comes up again. There is a Windows Root Certificate Authority from 2010 and signature from 2020. I remember there was a protest about driver signing, and it died very quickly.

I am trying to install the display driver for Intel Graphics on Ivy Bridge. It is a new version 15.33.53.5161 for Windows 10. But apparently also supports Win NT 6.1. This driver appears to be signed with a new certificate, and is not recognized. After installing a few possibly related SSL updates and running the certificate updater for Windows XP (I do not know of an updater for Windows 7), the certificate is recognized while installing. But not when the device driver needs to be started. Is there a "legit" way of getting past this? Most sites link to this new driver. Certificates keep coming up again and again as a waste of time.

ZIP downloads now ramp up to over 6 MB/s. The browser might have a smaller receive window (socket buffer). I remember not long ago the normal speed was 400 kB/s, which was of course better than nothing, and at most you needed a 1 meg old driver file or something like that. And very slow to initialize, as if they had to spin up a disk in the headquarters. Young members of Reddit suddenly couldn't download Windows because Archive Org was the only place they were willing to go. It was hillarious. As if the Cloud had dissipated.

With WDM drivers (I think even in Windows 98 if you didn't use a VxD driver) you automatically got a "Sound Blaster" emulation without a sound card providing it, or setting anything in autoexec.bat. But in my experience DOS games usually stuttered when played like this. Maybe the sound was continuous, but the input was jagged. I understand that the question about these DOS games. They are usually relatively small in size that disk access and SSD wouldn't make much of a difference. It's more about how the DOS program is stopped to yield to multitasking. The buffer for passing the data to the actual sound card has to be small for interactive games. DOS games were probably not seen as important enough anymore when XP came out. DOSBox is always accurate. It has a high overhead as everything is emulated, but the speed will be consistent, and today you can obtain a fast enough computer to run it.

I think the word "gamer" implies a significant enthusiasm and investment into the hobby. One can play computer games and not be a gamer. Similarly, not everyone who listens to music is an "audiophile" in the typical sense of the word. I might describe a flashy styled PC component with LEDs "gamer's" or "gaming" (the latter seems more about what is directly touched to manipulate the game). One of the main culprits of the sluggishness of Windows 10 turned out to be the service SysMain. Of course, I knew about the Prefetcher, but had forgotten the service's technical name, which gives the impression that the service is central to functioning of the system. The disk activity is down after disabling it. I stumbled upon passionate articles in defense of the superfetch service (and other aspects of Windows). Their authors seem to think that Microsoft can do no wrong, and experts who disagree are without merit. Upgrade the PC and then it will work fine (and won't be needed anymore).

You seem to be coming from Western culture of plenty that demands constant growth in consumption and never have enough. It's not the first time that you've told someone that an item that is ten years old is completely unusable, like a GT 1050 video card, or left a smug comment about vinyl. Because of people like you, people like me sometimes get free stuff. Yes, the cables are made of aluminum and work fine. They don't corrode without water. They don't need to be repeatedly bent while attached to a wall and therefore their risk of breakage is irrelevant. I can run two big appliances simultaneously. When they are decently built, like an electrolux vacuum cleaner, they have a slow start. Inside the computer HDDs are often built to start staggered. I don't own a dishwasher. I can't imagine it needs to spin a big load. Describing someone else's home as "barracks" is uncalled for. The cables of this PSU are bendy. Probably copper. It is a Xilence XP730R8. But I've never had a practical issue with stiff cables as everything in the computer has moved to low power for heat, costs and greenwashing. You can read online that Inrush Current is a common problem. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/how-we-test-psu,4042-7.html It also occurs with smaller units like the brick that I use for my Opus battery charger.

No, I only play sometimes what my computer allows. Gamers continuously spend to get NASA performance.

Is WinReducerEx similar nLite? Do you have to pay for it? The marketing language is quite lengthy on WinReducer.net and it's not clear what it actually does (use an IDE to build plugins, sounds like it adds your own app to Windows). What I have is a year 2022 edition. Would you say that 23H2 is slower than earlier versions?

I got a free power supply that looks really nice. It was in a gamer system and is nominally 730 watts, a real beast. But it trips my circuit breaker with inrush current half of the time. When I flip the switch on the back there is a mighty spark. I have a 10A circuit breaker that is fine for normal uses and a good match for the wiring. I don't want to replace them because the hope is that they will trip first rather than 16A, which is before the smart meter and de-energizes the whole apartment and harder to reset. Have you encountered this issue? Could the thermistor be replaced with another nominal from a smaller power supply? It seems to be inside a tubing, and I can't see what the current markings are. I've found some reviews on gamer sites where they apparently rate them in this category among others.

Yes, I usually prefer to go over and disable services according to my needs. Are there any mature free tools similar to nLite for removing parts of modern Windows? Turns out it won't let me customize the taskbar because Windows is not activated. That's an odd punishment, considering that the number of tweaking options is very limited.