RanCorX2

not sure telling users that old betas of windows 10 are worth using instead of newer builds. performance is fine on the build i'm on, 20h2 and was fine on the one before that. i'd be more concerned about the bugs, bloat they keep introducing and the removal of control panel features. so far i've had to add the following to my install to keep it feeling and looking like windows 7; open shell menu + w7 start orb and menu skin taskbar for classic right click on taskbar items replacement network indicator on tray with w7 icon and access to old networking cpl t-clock for classic clock and calendar flyout classic alt+tab media player classic be & hc. default w7 wallpaper because i don't care about custom wallpaper. replaced edge with opera as backup browser + addons using firefox as main browser + addons and customised to have same ui layout as ie11 because why not.

very rarely. since switching all my apps (well all the non critical ones) to portables, reinstalls are done only when something real bad happens. in-place upgrade usually does the trick instead of clean install if needed. only things not portable on my install; drivers (obviously) support stuff like visual c++ redists games

NetLimiter is also good but it's not free, it's mostly for restricting connections though. btw is there any other sites like https://browserleaks.com/ip that check for tcpip fingerprinting? i recently changed my mtu to one that doesn't fragment packets and now that site doesn't detect my windows os, only shows hops and mtu. I did change a few other settings too. I read this https://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=security/osfuscate-change-your-windows-os-tcp-ip-fingerprint-to-confuse-p0f-networkminer-ettercap-nmap-and-other-os-detection-tools before having a tinker.

Windows Defender is the second thing I always disable when I reinstall or upgrade. UAC being the first. Telling me non malicious software is bad. *%("@ you windows! All I have for protection is; custom hosts file, clamwin av portable, spybot portable, spyware blaster portable, loads of services disabled, 99% tasks disabled, firefox w/ ublock and few other addons and a large tweaked prefs file, w10privacy, blackbird, o&o shutup10, lots of reg tweaks, custom firewall rules and common sense. I don't let windows control anything that I can do myself.

I don't even install updates anymore, i just update my wim, re-create an iso and also copy it to my usb installation stick. Can't remember the last time a hotfix actually reached 100% on 10 without the stupid failed configuring updates message.... i have several computers and they all do that if i try and install an update the normal way via the .msu so i don't bother anymore. (and that's on an unmodified installation) i.e. not tinkered with.... updates failing to install for me was pretty rare on xp, vista, 7 and 8. i started having failed updates more often starting with 10 th1.

edge had sidebar, though it was crappy and basic edge chrome like all chrome browsers has no native sidebar (opera one doesn't count as it's crap) for me a sidebar is 100% required.

can't be done as the feature has been removed. scaling can be added back to control panel via an old display.dll but resolution page is gone.

^ your joking right?

^ sorry to be blunt but if everything runs slow, it's not windows 10, it's your pc. if you are still using an old style hard drive for windows, then i can see why i might be slow as those drives are just awful for os use by todays standards. i upgraded a machine a few months back for a friend as they still had a hard drive with the os on it and it was painfully slow to do anything, uninstalling software, loading programs, moving files..ughh putting windows on a ssd makes all the difference.

don't forget readyboost, i never saw any gains from that either.

i last used superfetch back on windows 7 when i had a hard drive i only remember it using lots of ram, programs opened a little bit faster but not much. i disabled it when i switched to a ssd for windows. though this site says windows 8.x and 10 disable it when your have windows on a ssd. https://www.howtogeek.com/256859/dont-waste-time-optimizing-your-ssd-windows-knows-what-its-doing/

isn't superfetch worthless when using a ssd?

screen of processes list would be helpful.

broken builds, broken hotfixes, they sure do like breaking stuff. thanks for the heads up, will not be integrating that in my next updated iso.

1. disable automatic windows update - should be recommened. a. if you want to use windows update - only install office updates manually using WUMT / WUMGR / PowerShell b. remove ms office and install a free office then you won't have to bother with wu. c. don't install drivers from wu as they are usually out of date. d. make sure insiders programme is not active so you don't accidently upgrade to some broken beta. installing the big a** "hotfixes" stopped working for me ages ago (failed configuring update error and the repair component store thing never worked either as it always said source files missing when they weren't) so i don't bother with them, i just integrate them in my install media and then do an inplace upgrade to get the fixes applied. never had hotfix failures till after windows 8.1. only time updates failed to install was when the updates themselves were broken and you got an error before they even installed while still on the desktop. component store of windows 10 is a pain in the a**. 2. use O&O shutup10 to disable all the privacy concerns + blackbird to check system a. disable all services not required for general use b. disable *all event logs except app, sys, sec and setup and few others (*will list others later) 3. uninstall windows apps + store 4. install a 3rd party start menu 5. don't you edge, it sucks. use a better browser. (can't easily backup settings, bookmarks, extensions) i recommend Pale Moon fork of Firefox, it still offers customization, uses under half the amount of memory quantum, chrome, opera, no webextensions. leaves out all the bloat that quantum has. you can install lots of addons and still have LOW memory usage. for example quantum with ebay / youtube open i had 1.2gb of memory in use but on pale moon i have 4xx-7xxmb max, drops down to 4xx-5xxmb when a page finishes loading. quantum didn't seem to release memory, just climbed and climbed... best of all, classic firefox ui!!!! = customization / skins etc. I like classic stuff.