New Laptop with Windows 10

[Reece]

I just purchased a new ASUS G771Win 10 64 bit JW-T7187T Laptop with the following specs:
Processor i7-4750HQ Turbo 3.2Ghz
16Gb memory
2Tb Hdd
Gforce GTX 960M
The previous and current computer has WinXP Pro.
This is a huge change and I'm not sure what to do, I haven't been game enough to turn it on even!!
I suppose the first thing to do would be to try and connect to the internet but before I do is there any advice on firewalls etc?
The second thing would probably find a tweaking program.
All advice for this and other things/problems I might run into would be appreciated. (I assume there would be a huge difference between Win XP and Win 10)

Thanks in advance.

[Skybird]

Decide wether or not you care for privacy. W10 kills it anyway, since Microsoft makes money from selling you to its customers. But you can influence a bit how easy you make it for Microsoft, and seal your copy of W10 off a bit. Switching privacy intrusion off completely you cannot.

Here you need to search the web on info a bit.

Also understand that dramatic change in update policies. No longer can you choose what updates you want and what not - you can delay it at best to get all the stuff shoveled onto your HD, but you cannot say Nay anymore. Well maybe you can, I am not certain - but you need to have a pro admin's knowledge to do so and must be willing to manually investigate every single KB patch and do research on the web whether it is broken or not and invest a lot of time for all this - and Microsoft has dramatically reduced the quality of its patches in the past 24 months, and fired experienced staff working on such patches. Again: Microsoft insists that you accept to take the bad, the broken, the step-backwards patches as well, you cannot opt out, at best you can only delay it. So be prepared to get hit by bad stuff and serve as a Beta tester unvoluntarily. When you run into problems that are new, did not exist on the day before, always consider that it might be due to a new patch, especially after patching Tuesdays. The issues can be, but must not always be, very severe. And it is known that it can seriously impact on gaming, too. Many people therefore have decided to upgrade from W10 back to an earlier version of Windows. Which has its own set of problems nowadays.

I would make it a habit to scan this blog twice or three times a week.

https://www.askwoody.com/

The audience is mostly pro admins working for companies, but much of what they have to say is valid for private end users, too. Whether we always understand all the stuff they talk, is something different. But after some time you might get a feeling for the swing of things. But its safe to say that professionals and adminstrators hate Windows 10. Telling you this not to frustrate you, but to set you up on your guard. Its also recommended to spend two or three hours and investigate this blog over the past 18 months or so.

Sorry that I cannot talk you through W10 setups better, but I do not use it, and do not intend to ever use it. Limiting privacy vulnerabilties and being aware of the worstening patching situation are the two things you need to watch out for and research on the web. This is the answer to your initial question, or a hint for the answers to your question.

And do not blindly trust what Microsoft writes about this or that patch. They are lying all too often and intentionally mislabel stuff these days, or simply leave out important but controversial descriptions. Serious. The past two years have been full of such incidents.

Try to enjoy your new kit despite my depressing answer! New computers always are adventures best enjoyed at the very beginning. Just accept that you need to say goodby to the idea that you own your computer. The new owner is Microsoft, and they will try to do with it as they please.

[Commander Wallace]

Congratulations on your newest acquisition Reece. This a major league unit. Skybird makes some good points. I have some thoughts as well. Rockin Robbins had mentioned setting up a Firewall system and it makes good sense. It prevents virus's and malware that has been installed in your computer from communicating back to it's place of origin. There are one way and two way firewalls.

http://www.itscolumn.com/2011/08/wha...-way-firewall/


Also look into a good utility software suite to consolidate operations within your computer. You can use it to speed things up by disabling programs that initiate at startup. It has other uses and benefits as well. This would be useful for users with less capable computers. Your unit will handle anything you choose to throw at it.

One other thought. Some tech people I know have told me that new computers sold in the future equipped with Microsoft operating systems purchased from retailers will not allow the end user to reinstall a different operating system like Linux after removing the Microsoft system. This also applies if you choose to install a new HDD as well. For advanced users, I would think if the Bios was wiped, you could reinstall Linux but I haven't seen it performed yet. I'm also wondering if you could order a commercially available computer from retailers without an operating system pre installed.

This would not apply if one decided to build their own computer with readily available motherboards, CPU's and other hardware components. For capable people like this that can do their own work, they again can install Linux or any other available operating system of their choice. For laptop users, this may be more difficult.

[Rockin Robbins]

Poof! I've been summoned! Software firewalls are not absolutely necessary if you're sitting behing the harware firewall of a router, either wireless or wired. However, a software firewall gives you a degree of control that I find useful.

Windows Firewall, which is a part of Windows 10 is a 1-way firewall system. That means that it filters incoming connections to your computer. If you have not authorized, or that connection is not automatically authorized by Windows, the connection is not allowed.

A one-way firewall should be all you need unless you are a very juicy corporate target or someone would be willing to put a lot of effort forth to get into your goodies. Unfortunately, even randomly, those persistent people rarely become a big problem. I've never had such a problem.

But what if you are a bit paranoid? What if, in spite of your firewall, bad stuff gets on your computer? It can happen, because the greatest hazard to your computer is you, installing malware, and no firewall can keep you from doing that unless it just pulls the plug and your computer becomes a very bad and expensive boat anchor.

A two-way firewall filters outgoing connections too. Initially, when your programs try to make an outgoing connection a dialog box pops up and says "Bub, you really want this connection to happen?" and you say "Yes, and remember that please." And that program is authorized to send info over the Internet.

This means that if you do install a piece of malware on your system and it tries to send its information home, your two-way firewall will pop up that dialog box to alert you. You will have to authorize the connection. At the very least, that tells you that somebody's calling home. Most of the tme that's legitimate and you'll authorize the connection.

What if it is a process you don't recognize. You have a name to do a Google search with to see it you need to worry about it and its connection is interrupted until you do.

But is that valid protection? Maybe. If it's an internal Windows 10 process chances are the name will be reported honestly and if it's telemetry you can tell the firewall "No way Jose and remember that." But real malware outside Microsoft (the new king of malware) often masquerades under the name of an inoccuous process. "Do you want TimeUpdater.exe to access the Internet?" Yeah, that's legitimate. But in this case it's malware stealing the name of a normally legitimate process. See what I'm getting at? Two-way firewalls are useful but not infallable because a fallable human is running the show.

The best alternative for Microsoft snooping is Spybot Anti-Beacon. This is a free program, updated regularly, whose sole task is to keep Microsoft malware from calling home. You have infinite control with tons of options. It's a very good program and I use it even for Windows 7.

Personally right now I'm running Windows Firewall on my one remaining Windows machine and haven't had a problem. I am also behind a hardware firewall.

I was just given one of those HP all-on-one computers with a 21" touch screen. First thing I did was dump Windows 10 off the machine and install Ubuntu 16.10. Yikes! Linux is better with a touch screen than Windows 10! It's really pretty phenominal, especially when you consider that Linux is perfectly happy WITHOUT a touch screen too. Unlike Microsoft's practice it isn't necessary to toss out the baby with the bathwater.

[vienna]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

...But what if you are a bit paranoid? What if, in spite of your firewall, bad stuff gets on your computer? It can happen, because the greatest hazard to your computer is you, installing malware, and no firewall can keep you from doing that unless it just pulls the plug and your computer becomes a very bad and expensive boat anchor.

...


The best alternative for Microsoft snooping is Spybot Anti-Beacon. This is a free program, updated regularly, whose sole task is to keep Microsoft malware from calling home. You have infinite control with tons of options. It's a very good program and I use it even for Windows 7.

...

...and if you're really paranoid, you'll wonder what info Spybot Anti-Beacon is sending back to home base or if it might be a front for Microsoft...

Another series of tools, for the advanced users, is Microsoft's Sysinternls Suite:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/.../bb842062.aspx

This is free from MS and here is the home site for more info:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/.../bb545021.aspx

Particularly useful is the Autoruns tool, which allows you to seek out and block software that launches on startup, some of which don"t even show up in the Task Manager's Startup list. If you are comfortable with getting into the nuts and bolts of machines, these tolls could be a help...



<O>

[Reece]

Well this has made me even more paranoid/worried about turning the computer on. Maybe I should turn it on without an internet connection.
I am still running on my old computer, maybe I should download the software ( Spybot Anti-Beacon.) on to a usb stick and plug that into the new machine at startup. Does it have to be online when starting Win 10?

The dealer said that most machines will not allow the installation of an older windows version or even Linux, I wonder if this computer will or won't allow other operating systems.
I did search for a Win 7 system before I selected this one but basically only a few old slow machines were available in only a few stores.
My Galaxy S4 has an older version of Android (kit-kat) and is great compared to the newer versions, I can actually turn auto updates off.
I was hoping for some sort of positive response regarding Windows 10 but there doesn't seem to be any.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Reece

Well this has made me even more paranoid/worried about turning the computer on. Maybe I should turn it on without an internet connection.
I am still running on my old computer, maybe I should download the software ( Spybot Anti-Beacon.) on to a usb stick and plug that into the new machine at startup. Does it have to be online when starting Win 10?

The dealer said that most machines will not allow the installation of an older windows version or even Linux, I wonder if this computer will or won't allow other operating systems.
I did search for a Win 7 system before I selected this one but basically only a few old slow machines were available in only a few stores.
My Galaxy S4 has an older version of Android (kit-kat) and is great compared to the newer versions, I can actually turn auto updates off.
I was hoping for some sort of positive response regarding Windows 10 but there doesn't seem to be any.

Wow! You've been fed a couple of shovels of fresh horse squeeze there by the dealer.

Older versions of Windows, including Windows 7 and Linux can be installed on every computer I've ever seen, including my HP all in one with the most vicious BIOS setup I've ever seen.

As a matter of fact, after you throw the right switches, you can pull the hard drive out of your old computer, install it into your new one and just boot up! You would probably have to reactivate Windows over the phone and you'd be good to go. However I wouldn't recommend running XP today. Windows 7 is best if you want to stay with Microsoft.

You're dealing with less than astute people where you bought your new machine.

[blkdimnd]

Use pcdecrapifer. Cleans most of the bloarware off a new computer. You can find it at pcdecrapifer.com

Then let the PC install all its updates. Windows 10 comes with good Antivirus and antimalware software. And has a built-in firewall.

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

[Reece]

Wow, I'm using my new system with Windows 10!!
After about 5 hours of tearing my hair out it's not looking too bad.
@blkdimnd, I had actually downloaded Ultimate Tweaker from Major Geeks and that is good.
@ Rockin Robbins, I am glad to hear that I can purchase and install Win 7 if I give up with 10 but since it's on I will persist.
Trying to wade through all this extra baggage is a total pain but managed to uninstall many apps that I wouldn't use.
This computer on startup already had McAfee installed, should I uninstall it or let it go?
I have installed Spybot and after pressing 'Immunize' seems to be running ok.
I actually managed to install Firefox and using Mozbackup restored my bookmarks.
I still haven't been able to stop Windows updates, that is annoying, hopefully that doesn't become a pain.
I really must try getting a Linux boot DVD and give it a go sometime.
One thing annoying is I keep touching the 'touch plate' and sending the mouse flying across the screen, I am using a standard usb mouse.
I am going to see if I can install Total Commander, I liked that on XP.
Thanks for the support guys.

[Skybird]

Linux boot DVD or better USB stick can be created by yourself, you must not wait for an "opportunity". You need an ISO file and a tool to get it as bootable onto the DVD or stick, thats all. As Robbins and me said in other threads, the charm is that you can make it a bootable stick, you then can check it out in all of Linux's details without needing to install it on your HD. You boot your new laptop from the stick with Linux on it (UEFI/BIOS settings must allow that).

If you need Windows for launching games depending on it, then you need to stick with Windows. If that is not a concern to you, you can abandon Windows right now, no need to go through all that hassle with W10. The future of Windows holds no promises for improvements, just more worries. And risks.

[blkdimnd]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Linux boot DVD or better USB stick can be created by yourself, you must not wait for an "opportunity". You need an ISO file and a tool to get it as bootable onto the DVD or stick, thats all. As Robbins and me said in other threads, the charm is that you can make it a bootable stick, you then can check it out in all of Linux's details without needing to install it on your HD. You boot your new laptop from the stick with Linux on it (UEFI/BIOS settings must allow that).

If you need Windows for launching games depending on it, then you need to stick with Windows. If that is not a concern to you, you can abandon Windows right now, no need to go through all that hassle with W10. The future of Windows holds no promises for improvements, just more worries. And risks.

Can you run Silent Hunter 5 under Linux?? O_o
If so, I might dual boot.

[Skybird]

Linux and Silent Hunter, that is a hobby of Rocking Robbins, you better ask him: a.) he knows Linux better than I do, and b.) he has a thread in here describing how he has set up Silent Hunter and Linux.

Not all is possible regarding gaming and Linux, but much more than just years ago. And there is always the optionj to go with a Virtual Machine Windows running under Linux - an option I sympathised with some time ago, but still have not further examined. With age comes laziness...

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Linux and Silent Hunter, that is a hobby of Rocking Robbins, you better ask him: a.) he knows Linux better than I do, and b.) he has a thread in here describing how he has set up Silent Hunter and Linux.

Not all is possible regarding gaming and Linux, but much more than just years ago. And there is always the optionj to go with a Virtual Machine Windows running under Linux - an option I sympathised with some time ago, but still have not further examined. With age comes laziness...

Unfortunately I don't know anything about SH5.

I elected not to buy any more Ubi games after the initial SH5 debacle when it was clear that Ubi's vision was not simulation but soap opera, where the contents of the cook's soup was a focal point of the game. That and the log on or don't play thing. Didn't like their resumption of the SecuROM debacle after totally eliminating in in v1.3 of SH4 either.

I'm not interested in playing U-boats in a partial war in the Atlantic either. So I know zero about getting Silent Hunter 5 in Linux. I'll use my connections over at WineHQ to find out what I can. I'm the maintainer of their Silent Hunter 4 section so I should be able to find out whether SH5 works under WINE.

Like Skybird says, the alternative would be in a virtual machine running Windows cradled safely in the arms of Linux so it can't hurt anybody!

[Rockin Robbins]

According to WineHQ, you're golden with SH5! Unless there's been a regression with WINE since then, it should work even better today than when it was tested with WINE 1.5. Current version was 2.1-rc2 last I knew. It's been flawless so far. You get an error message when leaving JSGME but just close the error box and continue as if it didn't happen!

[Reece]

I have a few ini files that I would like to edit but I keep getting a message to say that the file is write protected!! When I check its properties it is not write protected, could this be a firewall thing?
Should I get rid of (uninstall) McAfee? How do I know if Windows firewall is active?
What is the benefit of paying $150 for the pro upgrade?

Edit: I finally found that I had to change the users rights to the file before I could edit it, what a pain!!
Every time I create a new folder it is write protected, how do I stop this? Talk about frustrating!!!