Getting started with a new PC - findings

My wife recently got accepted to college to further her degree, and our home laptop is a beater (on it now). I found a Win10 machine with quad-core intel processor, 4GB of RAM (upgrade-able to 8), 500 GB HD, and a touchscreen/broken-back Laptop mode for $270 on Amazon. It's from Acer, a company I have heard of but have never used, and I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed:
1) I don't (yet) hate Win 10- I saw something online that after June or July MS will stop pestering you for the free upgrade, which is good news, but if you want it after that, it's $119. Don't know if it's true, but I may now consider Win10 for our other PCs- anyone have it on a non-touchscreen device?

2) I expected this thing to be bursting with bloat-ware; maybe I'm getting rusty, but I only found two extraneous programs installed, both of which seem to me to have value (so maybe I AM getting old!)- both are from Acer- one is a quick launch util to reduce blue-light. I consider myself medically educated (I work in Pathology, but am not a doctor), and also a healthy skeptic. All I can say right now is the program doesn't use a ton of resources, and the display changes noticeably when I activate it, so it stays. The other piece is a "health check app" that I haven't played with, but seems to do good things- scan battery and drive health, defrag, etc. Also not a resource-hog, so it will stay.

I installed an AV program, and got it set up on our network...so far so good! Are PC manufacturers finally realizing that we're not fools? I'm seriously astonished that it didn't take longer to get this thing dialed in...so maybe Win10 is just really good at hiding a bunch of stuff.

No. You lucked out, new PCs and new phones are still generally chock full of shovelware.

dhbarr said:

No. You lucked out, new PCs and new phones are still generally chock full of shovelware.

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Hmmm...I'm rarely the lucky type! I checked "installed programs" and disabled all the creepy feedback to MS that Win10 tries to sell to you, but lacking a conventional "desktop", it's tough for me to say if I got all the useless stuff. When I look at the win10 start menu there are a TON of tiles- anyone with win 10 experience that is willing to help me pare this down?

Ok, so I withdraw anything nice I said previously- after shutting down and restarting, it can't find my network, and gives no other options other than, "can't connect"

That's the Windows we all know and love! To be fair, 2k.sp4, XP.sp3, and 7 could pass for a real OS in a pinch.

non-touchy computer, yep. runs much like it did before with win7(start-up and shut down are quicker). after July 29, 2016 it will run $119 to upgrade from win7 or 8.1, be aware that win10 does not come with DVD player software(there are alternatives though that do not come with ads). speaking of ads, the stuff I have seen on the 'win store' labeled 'free*' has ads imbedded(you have to pay to remove them).
one can right click the start menu 'tiles' to bring up options, two notable options are; turn off live tiles & unpin from start menu(think that I have only unpinned 'candy crush', however mostly just turned off the tiles(aside from the weather app))
*that is how they are labeled on the windows store 'Free*'
Rex

For any win10 machine remember to turn off the peer to peer upgrade scheme. Basically by default MS uses your machine and bandwidth as part of a torrent-like upgrade network.

soopirV said:

...anyone with win 10 experience that is willing to help me pare this down?View attachment 290653

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Yes, delete all of the tiles that come with the brick load and just add back what you want. Right click on each tile and you will get to an option to unpin or uninstall. Everything on the Right panel is Microsoft bloatware, ant the bottom two rows on the left can go.

classicshell.net gives you something similar to an old-fashioned start menu, requires some tweaking though

How do I turn off the peer-to-peer stuff?

I just bought a refurbished Surface, and I can say that I love the interface but I still hate windows.

That said, OneNote is pretty powerful, especially with the ability to use the stylus/screen like pen/paper.

We got a new PC recently with Windows 10. My impression is that it's a bit too snoopy for my taste. I still use it since games like Final Fantasy won't run on Linux just yet.

Also what's with the "Secure Boot"? I was unable to boot an OpenSUSE 42.1 install DVD at first until I went into the BIOS and disabled secure boot. Microsoft is at it again with their anti-trust practices. Limiting the hardware to boot only Microsoft-approved OSes, unless you go in and alter BIOS settings. This time they're kind of getting away with it though.

I also am curious about the peer to peer thing. I wasn't aware they were doing this. I guess bandwidth theft isn't a crime yet.

I like Windows 10, except for the Metro/Apps garbage. Most of that stuff can be eliminated, but some stuff like Cortana, you're stuck with, but you can disable to a degree. There are plenty of videos and websites that explain in detail how to flush your system.

To turn off peer to peer to into settings \ updates and I tho I there is an advanced page where you config how you want it to update. Sorry just on my phone now can give more details later if needed.

Marc_G said:

To turn off peer to peer to into settings \ updates and I tho I there is an advanced page where you config how you want it to update. Sorry just on my phone now can give more details later if needed.

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Hi Marc- I would appreciate the detailed steps if you can provide them? Got into advanced area of settings, but nothing is sticking out to me.

soop, my daughter bought an Acer laptop a few years ago and likes it well enough. No problems with it so far.

soopirV said:

Hi Marc- I would appreciate the detailed steps if you can provide them? Got into advanced area of settings, but nothing is sticking out to me.

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Settings \ Update and Security \ Windows Update \ Advanced Options \ Choose how my updates are delivered\

Turn off the slider on this page; this grays out the other settings. Note, it's not an unreasonable option to leave the slider On, but choose the next option of "PCs on my network." My Win 10 computer came pre-set to do my network PCs and PCs on the internet, which is a massive bandwidth hog.

Ok, so I to have a bunch of useless crap on me PC.
When I right click, I get a few options.
Whats the differents

Delete
Cut
Unpin
Shred
And some uninstall

Thanks

Delete deletes the shortcut, but it can still be found in the recycle bin and un-deleted.
Cut deletes the shortcut, but puts a copy in a buffer so you can paste it somewhere else.
Unpin takes it off the list or task bar.
Shred deletes it, gets rid of it from the recycle bin, and salts the earth so nothing grows there ever again.
Uninstall gets rid of the shortcut and uninstalls the program it points to.

Steve Shannon said:

Delete deletes the shortcut, but it can still be found in the recycle bin and un-deleted.
Cut deletes the shortcut, but puts a copy in a buffer so you can paste it somewhere else.
Unpin takes it off the list or task bar.
Shred deletes it, gets rid of it from the recycle bin, and salts the earth so nothing grows there ever again.
Uninstall gets rid of the shortcut and uninstalls the program it points to.

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Ok I get most of that.
Will all of the above options stop it from, what I call running in the back ground.
I unpinned abunch of stuff on startup and windows page. (what I see on the screen).
Most of the stuff I will never use anywhoo, so maybe Ill shred what I can ?
I use this PC to do pictures and visit TRF and buy stuff. That's about it.
I would like to get me reader to work. I cannt get this thing to open a pdf file from anyone here or elsewhere for that matter.The page comes up black and never loads.
Thanks again for the tips..very well appreciated.

Oh, I do the delete cookies, temps and I defrag, do a disc clean once in awhile.
So ya know, Im running an HP15 with intel(inside). that's about all I can tell you about this Lap Top.
One thing it will do, is go on a funk and it misses keys I hit. Like the word word will come up wrd. Also the space key will miss fire.
Doesn't do it all the time..wierd?

If a program is set to load or run in the registry, the only two things you can do to prevent it from running is uninstall the program and/or edit the registry. I recommend uninstalling. That's no help if you WANT to run it once in awhile.
In my attempt at humor I didn't give you a good description of shred before. I think it does not get rid of anything beyond the actual file it links to. If that's a shortcut the actual program still exists and could be run.