10 Windows 10 Settings You Should Change Right Away

[jimmysmitty]

Who needs uac when you are admin of PC in your home, you should know what you are downloading.
Its pretty anoying.

Another thing to add, even if you are an admin of windows , you still cannot change some things.

Because UAC stops apps from silently installing a random piece of software in the background especially when you have admin rights. People give it very little credit for what it does. All those people who might click one risky link and a file quietly downloads n the background to start loading what it needs. This is how people get the Ransomware virus etc.

Some of these are more tips on how to do something. I think Edge is a perfectly fine browser and overall is faster and leaner. I still have FireFox and still use IE for some things that don't work on Edge or FireFox. I will never use Chrome.

Theme colors and design are all subjective. We all used to like the default Windows XP blue task bar with a bright green Start button, remember? Now I think it looks like "My First Windows" for kids.

As with everyone else I disagree on disabling UAC. I think that should be an absolute power user only suggestion. The majority of people should never disable it. I can't tell you how much of a difference it made. Before UAC people would click any link and end up with so much junkware it was tedious cleaning up. Now they have a couple of browser bars that get installed with some other freeware. UAC stops a lot of the background installs which stops a lot of extra junkware from getting on PCs.

 

[gasaraki]

Also don't disable that "extra click" on the lock screen. That functions like the "Ctrl+Alt+Del" to get the the log in screen. It prevents malware+viruses+etc to pose as the lock screen to steal your info.

 

[geekinchief]

So, after some further thought, I've removed the UAC tip. I still think disabling UAC is a valid choice for some. However, the goal of this article was to provide advice that works for most of our readers and, from the feedback here and from some security writers I spoke with, I can see that a lot of people see great value in UAC.

One thing I'm going to do also: I'm going to turn UAC to high on all my computers for a week and see how many times it nags me. If I get some interesting results, I'll write an article about the experience.

 

[jimmysmitty]

So, after some further thought, I've removed the UAC tip. I still think disabling UAC is a valid choice for some. However, the goal of this article was to provide advice that works for most of our readers and, from the feedback here and from some security writers I spoke with, I can see that a lot of people see great value in UAC.

One thing I'm going to do also: I'm going to turn UAC to high on all my computers for a week and see how many times it nags me. If I get some interesting results, I'll write an article about the experience.

UAC got a very bad reputation with Vista. To be fair it was extremely strict. With 7 and on they tuned it down a lot.

TBH on a daily basis unless I willingly run a installer I don't see it nearly as much as you would think. For work I do because, well I do a lot of install, uninstall etc and our users are power users not admins.

 

[logainofhades]

UAC was quite annoying with Vista. I have less of a problem with it now, with Win 10.

 

[Saga Lout]

I intend to bang on about that Registry item of his, until it's corrected.

It's a fundamental and our reputation is trashed if we publish Registry alterations and don't precede it with advice on backing it up.

 

[contacto4abc]

"10 Windows 10 Settings You Should Change Right Away"

Just 1: Install GNU/Linux.

 

[SSA-Ed]

I click an Excel hyperlink to a video on YouTube - no problem. Down that same video to a local drive and hyperlink to it. Excel produces a "bother window" that defaults to "cancel" my request. When it comes to security, MS are morons. And this is with UAC turned - off!

 

[Rogue Leader]

So, after some further thought, I've removed the UAC tip. I still think disabling UAC is a valid choice for some. However, the goal of this article was to provide advice that works for most of our readers and, from the feedback here and from some security writers I spoke with, I can see that a lot of people see great value in UAC.

One thing I'm going to do also: I'm going to turn UAC to high on all my computers for a week and see how many times it nags me. If I get some interesting results, I'll write an article about the experience.

Thank you, this was a good choice.

 

[buzznut]

WIN 10 neccesity:
From Start button, click "settings." type in the search box, "control panel." Click on search result. When control panel comes up, move cursor to the control panel icon at the bottom of desktop. (taskbar)

Right click the icon and "pin to taskbar"
You may want to switch the control panel view (in the upper right corner of control panel) to "large icons."

 

[Saga Lout]

Windows key+R then type control and hit Enter. That also gets you there.

 

[bentremblay]

Hardly "mission critical", but thanks!

 

[Saga Lout]

Hardly "mission critical", but thanks!

Sorry, but I'm all for saving keystrokes.

 

[brokenthorn]

That's it! I'm unsubscribing from this more and more ridiculous and now stupid outlet.

 

[CountMike]

Holly crap, it should have a header "How to cripple W10 in 10 easy steps".
Disable UAC ? Yeah right !!! Most I could recommend is to lower it to Notify only or eventually for more experienced and with other security measures, to Never Notify. Completely disabling is not only security risk but also cripples other functions.
Turn on System restore ??? It's been depreciated and will be gone in next few builds. Even in it's heyday it was of very limited use. Many better ways to protect system, full backup is certainly best way.
Lock screen can be disabled without dabbling with Registry, speaking of which, as this guide is obviously geared for beginners, can be dangerous. Besides, most registry changes will be reset at next build anyway.
Force Windows to Close Apps at Shutdown ? Most stuck applications will terminate soon enough (under a minute, mostly in 15 seconds) and if they are stuck there's a reason for it. Look for the reason and fix it, otherwise if forced it may damage the application and maybe some other system parts.
Switch Default Browsers, Change the Title Bar Colors and Adjust Your Display Scaling are purely cosmetic and/or personal choices.

 

[Saga Lout]

I have to defend System Restore because it's very useful when my customer's profile has been corrupted.

Using Windows 10 StartUp Repair option to open a Command form, I invoke the system Administrator and log in to its account. Then it's simple to add a new user and delete the old after moving all the personal files aross to the new account.

Finally, running rstrui as Administrator takes the system back to a date before the alleged corruption (usually the last update) and doesn't wipe out the new account.

 

[CountMike]

You'll have to take SR's case to MS because it is going to be discontinued soon. It is useful in some cases but a lot of things, like an active AV, stop it from finishing.
Useful with problems with drivers for instance.

 

[Peter Martin]

whomever wrote that piece needs to be advised. They are the most foolish AND insecure settings EVER and SHOULD NOT be implemented. In fact, Tom's should print a retraction of that idiotic article.

i have personally found system restore to be next to useless, but i still leave it on for the boot drive. you try it if you need it, if it doesn't work, format/reinstall over usb clean

 

[RememberThe5th]

@jimmysmitty I said for advanced like me I dont need it since rarely I visit sketchy sites.
Im mostly youtube, toms, instructables.
Discord and online games, nothing else.
And I agree with you that majority should keep it on.
I have adblocker that USARFnet recommended instead of one that steals info, I dont like edge, It gave me troubles via Hardware acceleration (freezes and etc), if chrome starts to do that Im moving onto opera.

Also to others who say system restore is next to useless, they are wrong... System restore saved my a$$ many times, wrong driver? Restore! Something goes wrong with windows , like to my friend with picture opening? Restore!
Unless something seriously happens when I played 1.6 back in days, got banned by 1st server in world for no reason and my pc went potato mode, RESTORE!

Weird thing is, that when I got serious infection on pc, that never my othet patrition got infected, no matter what, always checked clear, with rogue, hitman, etc.

 

[Peter Martin]

lol, wrong driver? I don't have issues with drivers. I get a stable set and use the hell out of them and don't chase Framerates... that scenario has played out like that for me like... um... never.

 

[logainofhades]

lol, wrong driver? I don't have issues with drivers. I get a stable set and use the hell out of them and don't chase Framerates... that scenario has played out like that for me like... um... never.

Drivers have been known to corrupt, for no explainable reason. Not to mention Windows updates breaking things.

 

[Peter Martin]

drivers don't just get corrupt. maybe if you are always crashing, then yes. there has got to be a reason if corruption is involved. my point is this, I've used windows 10 now since it got released and that feature has rarely been used successfully by us. I have found that if an update has messed you up, the best thing to do usually is fresh clean install. going back with restore and then failing again to update drive me insane.

I have only had to reinstall Windows 10 a handful of times on various computers. Usually it's install and away it goes until the computer has hardware issues with me.

 

[Peter Martin]

I still won't turn off System Restore on my C drive until MS takes it away though

 

[RememberThe5th]

Oh, trust me they do, i was updating from fresh install 15xx-1803 (sorry, I really dont know first version of win10), after it i got to 1703 it installed its own driver for RX 480, and guess what? It started screen to turn on and off for several minutes until i used IGPU to reinstall driver.
Same for installing sound card old drivers of vista to win7 caused me issues until i restores.

 

[logainofhades]

I had a USB 3.0 driver, on my wife's Asus laptop go bad, for no known reason, back when I was the only one using it. Plug something into it, and BSOD.