How to Set Up a Windows PC for Gaming and Productivity

[Admin]

Microsoft's operating system has some default settings that slow you down. Stop what you're doing and tweak these .

How to Set Up a Windows PC for Gaming and Productivity : Read more

 

[cknobman]

"There's a reason why Microsoft Edge has only 4 to 6 percent of the desktop browser market. It's not a bad browser, but most people prefer the rich ecosystem of extensions and broad support that Chrome and Firefox enjoy. "

Was this a copy/paste from a years old article or does the author really have no clue?
Edge is based on Chromium and has the same ecosystem of support and extensions Chrome does.

 

[jkhoward]

I’m confused, you title this “improve performance” but nothing here actually improves performance….

“Tweak these settings for best performance.”

 

[DivergentMoon]

Microsoft's operating system has some default settings that slow you down. Stop what you're doing and tweak these .

How to Set Up a Windows PC for Gaming and Productivity : Read more

Quick suggestion - I found a better way to remove all crapware (dealing with an HP machine just now). I found that even if you uninstall the bloat, the crapware can come back with an update or show up on every user you set up with the computer. Boot up the new machine and go ahead register the computer, update the computer firmware, etc. Once you are done use the windows media creation tool to create a USB windows 10 or 11 install (I did win 11). Reboot the computer to the USB. Once you get to the install and have to choose your drive, go through and delete all existing partitions and then on a clean drive, install windows. No more bloatware (other that what windows gives you) and you got your self a pristine machine to do some of your other helpful edits.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

I can't believe this article was written by the EDITOR IN CHIEF! Not only are the suggestions unnecessary for intermediate and advanced users (they are likely to know them all), they can be downright dangerous for novice users.

It's NEVER a good idea for novice users to unhide system files and extensions (and your comment about not knowing if it's a XLS or XLSX is fluff, as Office handles both just fine, and there may be a specific reason it needs to be in the older format), nor delete the system restore partition.

And how is "Setup OneDrive" not on this list? For novice users the free allotment of space is a great way for them to help protect their documents and pictures, especially if they have to do a system reset, without having to remember to do backups. Heck, "Check for Windows Updates" isn't even on the list, but "Update Your Graphics Driver" is?

 

[dimar]

How come I don't have "Set Default" button on my Windows 11? Are you running more recent version Win11 than 21H2?

Mostly great tips
Here's my preferences
Custom color mode, Dark for Windows default mode, and Light for default app mode.
Dark blue accent for title bars and windows borders.
Disable hibernation file to save on SSD writes.
Set minimum swap file to 800MB and max to 8000MB, since I have lots of RAM.

 

[joeldf]

It's NEVER a good idea for novice users to unhide system files and extensions (and your comment about not knowing if it's a XLS or XLSX is fluff, as Office handles both just fine, and there may be a specific reason it needs to be in the older format), nor delete the system restore partition.

While keeping system files hidden may be fine for a novice, I don't agree about keeping extensions hidden. I've always thought that was the worst idea MS ever had when they began hiding extensions by default way back in Windows 95. In fact, it's a known security risk that has been exploited by spammers with email attachments going back to '95.

Regardless of knowledge, most computer users actually do know a jpg from an exe. Many users do end up having to copy files from various places to their computer.

On another note, while removing the OEM partition is an interesting idea - a lot more systems are made with the primary drive being an SSD while including a secondary SATA HDD. Sometimes, the SSD is Disk 0 (my wife's Dell AIO is like that with a second HDD as Disk 1), but sometimes not (my son's Dell Inspiron boot SSD is Disk 1 while the secondary 1TB HDD is Disk 0). On my own built PC, the boot SSD is Disk 2, with a second and third HDDs being Disk 0 and Disk 1. I have no idea how my system decided to set the drives that way. Of course, being a PC I built, there's no OEM partion to worry about - just the 100 MB EFI system partition and the 500 MB recovery partition.

 

[HideOut]

Did the author test any of these? First of all, the linked pictures to show stuff like the regedit screen cannot be enlarged. if someone is trying to do this that hasn't done it before its not very helpfull. Also, the no lock/loggon screen edit does not work. I added the string, rebooted and still had to type my 4 digit code. I went back to the instructions and i was spot on (not that the picture is big enough to actually read). I'm running the most up to date windows 10. Did not work.

 

[PCMan75]

Great tips - thank you! But being MSDN subscriber - I just download Windows ISOs, put them on a USB drive (as per MS instructions), and install from there. Even when I bought a computer with Windows pre-installed - I just booted from ISO, reformatted disk, and installed a fresh copy. That way I have minimal amount of crapware. Of course, if what I consider crapware is a Windows feature (like OneDrive) - extra effort is needed to remove this - and in case of OneDrive: it comes back by itself even after was completely removed!