NathanE speaks the truth. 
Why on earth aren't you stopping them before they hit the local machine?
Why on earth aren't you stopping them before they hit the local machine?
How to - Windows Fast Edition
- Thread starter ChrisGTL
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Carry on paying your yearly snake oil subscription then if you really believe that.
I'm not paying a subscription. I consider myself knowledgeable enough to judge for myself which code should be executed on my machine. For most enthusiasts, AV is rarely required. Even so, I still run free Avast, just in case.
You're not being reasonable, and you're not responding to my arguments. How can you deny that AV software is better than nothing? Every virus which is detected by AV software makes it better than nothing!
All I see is the common mistake made on these forums: assuming that every user is either an expert user or a corporate user, and judging IT products on that basis. For the average home user, there is benefit to AV.
A few years ago I'd be in your camp but Vista (yes Vista) and Windows 7 work very well out of the box. Disabling Indexing, for example, won't make my machine faster for me to use. I like the Windows indexing features! I don't run AV on my gaming PC but the laptops in my house do have Avast installed for obvious female related reasons.
Like you say, if you want a super-ultra-mega fast, stable and secure OS you really need Linux
Edit: Why disable hibernation? Surely in your quest for speed hibernation is the ultimate compromise between "instant on" and being able to shut down your machine and resume what you're at later. I use a mixture of sleep after 30 minutes and hibernation so startup speeds have not affected me for years
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I kinda take issue and disagree with that having watched Ubuntu fall over repeatedly, but at the same time I appreciate the point you're making so I won't argue. All I'll say is that Windows Vista onwards meets my definition of fast, stable and secure.
I also agree that some AV is better than nothing for most people. To trust it to completely protect your system is a complete fallacy, but to run something like MSE (free) on a home computer the advantages outweight the impact on system performance on modern computers in my opinion. It's useful for the heads-up alone. Each to their own though.
You forgot the most important one.
Disable Server service!
Help and Support can go also. I leave indexing on but only let it index my Start Menu.
SuperFetch/Defrag Off on an SSD also.
I browse with Opera and Disable Disk Caching which is a huuge boost.
Disable Server service!
Help and Support can go also. I leave indexing on but only let it index my Start Menu.
SuperFetch/Defrag Off on an SSD also.
I browse with Opera and Disable Disk Caching which is a huuge boost.
Because it's a silly feature on an SSD system, I hate it on a HDD system also. Wastes space equal to RAM and is prone to falling over.
Can boot my Vertex 3 in 30 seconds tops. 60 seconds on a reboot desktop > desktop (including the time it takes me to put my password in
)Don't use sleep either because I hate it
To be fair though, my PC is on 24/7 365.
AV software is a necessary evil in most machines in my household, simply because of the wife and a 13-year old. They both understand about virus and malware, and both realise what not to do, but I'd still have a free AV on the machine just in case. Old spec, but kept up to date and runs fine for what I need...I'd like a SSD, but it's not of vast importance to me. As for other stuff, I don't bother too much with tweaking windows (Win 7 64-bit) as it runs pretty well most of the time so to make a 10% speed up not really worth it...
Because it's a silly feature on an SSD system, I hate it on a HDD system also. Wastes space equal to RAM and is prone to falling over.
Can boot my Vertex 3 in 30 seconds tops. 60 seconds on a reboot desktop > desktop (including the time it takes me to put my password in
Don't use sleep either because I hate it
To be fair though, my PC is on 24/7 365.
Falling over? Never, not once since before Windows 7 came out officially have I had a hiberation failure. Not in sleep either. My system wakes and is ready to go before my monitor and that is on a Samsung F3 HDD
I must say I've seen it fail a lot in the past but I've never really played about with it in 7.
It seems that way. Lots of tweaks which in reality, will achieve very little. There's simply no need to go tweaking the hell out of Windows these days.
Hibernate is only useful on a laptop anyway where boot times and battery life are both of concern. For a PC, Sleep is the better one to use seeing as you've got permanent power, and it means a usable system in about 3-5 seconds. Renders full shutdowns virtually pointless really.
Exactly, hence why I disable hibernation and delete the associated .sys file - 6GB more space on my SSD. Every little helps!!
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Or just get a really low power htpc and leave it on over night which solves the problem to leave in sleep or hibernation
At least there's a tangible benefit to that though: 6GB of space.
Many of your other tweaks are just trivial. Disabling the Action Centre, disabling balloon pop-ups, disabling IPv6. There's simply no gain to be had there other than to just tear out features that are intended to be useful (and are useful when used properly).
Surprised you haven't disabled UAC to be honest.
As a side note, I'm surprised that Microsoft seemingly haven't been able to differentiate between commands sent via the keyboard and mouse (electrical impulses) as opposed to any other means, thus negating the need for UAC? Unless I'm missing something obvious here...
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You know, that's actually not a bad idea......