OCUK Approved Software for Gaming/Monitoring, New instal

zoobee

zoobee

zoobee

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Greetings trusted members,

Can we have an OCUK approved thread on trusted software following a reinstall of Windows 8 Disk, what are the procedures for rebuilding and tweaking, must do's, tips to speed up etc?

I got the mother of all virus and had to wipe my SSD and start from scratch, Im not into adverts, shopping or anything that might slow BF4, speed it literally everything. I lost all my nice gaming programs CPU, GPU monitor stuff, desktop addons, PC settings, just everything that I cant even remember I had. *crys* Help me restore my nice BF4 gaming PC to a slick, fast trusted gaming PC.

I'm now on win 8.1 64bit pro considering win 10.., but I just play BF4, I'm here to game mostly. *added*, a if you know you want Win 10 and BF4 on one SSD, get bigger than 120Gb.


So for us all, please provide your must have trusted programmes, I trust OCUK and its people, so please suggestions, we link only to trusted sites.

So far we seem to trust

Win defender, MS.
Malwarebytes https://www.malwarebytes.org/
CCleaner https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download
Laatest nvidia, Gforce gaming experience http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk
AMD Driver/Updates http://support.amd.com/en-us/download
Origin https://www.origin.com/en-gb/download
7Zip http://www.7-zip.org/
Greenshot http://getgreenshot.org/
Speccy https://www.piriform.com/speccy
HWmonitor http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
HWInFo http://www.hwinfo.com/
Winrar http://www.win-rar.com/start.html?&L=0
Keypass http://keepass.info/
Samsung Magician, for Samsung SSD http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...wnloads.html?gclid=CLHksMuQy8gCFYyRGwodv-kJxA
MSI Afterburner? http://gaming.msi.com/features/afterburner
Steam http://store.steampowered.com/about/
BF 4 Settings editor http://battlefield.realmware.co.uk/bf4-settings-editor/downloads
Steam Mover http://www.traynier.com/software/steammover
Discord? https://discordapp.com/
Original MB BOIS/Network adaptor from CD, installed?

I need monitoring for GPU and CPU, AV and other stuff I'm sure so please list your must haves, little gems, tips, new install routines, must do's, must not do's.

Many thanks lads,
 
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KIA said:
Do you need Java?
Click to expand...

I don't know, do I? Genuine question.
I'm so paranoid aftering getting wrecked by that virus, first in 5 yrs on win 8, i got sloppy.

Im even reading the T&C s on Ms updates, thats how bad i am, so I dont want stuff from download.com, and all the other DL sites with tonnes of malware and shopping bars and search bars.
its all about Gaming and speed and monitoring and tweaking and keeping safe, nice lightweight stuff.
Malwarebytes served me well, Ill trust them too, and c cleaner.
 
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Thanks Orc, Added Speccy too, same people as CCleaner so a trusted source, just make sure I DL from the right link and not a proxy site with it loaded with their ad ware.

https://www.piriform.com/

Is coretemp safe? I heard bad things, but i never had issues.

HWmonitor? Seems nice, very nice, but i liked the compactness of coretemp, sitting in the corner all nice.
 
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Leave out Java. Swap WinRAR for 7-Zip. MSI AfterBurner is a nice GPU/CPU monitoring program. Windows defender is actually a decent AV on Windows 8.1, very similar to Microsoft Security Essentials on previous Windows versions.
 
Just done something similar but with W10...

Having done a fresh install, preferably with UEFI fast and secure boot and a graphics card with a GOP VBIOS.

I first got hold of the Intel Rapid Storage Technology floppy driver from Intel taking care to select the correct version for the chipset series of my motherboard. This can then be supplied during the Windows install and saves having to install iRST software in Windows and avoids having that app sitting in the system tray.

When doing W10 I add a local user account during install so as to avoid the User folder naming issue that occurs with using a MS account. I then change this user account to my MS account after install.

Delete some of the preinstalled Modern UI apps and shortcuts to certain apps from the MS app store.

Allow Windows Update to install all available updates before adding any hardware drivers that you've sourced. Use the website for your motherboard as a guide only as to what drivers and software you need. A lot of it you may not need as Windows may have pulled in a more recent version. Much of the motherboard utility software you can probably do without and save on having it in the system tray unless you really feel the need that you're going to make use of it.

Check the graphics manufacturers site if you want a more recent beta driver or perhaps or more recent stable release than MS installed via Windows Update.

Sound drivers, obviously dependant on what's integrated on the motherboard and whether you also have a discreet sound card. Mine had a Realtek chip so I have 'Realtek HD Audio Manager' and 'THX TruStudio Pro Settings' apps in the system tray but I was able to identify that these were relevant to my needs from the motherboard website and then I got the latest of these from Realtek's website.

OneDrive came shipped with W10, can't recall whether it was with W8 but since I have a MS account it's useful to have some cloud storage.

I have AMD so I have the AMD Gaming Evolved app which I think there's an NVidia equivalent. Not in any way a necessity but I had it before so stuck with it.

MSI Afterburner and optionally during install you can add the server feature if you want to see on screen stats for temps etc whilst in-game.

I use Speedfan which shows all my temps in the system tray. I use my motherboard to control the CPU fans as it can tell how hot it is and the fans are PWM type, so it can regulate the fan speeds accordingly. Regardless of whether I'm logged in to the PC or whether it's on the lock screen the BIOS is at least monitoring and maintaining CPU temp. I use Afterburner to monitor and regulate the GPU fans. I use Speedfan to monitor the CPU and GPU and regulate the case fans which are all PWM type.

I have Logitech keyboard and mouse so I have the SetPoint software for those in the system tray.

I just use Kaspersky for AV etc since I get 3 licenses for PC's for free from my bank plus a license for Android. Prior to this I referred to the following independent site and made a judgement based on the following two reports. The first is real world testing and the second is heuristic and behavioural protection against new/unknown malicious software.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/avc_factsheet2015_09.pdf

http://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/avc_beh_201503_en.pdf

I don't use Win Defender, Malwarebytes, CCleaner and only install WinRAR or 7zip if I end up needing them. I wouldn't install Java either unless you need it for software development purposes. If it turns out later that you need Java for a website and you're browser doesn't have built in support just make sure you go and download Java from Oracle rather than following a pop up offering you the download as that is a sure fire way to be duped into installing a virus. Same goes for Flash Player, either use a browser that supports it and thus maintains downloads for it to keep it up to date or ensure when you come across some flash media content that you don't install Flash upon a pop up offering it to you but rather go get it directly from Oracle's website.

So having looked through my system tray I will go down a few things I have installed in the start menu.

5kPlayer - DVD and media player
Skype
GOG Galaxy
Keepass
Origin
Playfire
Steam
TeamSpeak
Uplay (Ubisoft)
Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4 (testing graphics OC stability)

A few things I still need to install...

MS Office
Game Save Manager (very useful for moving games back and forth from SSD and HDD as well as backing up game saves to the cloud)
Google Drive (I use this as it's additional free storage and use it for Game Save Manager to put game saves somewhere safe in the cloud)
Xmarks (Browser add-on to sync bookmarks across all popular browsers)
Play with Six (Arma Dayz mod installer)


I think the following can be unzipped and used as portable apps so I keep these in my downloads folder.

CPU-Z, GPU-Z and Prime95

I then use the following as a checklist and selectively implement some of it.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1240779/seans-windows-8-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

eg. disk cleanup to remove unnecessary stuff, clear browser cache if I've been using it to download stuff, remove restore points storage if it has already created some but I leave the protection option switched on for the OS drive, optimise the drive in the defrag dialog.

When finished create an Easy2Boot USB with Clonezilla. Boot from the USB and select Clonezilla from the menu. Use Clonezilla to create a drive image of the system drive and save it somewhere other than the system drive, ideally an external drive or USB thumb drive.

Personally at this stage I set up the HDD with a folder structure and identical permissions to their system drive counterparts such as this...(see pic below) and then go through these folders for the sub user folders on the system drive and use the properties dialog for each folder and update the location tab for each to point to the corresponding folder on the HDD. Therefore this minimises the amount stored on the SSD.



EDIT: Had to have a search through my previous posts as I knew I'd already provided a screenshot to demonstrate what I mean.

This is how I set up an additional drive, so I also have some folders for programs to install to. Then I use Game Save Manager to shift anything between the HDD and SSD plus I put a Steam Library on the HDD.

oc3BoDO.png
 
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Added, added steam mover too.

I have Finally just installed BF4 and Win 8.1 onto my 120Gb SSD, but there is room for Win10 update, I have like 7Gb left and Win 10 needs 15gb!

Steam mover transferred my BF4 to my HDD temporarily while I installed Win10, then I just moved the BF file back after the Win10 upgrade.

If Anyone is thinking of buying new PC just for BF4, get a 160Gb+ SSD and not a 120Gb. *EDIT, You cannot run BF4 and Win 10 on a 120 Gb SSD, there is no room, even with no other software, I had to put BF4 on my 80gb intel SSD.


GPU Z, CPU Z , same developers? I'm not sure and what about core temp guys? Are people having any issues with any of these 3 using Win 10? Which ones run safe on win8.1 too from your experiences?



Also, if you have to clean install from win 8 disk and you are decided on Win 10, upgrade first before waiting for the Win 10 logo popup, saves about a day of updates and you avoid realising you have run out of room to finally get Win10.

And if you are installing from CD, disconnect ALL other drives apart from the OS SSD disk you are installing the fresh OS onto, I got real problems as the SSD I was trying to install on was partitioned and had been used and the set up process was confusing the other drives looking for a place to install, it caused me big grief for a while.
 
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Once you've got it up and running. Take monthly or weekly images of the system using Macrium Reflect.
 
What's the point, every persons install is different. Some people like tweaks some don't. There is no defined list of what people want and what people don't want.

You then get questions on 'what does this software do, why do I need that'. Plus when you say 'approved' it's not like theres a certified company putting their stamp on it or anything. :D
 
iBSOD said:
AFAIK, coretemp isn't supported on Windows 10. When I try to run it, it freezes my computer to a point where I need to hard restart. HWmonitor might be a good alternative
Click to expand...

Works fine for me,
ive had many issues with W10 but coretemp hasnt been one of them .. so far :rolleyes:
 
_lecro_ said:
Works fine for me,
ive had many issues with W10 but coretemp hasnt been one of them .. so far :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Which version are you using? When I ran it *latest version*, it locked my system within 1 min and had to do exactly what this guy said hold the power button for 5 secs, it was when i right clicked it to refresh.

It aslo did not install as a programme, just ran from the .exe file, would that be why?

I'll try again seeing as all my drivers etc is uptodate. It maybe user error.

I prefer corre temp for its taskbar interface and compackness. my HW looks just as good with more info, just wish it had a taskbar like CT



Added HW info, nice little interface there.
 
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Thanks for that thenewoc, ill check them out.


_lecro_ said:
Core temp ver. 1.0 RC6 = 64bit
Click to expand...



I was using that, but twice when i installed i crash.

I have Just DL the 32bit version..... installed ok... all seems well....backspace is not locking my system up.... huzzah, Ive got my 4 core temps where I like them, its like the icing on the cake. ;p

I have Win 10 64bit so call me noob, but... why is 64 not working and 32 does...... wait my Win 8 CD was 64bit pro, but how does that change if anything my Win 10?

Anyways, only had it installed a day now and Win 10 is soooo much better than Win 8, and 8.1 or 7. when you get everything set up, its so goddam slick and the interface makes sense now!, not like that horror show Win 8




Its a 10/10 For Win 10, they nailed it.
 
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Be very careful about where you get some of these programs from, and what they include if there is an installer. Some of them (Like CPU-Z) install ad-ware that you cannot get rid of very easily- it keeps coming back - behind the scenes. To say that it is 'trusted' can only be said of the core program, and if the author is allowing that from their OWN site, then can you really trust the core program?
 
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