Can I stop Windows updates?
April 14, 2022 12:41 PM
Windows 10 laptop, & they've said I won't be able to accommodate Windows 11. But my space is disappearing and I don't even want anymore Win 10 updates. No trick online seems to get rid of the yellow notification dot telling me to restart/update. What will happen if I just let that remain but never update? Somewhere along the line I shut off Auto-updates, if it took. Will I slow down, wifi get bad? Don't they understand, there's no space, I'm done w/ updates! Not gonna get extra HDD.
It is time to get an external hard drive, replace this computer, or stop using it to interact in any way at all with anything on the internet. I'm sorry.
Not installing updates and connecting to the internet leaves your computer exposed to publicly-known security vulnerabilities. Given the level of cybercrime activity we are seeing, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, your chances of getting some email, visiting some website that loads some advertisement, or otherwise being attacked by a threat actor are very high.
For example, the April 2022 batch of Windows 10 updates included fixes for several severe vulnerabilities that are being used in the wild for remote code execution.
I work in IT and I have known some people who are the "they" who write the security updates. "They" don't want to force people to get new computers, and we don't want to force people to stop using computers they like. "They" are playing a cat-and-mouse game with enormous amounts of risk and working as hard as they can to ensure as few people as possible are successfully stalked, ransomware'd, or otherwise exploited because their computers aren't secure.
The irritating little reminders to install software updates are like the irritating little reminders from your car that your seatbelt isn't on: they are an attempt to protect you and your data.
posted by All Might Be Well at 1:02 PM on April 14, 2022
Not installing updates and connecting to the internet leaves your computer exposed to publicly-known security vulnerabilities. Given the level of cybercrime activity we are seeing, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, your chances of getting some email, visiting some website that loads some advertisement, or otherwise being attacked by a threat actor are very high.
For example, the April 2022 batch of Windows 10 updates included fixes for several severe vulnerabilities that are being used in the wild for remote code execution.
I work in IT and I have known some people who are the "they" who write the security updates. "They" don't want to force people to get new computers, and we don't want to force people to stop using computers they like. "They" are playing a cat-and-mouse game with enormous amounts of risk and working as hard as they can to ensure as few people as possible are successfully stalked, ransomware'd, or otherwise exploited because their computers aren't secure.
The irritating little reminders to install software updates are like the irritating little reminders from your car that your seatbelt isn't on: they are an attempt to protect you and your data.
posted by All Might Be Well at 1:02 PM on April 14, 2022
Many of these updates are security related, and continuing to connect to the internet without them is a VERY BAD IDEA.
My advice is to use Windows Disk Cleanup to get rid of old system files you don't need, which should make room for the pending Windows updates. (Official link, Easier to follow instructions link).
That being said, it is possible to disable Windows update completely, although this is a VERY BAD IDEA and will most likely result in your computer dying at some point in the near to medium future.
-Press Windows key + R. Type services.msc, then hit Enter.
-Search for Windows Update.
-Right-click on Windows Update, then select Properties.
-Under General tab, set the Startup type to Disabled.
-Click Stop.
-Click Apply, and then click OK.
-Restart your computer.
(Source)
posted by tiamat at 1:02 PM on April 14, 2022
My advice is to use Windows Disk Cleanup to get rid of old system files you don't need, which should make room for the pending Windows updates. (Official link, Easier to follow instructions link).
That being said, it is possible to disable Windows update completely, although this is a VERY BAD IDEA and will most likely result in your computer dying at some point in the near to medium future.
-Press Windows key + R. Type services.msc, then hit Enter.
-Search for Windows Update.
-Right-click on Windows Update, then select Properties.
-Under General tab, set the Startup type to Disabled.
-Click Stop.
-Click Apply, and then click OK.
-Restart your computer.
(Source)
posted by tiamat at 1:02 PM on April 14, 2022
tiamat's method doesn't work anymore. Microsoft really, really doesn't want you to disable updates (and for good reason, as explained by "All Might Be Well" above). Having said that, I've had success with StopUpdates10 Free. Use at your own risk.
posted by alex1965 at 1:08 PM on April 14, 2022
posted by alex1965 at 1:08 PM on April 14, 2022
Okay, then why sell mainly SSD laptops nowadays?
posted by noelpratt2nd at 1:11 PM on April 14, 2022
posted by noelpratt2nd at 1:11 PM on April 14, 2022
"They" don't want to force people to get new computers, and we don't want to force people to stop using computers they like.
It's not about the people who write the security updates (who are definitely doing important work and OP should definitely keep downloading those), it's about the fact that forcing people onto Windows 11 with its steep hardware requirements is in itself well documented planned obsolesce that has rendered many modern machines essentially useless if you want to keep up with the latest OS (and Windows 10 might only be supported for another 3 years, so you're definitely going to have to replace it before 2025 at least).
But yes, sadly, the easiest solution might be to replace the laptop.
posted by fight or flight at 1:11 PM on April 14, 2022
It's not about the people who write the security updates (who are definitely doing important work and OP should definitely keep downloading those), it's about the fact that forcing people onto Windows 11 with its steep hardware requirements is in itself well documented planned obsolesce that has rendered many modern machines essentially useless if you want to keep up with the latest OS (and Windows 10 might only be supported for another 3 years, so you're definitely going to have to replace it before 2025 at least).
But yes, sadly, the easiest solution might be to replace the laptop.
posted by fight or flight at 1:11 PM on April 14, 2022
The reason almost no HDD laptops are available these days is that SSD's are much, much faster than optical drives or HDD's. They're more expensive and typically not as large as HDD's, but most people don't store very much data on their own computers. Another piece of the problem, unfortunately, is that we have an ongoing microchip and computer shortage, limiting the availability of materials for making laptops.
It is also worth noting that vulnerable computers are both targets and vectors. This means that if your machine or accounts are hacked, they may be used to try to hack more things. For example, sending out a malicious email from your account to all of your contacts, or posting a malicious link on your social media pages.
There are only three things I really push every single person to do, computer-security-wise: 1) use strong unique passwords (preferably in a password manager), 2) use MFA (multi-factor authentication) wherever possible, 3) install updates.
posted by All Might Be Well at 1:14 PM on April 14, 2022
It is also worth noting that vulnerable computers are both targets and vectors. This means that if your machine or accounts are hacked, they may be used to try to hack more things. For example, sending out a malicious email from your account to all of your contacts, or posting a malicious link on your social media pages.
There are only three things I really push every single person to do, computer-security-wise: 1) use strong unique passwords (preferably in a password manager), 2) use MFA (multi-factor authentication) wherever possible, 3) install updates.
posted by All Might Be Well at 1:14 PM on April 14, 2022
why sell mainly SSD laptops nowadays?
Because that way you can down-spec every other component and still have a machine that feels responsive enough to impress the average non-technical potential buyer, at least until the SSD fills up, which it almost always will do because people's expectations about what should fit inside a laptop have been set by many years of hard disk drive capacity growth at typical price points. SSD is still many times more expensive than HDD per gigabyte, so the tradeoff is that your snappy new machine now comes with much less fixed storage than similarly priced ones did in the recent past.
posted by flabdablet at 1:18 PM on April 14, 2022
Because that way you can down-spec every other component and still have a machine that feels responsive enough to impress the average non-technical potential buyer, at least until the SSD fills up, which it almost always will do because people's expectations about what should fit inside a laptop have been set by many years of hard disk drive capacity growth at typical price points. SSD is still many times more expensive than HDD per gigabyte, so the tradeoff is that your snappy new machine now comes with much less fixed storage than similarly priced ones did in the recent past.
posted by flabdablet at 1:18 PM on April 14, 2022
My advice is to use Windows Disk Cleanup to get rid of old system files you don't need, which should make room for the pending Windows updates. (Official link, Easier to follow instructions link).
This is the way to go. Use Disk Cleanup and include the option to clean up system files. It won't delete everything, but often results in recovering at least a couple of gigs of space, as it deletes many of the old update install files.
posted by briank at 1:19 PM on April 14, 2022
This is the way to go. Use Disk Cleanup and include the option to clean up system files. It won't delete everything, but often results in recovering at least a couple of gigs of space, as it deletes many of the old update install files.
posted by briank at 1:19 PM on April 14, 2022
After you run Windows Disk Cleanup, run PatchCleaner (it's free). It'll get rid of even more stuff that Windows Disk Cleanup missed.
posted by alex1965 at 1:30 PM on April 14, 2022
posted by alex1965 at 1:30 PM on April 14, 2022
I always use dick cleaner. But as time goes by I lose space ... to something, god-knows-what. All I do is two browsers, Ms-Word. I'm not out of space, I can DO this update but I told myself last time that that would be the last cuz spaces keeps overall disappearing even when clean system files. Thank you all.
posted by noelpratt2nd at 1:39 PM on April 14, 2022
posted by noelpratt2nd at 1:39 PM on April 14, 2022
*disc
posted by noelpratt2nd at 1:39 PM on April 14, 2022
posted by noelpratt2nd at 1:39 PM on April 14, 2022
If the automated cleaners still don't leave you with comfortable amounts of free space after turning updates back on (which you absolutely should) and bringing the box up to date (which you absolutely should), try downloading, unzipping and running the ancient and tiny but still quite capable last free version of SpaceMonger.
This tool makes a map of all the files and folders it can see (right-click and choose Run As Administrator to give it access to your whole drive). Each file is a rectangle on the map, and the area of the rectangle is proportional to the amount of space the file is taking up. Files within a folder are all shown in the same colour and packed into another rectangle representing the folder itself. You get to see at a glance what's occupying most of your space, and this is really helpful when it comes to deciding what to hive off onto external storage or even delete completely.
Chances are that there's a handful of quite chonky files you've saved on the machine and forgotten about, and that just shifting or deleting those few will get it running smoothly again.
The Windows folder is best left alone, even if it looks big. The only subfolder of C:\Windows that I would ever use SpaceMonger to delete stuff from is C:\Windows\Temp. Everything inside that one will be either completely disposable or currently in use, and if it's in use then Windows will refuse to let SpaceMonger delete it.
Sometimes SpaceMonger will hang up if you ask it to delete something. The workaround is to quit and restart it, and then ask it to show you the thing you tried to delete in Windows Explorer, and delete it from there instead. Apart from that minor quirk, this twenty-plus-year-old code still works well. There are other free tools that do a similar job (WinDirStat is the best known) but I've always found SpaceMonger 1.40's colouring scheme less distracting.
posted by flabdablet at 1:41 PM on April 14, 2022
This tool makes a map of all the files and folders it can see (right-click and choose Run As Administrator to give it access to your whole drive). Each file is a rectangle on the map, and the area of the rectangle is proportional to the amount of space the file is taking up. Files within a folder are all shown in the same colour and packed into another rectangle representing the folder itself. You get to see at a glance what's occupying most of your space, and this is really helpful when it comes to deciding what to hive off onto external storage or even delete completely.
Chances are that there's a handful of quite chonky files you've saved on the machine and forgotten about, and that just shifting or deleting those few will get it running smoothly again.
The Windows folder is best left alone, even if it looks big. The only subfolder of C:\Windows that I would ever use SpaceMonger to delete stuff from is C:\Windows\Temp. Everything inside that one will be either completely disposable or currently in use, and if it's in use then Windows will refuse to let SpaceMonger delete it.
Sometimes SpaceMonger will hang up if you ask it to delete something. The workaround is to quit and restart it, and then ask it to show you the thing you tried to delete in Windows Explorer, and delete it from there instead. Apart from that minor quirk, this twenty-plus-year-old code still works well. There are other free tools that do a similar job (WinDirStat is the best known) but I've always found SpaceMonger 1.40's colouring scheme less distracting.
posted by flabdablet at 1:41 PM on April 14, 2022
why sell mainly SSD laptops nowadays?
Adding onto flabdablet's first point, because the current trajectory for significant amounts of archival storage points towards the cloud. It's a tradeoff - most cloud storage providers have significantly better data backup practices than the average end user, so you're less likely to lose stuff to bitrot. But this also means you'll need to have an internet connection to access and work with those files, cloud storage means an ongoing subscription fee of some kind, and of course you can still lose files to disorganization (search capabilities for these services vary in quality, and don't always reflect what you remember about the file you're looking for, though that's true of local storage as well).
(Also, re your typo, I have made that exact same one, thank you for the laugh and the accompanying "oh thank god, I'm not the only one!" feeling.)
posted by Pandora Kouti at 1:51 PM on April 14, 2022
Adding onto flabdablet's first point, because the current trajectory for significant amounts of archival storage points towards the cloud. It's a tradeoff - most cloud storage providers have significantly better data backup practices than the average end user, so you're less likely to lose stuff to bitrot. But this also means you'll need to have an internet connection to access and work with those files, cloud storage means an ongoing subscription fee of some kind, and of course you can still lose files to disorganization (search capabilities for these services vary in quality, and don't always reflect what you remember about the file you're looking for, though that's true of local storage as well).
(Also, re your typo, I have made that exact same one, thank you for the laugh and the accompanying "oh thank god, I'm not the only one!" feeling.)
posted by Pandora Kouti at 1:51 PM on April 14, 2022
To regain some space you could disable hibernation. Hibernation writes a huge amount of data to disk.
How to disable hibernation, from Microsoft support.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 1:57 PM on April 14, 2022
How to disable hibernation, from Microsoft support.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 1:57 PM on April 14, 2022
most cloud storage providers have significantly better data backup practices than the average end user, so you're less likely to lose stuff to bitrot.
You are, however, much more likely to lose stuff to arbitrary policy changes from your cloud storage provider, especially if it's one of the many that offers a free tier.
There is not and never will be an adequate substitute for multiple, local, self-managed, regularly tested backups. Cloud storage can be a valuable adjunct to these, but treating it like a substitute is just asking for trouble.
External USB3 hard disk drives with capacities many times that of the typical laptop SSD are super cheap these days. If you don't own at least two of those, each containing multiple point-in-time backups of everything on your laptop that you care about, you're doing it wrong.
posted by flabdablet at 2:26 PM on April 14, 2022
You are, however, much more likely to lose stuff to arbitrary policy changes from your cloud storage provider, especially if it's one of the many that offers a free tier.
There is not and never will be an adequate substitute for multiple, local, self-managed, regularly tested backups. Cloud storage can be a valuable adjunct to these, but treating it like a substitute is just asking for trouble.
External USB3 hard disk drives with capacities many times that of the typical laptop SSD are super cheap these days. If you don't own at least two of those, each containing multiple point-in-time backups of everything on your laptop that you care about, you're doing it wrong.
posted by flabdablet at 2:26 PM on April 14, 2022
"They" don't want to force people to get new computers, and we don't want to force people to stop using computers they like.
FWIW, I was part of the "they" at Microsoft from 2005-2011. We worked very hard to ensure that updates did not negatively impact users, and that everyone would be protected from public, non-public and not-yet-discovered-by-outsiders security vulnerabilities. There was no secret planned obsolescence. If your computer is connected to the internet, or even only sees files from usb drives, you want to continue to install updates.
posted by Diddly at 3:17 PM on April 14, 2022
FWIW, I was part of the "they" at Microsoft from 2005-2011. We worked very hard to ensure that updates did not negatively impact users, and that everyone would be protected from public, non-public and not-yet-discovered-by-outsiders security vulnerabilities. There was no secret planned obsolescence. If your computer is connected to the internet, or even only sees files from usb drives, you want to continue to install updates.
posted by Diddly at 3:17 PM on April 14, 2022
Windows Update shouldn't be using up all your drive space. Windows does leave behind some update files for an extended under some circumstances, but it should not be using up a substantial amount of drive space. Either something else is taking up your drive space, there is something wrong with Windows Update, or you have a preposterously small SSD. I strongly advise you dig into that rather than disable or ignore windows updates as doing so will be an increasingly large security risk.
You can disable Windows Updates in Windows 10 via local group policy.
1. Windows + R key
2. Type in gpedit.msc and press enter.
3. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update
4. Find the Configure Automatic Updates policy and open it.
5. Set it to Disabled and click Apply.
6. Click okay and exit out of the policy editor.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 4:40 PM on April 14, 2022
You can disable Windows Updates in Windows 10 via local group policy.
1. Windows + R key
2. Type in gpedit.msc and press enter.
3. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update
4. Find the Configure Automatic Updates policy and open it.
5. Set it to Disabled and click Apply.
6. Click okay and exit out of the policy editor.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 4:40 PM on April 14, 2022
With SSD prices dropping lower and lower, why not just upgrade? 512GB name-brand SSDs are $60, even lower if you take generic no-name drives. NVMe same cost as SATA drives.
Also, almost all PCs sold in past 5 years should be able to upgrade to Win11, but you may need to go into BIOS and turn on "Trusted Platform" or something like that, as it defaults to off until very recently. My current PC, bought in 2019, did have it, but disabled. I turned it on in BIOS, and voila, it's now Win11 compatible.
I recommend download an app such as Wiztree or WinDirStat and figure out what exactly is taking up most of the space on your HD. But do NOT delete anything until you confirm it's not necessary.
posted by kschang at 9:14 PM on April 14, 2022
Also, almost all PCs sold in past 5 years should be able to upgrade to Win11, but you may need to go into BIOS and turn on "Trusted Platform" or something like that, as it defaults to off until very recently. My current PC, bought in 2019, did have it, but disabled. I turned it on in BIOS, and voila, it's now Win11 compatible.
I recommend download an app such as Wiztree or WinDirStat and figure out what exactly is taking up most of the space on your HD. But do NOT delete anything until you confirm it's not necessary.
posted by kschang at 9:14 PM on April 14, 2022
When you run Disk Cleanup on Windows 10, make sure you click the button that says "Clean up system files". That will restart the tool, but also present old Windows Update files which are probably taking up a lot of space. Everything that is presented on that first tab, "Disk Cleanup", can generally be regarded as expendable. You're not deleting any user documents or applications, it's just accumulated cruft.
Also, and with a bit of caution, check out the second tab, "More Options". The first option, Programs and Features, I would leave alone. The second, System Restore and Shadow Copies, will prompt you to remove all but the most recent restore points or complete backups. If your system is otherwise healthy and not having any issues, this is probably a safe move.
But please, do not disable Windows Updates or put off updating, if you connect this computer to the Internet at all. The security patches are so important. If your use case really is just two browsers and Word, something in there has to be accumulating cruft. When's the last time you fully cleared your cache, cookies, history, etc. on your browsers?
If there's no apparent reason for why your free space seems to be shrinking, it is possible that your hard drive is failing. With some (most?) file systems and hardware, as a disk begins to fail due to bad sectors or other errors, those areas are marked as unusable and the remaining space on the drive shrinks accordingly. I'm more of a Mac/Linux guy than Windows, but if regular Disk Cleanups and clearing of cache, cookies, etc. is not maintaining your free space, I'd wonder about the health of the hard drive.
posted by xedrik at 9:41 PM on April 14, 2022
Also, and with a bit of caution, check out the second tab, "More Options". The first option, Programs and Features, I would leave alone. The second, System Restore and Shadow Copies, will prompt you to remove all but the most recent restore points or complete backups. If your system is otherwise healthy and not having any issues, this is probably a safe move.
But please, do not disable Windows Updates or put off updating, if you connect this computer to the Internet at all. The security patches are so important. If your use case really is just two browsers and Word, something in there has to be accumulating cruft. When's the last time you fully cleared your cache, cookies, history, etc. on your browsers?
If there's no apparent reason for why your free space seems to be shrinking, it is possible that your hard drive is failing. With some (most?) file systems and hardware, as a disk begins to fail due to bad sectors or other errors, those areas are marked as unusable and the remaining space on the drive shrinks accordingly. I'm more of a Mac/Linux guy than Windows, but if regular Disk Cleanups and clearing of cache, cookies, etc. is not maintaining your free space, I'd wonder about the health of the hard drive.
posted by xedrik at 9:41 PM on April 14, 2022
I wouldn't worry about that. When an SSD fails it almost always does so catastrophically, either becoming spontaneously read-only if you're lucky or totally inaccessible if you're not. Progressive, creeping failure is more of a disk drive thing.
posted by flabdablet at 11:44 PM on April 14, 2022
posted by flabdablet at 11:44 PM on April 14, 2022
With the basic usage you describe, you shouldn't be running out of space like this. Seconding that you should run WinDirStat and see what is actually taking up all the space before working out how to proceed. Its graphical representation of filesystem space make it super easy to see what's going on. You should run it as Administrator to get the fullest report possible.
posted by protorp at 12:46 AM on April 15, 2022
posted by protorp at 12:46 AM on April 15, 2022
You have an older laptop; would you like it to be faster & have more space? An SSD will be faster, and you can get one that's bigger. If this laptop dies, you can use it in the next laptop. Also, you might have only 4 gb of RAM, and more RAM would make it faster and nicer to use.
Also run file defragmentation; it might get rid of some junk. Defrag seems to contain disk checking. The file system does defrag on the fly now, but it's a thing that could possibly help and you can run it overnight.
posted by theora55 at 9:58 AM on April 15, 2022
Also run file defragmentation; it might get rid of some junk. Defrag seems to contain disk checking. The file system does defrag on the fly now, but it's a thing that could possibly help and you can run it overnight.
posted by theora55 at 9:58 AM on April 15, 2022
I have a 10 year-old Lenovo which I switched out with a 256GB SSD. It's currently only 25% full, and very speedy on Windows 10. Here's how I keep things tidy.
1) Compress the hard-drive. Right-click "My computer" in explorer, and click on "properties". There will be a tab on there that will allow you to compress the drive. Although you may have to move /delete things before you can do this as it may need to some space to work with.
2) A Google Drive account. You no longer need to keep files on your machine as it can stream them to you. A free account will free up 17GB.
3) External drive(s) for back-up. All non-essential files go on them. I have some Buffalo TB drives which don't get much daily use, and they've been excellent to work with.
4) Remove any apps you don't need.
5) Clean out your browser cache/site data.
6) Run the disk-cleanup tool occasionally.
Note - if you have or intend to get an SSD don't defrag them. Also avoid easy-option apps like CCleaner as they can cripple your machine.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 12:48 AM on June 27, 2022
1) Compress the hard-drive. Right-click "My computer" in explorer, and click on "properties". There will be a tab on there that will allow you to compress the drive. Although you may have to move /delete things before you can do this as it may need to some space to work with.
2) A Google Drive account. You no longer need to keep files on your machine as it can stream them to you. A free account will free up 17GB.
3) External drive(s) for back-up. All non-essential files go on them. I have some Buffalo TB drives which don't get much daily use, and they've been excellent to work with.
4) Remove any apps you don't need.
5) Clean out your browser cache/site data.
6) Run the disk-cleanup tool occasionally.
Note - if you have or intend to get an SSD don't defrag them. Also avoid easy-option apps like CCleaner as they can cripple your machine.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 12:48 AM on June 27, 2022
External drive(s) for back-up. All non-essential files go on them.
If an external drive has the only copy of any given file, then it's being used as mere auxiliary/alternate storage, not as a backup. A backup drive has copies of stuff stored somewhere else - maybe on your internal drive, maybe on a cloud account.
This may seem like a bit of a terminology nitpick but I have frequently seen people suffer huge distress from expecting their "backup drive" to save them after their laptop has died, when they never set up any kind of backup process to copy their stuff to it in the first place. People seem to think that just because an external USB drive is referred to or maybe even sold as a backup drive, it's a backup. Nuh uh.
Easy backup options for Windows include its inbuilt File History or Backup and Restore (Windows 7) features.
if you have or intend to get an SSD don't defrag them.
Modern versions of Windows don't let you defrag filesystems stored on SSDs. The option they offer you instead is "optimizing" your SSD, and this is a good thing to do. Windows will do it on an automatic schedule by default so just don't turn that off.
What Windows "optimizing" actually does is look through the filesystem's list of blocks that are in use, and send TRIM commands to the device for any blocks that aren't. This tells the SSD it doesn't need to keep space reserved for those blocks any more, which allows its internal wear-levelling and space-consolidation processes to run more efficiently and extend its service life some.
I don't know why Windows doesn't do what Linux does and just generate TRIMs on the fly as filesystem blocks go out of use, but it is what it is and periodic "optimize" passes are a lot better than nothing.
posted by flabdablet at 2:26 AM on June 27, 2022
If an external drive has the only copy of any given file, then it's being used as mere auxiliary/alternate storage, not as a backup. A backup drive has copies of stuff stored somewhere else - maybe on your internal drive, maybe on a cloud account.
This may seem like a bit of a terminology nitpick but I have frequently seen people suffer huge distress from expecting their "backup drive" to save them after their laptop has died, when they never set up any kind of backup process to copy their stuff to it in the first place. People seem to think that just because an external USB drive is referred to or maybe even sold as a backup drive, it's a backup. Nuh uh.
Easy backup options for Windows include its inbuilt File History or Backup and Restore (Windows 7) features.
if you have or intend to get an SSD don't defrag them.
Modern versions of Windows don't let you defrag filesystems stored on SSDs. The option they offer you instead is "optimizing" your SSD, and this is a good thing to do. Windows will do it on an automatic schedule by default so just don't turn that off.
What Windows "optimizing" actually does is look through the filesystem's list of blocks that are in use, and send TRIM commands to the device for any blocks that aren't. This tells the SSD it doesn't need to keep space reserved for those blocks any more, which allows its internal wear-levelling and space-consolidation processes to run more efficiently and extend its service life some.
I don't know why Windows doesn't do what Linux does and just generate TRIMs on the fly as filesystem blocks go out of use, but it is what it is and periodic "optimize" passes are a lot better than nothing.
posted by flabdablet at 2:26 AM on June 27, 2022
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You can potentially update using an external storage device but obviously that's not super useful if you need to be mobile with your laptop.
Unfortunately I doubt there will be a way to stop Windows updating at all unless you completely disconnect the machine from the internet. It's planned obsolescence to some degree, they want you to have to replace your computer every few years. It sucks.
posted by fight or flight at 12:57 PM on April 14, 2022