TweakHound’s Tweaking Windows 10 Guide is updated for Version 20H2

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Introduction

Welcome to the 6th edition of my Windows tweak guides. Like the Windows XP (first version created in 2002!), Vista, Seven, Eight, and Eight.One guides before it, this guide aims to make your Windows experience a little better.

No Phone, No Touch, No Cloud, No Way
With Windows 10, Microsoft continues its assault against the traditional desktop. Though not quite as jarring as Windows 8, Windows 10 is still designed around touch and mobile computing and storing everything in the cloud. Users coming from Windows 7 and earlier Windows systems will find much has changed. Don’t get me wrong, Windows 10 offers several improvements over previous Windows operating systems. Like each iteration before it, Windows 10 features better security, improved memory usage, and native support for newer hardware. And, like each iteration before it, Windows 10 needs some tweaking to make it run optimally for you. Oh boy, does it need tweaking…

To be clear, this guide is for Windows 10 desktops and laptops only. No tablet, no phone, no touch, no way!

BAD TWEAKS

There are bad tweaks posted all over the web. See my article Bad Tweaks for an always up-to-date list.

Notes & Ramblings

– No snake oil here. If you are looking for a guide that claims to increase Windows 10 performance, this ain’t it. I’ve looked in every nook and cranny and I haven’t found, nor have I heard of, any legitimate performance tweaks for Windows 10. Some sites will claim that there are tweaks that make Windows 10 faster. This simply isn’t true. If you come across a site, guide, or software that claims to be able to make Windows 10 faster, then to quote Jenny, “Run Forest, Run!” Many of the tweaks presented here and elsewhere can make the system a little snappier, which gives the illusion of better performance. Microsoft has done an excellent job with the last two versions of Windows. Performance-wise you can consider Windows 10 as “Windows 7 and 8 Tweaked”.

For best performance:
1 – Hardware. Upgrade to: SSD, 16GB or more of RAM, add-on video card (AMD / Nvidia).
2 – Current drivers are key
3 – Set it up properly
4 – Maintain it
5 – Back it up

– So why this guide? See points 2, 3, and 4 above. Also, some folks find Windows 10 to be difficult to use. It’s my hope that this guide makes using Windows 10 a better experience for you.

I’ve worked my butt off on the research and creation of this guide (hours and hours and hours and…). Please don’t rip-off my work.

Announcement:

Win10 TG Notes - TweakHound

Optimize your computing experience, Performance, Tweak, Tweaker, Tweaking Windows, Tweak Guides, Tweakguides, Privacy, Security, Computer How-to, fix computer, Computer news and information, Windows Xp, Windows 7, Windows 10, Linux

www.tweakhound.com

The Tweak Guide:

Tweaking Windows 10 - Version 20H2 - Page 2 of 22 - TweakHound

Optimize your computing experience, Performance, Tweak, Tweaker, Tweaking Windows, Tweak Guides, Tweakguides, Privacy, Security, Computer How-to, fix computer, Computer news and information, Windows Xp, Windows 7, Windows 10, Linux

www.tweakhound.com

Disclaimer: It's a great and informative guide. I don't agree to or use every tweak in this guide myself. Do your own research and use common sense.

 

[ForgottenSeer 85179]

UAC

Not to be rude but I’m tired of the diatribe bandied about on this topic. I’m not going to debate this topic with anyone for any reason. I disable it (kinda) on my computers.

This is where i fast stop reading this "guide".
Anway he is right with:

There are bad tweaks posted all over the web

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

This is where i fast stop reading this "guide".
Anway he is right with:

You don't have to agree with everything in that guide, I sure don't.
There it's a lot of information and there are certainly good points especially in the backup and maintaining, clean, defrag, & optimizing section.
Edit: I added a disclaimer.

 

[oldschool]

I've done a fair amount of the obvious ones for privacy and visual clutter just by nose-ing around Windows.

 

[Protomartyr]

I think Eric (TweakHound) does a great job of providing an in depth look at everything you can configure in Windows. I've used his guide to setup my current Windows install which has been running for 6+ years.

I don't agree with some of his recommendations but in general they are a pretty good reference guide. As always, it's best to do your own research and not blindly follow/implement tweaks that you may find on the internet.

 

[TairikuOkami]

I can not take seriously people, who review something based on what they have read. All the "bad tweaks" work, I know from an experience, not because I was told so.
For example: "QOS bandwidth Tweak Dispelled in XP. Why are we still even talking about this?" - No, it was not and it is still causing net issues to people (seen on tenforums)
"Disabling the pagefile is not a performance tweak." When a game loads faster and it prevents a lag, it is not a performance tweak? And the same people recommend SSDs.
As for optimizers in general: If you install a fake AVs, does that make all AVs bad, even the legitimate ones, so people should not use AV? He follows the same logic. Sad/Funny.

 

[amirr]

I bought option 3 which is $20 (U.S.) Lifetime updates.