November 15, 2019
This guide to installing and configuring Windows 10 and programs is intended for users whose purpose is the normal use of the system at home (Internet surfing, games, working with various software).
it is important to remember that in many cases it will be necessary to find a compromise between security and the level of comfort of use, so before changing the next system setting you should consider whether it is necessary to do it in a particular situation.
Many settings can be changed much faster with CPanel (link).
0. Select the operating system image.
Windows 10 periodically (usually every six months) receives large updates and much more often small updates. This guide describes the installation of version 1803 as the most stable at the moment (April 2019). Also in new versions new services and functionality can be added, which is often not needed, and therefore, there will be a need to change a number of new settings. The description of the program CPanel indicates for which version of Windows 10 is optimal to use it.
OS - 64bit capacity (even if the RAM size is 1-2 GB), because a number of programs cannot run on a 32-bit system. However, if you clearly understand that such programs will not be installed and critically small amount of RAM, you can choose 32bit.
1. The first step is to install the operating system.
First, you need to understand whether to partition the system disk into 2 partitions. If device has 2 physical drive, this problem disappears.
Therefore, if you partition the disk into 2 partitions, you must allocate X GB for the system partition, where X depends on the user's needs:
System + number of small programs: 50 GB.
+ heavy programs (Photoshop/Autocad/Visual Studio/Unity/...) - calculate the additional space based on the system requirements of programs * 1.2.
+ games (calculate the additional space based on the system requirements of games, it is worth to estimate how many games can be installed at the same time you, it is recommended to allocate space with a margin).
Example: Windows 10 + programs + Visual Studio + Unity + games (150 GB) -> 215 GB memory is enough.
All remaining space should be allocated for the second section.
2. At the end of the installation of the system, you should give answers to the appeared windows with questions. You should generally follow a "more privacy" strategy. The exception may be the item "location services/location". With frequent visits to online stores, as well as in the case of moving with the device around the city can be convenient if the sites will be able to track the change in your location.
The question about connecting to a WiFi network should be answered with a refusal. If you are using a wired Internet connection, do not connect the wire yet.
3. Click on the "Search" button on the taskbar, write and go to "Settings". Here you should carefully review all possible settings in all points, guided by common sense and logic. In particular, it is especially important to check your privacy settings and disable DVR recording while playing.
In the search type and go to "device manager".
If you have any exclamation points, update their drivers.
To update the driver on chipset and iGPU.
Stop and disable the Windows update service.
Even if you disable the update and task removal services, the scheduler may prompt you to download the prepared update and automatically download and install updates. To prevent automatic updates installation, mark the network you are using as a limit network (i.e. not with unlimited traffic) in the network settings. You can also completely uninstall Windows update services, but this can affect some aspects of the system (for example, updating a device driver by using device Manager or installing a driver on a new device requires Windows update service to be enabled).
A number of small updates are also available to improve the stability of the system or to eliminate various bugs or security problems, but in the case of home use it is not as critical as in the case of server OS.
4. CPanel -> change the necessary settings in the "System Settings", "Services - Optimization" window. For a better understanding of the impact of different settings on the system, please refer to the documentation (link), reboot.
5. Open "Programs and features" and remove unnecessary preinstalled apps.
6. If you have a discrete graphics card (Nvidia/AMD), you must install the drivers on it (if they were not installed in the process of updating the drivers using the "device manager").
Keep in mind that during the installation of the graphics driver, the graphics driver control panel and related services will be installed.
If necessary, use this control panel, you need to choose the GPU by default, when you launch applications (integrated GPU/discrete graphics card) and disable the new service (can be done via CPanel).
If you have a built-in video core, you must update the driver to the "Base video adapter" using "Device manager".
8. Installation of the necessary software.
9. Cpanel -> Task Scheduler -> disable/delete unnecessary tasks, reboot.
11. It is possible to configure automatic cleanup of the temporary files, and preventing disk writes various log files and debug information (CPanel -> Cleanup Service; read the documentation).
12. The highest performance of the system assumes the absence of installed anti-virus SOFTWARE, disabled Windows Defender, firewall, and disabled file indexing service.
To maintain the required level of security, you must use the tools to back up user files. For example, you can use programs to create incremental backups.
The file indexing service improves the speed of file search, but it can load the processor while it is running.
13. "This computer" -> select disk devices -> "Properties" -> "Tools" -> "Optimize and defragment disk" -> Disable in case of SSD, disable in case of HDD.
If necessary, you can defragment the HDD with third-party programs (faster and more efficient).
In case of one-time installation of the system and necessary programs and their further use without frequent installations/removal of software, defragmentation of the system partition is not required.
1. Cannot create and edit files on C drive (especially if only 1 drive is marked) : In cmd-> icacls C:\ /setintegritylevel medium
1) Enable .Net Framework 3.5 in system components.
2) Install x86 and x64 vc++ 2008 and 2010 packages.