Leaderboard

Techsperts, rate my new PC

arealken

arealken

Senior Member
Messages
226
Let me preface this by saying I am fairly computer illiterate. I noticed in the 'what do you do for a living" thread  there are more than a few IT pros here on this site, so figured I'd tap the vastness of your know how if I might.

I have been using a pretty basic PC with AMD Phenom dual Core processor and Windows 7 Professional.

The one I just bought today for around Two-Fifty U.S.  ( counting ebay bucks) has windows 8.1, but which I read is still possible to get a free upgrade to Windows 10 if you jump through a few hoops in the process. I really have no desire to use windows 10 though, as I am really happy with Windows 7.

Its an Asus A-10 6700 Quad Core  CPU  Athlon, w/ 8 GB Memory and a 1 Terrabyte HDD, and is a refurb unit from a authorized Factory seller, with a 90 day warranty direct through ASUS. It has a bunch of cool stuff- bluetooth, HDMI, Wi-Fi.

Anyway, here it is*. If I can't upgrade to Windows Ten ( oh well, can't stop progress, and the recent Update released by Microsoft is supposed to have  made Windows 10 better?), I'll just buy a certified Windows 7 OS.;

*
http://www.ebay.com/itm/272509439244

 
Windows 10 > Windows 7 for anything pretty much. There's no point sticking with an old system when you can get something new for free...?
 
Windows 10 has been performing great for me, no complaints.

* Use an AdBlocker on your web browser (uBlock Origin) as well as an application like Ghostery or Disconnect and HTTPS everywhere. This will help keep you proactively protected.

* Use MalwareBytes for regular scans ~weekly

* Setup a Windows Task Scheduler job to do ~weekly disk cleanups, ~weekly disk defrags, and perform regular restarts

* Keep background and start-up processes to a minimum by using START -> RUN -> MSCONFIG to only start-up necessary applications.

* Use an application like WinDirStat to monitor what is chewing up HDD space.

* Use www.ninite.com to download all of your favorite applications in one easy package and no-BS installer

* As for Windows 10, disable any unnecessary start menu doodads and search tools. Also you can RIGHT-CLICK the start menu to get access to all the legacy menus/interface you are used to.

Let me know if you have any questions or help on how to do this stuff - I'll be happy to help.

 
Okay, so tech guy here.  What do you want this machine to do?  Gaming?  General use/internet?  CAD program?  Office work?

I will say this, I don't have Win10 in my shop... yet.  At some point they will kill Win7 and that will force my hand.  Some of the apps we run here are not Win10 compatible, and I've found the user interface of Win10 to be a bit, uh, cluttered.  Having said that, Win10 is a solid OS, over Win8 any day.

The integrated graphics is just fine for general use and video playback, but anything more than that I would recommend checking out a discrete video card.  nVidia is currently king, in my opinion.  It does not say anything about available motherboard slots.  For this you generally need an available PCIx16 slot.

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-GAMING-Support-04G-P4-6253-KR/dp/B01MF7EQJZ

A video card is normally where I would recommend a "first" upgrade, beyond general memory.  8 GB of RAM is just fine, also, for general usage.  At some point you might want to consider taking that to 16, which is the maximum that system can support.  My standard is 32 GB. Memory is dirt cheap, in most cases.  I looked up the specs for your box, you would need 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) something like this:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148540

I also looked up whether the operating system it ships with is 32 bit versus 64 bit.  It looks to be 64 bit.  I consider that a good thing, but you might have some issue with hooking up older peripherals (printer, scanner, etc) as older ones may not have 64 bit drivers.

A final note, $280 for that box looks to be a good deal to me, regardless of everything else.  Just make sure you put it through it's paces within the 90 day warranty, especially as a refurbished box.
 
weezingthejuicebodhi said:
Windows 10 has been performing great for me, no complaints.

* Use an AdBlocker on your web browser (uBlock Origin) as well as an application like Ghostery or Disconnect and HTTPS everywhere. This will help keep you proactively protected.

* Use MalwareBytes for regular scans ~weekly

* Setup a Windows Task Scheduler job to do ~weekly disk cleanups, ~weekly disk defrags, and perform regular restarts

* Keep background and start-up processes to a minimum by using START -> RUN -> MSCONFIG to only start-up necessary applications.

* Use an application like WinDirStat to monitor what is chewing up HDD space.

* Use www.ninite.com to download all of your favorite applications in one easy package and no-BS installer

* As for Windows 10, disable any unnecessary start menu doodads and search tools. Also you can RIGHT-CLICK the start menu to get access to all the legacy menus/interface you are used to.

Let me know if you have any questions or help on how to do this stuff - I'll be happy to help.
Click to expand...

+1 on AdBlocker

+1 on Malwarebytes

Setting up a Windows task to do that stuff isn't a bad idea.  I like a little more control.

Be careful with MSConfig.  You can disable stuff you need without knowing it.

I've always been a fan of TreeSize over WinDirStat.

I've used ninite.  It's useful to an extent...
 
Sounds like a reasonable machine for the money. Especially if you are just using it for basic office type tasks and web browsing.

If you are used to Windows 7, you probably will not like Windows 8 variants. Upgrade it to Windows 10 and you will have a more familiar though more modern user interface. You can set it to use a more familiar start menu for example.

The only PC type devices I dont have running Windows 10 are a couple of older Win 7 era laptops which are lacking driver support for 10, but if your machine was built for Win 8 there should not be a problem. Also consider Windows 7 in terms of support is becoming the next XP.


End of support
Client operating systems Latest update or service pack End of mainstream support
Windows Vista                   Service Pack 2                         April 10, 2012
Windows 7*                   Service Pack 1                         January 13, 2015
Windows 8                           Windows 8.1                         January 9, 2018
Windows 10,                        released in July 2015** N/A October 13, 2020
 
And here I am rebuilding my old DAW / music server as it's last supported OS is XP. Same with the remote programming app I need again.
 
True, about Win7.  However, security updates will not cease until January 2020.  And end of support doesn't mean dead.  According to PC World, there were 181 million XP users in April 2016, two years after Micro$oft ceased update support.  A little riskier as new security flaws are discovered, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
 
There's always Linux. Stable (no more BSOD's), secure (no more virus scan software needed), comes with sophisticated software that would cost you $thousands to buy for Windows, easy to use and costs nothing unless you want to donate to the cause. I only need my Win 7 machine for one specialized program that needs Silverlight and then I don't let it go online. The learning curve is very small, just a couple simple improvements over Windows to get used to.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top