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Maintaining Performance with Updates

Your computer's performance is tied directly to the Windows components, hardware devices, and applications that are installed. Poor programming and coding problems can keep your computer from performing optimally. You can ensure that the most recent updates and hot fixes are applied to your computer by using Windows Update.

Windows Update allows your computer to automatically download and update operating system components, device drives, optional components and related programs. To take this process a step further, you can configure your computer to use Microsoft Update, which ensures that updates for other Microsoft products are updated as well.

Many applications from third-party vendors have update features as well. Use these update features whenever possible to keep installed applications up to date and performing optimally.

Fine-tuning Automatic Updates

Windows Update integrates with Microsoft Update to ensure that the operating system and installed Microsoft applications stay up to date. You can determine whether your computer is using Microsoft Update by following these steps:

  1. Click Start and then click Settings. In Settings, click Update & Security. In the left pane, the Windows Update option is selected by default.
  2. In the main pane, scroll down and then click the Advanced Options link.
  3. If your computer is using Microsoft Update, the Give Me Updates For Other Microsoft Products option is selected. If your computer isn't getting these updates and you want to get them, select the related checkbox.

While you are working with the Windows Update, you should optimize the update settings. Click Chose How Updates Are Installed List and then choose either Notify To Schedule Restart or Automatic.

With notification, you are notified to schedule a restart after Windows downloads updates that require a restart. You can then specify when the restart should occur or restart the computer manually. If there are updates that don't require a restart, you'll need to apply them manually. On Windows Update page, you'll see a message that there are updates ready to install. Click Next and follow the prompts. With some updates you may need to access license terms. If so, you'll need to click Accept And Install. Other times, you'll simply need to review the available updates and click Install.

Rather than constantly being notified about updates or having to check for updates that need to be applied, prefer Automatic option. With Automatic, Windows Update downloads and installed updates automatically. By default, your computer periodically checks for and downloads updates when you are connected to the Internet over wi-fi and doesn't download updates when you are using mobile data. If a restart is required to install the updates, Windows schedules the restart for a time when you aren't using the computer.

Scheduled restarts depend on you using the sleep mode rather than shutting down. If you try to shut down your computer after updates have been downloaded, you have the option of installing updates and then shutting down or shut down without installing updates.

By default, Windows schedules restarts at 3:30 AM on any day when a restart is needed. This time follows the Automatic Maintenance schedule, which is set to run daily at 2:00 AM. You can view available updates and determine whether a restarting is scheduled by following these steps:

  1. Click Start and then click Settings. In Settings, click Update & Security. In the left pane, the Windows Update option is selected by default.
  2. Available updates are listed in the main pane. Scroll up. If a restart is scheduled, this is stated.
  3. You can restart immediately by clicking Restart Now. To change the restart schedule, choose Select A Restart Time. Next, specify a time and day for the restart, such as 8:00 AM, Tomorrow.

Resolving Update Problems

Your computer may experience problems caused by installing updates. Although this happens rarely, it does happen. You can view a detailed update history and a list of successful, pending and failed updates by following these steps:

  1. Click Start and then click Settings. In Settings, click Update & Security. In the left pane, the Windows Update option is selected by default.
  2. In the main pane, scroll down and then click the Advanced Options link.
  3. Click View Update History. On the View Update History page, updates listed with a Successful status were downloaded and installed. Updates listed with an Unsuccessful status were downloaded but failed to install. Updates listed with the Requires A Restart status were downloaded and will be installed when the computer is restarted.

Some important changes to Windows Update that you should know about. Unlike early releases of Windows, Windows 10 gets updates for the operating system, device drivers and optional components automatically. You can't specify that you don't want these updates, nor can you decline installing these update. However, you can uninstall an optional update that proves problematic. If you are already on the View Your Update History page, click the Uninstall Updates link to open the Installed Updates page in Control Panel. Next, click the optional update to remove and then click Uninstall.

Now let's look at a few additional areas for the final tune-up, including:

  • Services and features
  • Virtual memory
  • Data execution prevention
  • System cache
  • Hard disk drives

The sections that follow discuss each in turn.

Disabling Unnecessary Services and Features

System services provide critical functions for your computer. However, unnecessary services use system resources and are a potential source of security problems. If your computer is running a service you don't need, such as Worldwide Web Publishing Service, you can disable the service or remove the related feature.

Typically, you should start by disabling services rather than uninstalling components. This way, if you disable a service that was actually needed, you can easily re-enable it if necessary. If you have local administrator privileges on your computer, you can disable a service by following these steps:

  1. Type Services in the Search box, and then press Enter. This opens the Services console.
  2. Right-click the service you want to configure, and then choose Properties. On the General tab, select Disabled in the Startup Type drop-down list.
  3. Disabling a service doesn't stop a running service; it only prevents the service from being started the next time the computer is booted. As necessary, click Stop on the General tab in the Properties dialog box, and then click OK.

You can turn off Windows features by following these steps:

  1. In the Search box, type Windows Features, and then press Enter. This opens the Windows Features dialog box.
  2. Clear the check box for the feature you want to turn off, and then click OK. You may need to restart your computer. If prompted to do so, save your work and then click Restart.

Fine-Tuning Virtual Memory

Your computer uses virtual memory to extend the amount of available RAM. Virtual memory is written to disk through a process called paging. The operating system can access the paging file, Pagefile.sys, from disk when needed in place of physical memory. By default, Windows 10 creates an initial paging file automatically for the drive containing the operating system and does not use other drives for paging.

Typically, you don't need to put a paging file on multiple disks, because doing so won't necessarily boost performance, but you may want to put the paging file on your highestperforming drive. Windows 10 does a much better job than its predecessors do of automatically managing virtual memory. Typically, Windows 10 allocates virtual memory at least as large as the total physical memory installed on the computer. This approach reduces fragmentation of the paging file and helps to maintain overall read/write performance.

If you want to manually manage virtual memory, you'll typically want to use a fixed virtual memory size. You fix the size of the virtual memory by setting the initial size and the maximum size to the same value, and this in turn prevents fragmentation of the paging file. For most computers, recommend setting the total paging file size so that it's at least as large as the physical RAM.

You can view the current virtual memory configuration by completing the following steps:

  1. In the Search box, type SystemPropertiesPerformance, and then press Enter to open the Performance Options dialog box.
  2. On the Advanced tab, click Change to display the Virtual Memory dialog box.
Note: You can get to the same dialog box through Control Panel as well. Click System And Security and then click System. In the left pane, click Advanced System Settings. In the Performance section, click Settings to open the Performance Options dialog box.

Note the following:

  • Automatically Manage Paging File Size For All Drives: Controls whether the operating system manages the paging file.
  • Drive [Volume Label] And Paging File Size (MB): Shows the current configuration of virtual memory. Each disk volume is listed with its associated paging file (if any). The initial and maximum size values of the related paging file are shown as well.
  • Paging File Size For Each Drive: Provides information on the currently selected drive and allows you to set its paging file size. Space Available indicates how much space is available on the drive.
  • Total Paging File Size For All Drives: Shows the minimum, recommended, and currently allocated virtual memory.

You can configure virtual memory by completing the following steps:

  1. Open the Virtual Memory dialog box and do one of the following:
    • If you want Windows to manage virtual memory, select Automatically Manage Paging File Size For All Drives, click OK, and skip steps 2-4.
    • If you want to configure virtual memory manually, clear Automatically Manage Paging File Size For All Drives and continue with step 2.
  2. In the Drive box, click the disk volume you want to work with, and then select Custom Size.
  3. Enter an initial size and a maximum size for the paging file on the selected disk. Click Set to save the changes.
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each disk volume you want to have a paging file.
  5. Click OK. If prompted to overwrite an existing Pagefile.sys file, click Yes.
  6. If you updated the settings for a paging file that is currently in use, you will be prompted that you need to restart the system for the changes to take effect. Click OK.
  7. Click OK twice to close the open dialog boxes. A prompt asks if you want to restart the system. Click Restart.

Fine-Tuning Data Execution Prevention

Windows 10 uses Data Execution Prevention (DEP) to mark memory locations used by applications as nonexecutable unless the location explicitly contains executable code. If an application attempts to execute code from a memory page marked as nonexecutable, the processor can raise an exception and prevent it from executing. DEP is designed to thwart malware from inserting itself into areas of memory and in this way protects your computer.

DEP is implemented in hardware and software. Hardware-based DEP is the most effective because it encompasses any program or service running on the computer. Software-based DEP is less effective because it typically works best only when protecting Windows programs and services. Although DEP is designed to protect your computer, the feature can affect performance.

Windows 32-bit versions support DEP as implemented originally by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) processors that provide the noexecute page-protection (NX) processor feature. Such processors support the related instructions and must be running in Physical Address Extension (PAE) mode. Windows 64-bit versions also support the NX processor feature but do not need to be running in PAE mode.

You can determine whether your computer supports hardware-based DEP by completing the following steps:

  1. In the Search box, type SystemPropertiesPerformance, and then press Enter to open the Performance Options dialog box.
  2. If your computer supports hardware-based DEP, the lower portion of the Data Execution Prevention tab appears.
Note: You can get to the same dialog box through Control Panel as well. Click System And Security and then click System. In the left pane, click Advanced System Settings. In the Performance section, click Settings to open the Performance Options dialog box and then select the Data Execution Prevention tab.

After accessing the Data Execution Prevention tab, you can manage the way DEP works by using these options:

  • Turn On DEP For Essential Windows Programs And Services Only: Enables DEP only for services, programs, and components of the operating system. This is the default and recommended setting for computers that support execution protection and are configured appropriately.
  • Turn On DEP For All Programs And Services Except Those Select: Enables DEP for services, programs, and components of the operating system and all other programs and services the computer is running.

Some programs won't work with or will become unstable with DEP, and you may find that you have to add exceptions when you enable DEP for all programs. Click Add to specify programs that should run without execution protection. Execution protection will work for all programs except those you have listed.

Enhancing Performance with ReadyBoost

Non-critical kernel memory is paged to virtual memory, as part of the system cache. Although virtual memory is useful, reading from and writing to a disk is significantly slower than reading from and writing to physical memory (RAM). To reduce the performance impact related to reading and writing the system cache from virtual memory, you can configure your computer to use Windows ReadyBoost.

Windows ReadyBoost lets you extend the disk-caching capabilities of the computer's main memory to a USB flash device that has at least 2 GB of high-speed flash memory. You cannot configure this feature on removable hard drives or USB flash devices with poorly performing flash memory.

The operating system uses the flash memory primarily for caching that uses random input/output and small, sequential input/output rather than large, sequential input/output. This is because the flash memory is better suited to random I/O and small, sequential input/output than large, sequential I/O. By caching data on the USB flash device instead of your computer's disk drives, Windows makes faster random reads, which boosts overall performance because it's up to 1,000 percent faster than reading from physical disk drives.

As a safeguard, Windows 10 adds protection to prevent the sudden removal of a USB flash device from crashing the computer and to prevent reading of any sensitive data written to the flash device. Windows 10 eliminates the potential for data loss when removing a flash device by writing to the paging file on disk first and then copying data to the flash device. Windows 10 encrypts all data written to a flash device to prevent reading of sensitive data on another computer.

To enable Windows ReadyBoost, insert a USB flash device into a USB 2.0 or higher port. Next, open File Explorer. In the left pane, you should see an entry for the flash device. The flash device will be assigned a drive letter, such as F:. If you don't see the device, select This PC and then look for the device in the main pane under Devices And Drives.

Next, right-click the device, and then select Properties. If the flash device is not compatible, you'll see a warning about this, you won't be able to turn on ReadyBoost. If the flash device is compatible, you can configure ReadyBoost.

You can reserve from 230 MB to 4094 MB of flash memory for ReadyBoost. To automatically reserve the maximum amount of space for ReadyBoost, select Dedicate This Device To ReadyBoost. Otherwise, select Use This Device, and then use the Space To Reserve For System Speed slider or combo box to set the amount of space to use with ReadyBoost. When you click OK, Windows 10 extends the computer's physical memory to the device.

Note: Choosing either setting option doesn't prevent you from writing files to the device. Your choice simply determines the amount of space to reserve for ReadyBoost. If you reserve less than the total amount of space available, the free space can be used for files and data.

You can safely remove a USB flash device that uses ReadyBoost at any time. Simply right-click the USB flash device in the This PC window, and then choose Eject or Safely Remove.

Cleaning Up Your Disk Drives

Your computer may slow down as its disks fill to capacity, because it uses available space to write the paging file and other temporary files it needs to use. Ideally, you should ensure that any disk used by the operating system to write system files has at least 15 percent free space. Otherwise, you may start to notice that your computer is not as responsive as it should be.

You can clean up your computer's disks by using Disk Cleanup, which locates temporary files and allows you to remove them. Temporary files you can delete in this way include:

  • Copies of network files designated for offline use.
  • Dump files created because of STOP errors.
  • Files that have been deleted from the computer but not yet purged from the Recycle Bin.
  • Hibernation files used when your computer enters sleep mode.
  • Log files and other temporary files that Office uses.
  • Log files that Windows created during setup.
  • Previous Windows installations saved under Windows.old.
  • Programs downloaded for use by your browser.
  • Temporary copies of recently used offline files.
  • Temporary files stored in the Temp folder by applications.
  • Temporary files used for error reporting and checking for solutions to problems.
  • Temporary Internet files stored to support browser caching of pages.
  • Thumbnails of pictures, videos, and documents created by Windows.

Although you can delete most temporary files without hesitation, you may want to retain:

  • Setup log files, if you are still configuring your computer after installation.
  • Previous Windows installations, if you haven't saved user data or other necessary data they may contain.
  • Dump files related to unresolved STOP errors, as they may be needed for troubleshooting.
  • Thumbnails, because Windows would need to create them the next time you access folders.

Clean up your computer's disk by completing the following steps:

  1. In the Search box, type Disk Cleanup, and then press Enter.
  2. Select the disk that you want to clean up. When you click OK, Disk Cleanup examines the selected drive, looking for temporary files that can be deleted and files that are candidates for compression. The more files on the drive, the longer the search process takes.
  3. When Disk Cleanup is complete, a list of temporary files that can be deleted appears. Add system files to the cleanup list by clicking Clean Up System Files, selecting the primary system drive, and then clicking OK. The primary system disk is the disk with the Windows logo when you view it in File Explorer.
  4. By default, only a few types of temporary files are selected. As appropriate, review the other types of temporary files that you can delete and mark them for deletion by selecting them.
  5. Click OK. When prompted to confirm, click Yes.

Automating Maintenance

Windows 10 performs automated maintenance to help optimize your computer's performance. Unfortunately, while the idea of such of thing sounds terrific, the reality is a bit different.

Why Automated Maintenance Breaks

By default, automated maintenance occurs daily at 2:00 AM. If your computer is in sleep mode at this time, the computer wakes from sleep and resumes normal operations automatically so maintenance can be performed. Your computer will stay active during the maintenance schedule. By default, if your computer has updates that require a restart, your computer restarts at 3:30 AM. After the restart, if all goes well, your computer will resume any maintenance tasks that still need to be process or wait for the idle time to elapse and then re-enter sleep mode.

These automated processes work well, but are far from perfect. For starters, your computer must be plugged in and running on AC power for any automated maintenance to occur. Second, a user must also be logged in and the computer must be either idle or in sleep mode. If you logged out of your computer and no other user is logged in, automated maintenance won't occur, nor will it occur if you or someone else is using your computer during the maintenance window.

Starting to see a problem here? Yes? Well, there's more. If the maintenance window is missed, Windows won't try again until the next day at the scheduled maintenance time. Additionally, the housekeeping tasks don't follow these same rules. Once a disk check or disk defrag start, they will continue until they are finished, regardless of whether a user is logged on-and both of these tasks will continue running off and on for up to 3 days if necessary.

Optimizing the Maintenance Window

Personally, I don't want my computer to wake at 2:00 AM, nor do I want it to restart at 3:30 AM. I'm often going into the office and finding the computer running when I arrive for work in the morning-hours after it should have reentered sleep mode. There are many reasons this can happen. The two most common: A pending action or power options that prevent sleep mode when idle.

Because I don't want my computer running for 5, 6, 7 or 8 hours before I get to the office, I configure automated maintenance to start about 2 and a half hours beforehand and I schedule restarts to occur about an hour and a half later.

You can change the maintenance start time by following these steps:

  1. Type Security And Maintenance in the Search box and press Enter.
  2. In Security And Maintenance, expand the Maintenance panel and then click Change Maintenance Settings.
  3. On the Automatic Maintenance page, use the Run Maintenance Tasks lists to set the desired start time, such as 6:00 AM.
  4. Optionally, if you don't want Windows to wake your computer to perform automated maintenance, clear the Allow Scheduled Maintenance... checkbox.
  5. Click OK to save your settings.

Running Maintenance Manually

Of the many housekeeping tasks performed during automated maintenance, these are the most important:

  • Check Disk
  • Disk Defragment
  • Problem Reporting

Your computer is constantly reading from and writing to its primary disk. If a particular sector or cluster on a disk is damaged or otherwise cannot be written to, your computer will experience problems whenever it tries to read from or write to this sector or cluster. Although the operating system and drive controllers help to mitigate and correct disk problems, they can't prevent and correct all disk problems. Occasionally errors occur, and Check Disk can correct these errors.

Another problem that causes disk drives to perform poorly is fragmentation. Fragmentation occurs when a file can't be written to a single contiguous area on the disk and the operating system must write a single file to several areas on the disk. Not only does this slow down the write process, it also slows down the read process. To reduce fragmentation, Windows 10 uses Disk Defragmenter to defragment disks automatically.

Other types of problems that occur on your computer may be detected by automated problem reporting and diagnostics.

You can initiate these and other maintenance tasks at any time by following these steps:

  1. Type Security And Maintenance in the Search box and press Enter.
  2. In Security And Maintenance, expand the Maintenance panel and then click Start Maintenance.
[Previously.....Optimizing Performance]