For Windows 10 users
and those users who wish to become more experienced and proficient in Windows 10, I offer some self-help ideas here in this section for preventive maintenance, troubleshooting techniques and corrective measures to employ when Windows 10 is misbehaving.
My #1 suggestion, my top recommendation for success as a Windows user, is to commit to an established regimen of regular drive imaging.
My current daily-driver is a DIY Minitower PC running the latest available version, fully updated via Windows Update, of Windows 11 Pro in dual boot (driver updates disabled via Group Policy).
ASUS Prime Z690M-Plus D4 LGA 1700 µATX Motherboard
Intel Core i5-12600K CPU 10 (6P+4E) @3.7GHz
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro SL 64GB (4x16GB) DDR4 @3600MHz
(Intel XMP 2.0 and Dual Channel Enabled)
Twenty-one partitions spread across—
Samsung (MZ-V8V250B/AM) 980 EVO SSD 250GB – M.2 NVMe(two of these)
Samsung (MZ-V7E250BW) 970 EVO SSD 250GB - M.2 NVMe
Three Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SATA SSD's
Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 1TB - M.2 NVMe
mounted in M.2 NVMe to PCIe 3.0/4.0 x4 Adapter (for drive images)
The A side is carved up similarly as described in Partitioning Options, but using Microsoft supported techniques for moving User folders and Program Files/(x86) folders. The B side is carved up using the methods in Tame 10.
Rebooting from A to B video. (not an embedded YouTube video, it takes a couple of seconds to load. Use your "Back" button when it concludes to return to this page)
For more advanced users, there are instructions for modifying the Windows 10 installation that can facilitate a more stable environment and alternative reliable backup and recovery.
There are many good imaging apps available, some free, some commercial, but having and regularly using drive imaging software is the key to worry free PC use. Windows updates pooching your PC are not an issue; restore the latest image from before the bad update and you're home free, back in business.
The advanced techniques are geared toward separating Windows into manageable portions that become simpler to backup and restore using drive images, easier to customize and repair, resulting in increased stability, improved efficiency, and reduced vulnerability to data loss.
The tools I use are fairly simple, many are already included in Windows 10, and those that aren't are either free, shareware, or very low cost. They are also quite powerful, and should be used with care. I highly recommend a full system backup, preferrably a drive image, before you start modifying your system.
The same caution applies (full system backup) if you are having malware issues, and are attempting repairs. If somtheing goes awry, it's nice to be able to start over at the last place you had success. Also, if you're working on malware issues, it is a good idea to make a drive image at each stage of significant improvement, so that you don't have to start all over again if something goes south on you in the later stages.
