Windows 10 & SSDs
You do not need to tweak Windows 10 for SSDs.
Let me repeat,
YOU DO NOT NEED TO TWEAK WINDOWS 10 FOR SSDs.
Straight from Microsoft:
“A solid-state drive (SSD) is a hard drive that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data. An SSD must have a minimum of 16 gigabytes (GB) of space to install Windows. For more information about drive space and RAM considerations, see Compact OS, single-sourcing, and image optimization.
Note – It’s no longer necessary to run the Windows System Assessment Tests (WinSAT) on SSD drives. Windows now detects SSD drives and will tune itself accordingly.”
From the Intel SSD toolbox user guide:
“In Microsoft Windows 8, Superfetch functions differently than in previous versions of Windows, and should not be disabled for an Intel SSD.”
Micron – Windows 10 and Your SSD
“To be honest, between Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, there are no major new requirements for SATA storage devices, particularly for SSDs…Trim is more readily available. Trim is an operating system function that helps an SSD manage space containing data that has been deleted or invalidated by the operating system. Trim has been available since Windows 7, but was somewhat invisible to the end user. This is fine in most cases, but some end users may want a bit more control. Now, trim is available in the drive Tools menu, in a feature called Optimize.”
Warning: Opinions Ahead
re: Manufacturers SSD Tools
Under Windows 10 you DO NOT need these apps to setup your SSD or tweak performance settings. Some of these are fine for viewing drive info and updating firmware. Some of these also offer over-provisioning options, which is just fine if you choose to use it. But some of these offer some rather dubious settings when it comes to Win 10 (I’m looking at you Samsung).
Rapid Mode
Samsung Rapid mode can increase performance of your Samsung SSD.
When enabled, RAPID mode is inserted as a filter driver in the Windows storage stack. The driver actively monitors all storage-related activity between and among the operating system, user applications and the SSD. The RAPID technology analyzes system traffic and leverages spare system resources (DRAM and CPU) to deliver read acceleration through intelligent caching of hot data and write optimization through tight coordination with the SSD.
Geeks seem to either love or hate rapid mode. There are continual reports all over the web of rapid mode causing problems and crashing systems. Personally, I’m not using it with Win 10.
Arjen says
Hi Eric,
Thanks for a masterpiece again.
I have posted about your guide in my favorite security forum: malwaretips.com
Shaneel says
Appreciate the hard work you put in.
Thank you
steve says
I went through it page by page. Nicely done.
Edward Kiefer says
I notice in your Wise Disk cleaner part your showing version 8, there at version X which has Windows WinSxS (not show in version 8).
not a big deal but thought I mention it.
Steve B says
Hey Eric,
I guess gone are the days where we would pour thru Black Viper’s tables to figure out what to disable. Kudos to BV of course, but it’s nice we don’t have to worry about Windows services all that much anymore.
I would recommend disabling 2 additional services — Remote Registry (maybe I’m old school and this doesn’t matter anymore, but the name of the service is still downright scary), and Connected User Experience & Telemetry (thanks but no thanks MSFT).
Great guide and thanks as always for your efforts,
Steve
Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound) says
Thanks Steve. Remote Registry is disabled by default. Connected User Experiences and Telemetry is taken care of here via O&O Shutup10.
Richard Freeston says
I’ve noticed a small typo on page 17 under File History. The seventh word has an extra ‘s’ in it (constinuously).
Also the grammar of the first sentence does’nt seem quite right. I suggest leaving out the second and third words.
7 says
Eric: The registry hack for removing the word “Shortcut” from new shortcuts doesn’t seem to work in my version of Win 10 Pro 64b (20H32 v19042.746 Experience pack 120.2212.551.0). Instead the hex for link appears to operate as an incrementing count. For instance, say the Hex is showing 17 00 00 00 when I open RegEdit; I can set the Hex to 00 00 00 00 but on restart it shows 18 00 00 00. I wonder if it’s me, or MS?
Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound) says
Try:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
“link”=hex:1e,00,00,00
Beta says
Where is the .reg to make the tweaks to a new system?
Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound) says
https://www.tweakhound.com/2020/12/30/tweaking-windows-10-version-20h2/19/
Rita R. says
(Libraries) Just an FYI copy pasting the folders to a new location is an unnecessary step. The move dialog will do the work of moving the files in those folders for you, save yourself a couple of seconds and an insignificant amount of bytes on the web.
Peace, Love, Donuts,
Rita
Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound) says
A folder with the name of the library needs to exist in the location you want to move it to. The files are still moved. Copy/paste is just as fast and easy as your way.
Rita Rodriguez says
Since Windows 10 is funky, if anyone reads these comments I have something to add, particularly for y’all gamers.
#1 Heed the warning and /do/ not remove windows apps from your machine with O&O, user only is enough. It deleted my app manifest so a batch reinstall did not work, and couldn’t find a way to restore it. Windows Store works fine for everything but Cortana, you need to do an extra step to get her back, even if only to disable, its a windows 10 trend that follows to my next suggestion.
#2 Go into gaming settings and just disable Game Mode/Game bar, don’t remove the app from user or computer. While it has no affect, every game you run calls the game bar and will pop an error saying its missing, I assume it has to do with the processes that start up Full Screen Optimizations calling game bar as well, regardless if its disabled it will never load. It is safe to uninstall the console companion.
DanS says
In 20h2 there is no longer the option “sign in with a local account instead” after you have signed in with a Microsoft account. I had a coworker do this by mistake and now I cannot remove his Microsoft account from the workstation. Is there a way to manually remove the Microsoft account?
Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound) says
???
Michael Damian says
Hi Eric,
you may provide a reg-hack which patches the Windows 10 version number (not product key) to a recent one?
Reason:
MS does not deliver any apps via [Get], in my case today the free HTML5 Video Downloader by Arcadio Garcia (link below),
if they do not meet version # 10586.0 at least.
Last December I updated the OS for the sake of another app which left me in a total language mix, missing device and BT manager, a deliberate removed group policy editor (gpedit) but a proper reinstalled Cortana, Edge and all the other stuff MS cr*ps users lawn with.
Hence I re-installed my former shutupped/winslapped and outbound firewall protected v10240 again but been left in the rain
now when it comes to add simple addons from MS.
There is no rason whatsoever a downloader or else shan’t run on even older version than mine, just the usual
MS ignorance driven by complacency.
Your sincerely
Michael Damian
Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound) says
AFAIK there is no permanent way to do this.
Michael Damian says
Cheers Eric,
maybe the Hound digs that out one day 😉
Take care.
mbk1969 says
Nice and cool guide!
I just wanted to offer a tool for better power plan settings editing
https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/windows-power-plan-settings-explorer-utility.416058/