HDD 100% Usage

[BillyCarpenter]

Definitely agree on the not keeping anything stored locally that isn't expendable, or stored somewhere else as well. Everyone by now knows I'm a big fan of OneDrive so it's where my important files live.

I keep a VM on my office machine specifically for my deep dive searches and any kind of abuse I want to throw at Windows. That way I can take a snapshot before any search or software install and then roll back to it if something goes sideways.

I also have the Windows Sandbox feature enabled on my work laptop, which gives you a generic Windows install to use for software testing or questionable websites. It's come in handy several times since once you close it, all of the data it had is gone and a new image is created on the next start up.

Windows Sandbox - Windows security | Microsoft Docs

The final tip: always use your computer as a standard user. Have a dedicated admin account for anything you need to install that you just use through UAC. For domain computers, make sure you stagger your admin account permissions: your desktop admin account should be separate from your server admin account, or your domain admin account. I go a further step and even set policies so that any secondary account can't open a browser or email app to limit its use to just the local machine.

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

Hey, man, how do you manage to stay on top of all the latest technology? I didn't even know that Sandbox existed much less that it comes standard with Windows Pro and Enterprise. Also, the other tips you gave are great.

[KenB]

As for me, my personal PC has only the bare essentials installed: Windows 10 Pro (hesitating on jumping to 11 just yet), antivirus, Microsoft 365, (Acrobat) Reader, Chrome, a password manager, and income tax software, plus VM Ware Workstation. That’s it.

It stays well-maintained and pristine as possible.

A number of VMs: Windows 10, Server 2019, and 3 different Linux distros. My favorite version of Linux remains Ubuntu, and I have quite a bit of programming software on it (such as Python).

All files are either stored in OneDrive, Google Drive, or on any of several jump drives.

Any experimentation, as well casual Web surfing, all happen on those VMs, normally Ubuntu.

My work PC (company issued) is just that. No personal stuff done on it, and no work files live on my personal one.

[rthonpm]

Hey, man, how do you manage to stay on top of all the latest technology? I didn't even know that Sandbox existed much less that it comes standard with Windows Pro and Enterprise. Also, the other tips you gave are great.

Easy. There's about three or four sites that I go to that cover Windows pretty well. On top of that, there's also the closest thing to a manual for Windows and all things Microsoft: Developer tools, technical documentation and coding examples | Microsoft Docs

[tonerhead]

Definitely agree on the not keeping anything stored locally that isn't expendable, or stored somewhere else as well. Everyone by now knows I'm a big fan of OneDrive so it's where my important files live.

I keep a VM on my office machine specifically for my deep dive searches and any kind of abuse I want to throw at Windows. That way I can take a snapshot before any search or software install and then roll back to it if something goes sideways.

I also have the Windows Sandbox feature enabled on my work laptop, which gives you a generic Windows install to use for software testing or questionable websites. It's come in handy several times since once you close it, all of the data it had is gone and a new image is created on the next start up.

Windows Sandbox - Windows security | Microsoft Docs

The final tip: always use your computer as a standard user. Have a dedicated admin account for anything you need to install that you just use through UAC. For domain computers, make sure you stagger your admin account permissions: your desktop admin account should be separate from your server admin account, or your domain admin account. I go a further step and even set policies so that any secondary account can't open a browser or email app to limit its use to just the local machine.

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

Back in XP days, I took care of a small local network in a daycare setting. They had some educational games and stuff on the computers. Back then Microsoft had free software called steadystate. That really worked well, the kids could totally f-up the computer and all you had to do was restart to restore. The only whining I heard was it didn't keep high scores in the games. But it worked well, very few headaches for me. I remember watching a youtube session where some "Microsoft techs" were trying to gain access to a person's computer by claiming his computer had a virus. He fired up a virtual W98 session and let them try it. Funny as heck.

[BillyCarpenter]

Easy. There's about three or four sites that I go to that cover Windows pretty well. On top of that, there's also the closest thing to a manual for Windows and all things Microsoft: Developer tools, technical documentation and coding examples | Microsoft Docs

From my experience trying to learn this stuff, it doesn't seem like its something that a person can dabble in. In other words, I suspect you spend a fair amount of time learning and staying on top on the new technology. I also suspect that you spend a good amount of time actually working on computers and servers.

I tend to forget what I learn unless I'm actually doing it.

This is just my opinion but you seem very advanced when it comes to this stuff. I suspect that I'm right.

[BillyCarpenter]

By the way, I turned on Sandbox. It's ridiculously easy to get going and to use. It's crazy that I'm just learning about this.

[Rewind!]

Speaking for myself...I have a condition called "I need to know everything that I might be doing". And becuase of my condition I deep dive into subjects to know all the in's and out's of them. At our Business im our IT personell, I just grabbed a screw driver by accident one day next to a Konica lol. I am part of all our integrations, and need to work with users of different experience/knowledge/comfort levels when it comes to technology. I resolve most of our software and hardware conflicts during installations and integrations. And because of my condition Ive also made a quite a few different VM machines that I have running on our server that range from Unix to windows to OSX to Ubuntu for scenario issues. Just reading keeps you up to date on whats available even if you only understand the core competencies of a process/subject with a bit more time you can fully immerse yourself and gain knowledge on any subject. Just my two cents!

JC

Hey, man, how do you manage to stay on top of all the latest technology? I didn't even know that Sandbox existed much less that it comes standard with Windows Pro and Enterprise. Also, the other tips you gave are great.

[techsxge]

Sometimes I'm terrible at explaining things. Here's what I'm trying to ask:


I know that a SSD will resolve the issue. The thing is that these are inexpensive laptops that cost around $300. The customer can get upside down on these really fast.

I'm gonna have to create a system image of the old hard drive and replace the old drive with the new one. I'll charge about $65 for the SSD and and 1 hour labor. That's a total 165 + tax.

I was wondering if there was a fix that didn't involve replacing the drive but I think mojo is right....when it starts showing 100% usage...it's on its way out.

I guess this is probably to late but here's what i'd do:

First, download Crystaldisk Benchmark and get the Read/write Values of the HDD.
Then defrag the HDD and run a cleanup. Possibly even removing long unused files to a external hard drive or usb drive.
Then run Crystaldisk Benchmark again. Has the Read/Write increased by any value? If it stays the same, you can be very sure that the HDD will die finally in a few weeks.

[rthonpm]

I guess this is probably to late but here's what i'd do:

First, download Crystaldisk Benchmark and get the Read/write Values of the HDD.
Then defrag the HDD and run a cleanup. Possibly even removing long unused files to a external hard drive or usb drive.
Then run Crystaldisk Benchmark again. Has the Read/Write increased by any value? If it stays the same, you can be very sure that the HDD will die finally in a few weeks.

CrystalDisk Info will give you a better look into the health of the drive as it pulls the actual SMART data from the drive controller. If you want just the raw metrics of how the drive is working in comparison to another, Benchmark is okay, but you're not really getting diagnostic data like bad sectors, predictive failure, read/write errors, etc.

How to See If Your Hard Drive Is Dying with S.M.A.R.T.

[BillyCarpenter]

rhtonpm said this earlier: No one should be using a HDD. If you see one in a PC, replace it with a SSD. No, if ands or buts.