Free Quotes in most cases. August 2014 Newsletter. Today s Topic Windows 7, or 8, 8.1 and then?? SSD Drives

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1 Volume 10, Issue 1 August 2014 August 2014 Newsletter Making IT Right Pty Ltd 8 Keysor Road Pagewood 2035 Natan Rutstein Mobile: Office: natan@makingitright.com.au I have been in this field for 23 years and would like the opportunity to make your home and business life easier and more efficient. Located in Pagewood I service all areas of Sydney. Please contact me with any queries your might have using the numbers or addresses provided. Free Quotes in most cases Today s Topic Windows 7, or 8, 8.1 and then?? SSD Drives

2 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 PAGE 2 What is happening with Windows Support Client operating systems Service pack Mainstream support Extended support Windows XP Service Pack 3 April 14, 2009 April 8, 2014 Windows Vista Service Pack 2 April 10, 2012 April 11, 2017 Windows 7 * Service Pack 1 January 13, 2015 January 14, 2020 Windows 8 Windows 8.1 January 9, 2018 January 10, 2023 Mainstream support Microsoft will offer mainstream support for a minimum of 5 years from the date of a product's general availability, or for 2 years after the successor product is released, whichever is longer. For example, if you buy a new version of Windows and five years later another version is released, you will still have two years of support left for the previous version Extended support Microsoft will offer extended support for either a minimum of 5 years from the date of a product's general availability, or for 2 years after the second successor product (two versions later) is released, whichever is longer.

3 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 PAGE 3 End of sales End of sales refers to the date when a particular version of Windows is no longer shipped to retailers or Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Examples of OEMS are Dell and Toshiba PC manufacturers who often preinstall Windows software. When a version of Windows reaches its end of sales date, it's a good time to think about upgrading. This table gives end of sales dates for specific Windows operating systems. Client operating systems and updates Date of general availability Retail software end of sales * End of sales for PCs with Windows preinstalled Windows XP December 31, 2001 June 30, 2008 October 22, 2010 Windows Vista January 30, 2007 October 22, 2010 October 22, 2011 Windows 7 Home Basic, October 22, 2009 Home Premium, Ultimate October 31, 2013 October 31, 2014 Windows 7 Professional October 22, 2009 October 31, 2013 Not yet established ** Windows 8 October 26, 2012 October 31, 2014 Not yet established Windows 8.1 October 18, 2013 Not yet established Not yet established

4 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 PAGE 4 Install the latest Windows 8.1 Update Applies to Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1 Windows 8.1 Update and Windows RT 8.1 Update (also known as KB ) include improvements that make your favourite apps and settings easier to find and use, and provide more familiar mouse and keyboard options. For more info, see What's new in Windows 8.1 Update and Windows RT 8.1 Update? Here s what you need to know about installing this important update. It might already be installed If you re running Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 and you get updates automatically, you don t need to do anything: Windows Update will download and install the update for you within the next few weeks. It won t Interrupt what you re doing except to tell you that you need to restart your PC to finish the installation. To check if the update is already installed, go to the Start screen. If you see a Search button near your account name at the top of the Start screen, you already have the update. After the update, the Search button appears on the Start screen. The update is gradually rolling out to everyone with a PC running Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 over a period of several weeks. If you get automatic updates but you don't see the update yet, wait a few days and check again.

5 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 PAGE 5 There are reports that unless Windows 8.1 users install what is called the April Update, they won t get any further updates. See article You can easily tell if the update is in place by peeking at your Windows 8.1 Start screen. If you see a Power button and a search icon in the upper right corner of the screen, you're all set. If not, launch the charms bar and click the Settings charm. Click the link for Change PC settings. Click the setting for Update and recovery. Make sure the setting for Windows Update is highlighted. Click the Check now button and then click View Details. You should see several important updates listed. Click the Install button to install them. Please check your system to see if you have the update in place. Will there be a windows 8.2?? Perhaps and if yes, it will come out before the end of 2014.

6 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 PAGE 6 Windows 9 Expected when : Perhaps in What will it look like? Some say it will be a blend of Windows 7 and Windows 8 Start menu Back Here is a link to a site where windows 9 is being discussed.

7 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 PAGE 7 What is a SSD Drive? SSD (Solid State Drives) A SSD Drive is a what can be called an electronic drive. It has no moving parts. A conventional drive has Spinning disc and moving read/write heads. They are generally more resistant to physical shock, but I still would be careful with them. They run silently and generate little or no heat. They are also much faster than conventional drives. They come in 2.5 drive size which is the same as a laptop drive. Sometimes a Mounting bracket is required to install one of these drives into a computer case. It has been reported that Velcro tape can be used to simple stick the drive to the side or bottom of the computer case or tower. Inside a SSD Drive Inside a conventional Drive. Note the platters (look like CD s) and the heads which move over the platters as they spin.

8 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 PAGE 8 SSD Brands There are many SSD Brands out there. Here are some of them. AData Corsair Crucial Intel OCZ Samsung Sandisk Seagate Transcend Toshiba One of my main suppliers carries the following brands. Fujitsu Plextor Kingston Sandisk Transcend Crucial Intel Samsung Corsair OCZ Seagate Sizes Unlike conventional drives, SSD drives don t come in large drive sizes. They start around a 32GIG Drive going up to a GIG drive and step up in sizes to GIG, to GIG to 512GIG and also a 1 Terabyte (Samsung EVO) (1000GIG) or a SanDisk Extreme II (960 GIG). Don t Defrag a SSD Drive SSD Drives get your data very quickly. They don t rely on a platter spinning and a head moving to find the data. Running regular Defrags on a SSD drive will reduce the lifespan of the SSD drive.

9 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 PAGE 9 Benefits of SSD A new SSD can speed up your computer in several ways: Boot times will be significantly reduced. Launching applications will occur in a near-instant. Saving and opening documents won't lag. File copying and duplication speeds will improve. Overall, your system will feel much snappier I have personally built a few machines recently using SSD drives and they booted in around seconds. This time will probably increase over time and software changes are made. I recently cloned over a conventional drive to a SSD drive. (Made a copy of the HDD to a SSD). Prior to the clone the computer started up and was ready for use in around 5 minutes. After the SSD was install with no changes to anything but the type of drive, the system booted in around 1 minute. Other things to consider Most new SSD drives have what is called SATA III or SATA 3 support. This can allow for transfer of data at speeds of 6 Gbps (Gigabits Per Second). Best if your computer also supports SATA 3 also. If the drive is SATA 3 but the computer is not, the SSD drive will work but at a reduced speed. It is backward compatible. SATA 2 is 3 Gbps SATA 1 is 1.5 Gbps If you are moving from a very large HDD drive to a smaller SSD, then I would suggest doing a fresh windows install and install all essential applications. Over time you probably have a great many apps which you no longer use. Copy over only essential data and keep the old hard drive in an enclosure for future reference. If you old drive has very little drive usage, example gig used, then perhaps do a clone onto a gig SSD form the old drive. I have done this a few times. If you need to have large amount of space available to store data, we can possible keep both drives. Boot the system from the new drive and then have a conventional drive to store data. Not as fast as having it all on a SSD, but this is what might be required. If you have the budget, get a very large SSD or two smaller SSD drives to store the extra data.

10 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 PAGE 10 Pricing for SSD Drives SSD drive are currently running at around $1 per gig. So a 60GIG Drive might set you back around $ Conventional Drive A conventional drive might cost 10c/GIG Example a 500 GIG Seagate 3.5 costs $55. or $59 for a 1TB(1000GIG) Drive = $0.059/GIG 2.5 Conventional Drive $50 for $320GIG around $0.15/GIG or $100 for a 1TB Drive = $0.10/GIG Much cheaper than SSD for now. There are also Hybrid drives which have a small section of the drive as a SSD while the main part is conventional. What is TRIM and how do I use it. TRIM as I recently found out is a command that informs a SSD drive which blocks of data are considered no longer in use and can be wiped internally. Basically, it prevents your SSD from being overused. Just like any component, SSDs have limited lifespans. TRIM helps keep your solid-state disk alive a bit longer, so you want to have it enabled if your drive supports it. Have a read about it here. How do I use TRIM?

11 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 PAGE 11 You can determine if you windows 7 system has TRIM enabled by running the program The Drive Controller program can be downloaded from here. Unzip the file and run FROM Administrator Command Prompt The second option requires no third party software. Users need to start a command prompt with elevated rights. This is done by clicking on the start orb, then All Programs, Accessories, right-clicking on Command Prompt and selecting Run as Administrator. Now execute the command fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify and take a look at the result. Two results are possible: DisableDeleteNotify = 0: This indicates that TRIM is enabled and working on the operating system. DisableDeleteNotify = 1: This means that TRIM is not enabled, and that SSDs will therefor not benefit from it. If TRIM is not active on the system, which can be the case if the SSD has not been properly recognized, if it is to slow or if drivers have not been properly installed. TRIM can be enabled with a similar command if it is not enabled in Windows 7. To activate TRIM issue the command fsutil behavior set DisableDeleteNotify 0.