I just realised it’s the new year, and I should push out some posts that I wrote last year but never got around to finishing.
I’m rarely in a rush to upgrade my laptop – the old one is a secondhand Thinkpad T430 which I got in 2018 – that model was first released in 2012.
It’s been good, and I was reluctant to invest the $1000+ for a new one, so I thought I’d try another secondhand one: an ex-government T480s for $499. i5-8350U CPU (1.7 GHz), 12 Gb RAM, 256 Gb SSD.
This is a big upgrade for me – from then 7-year-old tech to 4-year-old tech. The T480s was first released in 2019. It got good reviews at the time.
Comparing the CPUs in CPUBenchmark.net’s ratings, the old scored 2639, the new 6265, or 2.37 times faster. Up against that is a shift from Windows 10 to Windows 11… which at first glance seems to have more cruft in it, but runs mostly okay… except Chrome, which is a little slow to get going.
(For comparison the new-used desktop that I recently got given has an i5-4670K CPU that scores 5557, but it’s got a much better GPU.)
Laptop setup:
It came with Windows 11. I did a reset on that to get rid of anything funky.
It also came set up to automatically logon as “User” – after creating my own standard and admin users, turning off the auto logon seemed quite tricky, and I ended up using the SysInternals Autologon tool, which once found was quick and easy.
Find the Lenovo site and check for driver upgrades. For some reason the Lenovo tool for checking for updates is quite finicky, and needs to be run as an Admin user. Updates included a BIOS upgrade.
Swap Ctrl-Fn in the BIOS – I just can’t get used to Ctrl being anywhere but the bottom left corner, as on every other keyboard I use
Turn off Touchpad taps. I’m terrible for false clicks on this, though this one seems less prone to it than the T430
Other than these last two dot points, the keyboard seems good, as Thinkpads generally are.
The proper touchpad buttons are at the top; on the T430 they were at the bottom. This may take a bit of getting used to.
But overall I like this new machine. Heaps lighter and thinner, faster, better screen.
(I also recently got a new used desktop machine, courtesy of a friend who was upgrading. It’s a beefy beast, but uses Win10, and can’t be upgraded to 11. No matter, at least for now. 2023 seems to have been the year of new PCs for me.)
If your computer is set up with audible alerts for email and other events, unless you’re on mute, sounds will blast out for everybody else on a group Zoom or Teams call with you.
This will block out your voice (and anybody else’s) and is very jarring.
The easiest way to avoid this is to turn off these system sounds.
Windows:
Search for “Change System Sounds” – or go via Control Panel to Sounds
Select the Sound Scheme: “No Sounds”
I’m not a Mac OSX user, but it looks like the option is in System Preferences / Sounds – you need to turn “Play user interface sound effects” off.
These settings will let media and audio calls play as normal, but otherwise the computer should shut up when a calendar reminder pops up, or an email or Slack message arrives.
Apparently some Macs this old have problems with Boot Camp not allowing versions of Windows later than 7. This didn’t affect me (and others have had no issues), but it can be worked around by changing the Boot Camp config file.
But there was a hiccup. It failed midway through with an error:
0x80070011 – 0x2000D The installation failed in the SAFE_OS phase with an error during MIGRATE_DATA operation
If you Google around, you’ll find lots of generic advice on forums suggesting to scan your drives, turn off your virus scanner, even try it again in Safe Mode (which doesn’t work – you can’t start an upgrade in Safe Mode).
0x80070011 indicates that the system was trying to move data to another disk drive
0x2000D indicates that there was a problem during the data migration.
It would seem that you have data on another disk drive that the system is trying to migrate and it fails. With your current Win 7 have you moved data about and changed the location of system folders such as programs, users, etc. If so, you should try and get everything back to default locations and try the upgrade again.
Thank you to that person who actually looked into what the error means!
This rang alarm bells for me because some years ago I moved Windows to an SSD (drive C) and put the user directories onto drive D, using SYSPREP so Windows would figure out what was meant to be where.
In my case, the SSD is too small to hold all the users’ documents/photos/videos, but should be okay with most other files.
How to fix it
I’ve worked through this (it took several attempts).
Here is my solution, assuming that like me, your user and ProgramData directories are on D: drive and Windows needs to be convinced they’re on C: drive:
If you’re short of disk space, you might want to clean up each user’s D:\users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Temp directory – eg delete everything older than today. (Be warned, this could cause some minor issues with some applications, so if in doubt, don’t delete.)
Disk Cleanup to remove all the unused temp files and empty all the Recycle Bins and free up any other possible space on C:
Copy all the D:\users\USERNAME directories (except the ones that are likely to be big, and can still be located on D: drive: Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, Downloads) to c:\users
The tricky bit: we need empty Pictures, Videos, Music, Downloads directories, as these don’t get created automatically once the user profile is moved in step 5. I found it was easiest to start copying these one by one, but cancel, then remove all the files in the c: copy, so each was empty – for step 7. We’re using Copy instead of just creating them new to hopefully avoid any permissions problems.
Edit the Registry: Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList change each user’s ProfileImagePath to the new drive
Log on as each user and check everything looks okay. If it refuses to log you in, you know something’s gone wrong with the C: drive directories or their permissions.
As each user, open Windows Explorer or the Start Menu and browse to My Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, Downloads, for each of these go into Properties and Move the location back to D:\Users\USERNAME\Whatever. When asked if you want to move files, choose No (since at step 3 you didn’t copy them). (You can do this after upgrading to Win10 if you prefer)
You can then delete the directories you DID copy in step 3 from d:\users\USERNAME – since these are no longer used
Also the ProgramData directory needs to be on C: if it isn’t already. There’s probably no need to copy it back, as applications should re-create what they need. Check and change if required the ProgramData setting in the Registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList to point to C: drive or %SystemDrive%
Verify Win7 is still working okay for each user, then do another Disk Cleanup to clear out the Recycle Bins again. (Clearing old Windows Update files is also possible, but takes ages.)
After all that I found it was okay to go install the Win10 upgrade.
After the upgrade, Public Documents/Pictures/Videos also didn’t show up by default for the users, but these can be added by browsing to the old D:\Users\Public directory and right-clicking each one and choosing Pin To Quick Access.
Other stuff
To my surprise, Microsoft Security Essentials wasn’t removed by the Win10 upgrade, at least not the time it worked. The normal MSE uninstall is buggy – you have to jump through some hoops. Running its SETUP.EXE worked for me, but note you have to set the compatibility for ALL users if your normal user it not an Administrator.
I briefly tried the claimed method of installing Windows Media Center, which didn’t work for me. I tried Kodi, which needs NextPVR to watch and record broadcast TV… then I discovered that NextPVR can do that on its own – so I removed Kodi again, since I don’t need it!
NextPVR did need the LAV decoders, but other than that, it seems to have worked fine with my old EyeTV Diversity USB tuner.
I meant to post this ages ago: in early 2018 I got my first Thinkpad – an old T430. Very nice.
I had been looking for my first Thinkpad; an upgrade off a slow Lenovo (non-Thinkpad) laptop, and I thought I might splash out on a new one.
But then I discovered my sister had an ex-work T430 she didn’t want. Sold it to me for what she got it for: AUD $100.
Specs: i5-3320M (2.6 GHz), 4 Gb RAM, 1600 x 900 display, SSD. With a dock (that I’m not sure I’ll ever use)
Some scuffing on the case, but overall it’s in very nice condition. Not sure how old it is, but this model was first sold in 2012.
And I found I could still upgrade it from Win7 to Win10 for free, using the Media Creation Tool.
I added another 4 Gb of RAM.
The keyboard is lovely, but I never did get used to the Fn/Ctrl key locations being backwards from most layouts, so I ended up swapping them in the BIOS.
Problems
One oddity after upgrading to Win10: Microsoft Edge was extremely slow to respond to clicks. The solution was a clean Win10 install – via the “reset your PC” feature.
I also found that under Win10, the trackpad would sometimes freeze up for a few seconds, particularly after two-finger scrolling:
This can also occur if Trackpad Tapping is disabled – I’d prefer it was disabled to avoid false positive clicks when I’m just trying to move the pointer, but oh well.
Modding
More reading for myself when I get the chance: Modding guide
But I hope this old laptop will keep me going for a while for my on-the-go computing needs.
This is interesting, and perhaps not unexpected: a vulnerability in Windows SMB 1 (used for shared drives) which was patched by Microsoft in MarchApril, has been exploited.
Despite what some Australian media is reporting, this tracker shows we are not immune — though it may be a reduced impact for now thanks to the weekend. Could be a different story on Monday.
You can also disable SMB 1 — note there are server and client portions, and that later versions of Windows make this a lot easier than earlier ones.
If you’re using Vista or older, find out about getting an upgrade. Vista patches stopped being issued earlier this year. You’ll be safe from this specific attack if you’re patched, but maybe not the next one. (Windows 7 keeps going until 2020.)
My assumption is that home users who use a broadband modem of some kind may not be at immediate risk this time from outside attack, since the modem can function as a basic firewall, but accidentally running an infected file from an email or web site could bring it in.
This attack has been serious, and other future ones will be too. So stay up to date, and stay safe.
Blatant plug: If you’re in southeast Melbourne and have no idea how to fix your computer, my brother-in-law runs this company that may be able to help: Bayside PC Services
In this blog post, Microsoft basically tells governments that they shouldn’t keep discovered vulnerabilities secret and exploit them for themselves (as the NSA did in this case, until that information was stolen) — that they should instead tell vendors so they can be fixed quickly. Difficult to argue with that.
In previous versions of Windows, they made it easy to change the default power option to be Log Off. This is handy for me – we tend to leave our PCs on, but logged off most of the time (with the power settings such that they put themselves to sleep).
Not so in Windows 10. If you Alt-F4 (close window) on the desktop, it’ll default to Shut down.
Worse, they’ve renamed all the options so that you can’t use a letter as the initial for Log Off. S now stands for not just Switch User and Sleep, but also Sign Out and Shut Down!
Thankfully there is a way to change the default. It involves going into the Registry.
Go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
If it doesn’t already exist, create a DWORD Start_PowerButtonAction
Defaults are as follows (in decimal): 1 = Sign out, 2 = Shut down, 4 = Restart, 16 = Sleep, 64 = Hibernate, 256 = Switch user
Beats me why they didn’t build that into the UI somewhere.
Unfortunately it doesn’t affect the Start / Power button.
For ease of use, we also created a prominent Log Off short cut on the desktop/Start menu, pointing to:
I wanted to partly upgrade Windows to a new drive.
Currently, Windows itself and Program Files are on C: drive, which is an SSD (which I meant to blog about in detail, but never got around to) and documents are on D: drive (which was the tricky bit of the SSD upgrade — to do it properly involves using SysPrep with an Unattend.xml configuration file that tells Windows that documents will live on D: not C:. This article describes it in detail.
Anyway that’s really irrelevant to the problem at hand, which is that D: drive had run out of space. Here’s a brief description of what I did:
The new drive is a 4 Tb drive, replacing a 1 Tb drive.
Plug the new drive in, use Clonezilla to clone the old D: onto the new drive. Following the detailed instructions, this all went pretty smoothly.
I looked around for tools to convert the drive. It’s easy if you’re prepared to wipe it, but I wanted to preserve the data I’d just moved across. Finding ways to do it without wiping everything was tricky, but I settled on the free version of Minitools Partition Wizard — this has an easy-to-understand interface, and did the job
Once that MBR is converted to GPT, you can enlarge the partition to make the whole drive available.
Unplug the old drive, move the new one into the same slot as the old (this is on a Mac Pro booting in Windows Bootcamp) and it works. Done!
PS. Similar exercise afterwards shuffling the OS X partition from a 320 Gb drive to the old 1 Tb. That required GParted, as it seems the GPT partition couldn’t be expanded due to a formatting issue (which GParted helpfully offered to fix as it started up) and another small 600 Mb partition being in the way — not sure what it is, but it seems to be essential for booting OS X — GParted was able to move it to the end of the disk.
Last night my laptop said it wanted to install updates. So when I’d finished using it, I chose “Install Updates and Shutdown”, thinking it would be all finished and ready to go in the morning, right?
Wrong. When I started it back up this morning, it proclaimed that it was 1% through the updates, and “This will take some time.”
Last night I chose "Install updates and shut down." This morning I find this. Thanks very much, Windows. pic.twitter.com/RA4hwsR08X
It took almost an hour to get through everything, but finally it got to the log on screen.
At that point I had to do something else, so I shut it down again. Later I booted it back up, logged on, and … more delay, as it went through a protracted “Getting things ready” phase.
Eventually it finished so I shut it down. Later, fired it back up again and logged on and…wait! There's more! pic.twitter.com/NqxqhVjvjB
Maybe this is a rarity given this is apparently the Windows 10 “Anniversary Update“, which brings a whole bunch of new functionality — none of which, so far, I think I actually need.
But the lesson for next time is to use “Update and Restart” (which truly is something Windows 8 and 10 have over Windows 7) rather than “Update and Shut down”, which clearly doesn’t do what I thought it would do.
My old laptop was old when I got it, and I just realised that was four years ago. I tried to breathe a little more life into it by putting Linux on it… with some success, but I’ve got some stuff I need Windows for, and that crawls along these days.
So I bought a new cheap laptop, for web and email use (definitely not an attempt at a desktop replacement)… a Lenovo B41-30.
Vital stats: A$299 (which seems to be an okay price; apparently it’s $100 off) from Centrecom. 14 inch screen. Celeron N3050, 1.6 GHz, 2 cores. 500 Gb hard drive. Intel graphics. Windows 10 (x64).
Only 2 Gb RAM, but I’ve paid A$35 for a 4 Gb stick – why wouldn’t you? Unfortunately it only likes alike sticks in the two slots, so the original 2Gb had to come out. Perhaps I might put another 4 in there to make it 8. You can always do with more RAM, right?
Anyway, after setting it up, here’s the bloatware I’ve removed:
BT Locker – locks your computer if your phone is too far way, using Bluetooth I assume
Cyberlink Power2Go – for ripping CDs and DVDs… not actually very useful on a laptop with no optical disc player.
PowerDVD – DVD/media player – ditto.
McAfee LiveSafe
AppExplorer – recommends apps to install – all I want on this thing is the basics. I certainly don’t want it being clogged up with extra apps.
Lenovo Solution Center
Lenovo ReachIt
Lenovo ShareIt
That’s all for now. It’s running at an acceptable speed.
After rebuilding my Mac Pro with Windows 7 on an SSD (more about this later), Stereo Mix went missing.
To re-enable it, I ended up changing the audio driver to the Microsoft High-Definition Audio drivers, then back to the Realtek drivers:
Control Panel / Device Manager
Browse to Sound Video and Game Controllers
Choose Realtek High Definition Audio / Change (you’ll need an admin password at this point)
Update driver / Browse / Let me pick, and choose High Definition Audio Device.
Let it finish, then go back in again but at the last step choose Realtek High Definition Audio. This time I found it needed a reboot.
I assume this updates you to the drivers that came with Windows, rather than those that came with Boot Camp.
After the reboot, Stereo Mix is available. You just need to enable it under Control Panel / Sound / Recording devices, right-click, Show disabled devices, then enable it. You can set it as the default so you can record things in Audacity etc.
My old hand-me-down laptop is getting too slow under Windows.
I tried reinstalling, and it’s still slow. Perhaps it’s the patch upon patch upon patch that needs to be applied to make it safe that explains why Windows installations always slow down over time — and why reinstalling didn’t solve the problem.
So I went looking around for lightweight Windows-like Linux distros… and ended up with LXLE.
The steps were pretty simple.
Windows Disk Management to shrink the main partition enough so there was space for Linux.
Download LXLE (silly me, I could have chosen 64 bit, but went with 32 because Windows was 32… the specs say it’s actually 64-bit… though with only 2Gb of memory, 32 might be better, as it is with Windows?)
Two things I’ve done apart from installing the default OS: install Chrome so I could sync my bookmarks, passwords etc
And install gpointing-device-settings via Synaptic, to turn off the annoying touchpad click (which I keep firing accidentally)
The laptop seems rejuvenated. The speed is nice. I mostly use it for web and a little word processing (which Libre Office, installed with the distro, should cover).
And if I desperately want something in Windows, I can still boot it up if I need to.
Still to investigate:
Compatibility with VPN for work
RDP for work and other uses
See if GIMP will cover the same stuff I use Paint.Net for, or if I need to find something else
But…problems…
It has had some problems with waking up after sleep, and forgetting the touchpad No Click setting when rebooting.
And now, after a week…
Now it won’t boot.
The whizzes on Twitter suggest it might be a hard disk corruption… which it might be, though Windows is still booting fine.
Or it might be that grub needs reinstalling. I’m not even sure how or why I’d do that.
The other suggestion people have is to try a different (more stable?) distro, such as Lubuntu. Might be worth a look, though I’m wondering how much better it would be.
As I get time I’ll keep testing.
Update: It may have been to the partition running out of disk space. Yeah, seems like an odd way of dealing with it.
