Setting Up A New Windows 10 Computer

In summary, you're saying about 5 hours?

Thanks.

Paul wrote on 8/1/2017 4:48 PM:
Keith Nuttle wrote:


I would allow at least four to five hours elapsed time to make the
change. Direct involvement would be less. I would also include a couple
of hours for remedial actions, as he uses the new computer and asked for
user specific changes.

I think that's a pretty good estimate.

These estimates vary, depending on "what discs you
have in your kit bag" and how much effort you've put
into automating things. Also, whether the customer is
looking over your shoulder or not. That adds 1.5 hours
to the job, if they look over your shoulder.

For example, say you were silly enough to offer to install
the latest Cumulative for Win10. There's an hour shot right there.
You only want to do maintenance of that sort on the machine,
where you are in control (and not Microsoft). As a consequence
of the extraordinary long delays for Windows Maintenance to
do stuff, I'd have to decline to do that stuff on site
(a person who was a stickler for details, would be tempted
to do that sort of thing). Don't polish the damn machine,
because then the estimate is 12 hours :-)

I don't get it. Whenn the machine starts up for the first time, doessn't
it "phone home" to get the latest updates?

To stop indexing on the computer:

Go to the Indexing control panel, and remove *all* the items
from the list. Then select the option to regenerate the
search database. It'll stop instantly.

To stop Windows Defender from wasting your time

Wasting my time in what sense? That it would like me to run a scan?


*******

Additional tasks:

1) 3 recovery DVDs, driver DVD, emergency boot CD (WinPE based).
Bring a small cake box of discs with you. Preferably not the
annoying ones that "ask to be formatted". Maybe a DVD+R would
be cheap and get the job done. That's because, even when prompted,
ordinary users just ignore requests to prepare recovery media. The
machine should make *two* prompts within the same day, the OEM
prompt for four discs, the Microsoft prompt for the emergency
boot CD.

I created a recovery flash drive ( 16GB). That what you mean by an
emergency boot drive?

How do you back up drivers?


2) Install a copy of Macrium Reflect Free (or one of the
other free ones Easeus or Aomei or whatever). Prepare and
burn the emergency boot CD for Macrium too, as it has a boot
repair menu item.

Why would I do that if he's not going to make images?

Thanks, Paul, for all your suggestions.

Keith Nuttle wrote on 8/1/2017 5:58 PM:
On 8/1/2017 5:38 PM, Alek wrote:
Keith Nuttle wrote on 8/1/2017 3:43 PM:
On 8/1/2017 2:47 PM, Alek wrote:

snip

Roughly, how long will that take?"

I know it's impossible to give a precise answer but how about a WAG?

computers.

Suppose the amount is 1 GB.


1 MB will take about a tenth the time as 1GB and about half as long as 2GB.

Really??? :-)

What do you mean by direct involvement?

When I install a program I always consider there are two part. One part
occurs when you start the install and it runs for a period with no
involvement from you.

The other part requires your direct involvement; Answering question,
Adding the name of folders, the parameters for your internet
connections, your time zone, answering The agreements, etc.

Every program I've ever installed begins by asking if the default
installation directory is OK with me.

What programs ask for all the stuff listed in the last paragraph? Other
than Office and its brethren?

On Tue, 1 Aug 2017 19:13:30 -0400, Alek
wrote:


Every program I've ever installed begins by asking if the default
installation directory is OK with me.



That's true of *most* programs, but not all. Some install to the
default folder without asking.

I wish I could remember some of which it isn't true, so I could
provide examples, but sorry to say that I can't. Perhaps someone else
here can.

Alek wrote:


I don't get it. Whenn the machine starts up for the first time, doessn't
it "phone home" to get the latest updates?

It doesn't always start the next Cumulative immediately. and if you
had to, you could flip it to "Defer updates" long enough to be able
to concentrate on what you want to do.

Pro has a setting to "Defer updates":

http://www.pcworld.com/article/31454...0-updates.html

Home only has the "Metered connection" method. And while Wifi
can be set to metered, Ethernet cannot. There was a little hack
for making Ethernet metered as well, but that may have been disabled
on one of the later releases of Windows 10 (Creator?).

http://www.pcworld.com/article/29531...-own-pace.html


To stop Windows Defender from wasting your time

Wasting my time in what sense? That it would like me to run a scan?


Windows Defender likes to scan files you are "touching", which
slows down the operations you might be doing. Using Task Manager,
see if you can spot "msmpeng" sucking up cycles and disk bandwidth.
On a decent machine, it's the disk that counts. For an SSD this
is less of a problem. On my gutless single-core CPU laptop,
every little thing like this helps. There's plenty of time for
Windows Defender to scan the whole machine in its spare time
when you're not in the room any more.


I created a recovery flash drive ( 16GB). That what you mean by an
emergency boot drive?

The emergency boot CD (or USB key) simply offers a way to get
a Command Prompt when the main OS is broken. It might offer
things like restoring a System Restore point, to get a user
out of a lurch. It also allows using the built-in Windows Backup
(restore function). Even an installer DVD can be used for this
purpose. The recovery drive will put things back, but I don't
know about the other functions that the installer DVD has.
If you look in the "Windows 7 Backup" interface, there's
a button there to make a 350MB boot CD. But if you bring
a Win10 installer DVD along, that can be used the same way.


How do you back up drivers?

This is all a function of what the OEM wants to do, and to offer.

Sometimes, they offer drivers, to ensure you actually have a set.
This usually is placed on a separate optical disc. I can't vouch
for what they will be doing on a given year (there was one smaller
company, that did "something different", every production year).


Why would I do that if he's not going to make images?

Thanks, Paul, for all your suggestions.

Some day, when you're not in the room, the topic of backups
may come up, and you can casually mention the set of options
you've left for him. My experience with one user was, Macrium
was "too complicated" for him, and I had to make a slide set on
how to use it. The Acronis version I tested, by comparison,
had a very nice workflow (even if I'm not a big fan of Acronis
as a company). A naive user might even manage that on their own.
The Acronis would be a purchased version (with a trial available).

Macrium does have a KnowledgeBase, and some of that info is
on a web page. So it's not like they're completely devoid of help.
It's just the GUI on Macrium is in need of "help from a GUI expert".
It's great for power users, who stumble on stuff and make notes
for themselves. Less good for people who look like "deer in the
headlights" when using software like that. In particular, the
scheduler page with the big whack of settings in it, is a train
wreck in terms of GUI design. You could claim "it's necessary"
to get the most out of the product, but it's still pretty
scary.

It's like the control panel on a 747. Of course a pilot
can explain how logical the 747 panel is, and how every switch
does something useful. But if the plane was about to crash,
and one of those switches would "save you", you'd never figure
it out in time.

Paul

On 01/08/2017 20:43, Keith Nuttle wrote:

Assuming the OS is already set up. However, just because it is a new
computer don't assume there will be no updates. Several months ago, I
bought a new laptop. As I tried to set it up I found that it had not
been updated to the Windows 10 Creator editon, which took a couple of
hour to install.

Is it because nobody told you to click on the about button to see what
version of W10 is already installed? Also, why haven't you said
anything about downloading cumulative update file to save a lot of time
upgrading the machine? Are you really interested to help Alex who has
accepted that he is the "dumbest" person on these newsgroups.



I would allow at least four to five hours elapsed time to make the
change. Direct involvement would be less. I would also include a
couple of hours for remedial actions, as he uses the new computer and
asked for user specific changes.



Now this is baloney right? How can you be so stupid with your vast
experience you claim to possess? Experience doesn't come with age in
modern technology!!



--
With over 500 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

"Alek" wrote in message news
Suppose a neighbor came to you and said, "I just bought an XYZZY desktop
computer [or laptop, it doesn't matter for this question] to replace the
Vista-based one I've been using. I'd like you to set it up for me,
including copying my documents, pictures, videos, music, etc files;
installing the programs I was using on the old machine (MS Office 2007
[assume he has a disk], chrome, firefox, thunderbird, etc.) and restore
the four accounts I have in Thunderbird. Of course, I'd like the
bookmarks from my old browsers. Roughly, how long will that take?"

I know it's impossible to give a precise answer but how about a WAG?

Thanks.

Alek,

You'll get a big variance in answers since we don't know the programs, how
many gigs of documents, how you plan to transfer them and what level of
expertise you have in doing these tasks.

MS Office 2007 suite may not be totally compatible so you may have to
download and install a free version like LibreOffice. I have installed MS
Office 2010 on Win10. Other programs "should" run but since we don't know
their vintage - hard to estimate. Bookmarks are easy enough but email
accounts can pose some challenges in transferring old emails and
attachments. Not experienced with Thunderbird so I can't even guess.

If you're going to do the transfers over your own network (assuming wired Gb
network), files can transfer rather quickly. If you're doing it via a WiFi
connection - you'll be waiting a lot especially if he has a lot of videos.
There are certainly faster methods such as pulling his hard old drive and
temporarily installing it in his new system or use a BlacX box or a USB to
SATA cable.

But to answer your question - 4 to 12 hours depending on a lot of variables,
like figuring out what you have to do to make an old program work, find any
updates needed for Win10. Win10 is good at finding drivers for hardware
(printers, external USB devices, etc.) but I've had older printers give me
fits - like an HP 1315 even though HP says it's compatible and has an
updated driver for it.

Bob S.

On Tue, 1 Aug 2017 14:47:14 -0400, Alek
wrote:

Suppose a neighbor came to you and said, "I just bought an XYZZY desktop
computer [or laptop, it doesn't matter for this question] to replace the
Vista-based one I've been using. I'd like you to set it up for me,
including copying my documents, pictures, videos, music, etc files;
installing the programs I was using on the old machine (MS Office 2007
[assume he has a disk], chrome, firefox, thunderbird, etc.) and restore
the four accounts I have in Thunderbird. Of course, I'd like the
bookmarks from my old browsers. Roughly, how long will that take?"

I know it's impossible to give a precise answer but how about a WAG?


It's impossible to give *any* reasonable answer, even a WAG. It
depends on the neighbor, on what he has on the computer, how much he
has, how many updates there have been to his software, how complex his
configuration is, and so on.

For some people it could be as little as a few hours. For others it
could be as much as a few days. I remember doing this on my own
computer a few years back, and it took me about three days.
Admittedly, my configuration was (and still is) more complex than most
people's, but so is that of many others. I've also done it on my
wife's computer, and if I remember correctly, it only took about 4-5
hours.

Alek wrote:
Suppose a neighbor came to you and said, "I just bought an XYZZY desktop
computer [or laptop, it doesn't matter for this question] to replace the
Vista-based one I've been using. I'd like you to set it up for me,
including copying my documents, pictures, videos, music, etc files;
installing the programs I was using on the old machine (MS Office 2007
[assume he has a disk], chrome, firefox, thunderbird, etc.) and restore
the four accounts I have in Thunderbird. Of course, I'd like the
bookmarks from my old browsers. Roughly, how long will that take?"

I know it's impossible to give a precise answer but how about a WAG?

Thanks.


Have you ever done this in the past (for another person or even yourself)?



--
...winston
msft mvp windows experience 2007-2016, insider mvp 2016-2018

On 8/1/2017 8:20 PM, Good Guy wrote:
On 01/08/2017 20:43, Keith Nuttle wrote:

Assuming the OS is already set up. However, just because it is a new
computer don't assume there will be no updates. Several months ago, I
bought a new laptop. As I tried to set it up I found that it had not
been updated to the Windows 10 Creator editon, which took a couple of
hour to install.

Is it because nobody told you to click on the about button to see what
version of W10 is already installed? Also, why haven't you said
anything about downloading cumulative update file to save a lot of time
upgrading the machine? Are you really interested to help Alex who has
accepted that he is the "dumbest" person on these newsgroups.



I would allow at least four to five hours elapsed time to make the
change. Direct involvement would be less. I would also include a
couple of hours for remedial actions, as he uses the new computer and
asked for user specific changes.



Now this is baloney right? How can you be so stupid with your vast
experience you claim to possess? Experience doesn't come with age in
modern technology!!



--
With over 500 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.
Good guy is off of his medications again.

--
2017: The year we lean to play the great game of Euchre

Keith Nuttle wrote:

Good guy is off of his medications again.

True enough. Though, you could have saved the rest of us - those who have
him killfiled - the pain of seeing his crap post, if you had snipped the
crap (including his malformed sig). Please do better next time. :-)

--
-bts

On Tue, 01 Aug 2017 12:26:18 -0700, wrote:

On Tue, 1 Aug 2017 14:47:14 -0400, Alek
wrote:

Suppose a neighbor came to you and said, "I just bought an XYZZY desktop
computer [or laptop, it doesn't matter for this question] to replace the
Vista-based one I've been using. I'd like you to set it up for me,
including copying my documents, pictures, videos, music, etc files;
installing the programs I was using on the old machine (MS Office 2007
[assume he has a disk], chrome, firefox, thunderbird, etc.) and restore
the four accounts I have in Thunderbird. Of course, I'd like the
bookmarks from my old browsers. Roughly, how long will that take?"

I know it's impossible to give a precise answer but how about a WAG?

Thanks.


Shouldn't be too hard, but certainly time consuming.

Best bet is network them, establish -permissions, and copy most of the
files that way, after installing whatever programs are needed.

It's installing the programs that will take the time. Thanks tothe
need to stuff info into the registry you need to install them from
scratch complete with keys. It takes for ever and its a real PITA if
you have much software. Next time I do it I will use something like
http://ww3.laplink.com/index.php/spe...PCmover-012014
or http://tinyurl.com/ybqu3vdd

With Thunderbird, you'll have to drill down in the user area to find
the existing folders, then copy them into a new install of TBird.

FireFox is easier. Create a Sync account on the old system, and then
on the new system, and you'll get everything easily. Not sure on
Chrome, but likely the same, or close.




--

Regards,

Eric Stevens

En el artículo , Alek
escribió:

I know it's impossible to give a precise answer

How about "**** off" ?

More seriously: about a full day, plus a return visit of an hour or two
for snagging.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=) "Between two evils, I always pick
(")_(") the one I never tried before." - Mae West

On Tue, 1 Aug 2017 14:47:14 -0400, Alek
wrote:

Suppose a neighbor came to you and said, "I just bought an XYZZY desktop
computer [or laptop, it doesn't matter for this question] to replace the
Vista-based one I've been using. I'd like you to set it up for me,
including copying my documents, pictures, videos, music, etc files;
installing the programs I was using on the old machine (MS Office 2007
[assume he has a disk], chrome, firefox, thunderbird, etc.) and restore
the four accounts I have in Thunderbird. Of course, I'd like the
bookmarks from my old browsers. Roughly, how long will that take?"

I know it's impossible to give a precise answer but how about a WAG?

Thanks.
I did something similar for a friends laptop, about 6 months ago. She
brought the laptop to my house and left it with me (so no looking over
my shoulder, and pestering with questions). Took me 6-7 work hours,
spread over a couple of days. I regard myself as an "average techie",
certainly not a whizz.

On 8/1/2017 10:01 PM, Eric Stevens wrote:
On Tue, 01 Aug 2017 12:26:18 -0700, wrote:

On Tue, 1 Aug 2017 14:47:14 -0400, Alek
wrote:

Suppose a neighbor came to you and said, "I just bought an XYZZY desktop
computer [or laptop, it doesn't matter for this question] to replace the
Vista-based one I've been using. I'd like you to set it up for me,
including copying my documents, pictures, videos, music, etc files;
installing the programs I was using on the old machine (MS Office 2007
[assume he has a disk], chrome, firefox, thunderbird, etc.) and restore
the four accounts I have in Thunderbird. Of course, I'd like the
bookmarks from my old browsers. Roughly, how long will that take?"

I know it's impossible to give a precise answer but how about a WAG?

Thanks.


Shouldn't be too hard, but certainly time consuming.

Best bet is network them, establish -permissions, and copy most of the
files that way, after installing whatever programs are needed.

It's installing the programs that will take the time. Thanks tothe
need to stuff info into the registry you need to install them from
scratch complete with keys. It takes for ever and its a real PITA if
you have much software. Next time I do it I will use something like
http://ww3.laplink.com/index.php/spe...PCmover-012014
or http://tinyurl.com/ybqu3vdd

With Thunderbird, you'll have to drill down in the user area to find
the existing folders, then copy them into a new install of TBird.

FireFox is easier. Create a Sync account on the old system, and then
on the new system, and you'll get everything easily. Not sure on
Chrome, but likely the same, or close.


Does a program like that work when you make jumps like the OP was asking
about? ie Changing the data and programs from a Windows Vista computer
to a Windows 10 computer


--
2017: The year we lean to play the great game of Euchre

Davidm wrote on 8/2/2017 5:03 AM:
On Tue, 1 Aug 2017 14:47:14 -0400, Alek
wrote:

Suppose a neighbor came to you and said, "I just bought an XYZZY desktop
computer [or laptop, it doesn't matter for this question] to replace the
Vista-based one I've been using. I'd like you to set it up for me,
including copying my documents, pictures, videos, music, etc files;
installing the programs I was using on the old machine (MS Office 2007
[assume he has a disk], chrome, firefox, thunderbird, etc.) and restore
the four accounts I have in Thunderbird. Of course, I'd like the
bookmarks from my old browsers. Roughly, how long will that take?"

I know it's impossible to give a precise answer but how about a WAG?

Thanks.
I did something similar for a friends laptop, about 6 months ago. She
brought the laptop to my house and left it with me (so no looking over
my shoulder, and pestering with questions). Took me 6-7 work hours,
spread over a couple of days. I regard myself as an "average techie",
certainly not a whizz.


Thank you.