Windows 10 Anniversary Update

Simracing is a completely PC dependant activity and therefore a great performance is required. We usually don’t have time to waste in PC updates or software issues so we need to read carefully what are the software improvements we need to deploy in our simrig. 

It was time to update one of the post I wrote months ago, but needed to add more info than just an slightly modification so I decided to make a new one.

Last week Microsoft released a big update for Windows 10 systems. Build 1607 or Anniversary Update. While I was building a workstation I rechecked my post and some of the links with valuable info and resources were not working anymore. Looking and digging deep in the internet bottomless pit I could recover SSD article written at OCZ about Windows 10.

Windows 10 and your SSD

Do I need to tune Windows 10 to get the best from my drive?
Let’s recap…

SSDs really started to gain popularity when Windows 7 came along. This was the first operating system from Microsoft that was actually SSD-aware (to a degree) and introduced TRIM to the mix. OCZ way back then was pretty much the first to implement TRIM, and there were teething issues along the way but eventually TRIM became a plain sailing voyage and most people now take it for granted that TRIM keeps their drive working well. However, Windows 7 was only partially SSD-aware and many of under-the-hood functions of the operating system were still geared towards spinning platter hard drives; as such, many would prefer to tune the system by disabling certain functions to help speed up the system…but things now have changed.

From Windows 8.1 and now in Windows 10, Microsoft has created a very SSD-aware operating system. Many of those old tune-up operations are no longer valid, in fact, they actually do more harm than good.

One of the most popular tweaks was to disable SuperFetch and PreFetch on Windows 7. This, however, was a parent change and covered every drive (child) regardless of whether there was an SSD or an HDD in the system. It was also a totally manual tweak, the OS was not looking to see if an SSD was connected and just left these settings alone.

Now with Windows 10 this has all changed!

When you install Windows 10 the operating system now actively looks to see if an SSD is connected. It does this by running Winsat in the background and self-determining if a fast storage device is connected and readjusts its settings accordingly. Now, this can happen immediately once the OS has been installed but often does not. The system waits for a reasonable idle period to perform the tests, but you can intervene and run the test manually by opening an elevated command window (administrator mode) and running the following:

winsat formal

This is actually the test that used to give the Windows Experience Index (WEI) score on Windows 7, but Windows 10 goes a lot further than just giving a score now. Once the test has run, the system becomes SSD-aware, registry settings are changed and the system sets itself up to run in the most optimized way it can with the SSD. This means there is now nothing left for you to do!

Note: You can use this website to upload and view your results.

Once optimized for an SSD, the registry reference to SuperFetch is completely removed (the key to toggle this on and off is removed) and PreFetch is optimized for SSD usage. Defragment is reset to be optimized (manual TRIM) for the SSD and you can if you wish schedule this to run every day or every week etc., however it really is not needed as TRIM runs continually on the drive anyway.

So this brings us to SSD Guru, and the optimization options we have available for Windows 10. Many of you have noticed the option under “Custom settings” to disable SuperFetch and PreFetch under Windows 10 is grayed out and unavailable, and you should now understand why! We do, however, make other options available to you.

Generally what we are offering here is a slightly faster bootup experience as well as saving drive writes by disabling hibernation mode. SSD have incredibly fast seek times since they really do not seek at all, so indexing data is not needed. Once the OS calls for the data from the drive, it is delivered immediately. Disabling hibernation mode and the hiberfil.sys file will free up quite a large amount of room, especially handy if you are running a lower capacity SSD.

Windows 10 has already looked after SuperFetch and PreFetch setup so there is little else to do.

We also give an option to reduce the writes to the drive via disabling drive indexing, but remember OCZ has worked hard to give the drive a decent life expectancy, so even reducing the writes cycles to the drive is not needed for most users. Many drives will totally outlast the technology window of the system they are installed in and most end users will have upgraded well before the drives or the systems have failed as something faster will have been developed.

So the question now is…do I need to tweak or optimize my Windows 10 installation to make it work with my OCZ SSD better?

The answer really is NO. Microsoft has already done everything you need to do!

Microsoft also broke Windows 10 ISO site with a blank layer over and I was only able to download media creation tool after some dirty js trick. I link a new place where all ISO images are easier to find. Here you can see different languages and architectures for Standard edition.

Now you can follow my previous post and using Rufus and a memory stick to do a fresh installation of this ISO or upgrade your current system using Windows Update or Anniversary Update installation itself.

More useful links:

• How to Download Official Windows 10 ISO files Using Media Creation Tool
• How to Upgrade to Windows 10 Anniversary Update version 1607 using ISO File