10 PC Builds (& Windows 10 fixes - see below)
I have always had PCs with Microsoft operating systems, starting with DOS, and I've mostly built my own PCs from scratch rather than buy ready-made ones as a custom-PC is usually faster and cheaper.
The first IBM PC was announced on 8 March 1983 and they eventually published schematics. I set about building my own from these using 7400 series logic ICs [E65] on double width DIN 41612 [D32], [D33] BICC Vero Speedwire [E43] boards in a 19" rack. However it wasn't until I was halfway through that I realised the schematics had significant errors, probably to dissuade commercial copies, which complicated my efforts. Fortunately by then the Chinese had indeed made copies and produced ISA motherboards and plug-in cards, and I went that route instead.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer
My first PC was an XT but with a difference. Most others were content to settle with the original Intel 8088 which was an 8-bit multiplexed address and data bus variant of the 8086 16-bit processor which itself had 16-bit multiplexed address and data. These were the founding processors to the Intel core CPUs we know today. Instead I found an anonymous Chinese manufacturer offering 'their' 286H motherboard built with the 80286 which was an 8086 with separate (and therefore faster) address and data busses. It also boasted a speed upgrade, increasing the original clock from 4.77MHz to 20MHz:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80286
Only in 2023 did I discover the 286H motherboard was made by US manufacturer American Digicom Corp.
https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/A/AMERICAN-DIGICOM-CORPORATION-286-286H.html
The motherboard layout in the manual I have is identical to the one in the link above but there is no mention anywhere in it of manufacturer American Digicom. I assume they had it made cheaply in China and the Chinese secretly sold it under ADC's nose. As if to add further insult, the first page of the manual outrageously states: 'Duplication in any form of this manual without consent of the original owner is an infringement of copyright. All rights reserved 1990/91' !!
I still have all of my PCs, listed in chronological order ('→' = upgrade path). T=Type: D=DIY/B=bought
AS = Asus, GG = Gigabyte; C2D = Core 2 Duo, QC = Quad Core; GGS= Gainward Golden Sample, NV = Nvidia
Yr Mobo CPU Clock Bus RAM Storage GPU T OS 2023 Status / Comment
90 Chinese 80286 20MHz XT 192kB 30MB HDD CGA D DOS→WfWG V3.0 X keyboard I/P dead
97 ChinaMMX P90→P233 233MHz XT 192MB 6.2GB HDD EGA D DOS→Win95 OK LIBS PCM-401/3 testbed
01 GG SINXP P4 400FSB 3.0GHz AT 1GB 6.4GB HDD GGS D DOS→Win98 X PSU blew
02 AS P4B P4 400FSB 2.0GHz AT 1GB 8.0GB HDD NV D ME→NT4→Win2k Ok but USB flaky
07 AS P5BE C2D E8400 2.4GHz PCI 3GB 120GB SSD GT710 D XP Sp3 OK Lab PC #1 was GTX8800 GPU
12 AS P8H61 QCi5-3450 3.1GHz PCI 8GB 500GB HDD GT640 B Win7→Win10-64 OK SCAN was movies PC
13 MSI 7046 P4 3.0GHz PCI 3GB 120GB SSD ATI550 B XP Sp3 OK Office PC #1
19 AS Z370P QCi5-9400 2.9GHz PCI 16GB 120GB SSD GT710 D Win10-64 OK Office PC #2
21 Dell SFF QCi5-4050 3.3GHz PCI 8GB 120GB SSD mobo B Win10-64 OK for movies only
21 Dell SFF QCi5-4950 3.3GHz PCI 16GB 120GB SSD mobo B Win10-64 OK Lab PC #2
The SCAN was bought new & customised from Scan Computers ~£700. There was no SSD option.
The MSI was eBay £60 plus my upgrades: CPU, SSD, BeQuiet PSU. This is my office legacy XP PC.
The Dells were eBay refurbished ~£250 and original SSD upgraded to Sandisk SSD-Plus I use everywhere.
The Asus P4B lab PC #1 fan is getting very noisy now and I put this down to the CPU TIM having never been replaced. Only recently I learned it dries out after about 6 years and needs replacing. After exploring TIM options for my [Projects 2:7 DIY Rubidium Reference Oscillator] I have decided to replace it with thin graphite sheet which is very cheap (2023 eBay China $5 for 100 x 100 x 10µm) and won't need replacing.
You might ask why I still use ancient XP when we are into Win 11 territory (if you are prepared to install mandatory hardware to counter MS's appallingly lazy coding felled by countless viruses). The answer is below, and because Windows 10 steadfastly refuses to recognise my duplex OKI B401DN office printer's Win10 drivers. I also use SD cards a lot:
A special section for Windows 10 - How I hate this bug-riddled time-wasting POS
EXAMPLES
EXTERNAL SD/CF etc MEMORY CARDS
First of all, only Microsoft could create a right click menu with 'FORMAT CARD' next to 'EJECT CARD'.
Should I be grateful there is an intermediate 'Are you sure?' ?
You just formatted a memory card in file Explorer. You click OK to close the formatting window and it closes the File Explorer as well. Of course you never intended to use the memory card once you formatted it.
Watch as the bottom right taskbar icon for USB drives swaps position when you remove the drive, so if you want to do something else you have to move your mouse to its new position.
Furthermore the drive formatter in Windows 10 is considerably slower than the one in XP and far less friendly.
You are working with files in a C: drive folder and you plug in a memory card to copy them over. Windows 10 File Explorer immediately closes the C: folder and opens the root folder of the memory card.
You want to eject a memory card that you have finished using. Windows 10 won't let you do this if any subfolders are displayed in File Explorer (the only place where you can click on 'Eject'), claiming the card is currently in use, which of course it isn't. It does this by default, but if you click CONTINUE on the objecting text box, it ejects the card anyway. Pointless.
You have a memory card with a file problem. Windows 10 is still perfectly happy writing new files to it, further amplifying FAT issues.
You plug in a memory card and Windows 10 says there is a problem with it. You run full chkdsk diagnostics and it says it can't find anything wrong with it. This happens pretty much EVERY time I plug in a memory card, irrespective of PC.
EVEN APP INSTALLATION IS FLAWED:
I copied a certified virus checker installation exe to a temporary folder on the C: drive and attempted to run it, only for Windows to say 'Windows has helpfully stopped you installing a dangerous program'. You can get it to run it anyway, but it isn't obvious. I assumed as Windows 10 forces the PC owner to not be an administrator by default, that I should go into Accounts, Family & Members, select a new account and then change that to Administrator although from what I've read, this isn't actually a full administrator account. Anyway, either as a result of this or because I hadn't noticed, you CAN install executable exe files if you click on the totally illogical CANCEL.
I then tried to move the temporary installation folder to a backups folder, only for Windows 10 to refuse, saying a file in it was still open and in use. No, it wasn't in use. All that was in use was the program I'd installed from it, that no longer required its installation exe file. I had to close the program before Windows would let me move the temporary folder, and then restart the program which surprise surprise had no problem running with its installation exe located elsewhere, or when deleted.
TIPS
Uninstall all the useless apps Windows 10 installs by default on your PC.
Keep a copy of the original HDD/SSD you first installed Windows on (especially Windows 10) because in no time at all it will have installed thousands of MBs of junk that will slow down your PC. For this you will require a drive cloner (I use an Integral SATA cloner, which I believe is safely Linux-based), but this is also the way I save my backups and I wouldn't be without one. When it was first launched, my boot-up virus quick scan took seconds on the quad core SCAN Computers PC I bought to run movies.
A decade later the same quick scan took 15 minutes despite no more apps being installed. I didn't try Windows 10 RESET because I bet it would restore all the crappy MS apps I deleted. Instead I replaced the PC with a refurbished Dell SFF. In the past I'd steered clear of SFFs as they had a reputation of failing due to overheating but having bought a refurbished one on eBay UK for ~£250 in 2021 and found it to be almost silent and barely warm, I bought another to run Win 10 in parallel with my existing XP PC, see above. Maybe it runs cooler because now I only use SSDs.
Something to bear in mind: the recommended disk space for Windows 95 was 128MB. The recommended space for Windows 10 is 32GB; a minimum of 16GB is required for a fresh install of the 32-bit version, and 20GB for the 64-bit version.
16GB is HUGE: 16,000,000,000 bytes. Exactly why does Windows 10 need 125 times more space than Win 95?
WARNINGS
If W10 screen goes blank during an update, even for an hour or more, DO NOT TURN THE PC OFF or it will brick itself (which is another good reason to keep a copy of the original installation, see above).
FIXES (AKA how to stop Windows 10 fighting your productivity)
Rather like the Red Dwarf [G19] episode where hologram Rimmer is rebooted and all of his neuroses take up most of the huge download time:
To enable Administrator mode in Windows 10, enter cmd into Windows 10 search box at the bottom left of the task bar and select 'Run as administrator'. Other variants here:
https://www.technipages.com/windows-administrator-account-login-screen
To enter 'God Mode' and other useful hidden settings:
https://uk.pcmag.com/migrated-3765-windows-10/134418/hidden-tricks-inside-windows-10
To disable all of Windows 10's built-in advertising:
https://www.howtogeek.com/269331/how-to-disable-all-of-windows-10s-built-in-advertising/
To disable Microsoft's marketing feedback and tracking of your every activity, go to Settings / Privacy
and one by one, select each group in the left permissions menu and deselect all unwanted features.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/general-privacy-settings-in-windows-7c7f6a09-cebd-5589-c376-7f505e5bf65a
A really useful collection of fixes:
To remove the large icons in the black boxes called 'Life at a glance' & 'Play and explore' to the right of the vertical Start Program list, right-click each icon and select 'Unpin from Start'. Once they've all been removed and Start Program is re-invoked, the large boxes will also be gone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC5K6aC3TqQ
To reduce the size of the Cortana search box on the task bar to just a magnifier icon, right-click on the search bar itself (or on any blank space on the taskbar) and select Search/Show search icon:
https://cybertext.wordpress.com/2019/08/10/windows-10-reduce-size-of-search-box-on-taskbar/
Windows 10 duplicates every external drive letter, even if it's just a card reader with no card in it.
The only way to stop this is to edit the registry. I thought Windows 10 was all about dumbing down and avoiding users modifying the registry, which can cause catastrophic damage in the wrong hands:
This site provides freely downloadable file RegistryShortcutsW1064bit.zip:
'For quick and painless removal of the "3D Objects" shortcut and several others, we have put together this downloadable .zip file containing many .reg files (Windows Registry files), so you can simply download, open and double-click to apply these small changes without opening the registry yourself':
https://www.techspot.com/guides/1703-remove-3d-objects-shortcut-windows-file-explorer/
Windows 10 is by default set for touch tablet/Smart phone use so everything is hugely spaced out, wasting valuable screen space and significantly reducing productivity if you are one of the rare individuals with an actual PC. This will still be set even if Windows 10 knows you aren't using a tablet and it simultaneously greys out the setting that allows you to disable tablet mode. To restore File Explorer normal line spacing, in Settings [Change] 'Additional tablet settings' and turn off 'Make buttons in File Explorer easier to touch':
https://www.tenforums.com/general-support/163604-line-spacing-file-explorer-list-view.html
To minimize File Explorer's huge space wasting ribbon options top menu, press Ctrl+F1 (on-off toggle).
To make File Explorer display file details by default click Options/change folder/View/Apply to folders
Alternative methods to create a new folder in Windows 10 File Explorer:
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/create-new-folder-windows-10
You want to change the name of a folder.
Windows 10 won't let you do this if any subfolders are visible.
You want to capitalise a letter in the middle of a filename but Windows File Explorer insists on reducing it to lower case once you've finished. You have to add a second upper case letter behind the original letter and exit, then edit the filename a second time and remove the first letter, leaving you with the capital letter you wanted.
To Enable Case Sensitive File and Folder Names in Windows 10:
https://www.howtogeek.com/354220/how-to-enable-case-sensitive-folders-on-windows-10/
To turn off MS photos, in the Cortana search box on the bottom taskbar, type Privacy Settings and press Enter, select Background apps/Photos and flip the switch to Off and then re-boot the PC:
To turn off too many background tasks in Windows 10:
https://windowsreport.com/too-many-background-processes-windows-10/
To reduce Windows 10 tooltip delay time to less than the default 1 second:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/win32/controls/ttm-setdelaytime?redirectedfrom=MSDN
To remove the functionless 'Desktop' word on the Windows 10 taskbar, right-click the taskbar, select Toolbars and then untick Desktop.
To stop Windows 10 from hiding an 'overflow' of taskbar icons in a pop-up that is opened by clicking on the '^' symbol at the far right of the taskbar just before its small icons, right-click the taskbar and select Settings, then scroll down and click on 'Notification area' and then 'click on 'Select which icons appear on the taskbar' and set 'Always show all icons in the taskbar' to ON. Note - if you don't do this and instead just enable the ones you want, it doesn't stop others you haven't enabled being hidden on the overflow taskbar you're trying to remove.
If the bookmarks bar at the top of Windows 10 disappears, press Ctrl-Shift-B to restore it. This is a toggle; repeating it will again remove it. Alternatively right-click on the bar, scroll down and untick 'Show bookmarks bar'. In typical Windows 10 fashion, once you've unticked this it disappears from the menu. Note: the bookmark bar WILL disappear from time to time without you doing anything.
If you find the Debug window randomly appears for no apparent reason you might like to know it's invoked by the F12 key which is located immediately above the Backspace key. It's far too easy to inadvertently touch F12 with or instead of Backspace. F12 is also a toggle key and if you press it again the Debug window closes (or you can just click on its top right corner X symbol).
To open a second window of certain open apps, hold Shift and click on the icon in your taskbar.
For Word, Notepad, File Explorer, and Chrome, this will open a second window with a blank document:
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-run-multiple-versions-of-the-same-program-on-your-pc/
If Windows 10 stops recognising multiple monitors (it will), press WIN+P select DUPLICATE then EXPAND:
You want to add a printer to Windows 10. Good luck! It doesn't like OKI B401DN printers. This is a workplace oriented duplex networkable mono laser printer. Manual USB driver setup for OKI printers:
It can't even install the drivers in local USB mode. If you try to do it manually you find USB is treated completely different to LPT or COM ports and whilst you can select those, it won't let you select a USB port as they are completely missing from the list.
Even when I finally managed to get the driver re-installed under Hardware Manager/Properties, nothing came out of the printer. Running Windows 10 diagnostics produced the helpful message 'no problems found'. I've never experienced any version of Windows printer diagnostics finding any problem at all and I honestly believe all it does is display lines of text claiming to have tested various features without actually doing it. This also applies to Windows network diagnostics.
I got fed up with my wired mouse lead tangling on my desk so I installed a genuine Logitech RF mouse with a USB dongle. At first it worked fine, then in 2022 Windows 10 did an upgrade and the wheel started rolling the screen randomly and the buttons started double clicking. I checked the hardware on another PC and it was fine. I Googled and found a suggestion it was down to not having the latest drivers. I found the latest drivers at Logitech but Windows 10 refused to recognise them. I had to go back to using a wired mouse instead.
HISTORICAL WINDOWS
Outlook Express
1. You want to export Outlook Express mail addresses. You go through the various stages including selecting filename and destination folder and at the very end when you expect to click Ok, it instead asks you to enter the names of the people you want to export. A bodge because They forgot to put it in the program but couldn't be arsed to change the code, so just tacked it on at the end.
2. Outlook Express won't let you save (i.e. back up) its address book in the .wab file format which is the only one it will let you import, so it's pointless bothering.
3. You want to stop Outlook Express offering to compact your mail because the last time you inadvertently clicked Ok instead of Cancel (because your mouse is set to snap to the dialogue box), it deleted half your mail.
Forget it, you can't turn it off. There is a counter that offers to compact after you've run Outlook 100 times that you can reset in the registry, but that's it. Windows gurus will tell you it's beneficial to compact, but warn to leave the PC alone while it's doing it or it will lose files.
What they don't tell you is if it encounters a problem compacting and hangs, you will also lose files. Even clicking Cancel is difficult; the last time I did this took 5 clicks before it was recognised.
The easiest workarounds are: never exit Outlook, or turn off mouse auto-snap in case you forget this.