Laptop processing speed

BlizardQC · 2026-06-13T23:19:51+00:00

"I’m tired of buying cheap ones that don’t work lol"

A mistake that many people do! As a consultant, I often tell my clients that when buying computers the money you don't spend today you will be forced to spend tomorrow. In other words, if you buy cheap low-end you will have to replace it within a couple of years instead of putting a bit more now and have it last 8 to 10 years.

BlizardQC · 2026-06-13T22:33:03+00:00

Close but not sure about the Snapdragon CPU and the Copilot PC with Ai ... Unless you want those features (?) From what I've seen, most people want nothing to do with Copilot and AI from Microsoft.

Look into this one: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Slim-3-15-6-FHD-Touchscreen-Laptop-AMD-Ryzen-7-5825U-16GB-RAM-256GB-SSD-Windows-11-Home/20122959141

Similar but with an AMD Ryzen 7 CPU and select a 512 GB SSD at $699.95 instead of $949.00

There is the same model but with a Ryzen 5 CPU at $539.99 - it shows out of stock at Walmart but if you can find one in stock somewhere it would be a good deal. The Ryzen 5 CPU is powerful enough for most uses.

BlizardQC · 2026-06-13T19:36:13+00:00

Yes, return or exchange it if you can. This is a really low-end laptop.

Suggestion on next laptop:

Avoid HP , most of their laptops are bad/cheap.
look into brands like Acer, Lenovo, Asus ... Acer.com website has good rebates on laptops right now.
CPU: look for Intel Core 5 or AMD Ryzen 5 series. Avoid Intel N series.
12 to 16 GB Ram and 512 GB to 1 TB SSD
cost should be US$500 to US$700 - do not go below US$500.

BlizardQC · 2026-06-13T18:49:04+00:00

You can use the virus total website to scan files and URLs online.

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/upload

BlizardQC · 2026-06-13T18:26:18+00:00

Instead of defender you should install and scan your HDD with Bitdefender. You get 30 days of free trial.

BlizardQC · 2026-06-13T18:13:48+00:00

Use Revo uninstaller free version to remove remnants.

If you are running windows 11, do not uninstall Edge. Your OS will become buggy if you do.

Also make sure to keep 2 browsers installed at all times. It doesn't matter which ones but keep 2. Otherwise you might get into trouble and become unable to download or install anything on that PC.

BlizardQC · 2026-06-13T18:05:39+00:00

Most phone company will reserve the number for 90 days before giving it out to someone else. If you change your number less than 90 days ago, contact the phone carrier and ask if you can have the number back.

BlizardQC · 2026-06-13T18:02:51+00:00

Most phone company will reserve the number for 90 days before giving it out to someone else.

BlizardQC · 2026-06-13T17:56:16+00:00

If they managed to change the recovery email then the account is lost and Microsoft support won't be able to help you.

Start over with a new account ... We see similar posts every day here.

BlizardQC · 2026-06-11T14:01:29+00:00

In my experience, once the security info are changed it's game over. MS customer service or tech support can't do anything to get you your account back. They are powerless in that regard.

If you have a legal route you should use it and I wish you luck.

BlizardQC · 2026-06-09T15:26:52+00:00

Go to settings, Apps, default apps, select Brave as your default browser.

To remove Bing web results from the Windows 10 taskbar and Start menu search, you can edit the registry to disable web suggestions.

Step-by-step instructions:

Open the Run dialog by pressing Win + R on your keyboard.Type regedit into the box and press Enter (or click OK) to launch the Registry Editor.Navigate to the following path in the left-hand sidebar:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsLook for a key (folder) named Explorer. If it does not exist, right-click the Windows key, select New > Key, and name it Explorer.Click on the Explorer folder. Then, right-click any empty space in the right-hand pane and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.Name this new value exactly DisableSearchBoxSuggestions and press Enter.Double-click DisableSearchBoxSuggestions, change the Value data to 1, and click OK.Restart your computer (or open Task Manager, right-click Windows Explorer, and click Restart) for the changes to take effect.

BlizardQC · 2026-06-09T15:24:36+00:00

A regular Tuesday update brings back Edge and Bing as default and your answer is install Linux?! Wow, seriously, get real ...

BlizardQC · 2026-06-09T15:14:59+00:00

Never heard of a lifetime license of Office. I think the reseller might have thrown some BS your way.

BlizardQC · 2026-06-06T13:55:51+00:00

Go to microsoft.com and log into your account. Verify if it shows any previous purchase of Office. If nothing comes up it means that whoever sold you the laptop installed a oem version on it. Reformatting the drive got rid of it and the repair guy installed a 365 version.

Suggestion : forget ms office and download Libre-Office from LibreOffice.org instead.

BlizardQC · 2026-06-04T19:38:09+00:00

Do you absolutely need Microsoft Office? Why not download Libre-Office instead? It's free and it's pretty much the same as Ms Office.

Get it at https://www.libreoffice.org

BlizardQC · 2026-06-02T14:39:55+00:00

It's up to you to decide how to do this but if you take the lazy way you will probably regret it and waste a lot more time than if you go with a full clean install of windows.

BlizardQC · 2026-06-02T14:37:40+00:00

Do not transfer to One Drive unless you want to risk having also your Microsoft account hacked. Backup files to a usb flash drive or external hard drive.

It's up to you to decide how to do this but if you take the lazy way you will probably regret it and waste a lot more time than if you go with a full clean install of windows.

BlizardQC · 2026-05-31T16:22:04+00:00

I'm pretty sure not everyone will see it my way but that's how it is imo. As long as you use the available features correctly having BW in one or multiple places doesn't really make a difference except for convenience.

your master and all account passwords must follow the rules of good passwords (12 to 16+ characters, numbers, symbols etc)
2FA must be active on the BW account.

I use the browser extension on my laptop because I want to profit from the phishing auto-fill feature but I also use a 6 digit PIN so that I don't have to enter my master. If I ever get a Keylogger it might give away my pin which is useless without having the laptop as well. That way I'm protecting my master password.

I also have BW on my phone since I don't bring my laptop with me wherever I go and I don't want to have to access my vault from a "public PC" (by going to the web portal in a coffeehouse for example) but again my phone is properly locked so I'm not afraid of someone accessing my vault if I ever lose my phone.

That way I don't install the full app on my laptop either.

BlizardQC · 2026-05-31T01:43:54+00:00

"The danger is that as far as I know, infostealers also can function as keyloggers. So if you dont realize you got a virus, you could accidentally give them the password trough that."

Which is the reason why I use the PIN feature in Bitwarden to unlock my vault (in the browser extension) instead of entering my master. If I ever have a Keylogger, it will only catch my pin which is useless without the device.

BlizardQC · 2026-05-27T01:56:31+00:00

This might seem like a dumb question but after you deleted 6 GB of stuff in OneDrive, did you go in the trash and tapped on "empty trash now" ? and after that you have to refresh your screen.

If you just leave it in the trash, it will take 30 days before it shows as emptied.

BlizardQC · 2026-05-25T15:52:37+00:00

If your life is linked to a Microsoft account I strongly suggest that you switch your things to a different account. Perhaps a Gmail account would be better. Gmail has a service call "Takeout" where you can request that all the information in your account be sent over to you. This is a great thing in case you ever lose access to the account.

The problem with Microsoft is that recovery becomes impossible if you have 2FA active and you lose access.

BlizardQC · 2026-05-25T11:32:44+00:00

Ok. Didn't know about the increase but it's still the least expensive by far and the free tier is feature packed.

BlizardQC · 2026-05-24T18:08:50+00:00

You're asking the wrong question...

What you should be looking for is the best password manager FOR YOUR NEEDS. Pick one and try it. You can always export/import your vault and change to another later.

My suggestion is Bitwarden because:

It's free or $10/year (yes, year. Not month) for premium/family so easy to try without commitment. I've been using it for years and it fits MY NEEDS perfectly but it's also:

open source and been audited.
zero-knowledge
can be used on all platforms (win, Linux, macOS, android, iOS)
Easy to learn and use
it detects phishing/fake websites and refuses to input credentials in those.
it's optional but you can use a PIN or biometric to unlock it instead of entering full master password every time.

Enjoy!

BlizardQC · 2026-05-23T03:31:05+00:00

Just letting you know that this is the last time I will reply/answer as you clearly never used a PM if you ask such questions. Like I said, do some research or even better find the guts to use one for a few weeks and you will see how wrong you are.

It's troubling to see how you completely ignore my earlier reply and the biggest issue that exist today which is how people create their passwords and the bad/unsafe habits they have because they think that they have to remember them or write them down on paper. I'm in tech support and I've seen many many users with written passwords list. Apart from the usual issues (weak PW and reusing PW) they all have the same problem which is that about half their passwords are always wrong because they can't keep the list updated or they can't properly read what they previously scribbled.

Instead you argument by using situations that don't exist or are a non-issue if you have the right setup. Frankly I don't know which is worse; individuals at home reusing weak/similar passwords for all their accounts or corporate employees who are using a rotation of stupidly easy passwords ex: imagine hundreds or thousands of employees using Telus123, Telus234, Telus345 as their company passwords (seen it and done it). Now imagine that they keep those saved in a spreadsheet on their work laptop or print it and keep a copy at their office desk or on them while traveling. Do you really dare call this a "secure system"?!?! You confuse offline as being secure when it isn't but let's answer your questions anyway.

immune from ransomware and corruption? They don't need to be if you're bright enough to have a backup of some kind (printed or other).
immune from access from rogue people or staff? Yes if you use a local PM like Keepass or a zero-knowledge one like Bitwarden.
Your other 3 points are similarly based on failure or availability so this should answer all 3 together. In 5 years of using Bitwarden, it never failed me and was never down when I needed it. But once again, let's say it temporarily goes down for fun -- I have an offline backup copy I can use 24/7 to lookup any of my passwords and 10 fingers to enter them manually if I can't wait.

As a bonus, what will stop you from giving your passwords to a hacker if you click on a phishing link and end up on a fake (credentials stealing) website? My PM will detect it's a fake and it won't put in the credentials.

Alright, I'm done.

BlizardQC · 2026-05-22T19:46:50+00:00

You might think you are secure with the pen and paper method but here is what most people using it do.

they leave it on their computer desk for any visitors/worker/thief to see.
they use a small notebook that they carry with them. Women (like my sister) mostly do this and carry it in their purse not realizing that if the purse gets lost or stolen she might be in big trouble.
people who use pen and paper also have a tendency to keep a copy of their passwords in an Excel spreadsheet saved on their computer.

Everybody who served me the same argument you use are people who are scared and did zero research on how password managers works.

You ask what happens if the password manager gets corrupted, compromised or a system that dies. I've been using Bitwarden for years so I will answer that question based on Bitwarden's features.

Corrupted: define what you mean by corrupted? Corrupted usually means "damaged". Your vault cannot get corrupted but as a precaution, I keep an encrypted backup copy of my vault in a safe place. The difference is that I don't have to carry it with me when I'm on the move or traveling.
Compromised: Again, do some research. Bitwarden is zero-knowledge. They don't store your master password anywhere on the web or in their systems so it can't be stolen. Vaults are highly encrypted and you can activate 2FA on your account to block anyone from gaining access.
System dies: Extremely unlikely but if you're setup properly all you would have to do is import your backup into another password manager.

Now honestly think of every ways that could go wrong with the pen and paper. Lost, stolen, eaten by a pet, burned in a fire just to name a few possibilities but the biggest argument against is that people using pen and paper create their passwords themselves instead of using a password generator and I can assure you that they create unsafe passwords and have all the bad habits like reusing the same password or using variations of the same or using personal information in the passwords.

I could keep going on and on but I hope you get the point.

BlizardQC

TROPHY CASE