Best practices for a clean install of Windows 10 Pro 64-bit on 1TB SSD?
Lots of questions, so apologies in advance for this being a tad on the long side!
It's been a while since I last installed Windows and it's not something I do very often so I thought this time around I'd ask for some help and advice from all of the experts here as I know from reading various threads that there are a number of you who regularly build or setup desktops for family members and friends.
1. Partition or no partitions on boot SSD drive? If partitioning, do you install OS and programs on same partition then data etc on separate partitions? Which software would you recommend for partitioning? I've recently seen a youtube video about EaseUS Partition Master (free) which looked to have quite a few useful features and didn't look too hard to use.
2. I've read mention of a few bits of software out there such as IOBit Driver Booster 3 and that aid finding the latest drivers for all of your hardware should the drivers contained within Windows 10 either be out of date or not work? Any recommendations?
3. Tips/tweaks on how to stop all (or as much as possible) spying from Microsoft plus how to get Windows 10 to run as fast and as smooth as possible? Links to any decent walkthrough tutorials would be helpful?
4. Which free software do you usually install and recommend after installing Windows? Better alternatives to what's already included in Windows for: web browsing, antivirus/spyware/malware protection (currently using 360 Total Security plus MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (Premium), music and video playback, pdf's, video downloading? Ninite was mentioned as a one-stop where most free software can be downloaded in one hit.
5. Any useful or must have utilities for optimising hardware and system performance?
6. Which software would people recommend for creating OS restore images and regular backups? I know this is something I should have been doing far more frequently than I have (think I've only ever backed up Windows once or twice in my life, lol!). Think I'd like to create one barebones restore image of just Windows and working drivers for all hardware. Then a second one once I've installed all the software that I shall be using.
Is there anything else that I may have forgotten to ask that you'd normally do during a clean install of Windows on a new desktop build?
A checklist of which order to do everything in would be useful, as I can then work through it without worrying that I've jumping a step or doing stuff in the wrong order, lol!
Many thanks.