After a few years of bloat I finally needed to rebuild my machine. I did research about the cost for Windows 10 and basically determined that it was not worth spending money on. As of now Windows 7 has about three more years until end of life and it is a really solid operating system.
Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 are okay, and I know they offer some real benefits, but I am not a fan of the forced update and privacy issues there. There will be a point when I must upgrade and I will do it when that time comes. For now, I am sticking with Windows 7 x64.
Starting over is really very easy because I do not keep user data on my OS drive.
What bit me this time was after installing SP1, I would check for updates and svchost.exe would use about 1.5GB of RAM and 1 core for hours and never produce a list of updates to download. I found that KB 3135445 is the solution.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3135445
This patch fixes the Windows Update client. After an install and reboot the update list showed. Of course there are a lot of reboots to come when installing almost 300 of them, but at least they flow and can be done over multiple days.
SoundSwitch
One of the apps I have gotten used to is SoundSwitch (https://github.com/Belphemur/SoundSwitch). I use either headphones or a receiver and SoundSwitch's customizable hotkey system, it takes the hassle out of switching outputs.
Cobian Backup
And backups. There is no end to the frustration of the basic Windows backup system. Do you want multiple backup schedules? No can do in Windows Backup. Want to be very picky about the files, location, encryption, compression, and a host of options? Try Cobian backup. It's free, stable, full of features, and amazing. I've been using it for years and have been very pleased by it.
http://www.cobiansoft.com/cobianbackup.htm
