Creating a backup usb install for Windows 10 upgrade

This is a good idea to back up your itunes to a flash drive just in case your hard drive goes bad or you want to do a clean install of Windows. Obviously, you want to also backup your photos and documents too.

Find the iTunes Media folder

By default, your iTunes Media folder is in your iTunes folder:

• Mac: Finder > username > Music
• Windows Vista or later: \Users\username\Music\
• Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\

If the folder isn't in its default location, you can find where it's located using these steps:

1. Open iTunes.
2. Mac: From the menu bar at the top of your computer screen, choose iTunes > Preferences.
   Windows: From the menu bar at the top of the iTunes window, choose Edit > Preferences.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. Look in the box under "iTunes Media folder location" for the location of your iTunes Media folder.
   

Consolidate your iTunes library
Before you make a backup of your iTunes files, consolidate all of your media into the iTunes Media folder. To consolidate your media:

1. Open iTunes.
2. From the menu bar at the top of your computer screen or at the top of the iTunes window, choose File > Library > Organize Library.
   
3. Select "Consolidate files."
   
4. Click OK.

Consolidating copies any files that were outside of your iTunes Media folder into your iTunes Media folder. To save space on your hard drive, you might want to delete the original files after you make sure that the copies are in your iTunes Media Folder.



Back up your library and media files
After you consolidate your media files, you can back up your library and media files to an external drive.

1. Quit iTunes.
2. Find your iTunes folder.
3. Drag the iTunes folder from its location to an external drive. Your library and media files copy to the drive.
   

Restore your library from a backup
You can restore your iTunes library or iTunes Media folder from your external drive to your computer.

1. Quit iTunes.
2. Locate your external drive.
   Mac: On the Desktop or Finder sidebar.
   Windows: In My Computer.
3. Drag the iTunes folder (that you backed up earlier) from your external drive to where you want it on your internal drive. We recommend that you put the iTunes folder back into its default location.
   
4. Hold down the Option key (Mac) or Shift key (Windows) while opening iTunes.
5. When you see a message that asks you to Choose iTunes Library, click Choose Library.
   
6. Choose the iTunes folder (that you dragged in step 3) from your internal drive.
7. Mac: Click Choose.
   Windows: Click Open.
8. Choose the iTunes Library.itl file inside.

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Published Date: Nov 24, 2016

 

Blocking CDN IP Addresses on Windows:

1. On the start menu search for “CMD”. IF you are using windows 8 or 8.1, press the windows key on your keyboard and type “CMD”
2. Now, right click on the CMD icon that you see and click on run as administrator.
3. If required, type in your administrator’s password and press enter.
4. Now, copy the following code into your CMD and hit Enter. netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=”YouTubeTweak” dir=in action=block remoteip=173.194.55.0/24,206.111.0.0/16 enable=yes
5. Now close the Command prompt windows and restart your browser and the internet connection.

 

I was getting some lag spikes in Windows 10 and after researching the issue, I found this solution increased my wireless connection speed from 33 MB /s to 86 MB /s.

The following works if you have a Docsis 3.0 cable modem with cable speed of at least 100 MB /s, an AC Wireless Router and an AC wireless usb card.


Under Network Connections, right click on your card and choose properties. Next click configure then advanced.

Then under wireless mode, change the default value from auto to 802.11 ac

Also make sure under power management, that allow the computer to save power is unchecked.

You may then need to reconnect to your wireless router one time after this is done and re-enter the password since it will disconnect you.

The reason this works is the auto may connect you to your wireless router at a slower speed instead of using the ac speed.

 

For the lag spikes, you may also want to do the following.

Go to Device Manager

Go to View (Show Hidden Devices)

Go to Network Adapters (Right Click) - Microsoft Kernel Debug Network Adapter) and disable.

 

Then under wireless mode, change the default value from auto to 802.11 ac allows one to connect at 5 Ghz instead of 2.5 Ghz. While this is a faster connection, I think the computer may be too far from the wireless router since I was getting some disconnects. So I changed back to auto and set static ip address. I also changed the channel on the router to a different one to hopefully decrease interference. Currently seems to be working better but we will have to see going forward. While a little slower, 2.5 Ghz is supposed to be able to travel through walls better.

 

As noted I did a clean install on a laptop to bring it back to Windows 7. One issue is that the Windows update does not work anymore and keeps trying to find updates and uses up CPU.

There is a work around to possibly fix updates, but I decided the best solution is just to go to Windows update in Control Panel and set the laptop to never look for or install updates.

Another issue is that YouTube is not playing videos correctly, instead it is getting a black screen and also pausing and then stuttering.

To solve this problem, I first in Waterfox set under options then Advanced, then General, to uncheck Use hardware Acceleration. I then also uninstalled Adobe Flash and reinstalled the latest version. So far this seems to work.

On my Windows 10 computer, I also disabled the extra sound drivers that I am not using. For example, it seems the Nvidia graphic card has a sound port and installs a sound driver. Since I use a different port, I disabled the Nvidia driver and also a creative driver to just have 1 sound driver. I tested to make sure I still had sound.

 

For getting one of my laptops updated to 1607, I had to remove all usb connected devices.

 

This is a little off topic, but I was able to get my cell phones better service and save 50% of the cost paying to a normal carrier.

When you 1st join say Sprint or Verizon, you want to get a good Android or Iphone and get a 2 year contract so that you don't have to pay full price for your phone. Normally you will get a family plan since its a little cheaper than everyone having this own phone and contract.

However, now most smart phones are pretty good like most computers and you don't need a new phone every 1 - 2 years. Plus if you break your phone there are many smart phone repair shops. There is also the LEEF iBridge to store your photos from your Iphone in case you have an Iphone that has a smaller hard drive than the new ones. I mainly have music on my iphone so this is not yet an issue for me.

Now once your contract ends for say 3 people, you may be spending $ 200 or more per month even though you already paid off you phone. This is where the big firms make free money since they have previously paid say Apple for the Iphone and now that they made you pay it off monthly you get no benefit unless of course you do want to trade in your old phone for a new one.

However, if you instead want to switch to a prepaid service, you will end up saving 50% or $ 100 per month for 3 people sometimes more if you have more people on your plan by signing up for their family plan and setup for your credit card to be automatically billed each month.

Before you do this you want to make sure that you switch to a company that uses the same towers as your current provider. For example if using Sprint, you can switch to Boost Mobile. Next and this is VERY important wait till you finished paying off your current contract and start doing it in the middle of the following month to give yourself enough time to complete the change. Most of these companies let you bring both your old phones and numbers with you. Also, do NOT tell your current provider that you are switching till you port ALL of your numbers to the prepaid carrier since if you close your account early you will lose your phone number.

Now the good news is if you did not remember when signed up with a service like Sprint or Verizon they made you pay for a month in advance of service so assuming you did not incur additional charges your final bill should be $ 0, and if it is not you need to complain. Although some carriers say they will help you pay some of the cost of moving early to them, it's still best to just wait for your contract to end and to have your phone totally paid off. Also, ask whoever is porting your phone numbers to close your account with your previous carrier.

If you have a phone that is not compatible like we did, the new carrier has some very good Android phones from $ 50 - $ 90 that you can buy. An Iphone 6 should have no problem. However, a Iphone 5s will need a new Sim card that you can get from the prepaid carrier though it may take some time for them to send it to you if its not in stock which is why you want to give yourself some time.

The good news I have found that once you install the new sim card and you are on the new LTE carriers service your phone will work much better. My Iphone 5s used to run into slowness issues on the Internet where it either would not work at all or be very slow. Sometimes the tech would help me reset the phone but this did not help that much. Now the Iphone works much faster.

One last note, you should switch back to paper mail if you want your last bill sent to your house.

As a final fuck you, your old carrier will delete your account and your profile so you can't log back in. However, think of this as a positive to let you know that your new carrier was able to successfully close your account.

 

Alternatively, you can just start out with a service like Project Fi or Republic Wireless. You'll have to pay upfront for phones, but you'll recoup the cost quickly on the monthly fees. It would be interesting to see if someone has analyzed the most cost efficient method already.

 

It depends if can afford say $ 900 for a new Iphone and want to pay that for an asset like a car that becomes used once you activate it.