Instructions for Upgrading a Baetis Computer OS to Win 10, Using Windows Free Upgrade December 20, 2015 The instructions below are written for a Win 8.1 OS 64-bit model. If you are upgrading Win 7 to OS 10, using the Free Upgrade, we recommend first using Windows Updates to make sure all Important Updates for Win 7 are already installed. Then proceed with the Win 10 upgrade. The upgrade will be for 64-bit and either standard Win 10 or Win 10Pro for Baetis models with the Pro OS. There is no way to upgrade from Win 7 or 8 standard to Win 10 Pro for free, nor are we advising such an upgrade. After the Baetis is stable, be sure you have first uninstalled MakeMKV (after making sure you have a copy of its registration key on your external hard drive) if you have installed such software. This is a non-Windows-recognized software that could impede the speed of the upgrade process; if you have extremely fast internet you need not first uninstall Makemkv.

1. Click on the Windows white insignia on the lower right-hand portion of the TaskBar.

2. This brings you to a Windows asking whether to Upgrade Now or Later. Click on NOW. Please remember to allow up to 2 hours for the upgrade depending on your internet speed and its stability. With low speeds (<5mps), the total job could take more than 2 hours.

3. Once you’ve clicked Upgrade NOW, the process begins with a Windows Update window showing the downloading of about 3G of data. Takes about 7 minutes at 30mps internet speed.

4. Next, the Windows Update window says “Preparing for Installation”. This process takes about 5 minutes at 30mps.

5. Next, the window says “Great, we’ll get the upgrade started”, then a windows says “you need to restart your PC. Click on Restart Now.

6. After the restart, the window taking up the full screen says “upgrading Windows” and shows a large circle depicting the percentage of upgrade completed. At the bottom of this window, arrayed horizontally, are 3 categories a. Copying files b. Installing features and drivers c. Configuring settings

7. Copying files takes about 5 minutes, then an automatic restart takes place and the full screen shows “installing features and drivers, then after another restart, the window shows “configuring settings”. None of this requires any clicking on your part.

8. Finally, a window shows up saying “Welcome to Windows 10” below which is the name of the PC owner – Audiophile. Click on Next (obviously, don’t click on “I’m not Audiophile”).

9. The next screen is titled Get Going Fast and is the screen you should pay attention to. Do NOT click on “Use Express Settings”. Rather, on the lower left portion of the screen are the words “Customize Settings”. Click on this.

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10. The next few windows offer you the choice of turning On or Off certain features. Please Turn OFF all of these features without exception. Here are the categories of “feature” to be found in these next few screens: a. Customize Settings for Personalization and Location. Turn all of them OFF b. Connectivity and Error Reporting. Turn all of them OFF c. Browser, protection, and update. Yes, turn all of them OFF. This will NOT

affect the proper use of Windows Defender or automatic updating of Win 10. 11. The next window says Meet Cortana; click on NOT NOW (you will still have to

deal with getting rid of Cortana (a search and help engine) later. 12. The next window is titled New Apps for the new Windows:

At the lower left hand side of this window, click on <Let me choose my default apps>. {The snipping tool is not available during the upgrade, so we had to use a smartphone to take photos} 13. The next window allows you to choose among 4 categories of apps:

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Carefully make sure that all 4 boxes are UNCHECKED, then click Next.

14. The next windows will be taken up with the giant words: “Your files are exactly where you left them” While this is true, your faithful File Explorer program will have its View settings changed from our factory defaults. So be prepared to change back its settings, later, to those you are used to. Then, without doing anything except waiting a while, the next window says “Let’s Get Started” following soon thereafter by your cherished Desktop window. From this point forward, your attention will be needed to make sure that anything in Win 10 that is not needed for best possible audio and video is either uninstalled, or deactivated, or both.

15. First steps toward taming Win 10:

a. Delete any icons on the desktop that are titled “desktop.ini”; they just take up space. Do this by right-clicking the icon and then choosing Delete.

b. On the left part of the TaskBar you will see the new Cortana program ready to answer any question you have (while being unable to answer any question an audiophile might have). Right click on this space, then choose Cortana, then

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choose Hidden. The offensive Cortana icon will disappear. No, you will never need it, but you can’t fully uninstall it.

c. Right click on another icon that is on the left side of the Taskbar – the Microsoft Edge icon (sort of looks like a new version of the Internet Explorer icon, but it isn’t). After right-clicking, choose Unpin from TaskBar

16. Next, left click on the Start button, to find the newly offensive gallery called Life

at a Glance. Our objective is to get rid of everything on Life at Glance, one at a time. When right-clicking on each icon you will be able to choose “Turn Live Tile OFF”; for some of these programs you can also choose Uninstall. Do both for any of these icons which can be uninstalled (but at a minimum, “Turn Live Tile Off” for all of them. Here is what Life at a Glance looks like before you start dismantling it:

By right clicking each icon, you get one or two menus such as those shown, and some only permit you to choose “turn live tile off” – there is no uninstall choice. When you get done with all the icons, here is what you should see when left-clicking on the Start button.

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Nothing but empty space where there used to be all those useless Life at a Glance icons.

17. But you aren’t done yet. On the left side of this Start screen you will see some

Recently Added programs (in the screen shot, the one showing is Candy Crush Soda Sage). If the program doesn’t uninstall on its own, right click on it, and choose Uninstall if that is available. If uninstall is not available, make sure the program is Unpinned from Start. This will complete your planned genocide of Life at a Glance icons (except for the ones that Microsoft won’t let you uninstall – at least they can’t hog resources by being allowed to start at Start-up).

18. Next, you need to click on All Apps (at the bottom left of the Start screen above. There you will alphabetically scroll through every single Windows program now on your PC that is NOT needed to run dBPoweramp™, JRiver™, Makemkv™, a Gibabyte™ motherboard app or Asus™ motherboard app, and try to uninstall every one of the following programs (these are the ones that Windows will allow you to uninstall, even if you might need something like Skype later (if so, we can always reinstall it via the faithful Internet Explorer app which we do NOT want to uninstall.) List of apps to be uninstalled if possible:

• Twitter

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• Candy Crush • 3D Builder • Get Office • Get Skype • Get Started (just a tutorial you don’t need because this is a dedicated

audiophile PC). • Microsoft Wifi (not needed because you already have installed the

motherboard’s own wifi driver) • Microsoft Solitaire Collection • One Drive – when you click uninstall for this program you are sent to the

Control Program. Go to Programs and Features and on the upper left hand portion of the screen, you’ll see Turn Windows Features On or Off:

Click on “Turn Windows features on or off, to arrive at a key windows that you must make sure does not allow Win 10 to degrade audio quality. Make sure that everything beginning with an M or a P in this window is fully UNCHECKED:

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That is, make sure the following have nothing showing in their boxes (no checkmark, nor any square: Media Features Microsoft Message Queue Microsoft Print to PDF Multipoint Connector Print and Document Services

These are known features that may, under some circumstances, harm audio quality. We are researching Remote Differential Compression API Support; for now, you can leave it alone. We’ll send out an e-mail to everyone if it has to be uninstalled Unchecking these boxes in Turn Windows features on or off will require a Restart. Go ahead and click on Restart. After the restart, OneDrive will still be there, so go to the right-hand side of the TaskBar, click the up-arrow, then right click on the OneDrive icon and choose settings:

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There, be sure to Uncheck “Start OneDrive automatically when I sign into Windows. After the reboot, continue with your alphabetical, one by one review, of All Apps to see which ones you can uninstall. Click again on All Apps at the start button and continue to search for apps to get rid of. Here are some more:

• Phone Companion • Reader • Scan • Skype Video • Sports • Sway • Travel

You can’t get rid of Weather, X-box, and a couple of others, but you will already have chosen to Unpin from Start for these others. That is, just as you did for Life at a Glance, for each of the apps shown above, right click the app and try to uninstall it or at least Unpin from Start.

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19. The next step is to find on the Start window Internet Explorer. If it is not listed as an app under Most Used, just go to All Apps/Windows Accessories/ and find Internet Explorer. Right click on the words and choose More, then in the More menu, click on Pin to Taskbar. You might want to check to see if Internet Explorer is still using our factory settings, but it doesn’t matter because you should never use Internet Explorer except to go to the websites of one or your audiophile quality programs (e.g., for an upgrade).

20. Importantly, Win 10 may not allow you to immediately right-click on the Start

button, and choose Control Panel (to double-check how, for example, Windows Sound is configured – {so far no Win 10 upgrade has changed our factory settings for Windows Sound, so JRiver is not affected in that sense]. To get to Control Panel easily, right click the start button, choose Search, type in Control Panel. The icon for Control Panel will appear at the top of the search window; right click this icon and choose Open File Location. There, you will see an icon for the Control Panel short-cut. Right-click this shortcut and choose Send To/Desktop (create shortcut). This will put the Control Panel shortcut icon on your desktop.

One more thing to do. Go to Control Panel and choose Network and Sharing Center. To the left of this window you will see Advanced Sharing Settings. Clicking on that will bring you to this window:

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Make sure that all 3 of these top circle-boxes are checked. Then, click on the downarrow for All Networks. This will talk you to the following window:

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Here, make sure to turn-off password protected sharing if you are using a NAS for media storage. This UPGRADE process is a pain in the butt, so all new Baetis servers as of 12/15/2015 will go out with the Win 10 upgrade installed, and in the new year we will no longer be installing Win 7 or Win8.1. But if you think you need help with the Win10 upgrade, please just go through the instructions up through Step 14 on page 3 above. Then schedule a call with our head of customer support, Joe Makkerh (joe@baetisaudio.com; 514-476-9296). Joe can help you install Showmypc (if it is missing) and then take remote control of your Baetis, allowing him to make sure all the audiophile settings are exactly correct. For all Baetis users who want to do the upgrade but whose 1 year of customer support is expired, we will send you an invoice for $45, Joe’s cost for finishing the upgrade. For all Baetis customers who are still in your support period, Joe’s time is on us.