And wow. Hadn't tried the right click on start. This kind of reminds me of playing Myst back in the day. Just keep trying things! Thanks for the tip on control panel!

Also, if you really miss the Windows 7 Start Menu, you can have it back through a bit of a gem from Stardock for $4.99. I have a few of their utilities. The site throws a false positive alert from Malware Bytes Premium but is fine.
https://www.stardock.com/products/start10/
This allows you to switch back and forth between the Windows 10 and Windows 7 Start Menus. Here is my Start Menu.

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My wife and I were just discussing the old games yesterday. Myst brings back many memories. What was that one where you had to climb up the side of a whale and know when to go left/right/up?

_________________
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.

William A. Gustafson
I know I have forgotten more than I can ever hope to remember.

I don't remember a whale, no. That must have been a different one. The original Myst was where you were in the tower and had to orient it correctly to get clues for the rest of the island. I think maybe you were trying to get off the island? Not sure. That and Riven are two of my all-time favorites. Beautiful and peaceful to play, just wandering around, no time limits. I still remember my shock during Riven when I first encountered another person!
Good times. Do they have games like that any more?

I am trying to decide whether the occasional benefit of synching to my phone is worth the annoyance. I did it, and was immediately informed that I need a lock screen on my phone, which I don't, and some other thing which I also didn't want. Blah. Don't boss me around, Microsoft! So many things on this that are just advertising and junk I don't need. Like Movies and TV... from Microsoft? What?

Wondering what the whale game was...

I have been watching You Tube vids on Win10 and seeing several things that are different in my system, apparently later changes, but it's still helping me to get used to the differences. Love the options for not getting updates during working hours, and also the pause feature.

A question: I just noticed that a "Windows Malicious Software Removal tool" updated today. I've read your evaluation that the firewall and AV are excellent on Win10, but at that time you were still recommending Malwarebytes. So is this malware tool not so great, or is it a new addition?

"Windows Malicious Software Removal tool" has been present since 2005. It is an on demand tool developed by Microsoft that looks for common infections. Is it really needed? Probably not if running decent security such as Defender and Malware Bytes but many do not run decent security.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malicious_Software_Removal_Tool

If you want to use enter "MRT", without quotes, in your search entry and it will come up as MRT.exe. It is just another layer of protection but has to be run manually. If you want you can pin to the Start Menu and/or make a shortcut.

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Good (well, in my opinion), short article about using Windows Defender and Malwarebytes together:

https://www.howtogeek.com/225385/what%E2%80%99s-the-best-antivirus-for-windows-10-is-windows-defender-good-enough/

Bill

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

Good article Bill.

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The Malicious tool that updates with the monthly updates only runs the one time during the update process, it's not a continuous running tool.

That is true but it stays installed and can be run manually any time desired. I just don't really see a need to do so.

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The upshot of all this being that you still recommend MwB, correct?

So now I have this crazy external DVD drive that wasn't working well with the old machine... well, it's not working AT ALL with this one. I thought I would exercise this morning. Ummm... no. Win10 has no media player. So I downloaded VLC. And still nothing. Oh, weird. I just tried again after typing that sentence, and it started. After numerous failures before. Sheesh.

It is called Windows Media Player and you might need to download it from the Store. There are many things, now in the Store that are free. Just gives you a choice as to what you want on your computer.

_________________
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.

William A. Gustafson
I know I have forgotten more than I can ever hope to remember.

Yes, I still recommend Malware Bytes.

It does tend to sound like your external DVD is messed up.

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Hi, Bill. I wonder if GG and I will ever get to see you and Sue this year.
Bill

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

I sure hope so. We will just have to see how the year progresses. As of right now neither of us is comfortable in meeting with other people. My niece has not had her mother over to see her kids since this started.

_________________
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.

William A. Gustafson
I know I have forgotten more than I can ever hope to remember.

Okay, this is WEIRD. This morning my brand-new computer started making a funky noise. Kind of a staccato click. I am trying to remember what I was doing when it first happened, but I'm not sure. Definitely not before today. I finally decided it was just a "Hey, stupid" sound, because it happened when I tried to click out of something without closing a dialog box or something like that. I have been updating finances using Quicken, and it happened when I saved a transaction, so again... I'm thinking that it's just a weird sound effect, and maybe I need to change it.

BUT. I just tried to play a video online and the sound was mostly that click! almost like a really quiet machine gun effect. Now and then the voice from the video popped through, but mostly it was just that sound. What is going ON??????

Being a new system I'd contact Asus support.

Otherwise go to Device Manager and remove the audio. Re-boot and let Windows re-install the device. Also go to the sound applet in the Control Panel and make sure that the correct audio device is selected.

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Okay. Weird. Today it's gone. Quicken is making its usual sounds, videos are playing normally. I guess it's okay! Shrug.

You may still want to update the audio drivers for the system.
https://www.asus.com/Laptops/ROG-Strix-G/HelpDesk_Download/

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Okay, so Device Manager says that I already have the best drivers for my system, but you think I should download those anyway?

I would. Device Manager can only check as to what is its driver store and Windows Update. The drivers available through Asus Support may not be available to driver update through Device Manager.

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As an add-on to my post above I think I should clarify how I look at driver updates. For the most part I do not do them unless they address an issue I am having or increase the device performance. In most cases I don't do them as I don't believe in making system changes if there is not an issue.

The above said, there is an exception. When dealing with a new system I will go to the manufacturer's site and update ALL drivers to what are then current. After that I go with not fixing what isn't broken and don't do device driver updates unless there is an issue.

In your case, homefire, you had an audio issue. Since there was an issue I would definitely update, at least, the audio drivers.

So why may it be possible that Windows can't get the newest audio driver that is available through Asus? Actually you may be able to do so if Asus submitted it to Microsoft and it became part of the Windows Update Device Driver Library. This, even if available, can cause issues. I know that this is getting to sound convoluted but it is what it is.

The thing is that a computer manufacturer does not often put up just a driver package for a device. Normally it will be a total install package for the device that happens to include newer drivers. Along with the newer drivers will be updated software to allow you to control how the device works. In the case of your audio it may be equalizer software to allow you to have the sound as you like; that is just one example.

If I were you I would go to
https://www.asus.com/Laptops/ROG-Strix-G/HelpDesk_Download/
and install everything. Normally I don't advise doing a BIOS update but do in this case as it specifies that it deals with system stability.

If you take my advice, and go to the link I posted, it will ask you for "Please select your CPU or BIOS model name". Use the pull-down menu and select 'G531GT'.

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Hmm. I don't know how to do this.

I downloaded the BIOS and the audio drivers, but when I open the BIOS one, it asks if I want to download an app to open a .306 file. This gives me files that my computer can't open???? So weird.

And on the audio, when I click on Install Package as it directs, I get this message:

Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting. Running this app might put your PC at risk.

I am tired. Going to bed. Maybe this will make more sense in the morning.

As to the BIOS update you would probably need to open it within your system BIOS.

As to the audio you might have to turn off Defender to install. The likely cause is that Asus has not registered the driver update with Microsoft.

Let's make it simple. Keep the downloaded files but don't do anything. Let's see if the issue was just a glitch. If it does not return don't worry. If it comes back we can work from there.

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Sounds like a plan. I'm much too tired to deal with it today anyway. Several songs to record and upload and I'm pushing the deadline as usual.