AMD launches new hardware.

Yesterday (7/7/19) AMD launched a bevy of new hardware to the world. We have both the 3^rd generation of Ryzen processors and the first discrete graphics cards based on the new Navi architecture.

AMD 3rd Generation Ryzen and existing Ryzen Processor stack.

The new Ryzen 3 processors bring a lot to the table. We have higher frequencies from core and boost clock, double the L3 cache and support for 3200mhz ram alongside the new x570 chipset on a huge range of new motherboards. The x570 chipset brings support for Ryzen 3, PCI-e 4 and native USB 3.1 gen 2.

Model	Cores/Threads	L3 Cache	Base Clock (Ghz)	Turbo Clock (Ghz)	Ram Support (Mhz)
AMD Ryzen 9
3950X	16/32	64mb	3.5	4.7	3200
3900X	12/24	64mn	3.8	4.6	3200
AMD Ryzen 7
3800X	8/16	32mb	3.9	4.5	3200
3700X	8/16	32mb	3.6	4.4	3200
2700X	8/16	16mb	3.7	4.3	2933
2700	8/16	16mb	3.2	4.1	2933
1800X	8/16	16mb	3.6	4.0	2666
1700X	8/16	16mb	3.4	3.8	2666
1700	8/16	16mb	3.0	3.7	2666
AMD Ryzen 5
3600X	6/12	32mb	3.8	4.4	3200
3600	6/12	32mb	3.6	4.2	3200
2600X	6/12	16mb	3.6	4.2	2933
2600	6/12	16mb	3.4	3.9	2933
1600X	6/12	16mb	3.6	4.0	2666
1600	6/12	16mb	3.2	3.6	2666
2400G	4/8	4mb	3.6	3.9	2666
1500X	4/8	16mb	3.5	3.7	2666
1400	4/8	8mb	3.2	3.4	2666
AMD Ryzen 3
2200G	4/4	4mb	3.5	3.7	2933
1300X	4/4	8mb	3.5	3.7	2666
1200	4/4	8mb	3.1	3.4	2666

Ryzen 3 is backward compatible with previous AM4 motherboards via bios update (apart from the A320 chipset.)

Ryzen 3 is backward compatible with previous AM4 motherboards via bios update (apart from the A320 chipset.)

Early benchmarks are showing that AMD has boosted its single core performance helping bridge the gap to Intel’s best while further pulling ahead of Intel in multi-threaded workloads These chips look fantastic for anyone into video, audio or visual work.

AMD also launched two new Navi based graphics cards – the Radeon RX 5700 and its bigger brother the Radeon RX 5700xt. Both are based on Navi 10, are built on the 7nm process and include 8gb of ram.  Where they differ is in the number of processors and texture units on each model with the 5700xt having 2560 processors and 160 texture units compared to the 5700’s 2304 processors and 144 texture units.

Think of these two cards as direct replacements for the Vega 56 and Vega 64 cards and direct competitors to the new nVidia 2060 Super and 2070 Super.

Disappointingly AMD have seen fit to stick to using a blower cooler instead of innovating here as nVidia did with their excellent reference coolers. Reviews are showing good overall performance from these cards but they do appear to be limited by cooling which maybe holding back some performance. Hopefully 3^rd party cards arrive soon with robust cooling solutions.

Windows 7 End of life.

 

 

 

 

 

All good things come to an end and on the 14^th January 2020 Windows 7 will reach its end of life and all support for it will be stopped.

What does this mean?

This means that Microsoft will not be issuing updates for Windows 7 anymore. No more feature updates or bug fixes but most importantly no more security updates so as of January 14^th, 2020 Windows 7 will no longer be safe to use online in any capacity. I can imagine malware authors already working on tools to take advantage of this fact.

What options do I have?

I know there are lots of people both at home and in business still using Windows 7 today for various reasons but now is the time to seriously think about moving to Windows 10. Now may be a good time to not only move over to Windows 10 but to also consider upgrading hardware to a new desktop or laptop device.

Windows 7 has had good innings in my opinion and will go into the history books as one of the best operating systems ever made.

The Non-functioning USB Keyboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A customer contacted me recently with what appeared to be a simple problem to rectify. Their USB keyboard had stopped working.

Simple fix, right?

Most likely a faulty keyboard or a driver issue, right?

Not today.

My customer was kind enough to bring their desktop and keyboard to me for further testing and here are my first observations.

• The keyboard was indeed not working.
• The LED’s on the keyboard for caps lock, num lock and scroll lock were also not working.
• Device Manager showed no driver issues at all.
• A USB mouse worked fine.
• All of the USB ports worked fine with a USB mouse.
• The keyboard did work normally in the bios.
• The keyboard worked perfectly on another PC.
• A known working keyboard also did not work on this desktop (in Windows.)

Reinstalling the keyboard driver did not work.

Removing and re-detecting all the USB devices allowed the keyboard to work again until it was restarted or turned off at which point the keyboard did not work again.

At this point, I tried a wireless keyboard, and this also did not work – even though the usb dongle was detected and driver installed.

The desktop in question had no PS/2 ports so I was unable to try those.

Now I am beginning to think that we have a deeper routed software issue at hand and being as the machine was still running Windows 10 ver 1803 I decided to update it to 1809 hoping that doing this would, in turn, fix the keyboard issue.

Nice thought but no dice. The keyboard issue persisted after updating to 1809.

SFC /scannow was unable to find any issues with the windows files so I manually removed the keyboard drivers and made Windows go and get new copies of those driver files.

This also did not work.

Head scratching time

I am now thinking that perhaps there is something going on in the registry causing this that did not get fixed by the 1809 update so off to google I go.

A quick browse around got me the following three registry keys to check.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E96B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control\Class\{4D36E96B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

Only two of these existed on this desktop and the entries looked fine.

However, removing these two entries, removing the keyboard, restarting the system and manually re-creating these keys led us to having a fully functional keyboard again. My theory is that there was some corruption in the registry keys and removing and re-creating them fixed the issue.

This registry key fix does remind me of an issue that used to occur under Windows XP where CD Rom drives would vanish. Removal of two Upper filters registry keys and a reboot would usually fix it. The problem was caused by cd writing software altering the registry keys.

Perhaps something similar happened here.

Which Laptop should I buy?

This is a question I get asked almost daily and there isn’t a quick and easy answer to it. My reply will always be based on what you want the laptop to do.

I won’t be getting into brand names and model numbers here but I will discuss the internals of laptops and what I would be looking for to suit particular workloads.

When someone asks me to recommend a laptop my first question is always the same.

What will the laptop be used for?

In general I get one of four answers. General office/home use, internet access, gaming or 3d applications.

Office/Home use

This is the most common reason for someone to be looking for a laptop. They want a mobile device, running Windows to provide them with internet access and the ability to run software such as Microsoft Office.

Internet access and Office applications are not demanding on hardware so you don’t need to go nuts on high specification parts.

I would be looking for a 15.6” display which gives enough display space to view web pages or use Word and Excel easily. Some people may prefer a 17” display or even a 12” display. 17” displays make laptops much heavier and less mobile, use more power and cost more. There is also much less choice of laptop when looking for a 17” display. 12” displays I find are too small for serious office work and are usually more expensive than the 15.6” equivalent.

I would be looking for an Intel i5 processor which again is plenty fast enough for office tasks coupled with 4gb or 8gb of ram.

Personal preference here but I would also be looking for a laptop with an SSD rather than a mechanical hard disk. Although an SSD will give you less storage space it will also run cooler, use less power, doesn’t damage easily when knocked or bumped but most importantly a laptop with an SSD feels much more responsive.

Internet Access

If someone is looking for a device for internet access then I would generally steer them towards a similar system to the above. Perhaps with an Intel i3 or AMD processor, 4gb ram and a small (128gb) SSD.

If they really only want internet access then perhaps even a Chromebook would be suitable. Chromebooks do not run Windows but Chrome OS. These devices are hugely popular in education at the moment as they are cheap, secure and easy to use.

Gaming Laptop

 

 

 

 

 

For gaming especially, but like most things in life you get what you pay for. Good gaming laptops are expensive so don’t expect much change from £1000 for something decent.

Here I would be looking for a 15” or 17” display. Intel i5 processor, 8gb or more of ram and an nVidia 10 series vga card. I would also be looking for an SSD and a mechanical hard disk. The SSD for running Windows and the mechanical drive for storing games.

3d Applications

This is generally for people looking for mobile workstations for 3d rendering or video editing. I would expect these machines to be even more expensive than a gaming laptop. Look for a high resolution 15.6” or 17.3” display, Intel i7 processor, 16gb ram, SSD and mechanical drive combo again and a workstation class vga card like the Quadro line from nVidia or the FirePro from AMD.

All laptops will come with wi-fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, Windows 10 (apart from Chromebooks,) sound and speakers, usb 3 ports etc.

Quick reference table

	Processor	Ram	VGA	Display	Storage
Office/Home use	Intel Core i5	4gb or 8gb	Intel integrated	15.6”	240gb SSD or 500gb hard disk
Internet Access	Intel Core i3	4gb	Intel Integrated	15.6”	500gb hard disk
Gaming	Intel Core i7	16gb	nVidia 10 series	17.3”	240gb ssd and 1tb hard disk
3d Applications	Intel Core i7	16gb	nVidia Quadro or AMD FirePro	17.3”	240gb ssd and 1tb hard disk

 

Please feel free to get in touch with us if we can help you with your choice of laptop.

Windows 10 includes free antivirus and security software known as Windows Defender.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the best features of Windows 10 is the integrated antivirus and antimalware scanner known as Windows Defender. It is completely free with no ongoing charges. It is light weight, unobtrusive and rather good. And guess what.

Almost no one knows about Windows Defender!

In fact, the first couple of versions of Windows 10 didn’t even include a tray icon for Windows Defender so you can understand to a degree why many people didn’t know it existed. Thankfully Windows Defender now has an icon, so you can see that it is there and running.

In the past it was necessary to buy an antivirus product or use one of the many free products from companies like Symantec, McAfee or AVG. I have no idea why Microsoft have never really made any effort to advertise the fact that Windows includes Windows Defender for free as part of Windows. In my opinion it is a fantastic selling point.

I imagine that Symantec, McAfee, AVG etc were not happy seeing Microsoft include Windows Defender into Windows. After all – if Defender was a good product (which it is) and is free (which it is) why would anyone who knows this purchase products from a 3^rd party?

Why do people still pay for Antivirus?

Now some people I know still purchase antivirus as they believe that a paid product must be better than something Microsoft are not charging for. I don’t think this is the case, but I will acknowledge the fact that you do sometimes get additional features in paid antivirus suites like an additional firewall, anti-spam, identity protection, system tools, performance tools and even backup tools.

Personally, I see no value in those additions – most of them already exist in Windows such as the Windows Firewall, temporary file cleaner and backup tools such as File History or can be done by free 3^rd party software such as Ccleaner.

For some people there may also be an issue of trust. They trust Symantec or McAfee to protect them. Ultimately if you can’t trust a company the size of Microsoft then what company can you trust?

I haven’t used a 3^rd party antivirus since Microsoft launched Security Essentials for Windows XP and Windows 7. Security Essentials morphed into Windows Defender and was integrated into Windows 8 and Windows 10 continues that trend.

Improving Windows Defender

And here is a little-known tip for you that makes Windows Defender even better. As of writing this no other 3^rd part Antivirus does this. And that is you can run Windows Defender in a sandbox. A sandbox can isolate Windows Defender (and any nasties it finds) from the rest of Windows further protecting Windows from infection.

Currently there is no settings option to enable sandbox mode in Windows Defender, so we must rely on enabling it from a command line.

So, to enable Sandboxing in Windows Defender: –

• Click Cortana. S
• Search for cmd.
• Right click cmd and select run as administrator.
• In the command line window that has now opened, enter the following command.
• Setx /M mp_force_use_sandbox 1 Followed by enter.
• Restart your PC.

And that is it. Windows Defender is now running in a sandbox.

If for any reason you wish to remove the sandboxing feature, then you can run the command again replacing the 1 with a 0 and a PC restart.