So imagine for a moment that you lose access to your hard drive. All your personal information could be exposed, even if you took the precaution of deleting it. Sounds a little scary, doesn’t it? However, they have just released a program whose main function is to overwrite the blank space you have on a hard drive. In this way, the information really remains blank, making it impossible to recover it later. In fact, the name of the program is Overwrite. A very interesting tool. So here we show you how to install Overwrite for the empty space of the disks in Windows 10.

Compiling Overwrite with Visual Studio Code

Overwrite is a program written in C language, which is contained in a single file. It can be compiled on different platforms, but here we are going to compile for Windows 10. With that in mind, we are going to use Visual Studio Code. To know how to install it please check our post. In the same way, we’ll need a C/C++ Compiler, for this example I’m going to use MinGW. The installation process is simple, just go to this address and download the installer.

Then double click on the installer. When the wizard starts, select all the options for a basic installation. Next, wait for the wizard to download all the necessary files and proceed to install them. This will take a few minutes, depending on your internet connection.

Add MinGW to the environment variables.

Next, we’ll add the compiler to the Windows environment variables. This is very important because it will allow you to compile from any CMD without going to the address of the program. Also, the Run Code extension of the editor uses the command prompt of Windows to run the compiler. To find out how to do this, I invite you to check out our post about Wget in Windows 10. Here I simply show you the already added variable:

to check that everything has been installed correctly, please press the “Win+R” combination, and run CMD to open a Command Pro.

In the command prompt please type the following command:

gcc

If running the command throws the error that there are no input files, then we are ready to move on.

Install the extensions in Visual Studio Code.

Now we need to add the necessary extensions to compile in C in Visual Studio Code. With this in mind, open the program. And in the Marketplace write C++ and Code Runner, and proceed to download and install them.

All right, we’re ready to compile the program. The first thing we need to do is to download the package from here

Once downloaded, please remember the location of the download and open Visual Studio Code. Once there, in the left column in Explore, locate the folder where you downloaded the program and click on overwrite.c. Then on the menu on the right press Run.

Testing Overwrite

Finally, we have compiled Overwrite, as you can see in the previous screen, there is already an executable file for windows. However, this program does not have a graphical interface but must be executed in a CMD. In addition, it is necessary to open a Command Prompt at the location of the program. To avoid this complication, we will add the environment variable.

Uses of Overwrite

overwrite [-h -v -test -one -rand -block:] (-files: &| -data:) -path: 
-h             Print help and usage message. 
-v             Print program version. 
-test          For test, don't delete written files. 
-one           Overwrite with 1, default with 0. 
-rand          Overwrite with random data, default with 0. 
-block         Block size, default 4096 bytes as NTFS and EXT4. 
-files         Number of files to write, block size each. 
-data          Quantity of data to write, ex: 1mb, 1gb, all. 
-path          Path to directory where to write data. 

Let’s use a practical example. Write 10 files and 10Mb data, on Windows C drive.

 overwrite -files:10 -data:10mb -path:c:\ 

Obviously, there are several commands we can use to run the tool. Very well, we have learned how to install Overwrite for the empty space of the disks in Windows 10. And also, we have seen how to compile C in Visual Studio Code. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial as much as I did. See you next time.

The post Overwrite in Windows 10. A program that overwrites empty space on the disk. appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

Install the Data Deduplication Feature

In Windows Server 2016, Data Deduplication is a role that can be installed. You’ll find the role under File and Storage Services, File and iSCSI Services.

1. In the Add Roles and Features wizard, select Server Roles.
2. Expand File and Storage Services.
3. Expand File and iSCSI Services.
4. Select the Data Deduplication role.

5. Click Next until the Install button is active, and then click Install.

You can also use PowerShell. If you’re logged into the server you want to install the Data Deduplication role on, use this command to install the role:

Enable Data Deduplication for a Disk

The Data Deduplication role can be enabled in Server Manager, but before we enable the role, we’ll need to select the appropriate Usage Type that most closely resembles the workload we’re enabling Data Deduplication for. As of this writing, there are only three different Usage Types included with the Data Deduplication role:

• Default – Tuned specifically for general purpose file servers
• Hyper-V – Tuned specifically for VDI servers
• Backup – Tuned specifically for virtualized backup applications such as Microsoft DPM

1. In Server Manager, select File and Storage Services.

2. Select Volumes from File and Storage Services.

3. Right-click the target volume and select Configure Data Deduplication.

4. Select the Usage Type from the drop-down box.

5. If you’d like to change the Data Deduplication schedule, you can do so now by clicking the Set Deduplication Schedule button.

6. Click OK.

Once done, you will be able to see Deduplication Savings from the same screen

This is the recommended workloads. If you’re running other workloads, or are curious, check out this Other considerations article from Microsoft. And if you’d like to dive a bit deeper into what can be changed, take a look at this Advanced Data Deduplication settings article.

The post Configure Data Deduplication on Windows Server 2016 File Servers appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

Uninstall unused applications

On many occasions, there are a lot of applications in the system that we never or hardly ever use. Worst of all, they take up space on the hard drive and often run in the background, consuming CPU and RAM resources. With this in mind, we need to type control on the search bar, to enter in Control Panel. Now we just have to choose the application we want to remove, double click on it and the uninstallation process will begin.

Uninstall pre-installed programs

Windows 10 comes with some pre-installed applications, some of them useful, others not so much. In the same way, Windows 10 comes with some pre-glazed applications, some of them useful, others not so much. For these cases, we have to type in the search bar: app and select Add or remove programs.

A list with the applications will be displayed, we only have to click on the one we want to uninstall.

Disabling startup apps

There are situations where we cannot uninstall an application because it is useful for us. But it is the case that it starts when the system boots, and remains in the background consuming resources. For this purpose, Windows includes a tool that allows you to view applications that start at startup. To activate it, just type startup in the search bar and enter in Startup Apps.

The following box contains all applications configured to start when we log in. In addition, we can see the impact they cause in the system and the option to disable them.

Disable Visual Effects

Windows 10 comes with visual effects on windows, tabs, and menus. These are activated by default in the system, and their impact on powerful machines is almost imperceptible. But when we work with more modest equipment, it can become a problem. For that reason, we can disable it by typing in the search bar appear in order to click on Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows.

in the next window select the tab Visual effects, and choose Adjust for best performance. This will disable all visual effects, you can also choose the Custom option to select which effect you want to deactivate.

Defragment the hard drive

Another option to improve the performance of the system is to defragment the hard disk. To do this, type defragment in the search bar Another option to improve the performance of the system is to defragment the hard disk. To do this, we write defragment in the search bar until it appears to defragment and optimize drive. In the following box, select analyze and then optimize, to improve the performance of the hard drive

Delete temporary files, free up disk space, and clean up the desktop

As we use the system, surfing the Internet, installing programs, the disk is filled with unnecessary temporary files. Windows 10 has its own tool that allows you to erase temporary files, and free up space on your hard drive. This tool is called Disk Cleanup, and to activate it just type Disk Cleanup in the search bar. We select the disk to clean and the items that we want to eliminate. This is also the option to clean up system files.

Keep the drivers updated and Windows 10 itself

it is imperative to have always correctly updated the drivers of our PC, as well as the installed applications and the own operating system is going to help us to improve the performance of Windows 10 and to accelerate the system. Any problem, incompatibility or obsolete driver can make certain components not work properly and the performance of our equipment is not optimal.

OK, that’s all for now, with these simple tips we can improve the performance of our team with windows 10. If you want to know more about our favorite system, I invite you to review our tutorial about installing Docker on Windows 10.

With this, you know how to increase the CPU performance on Windows 10.

The post Increasing CPU performance in Windows 10 appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.