[motorhead]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

I'm glad your issues were resolved, but in engineering, your experience is called "One data point".

It simply is so that even MS reps have said that from time to time, you should re-install your WIN OS. While it's not that "Windows" causes the problem, so many junk application and fragmented files that a defragger doesn't resolve, uninstalled programs that really don't unistall etc etc etc clogs it up that you benefit from a reinstall.

I use my "good" PC for flight simming (and hopefully I can get an older but excellent F1 simulation going again on it). Extremely graphics and resource intensive. It doesn't go online except on rare circumstances. I use this other old PC for that. I love having the two PCs, one of which is my "junk" PC that can get infected to its heart's content.

Here's an interesting article reproduced by a flight-simming buddy of mine:

"Original article by ARS TECHNICA by Cassandra Khaw (UK)

You might be in the process of acquiring Windows 10—whether you want the free upgrade or not. Microsoft has confirmed that it is “helping upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they need” in the event that owners decide to migrate to the new OS, even if they have heretofore passed up on "reserving" their free upgrade from Windows 7 or 8.
The issue seems to revolve around the Microsoft update KB3035583, and as such it appears to only afflict individuals who have chosen to receive automatic updates. As far as we can tell, if you have automatic updates turned off, Windows 10 won't be pre-loaded onto your PC.
According to The Inquirer, the situation was first reported by an anonymous reader who claimed to have discovered a hidden directory called $Windows.~BT on his computer, despite not opting in for a free upgrade to Windows 10. The directory weighed in at "3.5GB to 6GB," according to the reader.
“I thought Microsoft [said] this 'upgrade' was optional. If so, why is it being pushed out to so many computers where it wasn't reserved, and why does it try to install over and over again?” he told the outlet.

Even when told not to, Windows 10 just can’t stop talking to Microsoft
It's no wonder that privacy activists are up in arms.
His concerns are mirrored by numerous people across the Internet, who have been reporting similar revelations since as early as July. Getting rid of the unwanted files isn’t as quite as simple as clicking the delete button, unfortunately. But it doesn’t require any significant computer knowledge, either. Addictive Tips has a concise solution for the dilemma, which involves uninstalling the KB3035583 update prior to removing the actual folder.
While potentially disconcerting at first blush, the news isn’t exactly a shocker. Microsoft has been aggressive about promoting Windows 10, bombarding Windows 7 & 8 users with pop-ups suggesting the change. More crucially, by opting for automatic upgrades, a user is essentially agreeing to allow software developers to do as they will—in this case, proactively downloading Windows 10 in preparation for any changes of heart.
Here's Microsoft's statement to The Inquirer [not the National Inquirer, lol- Chris], in full:
For individuals who have chosen to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, we help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they’ll need if they decide to upgrade.
When the upgrade is ready, the customer will be prompted to install Windows 10 on the device.

PART TWO:

What Is The $WINDOWS.~BT Folder On My Hard Drive?
by Fatima Wahab on September 07, 2015


If your C drive (or whichever drive it is you’ve installed Windows to) is taking up more space than it should even though you haven’t installed anything new, or added any large files, you might be wondering what’s going on. For anyone running Windows 7, 8/8.1/10, this sudden space consumption can be as high as 6GB and it might be attributed to a folder called $WINDOWS.~BT that exists on your drive. Here’s a look at where that folder came from, why you may or may not need it, and if it’s safe to remove from your system without causing any trouble.
Where Is The $WINDOWS.~BT Folder Located?
The $WINDOWS.~BT folder is hidden. It exists at the root of the drive you’ve installed Windows to. To see it, enable viewing hidden folders.

What Is The $WINDOWS.~BT Folder?
The $WINDOWS.~BT folder came from Windows, or more precisely a Windows update. It contains the files needed to upgrade to Windows 10. These files were gradually downloaded over time. The folder will have been created some time around the Windows 10 release (July 29). It may have been created before the release date so as to relieve Microsoft’s servers of the stress of too many downloads the day of release.
The folder on my drive was created on July 10, 2015 and is almost 6GB. Inside is a Setup EXE file which, if I were to run it, would initiate the Windows 10 upgrade. It’s worth mentioning here that if you have the KB3035583 update installed, files for upgrading to Windows 10 will download to your hard drive and this folder will be created. It won’t matter if you reserved a copy or not, or if you reserved a copy and you’re still in queue for the upgrade, this folder will exist and files will be downloaded to it. Resistance is futile (I’m kidding, read on to see how you can get rid of it).

Can I Delete The $WINDOWS.~BT Folder?
For Windows 7/8 users, ff you aren’t planning on upgrading to Windows 10 you can delete this folder. The real question is, how to do that? Will a simply Delete function work? In theory it should. It’s a folder that you can just Shift+Delete however, since it’s tied to an update process, it will simply appear again. What you will end up with is several failed update attempts in your update history. I’ve got one for every day of the week.

I deleted the folder a long time ago but it repopulated again and Windows keeps trying to upgrade to Windows 10 despite my not having reserved a copy. If you’re fed up of this and want to free up space on your drive, you need to uninstall the KB3035583 update. To do so, go to Windows Updates and click on ‘Installed Updates’.

Find the update called KB3035583 and uninstall it.

You can now delete the $WINDOWS.~BT folder on your hard drive. You will need Admin privileges to do so but we’re assuming you already have those if you were able to uninstall the KB3035583 update. If you’re having trouble deleting the folder, try using disk clean up.
Hit Windows+R and type %windir%\system32\cleanmgr.exe in the run box. Select the Windows drive and allow it to scan the drive. Once it’s finished scanning, click the ‘Clean up System files’ button and allow it to scan your drive one more time. "

I don't want the hassle, for sure. And unless there is a documented performance gain somehow, somewhere, I'm not interested until WIN7 no longer supports the programs I use.

I get all of what you are driving at, but like I said above, it was more of a last ditched effort to get my computer stable. Lucky for me it is working great so far. I liked Win7. I just had to many issues happening with my computer that could never seem to be fixed. It was either try this or buy a new computer. I hated to do that seeing that this is a $4,000 machine that is only three years old.