I got my new Dell Tower today and am setting it up.
I got it up and running and the first thing I did once Windows 11 was finished setting up was I looked in Windows Explorer and noticed a very odd thing. In my personal folder that it set up there are a few random personal files that were on my old computer! Very few, but how did they get there!?
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Did you sign up for one drive and get the free storage?
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No. I have never used one drive.
Now I’m seeing a ton of scanned documents that were on my old computer on my new computer!
Where on earth are these coming from?
During the installation I did login to Microsoft, but why and how would they have some random files of mine to download onto the new computer?
This is mystifying me.
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The other really annoying thing is I installed Google Chrome and signed in to my account but none of my tabs or bookmarks are there. All gone. I figured with signing in they would reappear.
There must be a way to retrieve them. This can’t be normal. People have tons of bookmarks and can’t expect to start from scratch when they set up a new computer.
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Ok do you have anything in the cloud? Google, Apple?
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Not that I know of!
But I reset the computer and reinstalled Windows. I was planning on NOT logging into MS this time to see what happens, but it wouldn’t let me NOT do so.
So I did everything the same, but this time the files are not there! Weird or what?
Do you have a Microsoft account that you logged into during the setup process? On my PC I have stuff in Microsoft’s OneDrive folder (should be C:\Users\{userid}\OneDrive). This folder is synced with your Microsoft account and is “in the cloud”. The stuff I have there is random crap that I never really wanted there, but that somehow got filed there anyway. All the files I care about are in other non-OneDrive folders that I have control over and back up regularly to a USB drive.
Not that I know of.
And when I go to that folder you mentioned, it asks me to set up an account. So apparently I don’t even have a one drive account.
Anyway, as I mentioned in my previous post, the files are not there this time.
And also this time, I got my Chrome bookmarks back! Why this time? Who knows? Computers can be so finicky!
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OK, have installed a few software programs. Hoping 32GB memory will be a ton better than 8GB! But an odd thing. I checked the memory usage and was surprised that with just a few programs opened, not even as much as I’ve had opened in my old computer, and it says 14GB of memory is being used! So already 43% is used.
Why would that be? These programs worked with only 8GB total memory before, so why are they using 14GB now?
I hope I’m not sorry not getting 64GB! I still have a few more software programs to install and open to see what happens.
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My new computer has only one HDMI port. I need two, one for the monitor and one for a cable running to the TV. So what would be the best solution?
There is an ethernet port that isn’t being used, so I looked for an adapter for HDMI to ethernet, but all I see is the other way around. The ethernet port is female, so I need a male ethernet cable to female HDMI adapter. Do they exist? I’m not finding one.
Or should I get a USB to HDMI adapter?
Or an HDMI splitter for both the monitor and the TV cable?
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Rick
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One possibility you might research is a Lightning Dock that supports at least two HDMI ports. (Or one, and you use one there and the other on the PC itself.) Connect your new system to the dock with a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 cable, then plug in the monitor and TV to the dock. Somewhere on another thread I made an OT post (or 2) about my Kensington Dock.
Of course that assumes you have the right port on your new system to make such a connection.
Not a Win guy, but I suspect it’s similar to other OS’s anyway, and the larger usage for now is background functions going as it settles into it’s new home, re-indexing everything, adjusting connections, and likely a lot more that I don’t know about… See where it is in a couple days, likely back to normal levels…
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What port on the computer would a lightening dock attach to?
I have:
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SD card slot
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Headset jack
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USB 3.2 Type-A Gen 1
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USB 3.2 Type-C Gen 2 (no video/audio output)
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Kensington lock slot
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S/PDIF Optical
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2 x Stereo Audio (Line In / Line Out)
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HDMI 2.0 (includes 4K video output)
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Thunderbolt 4 (includes 4K video output)
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USB 3.2 Type-A Gen 1
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USB 2.0 Type-A
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RJ-45 ethernet (2.5Gbps)
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PCIe slots (1 x16, 2 x4)
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Power
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But I’m trying to tell if the male end of the cord would fit the Thunderbolt 4 port.
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My problem is I don’t even know what the Thunderbolt 4 port is for. Is there such a thing as a hub adapter gizmo that plugs into it and has HDMI, USB, etc. ports? I’m looking on Amazon but don’t really understand what I’m looking for exactly.
Would this work in the Thunderbolt port?
It confuses me because it says USB-C to HDMI but also says Thunderbolt to HDMI.
If what you want is more HDMI ports, and you want them to play the same video out to multiple sources, just get a hdmi hub. If you want to play the video, to one monitor at a time then get an HDMI switch.
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You worry too much. 
32 GB will be just fine. As for Windows using half the RAM even with not much running, that’s what it does, and is what I have also found. This might help explain it - from Reddit - The heart of the internet
Hey OP, it’s normal for PCs to use around half of the RAM when in idle mode, even when nothing is currently running. That’s because Windows uses Superfetch, a program that increases the performance of Windows by pre-loading apps you frequently use into RAM before you open them. This is essentially a free performance boost, as otherwise, the extra RAM would be wasted. Don’t worry, the cache will empty itself out if the RAM is needed elsewhere.
The amount of RAM used by this cache can scale up or down depending on how much RAM you have, so adding more RAM will result in Windows using more. If you want to troubleshoot SuperFetch, follow these instructions to disable it.
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No. A lightning port is an obsolete Apple-only connector that you don’t need.
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Thunderbolt is a protocol. USB-C is a connector standard. Read this:
Introduced in 2015, Thunderbolt 3 features a USB-C connector, a max transfer speed of 40GB/s, and up to 15W of power for running accessories. It can also support one 4K display and is compatible with USB4 specification.
Launched in 2020, Thunderbolt 4 is the latest version of its connection technology that’s currently available. Thunderbolt 4 still has the same max transfer speed as Thunderbolt 3: 40Gb/s, but it mandates that as the minimum, whereas for Thunderbolt 3, it’s not enforced. Like Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4 also has a USB-C connector and offers up to 15W power delivery for accessories. But that’s where the similarities between the two pretty much end.
Unlike Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4 can support two 4K displays and is rated as “compliant” for USB4 specification. Thunderbolt 4 also has double the PCIe SSD bandwidth speed (32 Gb/s) of Thunderbolt 3 (16 Gb/s).
This sure sounds like you got enticed into the evil M/S One Drive. If so your screwed.
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