Reinvigorating an old laptop with fresh Windows 7 and a new SSHD

I've got an older laptop running Windows 7 and it was getting bogged down by cruft after more than 4 years.

Windows update literally took over a week to check for updates last time I checked (pegging one of the processors that whole time). The lazy route would be to buy a new computer, and I looked into that. But I'm not happy with my options (long story), and otherwise, this laptop is great.

So I decided it was time for a hard drive upgrade for added speed and extra space, and re-install of the OS. As a benchmark, it took 3:30 to boot before I started (ouch!), with a 7200rpm hard drive.

After installing a fresh FireCuda 2TB hybrid SSHD drive at a very reasonable price (also in 1TB capacity), it was time to build the most lean Windows I could. (In my machine installing the drive was as easy as literally unscrewing one screw and swapping them out; google for your laptop's "service manual" if you're unsure of the procedure). If you're wondering why not install Windows 10, see below.

Start with the laptop's recovery media -- reinstall as it came, with Windows 7 pre-SP1. In my case, most drivers were not installed, and neither was Internet Explorer. I needed to manually copy over a Firefox installer in order to get going. And I attached an ethernet cable for internet, since ethernet worked out of the box (unlike wifi).

One of the main keys to keeping your install fast is to install as many updates as possible in as few steps as possible. The problem I had with windows update previously was because Windows Update performs a brute-force comparison of available updates against installed updates, and this gets massively slower as the number of installed updates increases. Here is what I did to keep things slim (links are for 64-bit Windows 7):

1. Delete unnecessary and obsolete programs that came with your computer image (using uninstall tool, or removing the installers for things that you won't install).
2. Install Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (KB976932) (if your image was from pre-SP1).
3. Install the latest .NET framework (4.6.2 as of this writing). 
4. Install IE11.
5. Update Windows Update in order to install the rollups below (KB3020369)
6.  * NOTE, I did not do this, but at this point it may be wise to install the "enterprise hotfix rollup" (KB2775511) and associated fixes mentioned at the bottom of this article, in order to avoid even more updates later *
7. Install the rollup including almost all fixes to Windows from SP1 up until May 2016 (KB3125574) - this is "almost SP2"
8. Google to install the latest "Security Monthly Quality Rollup" released either this month or last. For me I installed the January 2017 rollup (KB3212646) (you could install this even if you're doing it later; windows update can take it from here).
9. Now install the latest drivers for your machine from the vendor's website. (If you have a Lenovo laptop like me, install only their System Update tool, which may also require you to install the .NET framework first, and then use it to update all of your drivers at once).
10. Install Microsoft Security Essentials (or another antivirus software)
11. Perform a few cycles of Windows Update and reboot; you'll still have maybe 40-100 security and optional updates.
12. Delete installation files and do a Disk Cleanup (as administrator) to remove backups.
13. Clone the machine from here to be able to recover more quickly next time, starting from this point. I used EASEUS TODO backup; EASEUS disk copy is another potential option.

And you're set. Reinstall the software you use, and copy your data back on. 

For comparison's sake, I improved from booting in 3:30 to booting in 45 seconds, an almost 80% reduction (this is AFTER I re-installed all similar software). Nice!

P.S. - a few less obvious things you might have to do: 1) add a custom Inbound rule to the firewall with scope of your local networks, to allow other subnets to connect to your computer. 2) allow anonymous SMB access (you may also need to add user permissions to "Anonymous login" user), and note that many apps/appliances use SMB v1, so don't disable that

* So why not Windows 10? A few reasons -- one I'm completely happy with Windows 7. Don't fix what ain't broke. Next, I don't like that with windows 10 I'm at the mercy of upgrades from microsoft that I might not want but cannot decline, and which may break things. I also don't want many of the new features. And finally, I don't like the serious lack of privacy in windows 10 -- microsoft sends lots of data from your computer all the time. It's possible to lock it down somewhat, but it's tricky and always shifting (see above updates). Thanks but no thanks. Plus I missed the free upgrade window and definitely don't want to pay.

** If you buy the same great hard drive that I did from the link above, I'll get a small commission at no charge to you. Win-win!

Adjusted ADA scores from 1947-2015

Below you will find updated Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) scores covering the period 1947 to 2015 (the latest available). They are based upon ADA scores of selected congressional vote records independently tabulated by Groseclose, Levitt, and Snyder (1999) (for 1947-1998 originally and later extended by Groseclose to 2008) and Anderson and Habel (2009) (for 1947-2007), and have been updated and reconciled by myself (2008-2015). They are adjusted using the improved procedure from Dr. Groseclose, still based upon his original paper.

The final (adjusted) data are based upon the Anderson collection (mainly because when I started work that was what I had accessible). I correct over 150 mislabeled records that do not match valid ICPSR records as maintained by Keith Poole (as augmented with preliminary records for the 114th congress). Errors were often due to changes in seats, especially to people with similar names, or changes in party of the congressmen.

For the period 1990-2008, I additionally hand-corrected all discrepancies between the Anderson and Groseclose data. In some cases, records were missing from one source or the other. In others the scores were incorrectly transcribed or identifying data were incorrect. In a few cases the source data were ambiguous - in some years a score is provided even if the member served for less than half the eligible votes and occasionally the score does not match the recorded votes. Where possible, I trust the recorded votes over the scores, and omit any congressmen ineligible or deceased for more than half the votes. I also generally counted absences the same as negative votes, even if the congressman served a partial term (since this is ADA's general practice), although for 2007-2015 I omitted anyone who missed more than 6 votes (as I learned this was the practice of Groseclose et al.). There were around 380 such discrepancies and 150+ corrections. Given this work, the period since 1990 can be trusted to be of high accuracy. Earlier data still have discrepancies, and data prior to 1972 show a large number of discrepancies, which I highlight in the excel files provided below. These seem to largely be due to different policies for how to treat votes in years before a numerical score was assigned by ADA. I leave further correction / homogenization for future work.

I calculate the scores using two base years for the adjustment -- 1980 (as used in both the above papers), and 1999 (as used as the Political Quotient [PQ] in Dr. Groseclose's book Left Turn, which he chose because empirically that base year gives the average congressman in the 2000's an adjusted score near 50). If you would prefer a different base year, the code to produce it is below as well.


Downloads:

Adjusted scores with 1980 base year (.xlsx file)
Adjusted scores with 1999 base year (.xlsx file)
Raw data and code to reproduce (including raw output files and parameters) (.zip file)

Citations: The original papers above.