Network Speed Test

Microsoft has a free application for Windows which you can use to test your network speed. Network Speed Test can be downloaded for free here.

The application will calculate both the download and the upload speeds. It will give you information on the network delay as well. This is how long it takes data to travel across a network. It may also be called the ping value. It is a measurement of how long it takes for feedback from a web server to be sent back to a computer. High network delay will cause online software to function slowly. If you have network delay of less than 20 milliseconds actions taken in an online application should appear instantaneous. With ping values of higher than 200 milliseconds, there will be a lag between keystrokes and mouse movements, and when a result is shown on the screen.

Data Deduplication on Windows Servers

Microsoft has posted some information about the usefulness of data deduplication on Windows servers. Data deduplication is particularly useful for file shares; virtual desktops; ISO images (disk image of optical discs); and backup snapshots. Microsoft estimates that an average of almost 50% of storage space can be saved on servers using data deduplication.

An admin can select a simple option for data deduplication in Server Manager:

After deduplication is performed, users and their applications will not have any notice that duplicate files have been removed. The deduplication process works by breaking files into chunks and identifying which of those chunks are unique.

In optimization original 'file streams' are replaced with reparse points that indicate which file chunks should be used.

The garbage collection process removes chunks that are no longer needed after files have been modified or deleted. Integrity scrubbing can be employed when files are corrupted in the chunk store. Backup copies are made of chunks which are used more than 100 times.

Inking and Typing Personalization in Windows 10

In Windows 10, if inking and typing personalization is selected under privacy settings, words added to a spelling dictionary will be saved in a file located in the AppData folder.

The file path should be C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Spelling\en-US

The file named 'default.dic' will contain words the user adds. The file named 'default.exc' lists the words that have been excluded from the dictionary. 'default.acl' is an autocorrect list.

These files work with modern apps and Internet Explorer, but not the standard MS Office suite.