Quick tip: at least record in 720p. I agree about Bandicam; it feels like a subpar workaround, and I wouldn't trust those file sizes. If the raw footage isn't great to begin with, compression is just going to make it look even worse. You’ll probably want to edit it anyway, right? If you do, you'll have to render it in your editing software regardless.
Everything you need to know is right here. It’s 100% legit. 😉 If you aren't exactly picky about your software, you could always just stick with Ubuntu.
NCQ. If you aren't in the mood to read, the illustration pretty much sums it up. Your main concern is performance, and having this enabled is definitely better than leaving it off. It can't hurt, and it can only help. The amount of buffer (the cache memory) isn't just some marketing gimmick. Every drive manufacturer includes enough memory to hit peak performance, which is why those high-end Western Digital drives often outperform Seagate models with higher capacity. Still, more memory won't kill anything, and this is clearly a solid discussion.
Then it’s definitely not right. You don't play games with stuff like this; it can lead to much bigger failures—like an ECU blowout, as someone else pointed out. Just take it straight to the mechanic and don't let them give it back until that buzzing sound is gone.
Fire up your favorite file manager and navigate straight to the root directory. Locate the hosts file sitting at system/etc and open it using the Edit option.
That’s a straightforward translation. I don't see what part you're struggling with. 🤷
To the point: it’ll definitely do the job you need. It might not be the fastest thing on the planet, but looking at the specs, it’s actually decent—it packs a 128 MB buffer, spins at 7200 RPM, and supports NCQ. You won't find much better than this. Besides, you’re just tossing it into an external enclosure anyway, so you aren't going to tap into its full potential regardless.
With that hardware, you shouldn't notice any performance gap between Windows 7 and Windows 8.1; your specs blow the recommended requirements out of the water. 😉 Strictly speaking, Windows 8.1 might handle RAM more efficiently and sip fewer resources since it lacks the heavy lifting of the Aero interface. But if you're gaming or doing anything intensive, you won't feel the difference anyway.
Turning off Windows update wasn't the smartest move. You saw that flag pop up because of one specific patch, and I guarantee some future update will just bring it right back. Unless you're truly that impatient, just turn the updates back on and wait for the official Windows 10 launch. Once those roll out, that icon will almost certainly disappear.
People, you're forgetting we aren't living in the Windows XP era anymore. Every modern OS, starting with Windows Vista, manages RAM intelligently. There’s absolutely no reason to strip anything out of startup applications, especially since our colleague doesn't have anything running in there that would actually slow down the boot process.