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1766
March 25th, 2019 11:00
Latitude 5480 - Question about SA optimizations
The SA users guide says "By default, SupportAssist scans your system once in a month to detect driver updates, hardware issues, and the required system optimizations."
It also says that you can run the following optimizations manually, but doesn't say if you can prevent them from running automatically.
Clean files
Tune system performance
Optimize network
Are those optimizations really "required" to be run automatically?
Can SA be configured to prevent them from running?
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DELLKaren
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March 26th, 2019 19:00
I have found that you can stave off automated optimizations by:
It will give a date in bold face font at the bottom for the next scheduled run.
I then put this date on my calendar (actually I put a few days before the date on my calendar).
Then on that calendar date, I go back to Settings and change the “next scheduled run” to the next quarter. This is the only way I can figure out how to be sure to keep the optimizations from ever running. You have to be sure to change the settings in time, though, or else it just might take off and run the automated system scans, even though you have the box unchecked. (I don’t trust it not to take off on its own and do this.)
I started doing this after I lost all the files in my Recycle bin when an Optimization reminder appeared in my Windows 10 Action Center and I clicked on it. Now I have set the Support Assist notifications so that they are turned off and are never be sent. So the Optimization reminder never appears in the Windows 10 Action Center anymore.
You can do this in Windows 7 also -- i.e., turn off Support Assist notifications and they will never appear in the System Tray and tempt you to click on the notification, which will trigger the Optimization.
DELLKaren
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May 9th, 2019 20:00
Let me re-order the steps, because you have to check the box for "Enable automated system scans" before you can set the day and time.
1. Click on the "gear" in the upper right-hand corner.
2. Select "Settings"
3. Check the box for "Enable automated system scans"
4. Check the box for "Quarterly" (i.e., the longest interval)
5. Set the day of the quarter.
6. Set the time of the day. Then you will see a date for the next scheduled scans in bold font.
7. Uncheck the box for "Enable automated system scans"
Then, a few days before the quarterly date approaches, go through steps 1 - 7 again and this will change the quarterly date to 3 months beyond the day you go through the steps. For example, if after you go through the steps for the first time on January 1 and you have set the quarterly date to the 23rd day, it should then say March 23. Then, if you go through the steps for the 2nd time on March 21 (a few days before March 23), you can set the day to day 21 (which is 3 months [a quarter] beyond March 21). [It will not let you set the date for the 23rd day because it is more than 3 months beyond March 21.]
I always do this because I do not trust that unchecking for "Enable automated system scans" really works. I say this because one time, SA took off and did an automated system scan when the date arrived, even though the box for "Enable automated system scans" was unchecked. That's when my Recycle Bin was cleaned out!
So far (for a year now), since I've taken these steps, my Recycle Bin has stayed intact.
FrankAPhonic
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March 28th, 2019 07:00
DELLKaren,
Thanks for your well thought out solution and detailed instructions.
That will work. I have a program I use every day where I can schedule a reminder.
That “Enable automated system scans” checkbox is an evil joke. I fell prey to it the last time I tried SA, around 6 months ago, and uninstalled it because I couldn't trust how much automation was actually under my control. I had the box unchecked but auto-scan still ran, then started to auto-run the Clean Files optimization.
Could you please tell me if your SA displays the dialog shown below? It's from the SA User Guide. I'm particularly interested to know if you have that "Auto-optimizations enabled" setting circled at the bottom, which appears to be a different setting from the “Enable automated system scans” checkbox. I don't recall ever seeing that optimization setting the last time I used SA.
In this quote from the User Guide it appears Dell is making a distinction between scans & optimizations.....
"Depending on your service plan, SupportAssist automatically optimizes your system after the scan.
NOTE: Auto-optimizations are applicable only for systems with an active ProSupport Plus or Premium Support Plus service plan."
That leads me to believe a setting for scans would not apply to optimizations, but that the setting one has for optimizations depends on their service plan.
I've been out of warranty for well over a year and do not pay for a service plan. Now I'm wondering if that's the reason I haven't seen the "Auto-optimizations enabled" setting when I was running SA 6 months ago. However, from the way the NOTE in that quote reads, it's hard to tell if I shouldn't have any auto-optimization because it isn't applicable to my system, or if I simply have no control over it. Based on my experience I suspect the latter.
DELLKaren
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May 9th, 2019 21:00
To FrankaPhonic
I do the same Scheduled Scan routine (via the steps I outlined) for both my Latitude E5530 and my Inspiron 7569. The service plan for the Latitude expired in Feb, 2017 and so I have only “Troubleshoot my PC” at the bottom of the SA Home screen. My Inspiron 7569 is still on a service Plan and I have “Troubleshoot my PC” and “Add virus and malware removal” at the bottom of the SA Home screen. [I have never added “Remove Viruses and Malware” so that’s why there is still an opportunity to add this “option to help” and thus, why it appears with this wording at the bottom of the Home screen].
Given this information about my Home screens on the Latitude (no service plan) and my Inspirion (service plan) and the identical settings on the two machines for Gear > Scheduled Scans [Quarterly but the box is unchecked for “Enable automated system scans” ], I would say that the word “automated system scans” means the same thing as “auto-optimizations”.
When I first tried to figure out how I could avoid automated scans, I took the term “automated system scans” to mean all of the five “options” to help, i.e., Get Drivers and Downloads, Scan Hardware, Clean Files, Tune Performance, and Optimize Network. And since the Inspiron is still on a service plan, since I have “Enable automated system scans” turned off, and since there is no “Auto-optimizations enabled” at the bottom of the Home screen, I would venture to say that the 5 “options to help“ means the same thing as “automated system scans” means the same thing as “auto-optimizations. In other words, all three terms mean the same thing.