In another post my recommendation on how to best debloat a firestick was with a hammer.

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I was wondering if you saw my reply to your post about my post of critically low storage. I answered all your questions you asked. Was hoping you could help me?

My apologies, I was out of town yesterday.

If anyone wants to correct me on this, please do so.
It’s been forever since I’ve used a Firestick but my first suggestion, for what is worth, would be to wipe the stick and slowly load up only what is necessary. Downloader, SS VPN and whatever you use consistantly but slowly add…as in not all at once.

When I did use a Firestick, at end of each day I would look at the Applications and see what was loading up. So Applications > open Manage Installed Applications. In this area you should be able to see what is loading up your Stick. You could also try to delete anything that Amazon has loaded that you never use. Some of that stuff is hardwired into the stick and can’t be eliminated but you should be able to clear any cache and possibly clear data. Just as a note, as you will see, is that even if you are not using some of the stuff that Amazon has hardwired in still loads all kinds of data and cache. I called it ā€œcleaning houseā€.

I eventually bought a Fire Cube, but then moved onto the Nvidia Shield Pro.

I would always clean my Firestick and now I do the same with My Onn’s. I don’t do it at the end of the day, when I turn it on, I first and foremost after knowing the VPN is where I want it, clear all cache and stop all apps that might still be running or the system decided to start itself. It takes less than a minute and I know when I start to watch I will be at optimal performance.

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Thank you for the information.

May I ask what you paid for the Nivida Shield? Is it hard to set up?
Thanks for responding. I have done 2 factory resets but I tried to add all at once. Im going to try a little at a time. Would you suggest maybe trying one a day or should I look for a sign that it’s save to try?

I would mention that I don’t clear cache on apps I use regularly because every time you relaunch the app all the cache has to reload slowing the apps load time down.
Clearing cache is for when you have issues with an app and doesn’t need to be done every day.

The Shield is fairly pricey. They list at $200 but I bought mine during a Black Friday sale at $179. I justified it as I was spending a significant amount of money cable. The option that Mark suggested above might be a good option since it comes with quite a bit more room. And they are only $50 at most all Walmarts. The one caveat is if you don’t live in the US there will be some hoops that you will have to jump through to get it to work.

Just know that the stuff that Amazon bakes into the Firestick will keep loading stuff ALL the time in those applications. Like Mr. Wizzard posted above…

…and to answer your question about adding Apps and addons. You really should have the VPN if you are streaming. Other than that add what you want and routinely use and just keep an eye on the Applications so that it doesn’t get over-bloated.

Oh, and as far as setting up the Nvidia, I followed a tutorial on YouTube that was great. Let me know if you want a link to that.

That’s a great point Avid08. I only ever cleared the bloatware and Addons that I wasn’t using. That’s why I never loaded one of those TDUK apps that cleared cache.

In actual fact, either way the app loads using the Onn in a split second. The cache is not static and builds the more you use it based on what you’re watching. If can be 45 one time and as you watch more and more start to grow a huge amount just eating up your memory. Depending on the app, for instance Kodi the amount of cache as you use it is larger than most of your apps all together. I would seriously clear it unless you have a ton of memory. I do and I still choose to clear it.

My VPN is always running and never off. That being said it can switch servers and it’s not always on the optimal one and that is the reason I check it before I stream.

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Surfshark is my vpn. It is always on. I have the first ONN that came out but never opened it. I thought it was too good to be true.
Thanks for your help.

I use Surfshark and it’s always on. What do you mean the optimal one (location)?
Thanks Wizzard.

Yes, the server that gives you the most bandwidth. I mostly used Canadian ones because they were close to me and SS indicated they were the fastest even though I would often use a USA one. Now I use USA servers 100% of the time as the Onn totally gives you a different menu and you get live TV and google programming that otherwise doesn’t show up. The menu is dynamic and can flip back and forth based on a USA or other location,

I usually change the location when it starts buffering too much. Does the fastest location usually mean largest bandwidth? Is there somewhere on the vpn that says what the bandwidth is for each location?
Sorry for so many questions, I just don’t know a whole lot about vpns.

I usually change the location when it starts buffering too much. Does the fastest location usually mean largest bandwidth? Is there somewhere on the vpn that says what the bandwidth is for each location?
Sorry for so many questions, I just don’t know a whole lot about vpns.

I was going to say bandwidth but kept it simple. Yes. The more bandwidth the faster the speed. Look for analiti Speed Test. It’s in the playstore.

I have it. I really dont get consistent speeds that’s why I connected with ethernet. My internet provider says there’s nothing wrong at their end. They tell me there’s too many walls between the router and the firestick. The router sits on the top of my computer desk in front of the doorway. The firestick is probably no farther than 50 feet if it’s that. Im suppose to get speeds of 500. Ive never got that even when the vpn is off. So I hope you see why I don’t rely on speed. Sorry for the little rant.
If there is anything else you think of that would help me, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

I’m pretty new to this stuff so bear with me. Troy has a video on setting up your stick as well as adding a usb to it. There is a way to make that usb part of the internal memory of that stick which should eleviate any problems with not enough memory. I am assuming we are talking storage memory rather than the memory used by the cpu to run things. The Onn sets up easily and I’m sure Troy has the set up instructions for that as well. The Nvidia Shield is easy to set up as well. One more thing. If we are not talking about storage memory I would guess you have too many apps open at the same time so take a look and get rid of anything you just don’t use. Hopefully by now you have things sorted out. Good Luck. Oh yes the router issue and promised speeds. Even though you may be paying for fast speeds you have to make sure your equipment allows you to use those speeds. Example. Ethernet cables some times are restricted to 10mb or 100mb. You need to make sure you are using up to date wiring.

I would clean cache on an app if the cache was becoming very large for some reason but I don’t see it often.
With kodi you should really run a maintenance addon because clearing cache will not stop the internal storage from growing on your build.
My build never gets over 400mb and a rarely clean cache from android settings because the addon cleans it correctly unlike cleaning cache from android settings.

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