Basically Colonized.

Recently I had to do IBD again but this time I had it done in 40 hours rather than usual time of 6 or more days without hardware upgrade with latest Core version in win64. Fast Syncing Strategies (For Initial Block Download only) (as suggested by Gemini pro): * Temporarily Disable Tor (if already being used): delete proxy, onion, torcontrol in your bitcoin.conf and settings.json so you can download the heavy blocks faster over your clear-net internet. * Add Antivirus Exclusions: Tell your Antivirus to ignore your Bitcoin data folder so it doesn't scan every gigabyte you download. * Max Out dbcache: Push dbcache in settings as high as your physical RAM safely allows (75% of your RAM capacity) so the node relies on RAM instead of the slow HDD. * Use Assumevalid=000...fb5ee in bitcoin.conf (use latest hash according to your core version) 💽 The SSD "Hybrid Trick" To bypass the physical limitations of your HDD's (if used) spinning disk during complex block validation: * Cut the chainstate folder from your HDD. * Paste it onto an SSD or fast flash drive. * Use the Windows Command Prompt (as Administrator) to link them back together using: mklink /J "HDD_Path\chainstate" "SSD_Path\chainstate". Now start the Node, keep running 24/7 without restarting. Once your node hits 100% sync, you can simply reverse your Tor proxy and other settings as you need.

Verify the hash of firmware update through pgp key is must.