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Don't tell people to turn off Windows Update

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Re: Don't tell people to turn off Windows Update

#481
post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, if Windows Update worked like Linux updates tend to, I would leave them on 100% of the time. On just about every Linux system, I can upgrade the entire operating system and all the packages all at once without a reboot. Sure, the kernel does get updated from time to time, but the system is in no hurry to force the new kernel to load right away, and just switches to it at the next reboot. By contrast, every…

Rebooting in the middle of a game or what have you is the worst feature. It happened with 7 too but was easier to disable (and doesn't get re-enabled when you update anything). It makes me think that malware often tends to be more respectful of your computer than Microsoft. Sure there are cryptolockers, but if you have backups those are an inconvenience. Keyloggers? Bloody drivers ship with them now. Becoming part of…

Win10 bricked my home wifi and itself, once.

Laptop decided it had to update while i was also updating security settings on my wifi.

both laptop and network were unable to reboot on their own.

luckily i also have wired network and other computers. so, i was able to recover; network didn't take too much to come bac k up. needed to create and use a recovery drive for the win10 laptop.

Re: Don't tell people to turn off Windows Update

#482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? On 2.3, the average device had 250M internal storage for apps. A Moto G 2015 has only 8GB storage. Even mid-range devices sold today only come with 8GB storage, of which 6GB are used by the OS.

What mid-range device only comes with 8 GB? And what price range are you using to define mid-range? Is there even a low-range (lower than 8 GB) if 8 GB seems to be the absolute minimum, since the OS won't even fit on something smaller?

> What mid-range device only comes with 8 GB?

The Moto G 2013/2014/2015

https://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Moto-3rd-Generation-Unlocked...

> And what price range are you using to define mid-range?

$200-$250

> Is there even a low-range (lower than 8 GB) if 8 GB seems to be the absolute minimum, since the OS won't even fit on something smaller?

See above.

The only Moto G model that doesn’t offer 8GB anymore is the 2017 edition.

Re: Don't tell people to turn off Windows Update

#483
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure automated updates were covered in EULA. Not that I agree with this MS step though (see my other comment in this thread).

You are probably right. In that case could not the president issue an executive order asking NSA to use the hack to protect everyone?

You do know that the exploit came from the NSA in the first place, that they somehow failed to keep it to themselves and it got released to the public.

NSA probably did some forced update of their own.

Re: Don't tell people to turn off Windows Update

#484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there were Microsoft updates that did make all your files inaccessible. Try doing the Windows 10 anniversary upgrade if you run bitlocker and have customized your UEFI. Windows will screw up, bluescreen, and destroy the bitlocker keys. I’ve fought with that before.

Out of curiosity, what customizations did you make to your UEFI setup? I run BitLocker and did the Anniversary and Creators updates without issue.

I don’t actually ever invoke any bootloader directly, but instead use an EFI app which in turn loads the bootloaders.

Windows’ Anniversary Update works by adding an additional, hidden EFI bootloader, and loading that for the upgrade.

If you instead load the normal Windows EFI bootloader while the upgrade has half-way finished, then it fucks stuff up.

I’ve been through it multiple times, last time, Windows even destroyed all its own EFI entries.

Re: Don't tell people to turn off Windows Update

#485
post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of those are products that are not expected run over night in batching mode. You may get the need to have things to run overnight using engineering, simulation, rendering products with some sort of long running process. But these normally have server component that you install onto Windows Server, which the client offloads to.

> Most of those are products that are not expected run over night in batching mode. I'll be sure to let them know that long-running computations deskside are now only an experimental feature /s In all seriousness though, we've managed over a decade without the need for dedicated compute nodes along with the costs that would entail. The only case I can make for that right now is that current Windows now ships with unp…

The good part of this is that I prefer using Linux for these things anyways and the instability of windows has forced both our government clients and our office to focus half our efforts into supporting Linux correctly.

Re: Don't tell people to turn off Windows Update

#486
It seems like the idea is if you want to disable it for yourself, go ahead. Don't disable them for someone who isn't a technical person. IMO They should introduce a way to auto-approve only security updates, like its possible with WSUS. Maybe a cloud based WSUS for consumers?

Re: Don't tell people to turn off Windows Update

#487
Every time a topic like this comes up I always wonder what bizarro version of Windows I'm running because I've never experienced my personal machine rebooting at an inopportune moment, never seen ads, never seen it install software without my consent, never had an update cause my machine to become unstable.

I'm going all the way back to Windows 7 here.

The only machines that are terrible to use are those I use at work because they are laden with all sorts of corporate security crap that you can't escape and bring otherwise decent hardware to it's knees.

Of course, the evidence that Windows Updates are problematic seems overwhelming but I do wonder if this is a case where the complainant numbers seem large simply because the install base is so massive.

Re: Don't tell people to turn off Windows Update

#488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, who can forget that Microsoft update that locked all your files unless you paid a ransom in Bitcoin.

Microsoft literally pushed adware and spyware on Win7/8 users.

Are you talking about the telemetry stuff? Because that's a loaded way to describe it.

Re: Don't tell people to turn off Windows Update

#489

I would have agreed with this until Windows 10. As implemented, Windows 10 feels like a system to deploy code and update computers that happens to run user software. It's obnoxious. Many people I know have solved the problem by moving to Apple.

I don't know how that would solve the problem; Apple is hardly a great friend of user choice compared to Microsoft.

Re: Don't tell people to turn off Windows Update

#490
post #4

I love the way he's compared the people who tell you to turn off auto-updates with anti-vaxxers; it's quite an apt analogy. Microsoft shares part of the blame here for pushing features that the user clearly doesn't want through updates (especially to the major OS version). Look at the recent ads in Windows file explorer for one example. A lot of the advice to turn Windows Update off is a misguided response to Microso…

Try installing Classic Shell. Brings back a sensible start menu without Cortana et al.
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