I'm running two machines (a recent laptop and an older desktop with Windows 10). I've wiped both drives and did a fresh install of a recent Windows 10 vom USB Stick.
I haven't had any problems updating and even big updates are fast. This is in contrast to a Dell laptop I got for work and which regularily took 45min to update.
If you have problems with your Windows 10, get rid of the crapware that came with your PC and/or do a fresh install from a clean image from MS (not one of the OEM rescue partitions/disks).
I with MS would do something about all the preinstalled crapware, because it has gotten out of hand and is hurting the brand.
Agreed. Following random internet articles to disable Windows Updates is not a good advise. That same user might in a future post complain that a security issues aren't fixed, even though updates were explicitly disabled... My personal experience is that I had no issues updating multiple machines. Advise: Don't follow and change random registry keys and other things based on Google searches - it might become a problem in the future.
Well, Windows 10 1803 update is a problem NOW. I'll take future problems over current problems. Also, disabling update service is a perfectly legitimate way to stop the updates from coming in. You can always turn it back on and control the update process manually, when you are good and ready, and have your HD backed up. You can do so on your schedule, not when MS chooses to spring it on you.
You should schedule backups first (if you have not already) I have 2 live backups of my primary computer, a dell laptop. One to a separate HDD installed in it and one to the cloud. I have windows file history configured to copy file changes to the HDD on an hourly basis too. I don't use 3rd party crap-ware such as 'anti-viruses' and use non installer versions of software when possible and open-source over closed. I do not trust 3rd party code/installers and use windows defender + uBlock origin + common sense as my first line of defense. So far no updates have ever broken my PC since I got it. Even if my SSD was to die or the windows install to become unrecoverable, all I will have to do after a clean Install is copy over my backup of extracted programs to the SSD root and reconfigure the path (I should write a script for that too). Their are so many other advantages to this setup but this comment is already too long for that.
That is really easy for Apple to do, with a limited range of hardware they can literally test every device that is receiving the update. Much harder for Microsoft, who are trying to support a vast range of hardware.
That's true. So why is it that 7 was so much more stable? Certainly at first I could say that it's just because 7 has been around for eons and 10 is brand new, but it's been out for years now and we're still seeing things break (anecdotally, r/sysadmin was emphatically not happy with the last couple of updates). Is it this thing where they've declared 10 to be the last version and so what we're seeing is major updates that would have been 11, 12, etc. including all the growing pains of a new release? Is it because Microsoft decided to throw out their entire QA division? I'm happy to agree that Microsoft has an extraordinary large problem space across which they try to maintain stability, but that doesn't seem to explain why they would have gotten worse at it.
I'm almost permanently ready to ditch Windows for good and move to MacOS and Linux. And I've been a Windows user since 3.1.
If we're really moving to the equivalent of Windows 11 and 12, I must ask: who is paying for these releases (besides OEMs with new hardware)?
I'm not paying the upgrade fee I paid for 98, XP, and 7 on old hardware. Microsoft is obviously not a charity and their devs don't work for free, and they have to recoup their costs and more.
But telemetry, tie-ins to other MS products like XBox, media subscriptions, Azure and Office 365, and even advertising on my desktop, along with now being volunteered by Microsoft to take on their QA as they force-install beta software on my PCs are NOT things I'm willing to exchange for the former $100 upgrade costs I've always willingly paid previously and made them a very profitable company.
In other words, each newer update brings fewer features I want as a paying user, and more and more anti-features I'm not willing to trade for my privacy, time, and attention.
The fact that they have to nerve to explicitly reset, upon each update, the settings that took me hours to find and apply - turning off Cortana, the telemetry (the most I can, anyway), all the privacy-invading phone / tablet features, the demands to sign-in to MS account, etc - pisses me off and makes it easier to swallow the issues with Linux and the absurb prices Apple charges.
Apple does charge absurd prices but their machines are very long-lasting and robust. Go to a service shop once a year for a full dust cleanup and maybe change of the thermal paste once every 2 years, and your MacBook can hum along for 7-10 years in total, easily.
I am gathering money to buy the maxed out iMac Pro (~$13,100) but in the meantime I have nothing bad to say about the MBP 2015. Occasional stupid bugs do occur of course, like in any OS, but rarer than on my Windows 10 PC, and a restart fixes things which usually never resurface again.
So yes they are expensive. I was a Linux/Windows and Android advocate most of my life but eventually conceded that Apple is simply much more comfortable, predictable and ergonomic (their displays don't tire my eyes as any other display I tried, including gaming displays with 144-200Hz refresh rate) and that I have better things to do with my life than to always do the OS authors' work for them. Much bonus points to them for actual privacy as well.
I just bought my first (non work provided) MBP - a 2015 for about $1750. I can't even use Linux or Windows anymore these things are so nice!
You're saying I should go to an authorized Apple shop and have them crack it open to dust it out and change thermal paste?
I've always had Thinkpads and Dells which are servicable, and I do spray compressed air on the inside every few years, but have never re-applied thermal paste.
You do this on your MBPs? How much will it cost every few years, and also should I bother with Apple care? Right now I've only the one year warranty.
Only go to authorized Apple shops while inside warranty IMO. There are plenty of technicians out there who will open your MacBook and clean it up for the time you will drink a coffee.
As for the MBP 2015, many users have reported that the thermal paste Apple puts in it in the factory is not optimal and they achieved 4-7 degress less sustained temperature by using a better one. I am attempting to do that soon.
As for air sprays, DEFINITELY DO NOT THAT. MacBooks are crazy packed on the inside, it's very risky in my opinion. Cleaning it from dust once or twice a year is extremely cheap around here in Bulgaria -- they charge me 20 EUR if they are grumpy. (Mine is out of warranty however, I bought it refurbished from a colleague.) Authorized Apple shops might charge times more though, I haven't asked and I don't know.
And finally, replacing the thermal paste is also an extremely quick process. A good technician does it for 30 to 45 minutes and a paste costing no more than 20-25 EUR can be at the top of its game for 2 years or more, depending on usage.
All in all, I plan to de-dust the laptop in a service shop once a year, and change thermal paste if I notice an increased sustained temperature. (Definitely buy iStat Menus, it gives you tons of diagnostic info right on your menu bar.)
Thanks a lot. I will definitely do a little research on the thermal issue. I was hesitant to buy this as it's about 2x as much for what I usually pay for laptops, and it's also very bad specs for a 'new' computer. But they are so much better than Windows and Linux.
My MBP 2015 definitely runs everything faster than my very solid gaming and development PC. Granted it has a newer i7 but it can't be only that; the difference overall is big.
You have mostly disregarded the quality of the software which this discussion is focused on. Are you running Windows on your Mac? Apple's software quality isn't all that great either, they have had constant glitches the last couple releases.
As for the builtin software's quality, I agree it's not stellar -- and the App Store on macOS is a relic from the past that's way beyond its lifetime and needs urgent rework.
That being said, the OS itself is crazy stable for me and the occasional glitches appear only once or twice. Not sure how you got so unlucky, sorry about that.
And finally, I was able to find software for absolutely everything I need, in every single user or programming area. Granted I am not a researcher that has to maintain 50+ installed runtimes and compilers but I code in several languages and use several different databases and I haven't stumbled upon a single issue there.
> who is paying for these releases
> But telemetry, tie-ins to other MS products like XBox, media subscriptions, Azure and Office 365
Not so much telemetry and tie ins, but enterprise users of Azure, 365 and CAL licensed products like Exchange and RDS. Perhaps if they can charge me £1,000 a month for my office users, then they are not so bothered about the cost of making the OS?
But unless things changed quite a bit (I am still on 10.11.6) doesn't Apple always give you the option to update or not update MacOS? Even with iOS it's a positive action, you have to click something to update, no? I am fine with that, I just want to do the updates on my schedule, not Apples and Microsoft's. On macOS I have a lot of dev stuff setup and I would be pretty pissed if it did an update without me specifically and affirmatively concerning to it.
> so what we're seeing is major updates that would have been 11, 12,
I think you are spot on with this, MS have pushed some really major updates, which would at least have been a service pack in the past, if not a new version. Not least I believe they have made some breaking changes to the update process which should do away with the enforced restarts in future
I hope microsoft is at least paying well to fight any software resistance. These people are one terminal away from installing free software and doing there own decisions - often with good reason. This has to be stopped!
Labrat uprising in cage seven! Labrat uprising in cage seven! All personal with syringes report immediatly!
I have to second this. Microsoft even has a tool to build the latest release onto a USB stick, which for me was the first time I have installed Windows and not had to wait for any updates at all.
I had a couple of PC's which were upgraded from earlier versions of Windows when it was free. Installing from USB sure did free up a lot of disk space!
Licensing headaches seem to have gone away too. I did one fresh install onto a different hard-drive and it just worked.
There seems to be one Windows 10 update which forces a reboot, and then it never happens again. If you build your USB today I donlt think you will suffer that.
Putting that aside this article misses one important point. Windows 10 is extremely backwardly compatible with earlier versions. At the day job we have a number of legacy apps, things built in VB6 for instance, and they worked first time on Windows 10. To be clear, we are talking about applications written around 20 years ago, which are still working on Windows 10. I don't run any Apple devices anymore but it certainly wasn't my experience that Apple cared about backwards compatibility back then.
RE: same old regedit etc. The enterprise admins I know seem extremely pleased to see these old faithfuls in place. Where Windows 10 has added a new way of doing something (like the new control panel), it is very heartening to find the familiar old version running alongside.
I think it is fair to say that enterprise loved XP, hated Vista, liked 7, hated 8 and tolerated 8.1. Enterprise seems very happy with Windows 10 so far.
I upgraded to 18.03 about an hour after it was live. It was a very fast and painless upgrade on a ~4 year old workstation (parted out by pieces). I was running 17.09 Pro edition prior to 18.03.
Best I can tell the Dell image for XPS 9550 is just Windows 10 with minimal drivers. I think I'll try the fresh Microsoft Windows route, but I want to mirror the drive first, because I don't want to install windows all over again and set up all my apps if it doesn't work. What's a good alternative to something like Carbon Copy Cloner for Windows? I used to use Ghost, but that was a decade ago.
> Best I can tell the Dell image for XPS 9550 is just Windows 10 with minimal drivers.
I've worked in an IT shop before. Even if the image is just Windows 10 with included drivers, those drivers can include bundled programs and bloatware themselves. I used a Dell laptop in the past with Windows 8 that had a trackpad application which had to autostart and run in the background for the trackpad to work properly. No matter what, that program was guaranteed to be using at least 50MB of RAM. Upon upgrading to 8.1, I had a bunch of OS errors. Turns out, uninstalling and reinstalling the trackpad driver fixed the problem.
OEM drivers aren't just the drivers themselves, but often instead an entire suite of programs that bloat your system and interfere with Windows' ability to take care of itself.
I'll give that a shot, that should work, theoretically. I don't really know all the ins and outs of the new secure boot stuff on windows, would have to read up on that. But theoretically that should work.
I installed Windows on my laptop last year from a presumably-unmolested ISO I got from MSDN - and it took it 10+ goes, at one attempt per week or two, to update to 1709.
8.1 and newer devices have the key in firmware, and PCs upgraded from older versions of Windows are recognized automatically by the activation servers. So in most cases if a PC has ever had Windows 10 on it before, you can just install without a product key and it will activate itself.
I've had a lot of issues with Windows update myself but the author's solution of "Murdering Windows Update" is not my cup of tea. I like my software patched.
So while I don't have a good solution for Windows Update issues, re-installs are a LOT less painful with choco[0]. I have one choco script for my home machine, one for work, one for the wife, and one for the parents. It makes things so much easier!
I gave up on chocolatey after constant issues with permissions and never being sure which package to install for a particular app. Not sure if it has improved recently but it seemed like every app had multiple packages to choose from, and some features were only available in a paid plan.
Windows 10 puts Microsoft's needs ahead of the users.
There is no easy way to avoid updates interrupting your work, always when you need to use your PC for an urgent work issue.
The home screen adverts, and preinstalled junkware are insulting.
It is impossible to interact with the OS for more than a few minutes without finding another bug you have never seen before.
On Friday I was using a test laptop. The start menu stopped working, so I do a restart, but Windows decides to do an update (ignoring the configured "don't update between 8am and 6pm" setting).
I can't believe they don't have a professional version with a yearly subscription. I want my tools to work, not interrupt me, or fail randomly.
The updates interrupt you work only if you have been pushing them back for too long which is a good thing when most users never want to update and then get infected.
Accept the updates when you are not doing anything critical and you won't have any problems with it.
PS: trying to test Edge 17 today. 3 hours later I have found many critical bugs...
1. Edge in tablet mode, portrait, on low end tablet: you can't get to the far right hand side of your web page. Happens on major sites. (Scroll bar at bottom of <body> is missing right hand arrow - showing that it is an Edge bug).
2. Pressing keys trying to get screen shot: Goes into voice mode. You can't get into Settings to turn it off (Start | Settings doesn't work with touch).
3. Voice mode - cannot shut down laptop by swiping down.
4. So turned off using long press and got blue screen.
You sys-prepped a copy of Windows 10 enterprise to install them via AppX provisioning and then uninstalled them after the fact? Why..? I read this complaint a lot, and while valid for "Pro," it is a little odd for Enterprise since at that scale you are likely provisioning your app store apps anyway.
This sounds a little harsh, but the most likely cause of this issue is your SysAdmin not knowing how to manage Windows. If you don't provision the image at all, you'll wind up with a copy of Pro with a few more enterprise features. If you want to slim it down, you'll need to do so.
> If you don't provision the image at all, you'll wind up with a copy of Pro with a few more enterprise features. If you want to slim it down, you'll need to do so.
Isn't that the complain? A serious enterprise version (and Pro version for that matter) should never include candy crush or ads in the first place. And it should not require every sysadmin in the world to disable them.
> A serious enterprise version (and Pro version for that matter) should never include candy crush or ads in the first place.
They just took the default provisioning profile which is the same as a end user install of Pro. People had the same complaints about Windows Media Player, Solitaire, and even IE if you go far enough back. But the response now is the same as the response then: Provision Windows Enterprise how you want it, don't just use the defaults and then complain when that isn't to your tastes.
I'm not thrilled that ANY version of Windows ships with Candy Crush, but removing it from Enterprise is far easier than retail since you're provisioning the OS anyway; in retail you're likely having to uninstall all of the tat one by one.
My solution to the spyware is to "acquire" the Enterprise N edition and run WPD and Spybot AntiBeacon on it. It's pretty easy to find gray market keys if you know where to look.
The only reason this is a problem is because MSFT has a near monopoly in the consumer PC space.
> It's really that simple. Until people stop buying Windows, this will never change
As simple as halting climate collapse by 'people' greatly reducing their car & electricity usage. Then lets stop war by 'people' refusing to fight or manufacture arms.
Much would be simple if there existed a decision-making unit we could label 'people'.
The Microsoft is doing exactly what they should be doing--extracting money from people who will simply refuse to move.
Look, I do a lot of embedded work. And that's about as Windows-y as it gets with drivers and tools. And, yes, I have more than a few virtual machines with Windows.
However, I can minimize the amount I use Windows outside that arena. Linux with a Windows VM when you absolutely need it is a solid choice. OS X with a Windows VM when you absolutely need it is also a solid choice.
Funny you should mention climate change. Cutting down on your "Windows footprint" is like cutting down on your "carbon footprint". 100% is never achieved in one jump--it is a gradual process. And, quite often, benefits appear much sooner than you expect. (Less Windows means less ransomware exposure, for example)
I would love to stop using Windows , and I do boot to Linux.
However our business clients use Windows which means I need to test my work against IE, Edge, Windows 10 Mobile, and Windows touch screens.
Also our business would need to do a 100% rewrite of the core product (which depends on Windows).
A friend came crying to me because of Windows the other day. They can't afford a new laptop. I am the only person they can turn to for free.
My Dad depends on Windows for his work and he is too old to want to start his project from scratch on a new system.
My work, my friends, my tit-for-tat acquaintances, my family all depend on me helping them with Windows. Sometimes I can avoid it (give Mum an Android laptop; give a friend an old laptop with Linux). Mostly I can't.
The driver problem is the only good reason to stick with windows (over pretty much any OS that isn't windows due to their hardware monopoly), but if you accept and overcome that issue (by luck, a lot of work, or preemptively buying the right hardware), then you get a system that doesn't randomly break and control you. It's worth it.
> Sometimes I think the adjectives to describe some situations are too harsh.
might be related to this:
> I may be the only one with zero problems on Windows 10...
Try spending hours (if not days) trying to bring your computer back to life, going through every google result for a helpful string like "0x80070422".
Seriously, just try looking at the autocomplete for "Windows 10 update 0x".
I know it's insanely difficult to do what Microsoft does, and the fact that Windows even works at all on so many different computers is nothing short of a miracle. But after a few experiences with odd Windows errors on a machine that worked fine just a minute ago can make you use some strong adjectives.
I've had some problems a few years ago but now, I just see improvements, to the point of not having issues nowadays. Since Windows 7 the situation has much improved. Windows 8 was great for me too.
I got to say, I don't install bullshit, I know which webpages I visit, I have an antivirus, good quality hardware and I have installed the just amount of software I need. It's been a few years now since the last format. I just try to keep it clean and ordered, like any other thing.
I, too, rarely have major issues with Windows. However, I did come across the login issue in the article, which was fixed with a restart. When people shit all over WinOS I'd like to instead give Microsoft credit for creating an OS that works as good as it does on virtually endless amounts of hardware configurations.
It's stunning to me that Microsoft can do this but we tolerate excuses from other companies about why they can't guarantee all devices running their OS can get a given software update. Or that each manufacturer's update needs to be released separately.
That being said, as someone who repairs Windows for a living, I've seen a lot of major issues with Windows. They take a two steps forward, one step back approach to everything they do. QA has gone down the toilet of late, but most of the core product is actually better.
I've heard a rumor going around that Microsoft has either downsized their QA engineers significantly or laid them off entirely in favor of having devs and sub/misclassified contractors do it instead. I hope I'm wrong, though.
You aren't wrong. Someone mentioned this to me Thursday right before my interview at MS. During my interview, testing came up so I asked about it. I was told there are no more QA engineers. Developers will now be handling testing/QA themselves.
I think they are relying much more on Insiders Program testing as well, which is why bugs with enterprise features go unnoticed for a full year like the Edge issue with Software Restriction Policies: Very few businesses run Insider builds.
@sakopov: "When people shit all over WinOS I'd like to instead give Microsoft credit for creating an OS that works as good as it does on virtually endless amounts of hardware configurations."
That might be true, but in this case the issue appears to be exclusively software related. If they didn't force system upgrades, honestly, I probably wouldn't care. It may very well be a Dell issue, but Microsoft is large enough and powerful enough to enforce some standards on their partners.
I have no problems here either. Other than the telemetry bs, I really couldn't be happier for using Windows as a primary Linux based dev box (WSL, Docker, etc.).
Eh, I had a similar problem. I'm low on disk space on C:, but it was able to download the update to C: + E: (E: is a partition on the same drive). Partway through installing the update, it asks me to "insert" disk E, which obviously I can't. Had to roll back the whole update. Now I'm kinda glad I did.
In my experience, it usually boils down to whatever software ships with the drivers. I had a trackpad driver once that caused an extra 5-10 seconds boot time on an SSD under Windows 7. All because it had to load its own custom branded control panel in order for scrolling to work.
I actually try to avoid to boot on Windows 10 on my dual boot computer (kubuntu 18.04 + windows 10) because the fucking updates of windows.
I got stuck with falling updates like 5 months . Every time that windows try to update, I lose like 2 hours. And only to see Windows failing to update and reverting it. And another issue is that Windows really hits hard my hard disk along like half hour, every time that I boots on Windows. I don't understand why does it. It's a shot experience, specially compar d against my Linux experience on the same computer, where everything just works out of the box, and I don't need to lost like half hour seeing how my hard drive is being smashed by the OS.
I've had a similar/same issue (although this is on Windows 7) with the Feb->Current monthly security rollups installing and rolling back ad nauseum. The reason I mention it is because dual-booting has been fingered as the cause in a few cases, whether or not that's grub or something else I'm not sure (no helpful error messages that I can find).
I'm personally about to drop the Windows partition completely, but if it's possible removing the dual-boot bit temporarily might help (although faffing around etc). Until the next time it happens! This happened a year or two back as well from memory.
Reinstall Windows 10 from a USB stick (MS provide a tool to create them). You will jump straight to the latest build with no updates at all.
However I will agree, I dual boot Windows 10 and Ubuntu anad I know I will have to suffer updates if I boot Windows. On the other hand I am not too happy with Ubuntu's updates right now...
I control when I update my Kubuntu installation. And GNU/Linux updates are far less intrusive that Windows updates. Not enforces you to reboot the machine to apply it, and you can work at same time that you updates.
PD: This kind of fix, remember me to the times of Windows 95/98 when a full reinstall of Windows every few months was a good practice to keep the computer working nice. I don't have to do this on a Windows 7/8 or on a GNU/Linux. Why I need to do to this on Windows 10 ?
I get the idea that at some point in the Windows 10 project they made a kind of breaking change, which when compared to Kubuntu is more like moving to a new release than just a set of patches. There seems to be some cruft attached to that that the fresh install solves. I genuinely think it is a one time thing.
My last Ubuntu distro upgrade caused the sound to stop working, a problem with graphics drivers and an issue with window management. I am no MS fan, but everyone can get caught up in update problems.
FX8370E + MSI motherboard + 16 GiB DDR3 + AMD RX580 + two hard disks. UEFI dual boot with grub.
Even the HDMI sound is working fine (on 17.XX was necessary to update the linux kernel, but on 18.04 works out of the box), and I can output sound at same time on the HDMI and the sound card (Windows can't do this!)
PD: And I have Kubuntu and Debian working without issues (and faster!) on other machines with other GPUs/CPUs from Nvidia and Intel.
There is one weird trick to solve at least 20% of the angst again Windows update.
> It forces them on you, sometimes in the most inopportune time.
Let users reboot when they want. I don't care if you show a bright red bar warning people to restart but goodness gracious don't reboot computers without positive consent!
Yes, there are more difficult problems like reducing the number of things that require a reboot to update (without sacrificing backward compatibility) but not rebooting the computer without consent is such an easy thing to do. Just be upfront and tell people to leave their computer connected to a power source and ask them to press a button when they're ready.
Agreed 100%. Always prompt before rebooting a logged in user or updating a freshly started machine. It boggles my mind that Microsoft can’t figure out how to use better UX to solve their update problem.
Start with notifications and offering to schedule an update. Don’t reboot automatically with an active user when the scheduled time rolls around. Display a prompt and allow the user options to schedule another reminder.
After a couple weeks (security updates only) add a “warning bar” along the top or side of the screen. Nothing drastic. Just visible enough to be a constant reminder to update. Eventually, replace the desktop background with a visible warning.
Assuming home users are still buying PCs from Best Buy and the like, they really can't buy a non-Windows PC (not including Macs unless someone makes another Pystar). MS has a monopoly there.
Not in Home addition. You can set your internet connection to metered and that will only give you critical security updates, if you are lucky. But MS can choose to ignore that setting any time they want to.
The author openly admits to jailbreaking their iPhone. These kinds of users tend to install many types of "tweaks" on their computers, and I would bet that this is the cause of the update failure.
You would bet and loose. I did do a clean install from a Dell recovery USB image, that's part 2 of the article. Also, I don't "openly admit" to jailbreaking my iPhone. I nonchalantly mention this :)
The author also admits to downloading a fresh restore image from Dell, which I would assume would create a fresh install of Windows without any "tweaks," and then still experiencing the same issue.
Frankly they are both super heavy these days, I'd pick mac over windows given the choice but i'd pick linux or a BSD over either of them for the lightweight factor and actually having control of my computer in the most basic way.
Microsoft has become very hostile. Recently I have upgraded my PC and that tripped the activation. For some reason I was unable to reactivate (I own full retail licence btw), after wasting time on Google I tried Microsoft support. For a couple of days and a number of consultants trying to force me to give them full access to my machine, asking to upload invoices for the new parts, treating me basically like a thief, they eventually generated me new license key. Now I am scared to upgrade anything in my PC again and then there is that update coming. How on earth it is possible to treat customers like this in 2018?
Sadly I use some software that only works on Windows so I have no option, but now I have separate PC only to have those apps and on all other machines I installed Linux. Fuck you Microsoft!
Or just buy a gray market key for $10-15 so it's not a big wallet hit if it gets deactivated.
Like always, piracy is an access problem. And I need to be able to access my computer's functions without MS locking me out because I decided to overclock my thermal paste.
I suppose it is worth saying that this is not the same for enterprises as it is for single users. If you run a domain you can completely control your updates from WSUS (or a myriad of third party options). You can test the updates on a subset of users before letting them loose on your whole domain. MS are supporting a much wider range of hardware than Apple have to, and there will always be surprises. I can only think of two major update issues on my domain.
1) Conflict with a driver for an extremely specialized printer
2) A weird update about 4 years ago for W7 which seemed to forget to close the 'Windows is updating' screen. ctrl-al-del resumed normal service!
I believe some of the clunkier updates for Windows 10 (like the forced reboot) are actually part of a patch to improve the silent update feature! Install afresh from a USB as sddfd suggested and you wont have to suffer that patch.
Windows Updates are simply broken. If you're using windows then there is no way around reinstalling windows regularly. I've had update issues on vista, 7 and 10. I could fix some of them on vista but the time investment has always been higher than simply reinstalling windows.
Humorously written, but the situation is no different on OS X these days. I could not update to high Sierra and the new filesystem and after trying, it required a complete os x install which takes about six hours after starting using time machine. The only thing that's better on os x is that Apple finally seems to have stopped trying to push high Sierra on users, after even aggressively downloading it without permission. It's really rather depressing that the state of desktop operating system is thus. That includes all desktop Linux distros I've tried also unless one gets a lucky combination of hardware (aka Linux distros run like shit on Apple hardware if they even run at all).
One of my desktops keeps failing to update Windows 10 for 2 years now, the recent v1803 doesn't fix it either. Too ineffective to do a fresh install and just about tried everything out there to fix it. Complete waste of time.
On the other hand the desktop which always worked flawlessly now cannot even get past the initial installation boot screen from a freshly made v1803 DVD/USB (within 5sec of booting) likewise the update from inside Windows itself fails. Waiting to see if MS address this issue before I waste any more time trying to fix it myself.
By the way, I've had those top menus that open to left happen when windows installs a touch/ink/stylus input device. There's a control panel setting somewhere for input devices like these, where there's a checkbox (that sometimes magically self-re-enables) for making menus appear to left for the purpose of accomodating on-screen hand-writing for right-handed writers. It's a bit weird that it ends up affecting the menus even when you stricly use a mouse to open them.
I've found that I avoided most of issues other people often encountering by reinstalling OS every few monthes. Usually after big updates. Might not work for everybody, I just like to configure OS from clean state. Works for anything from macOS to Linux.
What I want for Xmas is an OS usable for laptops. Windows? Dealt with by comments here. Mac? Only runs on a limited range of crippled hardware. Linux? Life's too short.
2018 is sad, with no light on the visible horizon.
Got my 1803 update installed on a 4.x years old Lenovo g50-45 AMD, low powered machine in an hour.. no issues at all.. machine restarted few times during the installation.. and it was done..
I literally stopped using windows because of windows 10. I'm lucky enough that I don't need it for anything work-related.
In the rare occasions I do need something to run in win10, I run it on my old air-gapped laptop running a vanilla windows 7 installed from it's original DVD. I wouldn't trust windows on network-connected hardware. Not anymore.
I wish LTSC was a version normal, licensed users could get access to... I normally go with LTS versions when using Ubuntu, and ESR for Firefox. Being able to use that kind of version for Windows 10 right away would be great.
That would be perfect! But I am not paying MS $7 a month so they can remove features. I like my kill updates solution for now. This really should be a default on business products like Dell 9550.
If you change the Network to Metered Connection it will only give you updates for Windows Defender and Security Updates. Doesn't seem to do any download by itself.
Also, if you are a developer LTSB edition is a non starter. You can't install Visual Studio 2017 on it :).
LTSB user here: I had zero trouble installing VS and other software on it.
Relating to the article, it was the most painful install I've ever had to deal with, precisely because of Windows Update
However, it is not (officially) supported[1]
I still can't understand what's wrong with Microsoft locking up users and developers to what I consider inferior ("consumer", as they call it) release of Windows, knowing LTSB is not that different from Enterprise
I haven't had any problems updating and even big updates are fast. This is in contrast to a Dell laptop I got for work and which regularily took 45min to update.
If you have problems with your Windows 10, get rid of the crapware that came with your PC and/or do a fresh install from a clean image from MS (not one of the OEM rescue partitions/disks).
I with MS would do something about all the preinstalled crapware, because it has gotten out of hand and is hurting the brand.