Windows 10 Updating again! GRRR!

[Pieere]

 This is becoming absolutely ridiculous! I'm selling all this MicroCrap junk and going to a Mac or LINUX System this Spring! I believe MS is trying to force everyone to purchase wired or Broad band. The hours it takes to download, install on a Verizon JetPack, the library, or restaurants is super ridiculous! My Dell Venue 8 uses Android and Bam it's.done in 10--15 minutes.

I want to use the computer not just do Upgrades and Updates!

Internet connection is spotty today---triple posted sorry!

[ms60ocb]

12 minutes ago, Pieere said:

 T

I want to use the computer not just do Upgrades and Updates!

X2 Amen to that

[markandkim]

Long gone! Cause they are junk now.

Sort of like the post office, old timers won't let go and are being left behind because of it.

[oldbutspry]

I've never done it but I think you can specify you have a 'metered connection' to control updates.

[RV_]

Pieeere,

Apple computers have updates as well as Linux, and sometimes the same size or larger than Microsoft's, sometimes not.

I found a solution for this for another issue and it is posted under Connecting on the road here in answer to Glenn West. That solution will eliminate your computer entirely except if you want to use it occasionally and are someplace where you can use a friends WiFi like I do with visitors here. I have a guest account that cannot interfere with my main account on my wifi router.

http://news.thewindowsclub.com/mirabook-windows-phone-android-phone-into-a-laptop-91029/

https://miraxess.com/

 

[TreyandSusan]

Search link that provides instructions for setting metered connections.

Might give some control about when updates will occur.

[RV_]

8 hours ago, markandkim said:

Long gone! Cause they are junk now.

Sort of like the post office, old timers won't let go and are being left behind because of it.

Mark anything from long gone ago would be behind the times now. You can't even run a 2004 Apple computer today online decently so I agree, neither is a 2005 Windows computer. How long ago did you get rid of your "junk" Windows systems.

Actually Mark the ones being left behind are the folks with no cable or satellite broadband. Both can handle the downloads without affecting the data caps they have. I pay for my 200mbps cable Internet, and pay an additional 10 bucks for unlimited with no data cap. If you think it is bad now, just wait a month if the FCC does indeed eliminate Net Neutrality allowing the cell companies who are a problem now when regulated. The only freedom the FCC removal of the net neutrality rules is giving the cable and cell companies free reign to charge what they want, throttle services other than their own. For example I stream my cable channels with Sling TV for $25 bucks a month and $10 for HBO. I stream my movies from Netflix for 10 bucks a month as well as Amazon Prime. If the FCC has their way, it will be legal for my cable operator who is the only high speed Internet available where I live, they will allow my cable operator to throttle my streaming services from other less expensive providers. Satellite is not high speed for most today. If I tried to pay for streaming 500GBs a month like I have hit a few times, especially when we are watching on two sets and using Amazon in the bedroom for my wife or me to watch something different than what we have on in the living room on Netflix, and a visiting relative is watching Sling TV in the guest bedroom, all of which have 4k equipped new model Fire TV full size 4k devices capable, as is our TV, with both the hardware for 4k the cables, and the source for 4k.

And if you feel put upon by the current charges just wait a month. Microsoft is not the connection caps and speed problems. However satellites are being tested and we will see a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations being put in place. LEO, unlike the Geostationary satellites that stay in one place, but are much further away to be able to do that without moving, like LEO satellites must do.  http://www.marinesatellitesystems.com/index.php?page_id=110

The threats from criminals to infect or hack to steal our money, hold us ransom or we lose our data (Ransomware), and try to fool us into accepting infected programs in disguise until it is too late Phishing, catphishing, social engineering.

The Android ecosphere is getting a lot of infections, as do the Apple iOS, because of the tablets and phones being used for payments and banking. Many infected Apps are out there for the jail broken and those foolish enough to go outside the Google Play store, Apple store, or in the case of Fire Tablets, the Amazon App store. Back in the old day of 2000-2005 the Apple PCs and Mac PCs were safer because of their security by obscurity. Right now Amazon Fire Tablets using a different version of Android, their own, is still less popular than Android and Apple so they are a bit safer.

It is not the fault of Android, Linux, iOS, Windows, or OSX that criminals attack. It is the criminals that drive all the patches for security, the majority of the patches today. Performance are much less time consuming.

Windows today is as stable as any. My system hasn't locked up since the old XP days. I went straight to Windows 7 and skipped Vista in 2009, almost ten years ago.

There is nothing wrong with Apple products or Linux either. I sure am not going to mount attacks based on hearsay. And anyone saying their Windows system is unstable and get blue screens of death are very out of date.

So aside from infected or hardware damaged computers, the so called BSOD or Blue screen of death was prevalent in the Windows 9 era:

" In the Windows 9x era, incompatible DLLs or bugs in the operating system kernel could also cause BSoDs. Because of the instability and lack of memory protection in Windows 9x, BSoDs were much more common."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Screen_of_Death

Windows 9X:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_9x

Folks can get a BSOD today but with a current Windows system hardly likely if it is patched and latest version which was free for Windows 10 for all that had 7, and once using Windows 10, free from that point on.

As well, old hardware cannot keep up with changes. After five years a computer of any type is usually unable to keep up and run fast as hardware counts too. I was told Linux was great because it could be used on older machines and takes up less space and uses less resources. I tried Linux Mint/cinnamon 18 on an old XP computer and it would not even load until I learned some workarounds. Then it barely ran and was sloooooooow.

I got help from the Mint forums and they were really friendly and flat out told me that like other operating systems, modern Linux powerful versions need current hardware to run smoothly too.

A lot of fables are told second hand, or by folks that accept often told fables as true.

For example, as any Windows user can attest who has a decent system and keeps it patched, we never see the blue screen of death which is just a stop, since years ago. But it seems to be a staple of Apple as you can read here:https://www.lifewire.com/troubleshooting-mac-startup-problems-blue-screen-2259903

Their stuck unresponsive screen isn't the same as a Windows lock up, except that it is.

Just read this excerpt:

"The Mac's Blue Screen of Death

Okay, it's not really the same blue screen of death that strikes fear into the heart of Windows users, but it's not exactly a welcome sight, either.

If your Mac has made it to the blue screen, we can rule out some possible problems right off the bat. To get to the blue screen, your Mac has to power up, run its basic self-test, check to ensure that the expected startup drive is available, and then start to load data from the startup drive.

This is where it got stuck, which means your Mac is in pretty good shape overall, but your startup drive may have some problems, or a peripheral connected to your Mac via a USB or Thunderbolt port is misbehaving.

Peripheral Issues

I know from personal experience that peripherals can cause a Mac to stall at the blue screen. I have a USB 3.0 powered 7-port hub that will intermittently cause the Mac to freeze on the blue screen. Unplugging the USB port will allow the Mac to continue through the boot process. Once the login screen or desktop is displayed . . ."

We don't have those lockups anymore in Windows unless infected or damaged same as Macs. I was surprised that Macs do have a lot of OS freezes and a blue lockup screen, and that article is from Lifewire online in 2017 this year! https://www.lifewire.com/troubleshooting-mac-startup-problems-blue-screen-2259903

I stopped the excerpt after the first comments but they go on for pages with what causes Macs to get the dreaded, not Windows, but Mac lockup. Sorry but if you are going to post apologias for your system or attack others you really should know this.

There are things that each system can be viewed as superior to another if it is the one you know. There are few limitations, if any, with Apple and Microsoft PCs systems. However Macs don't have touch screen and cannot run the Apple iOS apps.

All Apple Android phones and tablets are a different story, with the exception of Windows tablets which run full Windows with all the same protections and patches. Apple tablets do not run the full Mac OS, nor can they run the full Mac programs. Heck, Macs can't run touch apps at all like Windows tablet and touch computers can. We can run Apps AND full Windows programs on Windows 10 tablets. It is not a Windows lite like iOS is, it is the full system.

An Apple Mac system would be the equivalent of a Windows computer if Macs could run iOS apps, and iPads could run Mac OSX programs. Macs would need touch to run tablet apps. My Windows tablets are touchscreens, as are both my Windows all in one desktops, and they run Windows Apps and also run Windows 10 and all Windows 10 Programs . . . without a single lockup in 2017 unlike those Macs the Mac folks talked about in the Lifewire and many other articles. Let's also remember Windows is a target because it has 93 % of the PC market. Linux 2% or so and Macs 5% or so. It varies a percent or two from year to year.

 

[RV_]

OK,

Pieere,

Hey bud, it isn't just Microsoft, Apple has a lot of security and other updates too. Here is a page if you think going Apple will eliminate the problem: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222

I am not trying to convince you to stay with Microsoft, I could care less what OS anyone is running. And can engage in running Apple or Linux down with the actual vulnerabilities, hacks etc. I don't because it is pointless. I just read an Apple blog that said Microsoft is getting better with fewer lock ups or blue screens of death. I have not had my OS lock up in years! I have had some programs stop responding because they had issues but even that could not bring down my system. I do know that in 2007 HP's habit of not making separate AMD and Intel systems to load on their machines caused the AMD machines to lock up because the system called for Intel drivers that would not run on AMD and locked them up. I was still working then and in charge of our servers and computers and since I had bought them as well, I knew which were HP AMD and which later purchased systems were another vendor and had AMD chipsets but did not crash. It took a day to find the issue and HP got egg on their face. Another event was computers getting an update from MS would not boot and it was found that only machines infected with a particular Rootkit were locking up and that rootkit was hidden and unknown until they forgot to update the infection code to work with the latest MS update. A rootkit for the non tech is a malware infection that loads in the system Bios or before the UEFI in windows 10. Please don't all correct that to be more specific because lots of folks don't want to know.

[Biker56]

21 hours ago, Pieere said:

Windows 10 Updating again! GRRR!

My W10 Desktop and Laptop updated yesterday sometime unnoticed to me.
It was done with my AT&T Mobley unlimited Data.

Today my iPhone had 14 app updates from the Sprint unlimited data.

And the iPad has 22 and is working on that now from my iPhone 3GB Sprint Hotspot.
That finished now doing a 373.3MB OS update on the iPad. From Sprint Hotspot.

Then I will use the Mobley to update the OS on the iPhone.
Good Luck switching to something that doesn't have any updates.

[Bill Joyce]

I run Windows 10, Linux Mint and Android.  All of them update often.  Game devices with internet access and smart TVs can be just as bad.  

[ms60ocb]

18 hours ago, oldbutspry said:

I've never done it but I think you can specify you have a 'metered connection' to control updates.

It helps some of the time but Windows 10 seems to get through.

Microsoft Office will respond something like. " I see your on metered data do you want to update ______? " and then you keep messages about an update is available.

Clay

[Pieere]

15 hours ago, RV_ said:

Pieere,

Apple computers have updates as well as Linux, and sometimes the same size or larger than Microsoft's, sometimes not.

I found a solution for this for another issue and it is posted under Connecting on the road here in answer to Glenn West. That solution will eliminate your computer entirely except if you want to use it occasionally and are someplace where you can use a friends WiFi like I do with visitors here. I have a guest account that cannot interfere with my main account on my wifi router.

http://news.thewindowsclub.com/mirabook-windows-phone-android-phone-into-a-laptop-91029/

https://miraxess.com/

My old 2009 MacBook Air runs on OS 10.75, the last Upgrade it can do apparently! No updates since! Have had it for about a year now! Not one lockup or BSOD! Not to say it can't or won'r happen! What I use my computers for is mostly basics, emails, forums and very seldom to order anything online! 

 

 

 

[TheDuke]

Pierre: you do realize that just the first update was the only large one, right? The other two were smaller fixes. You do realize that all Linux updates are full updates don't you? They also include security updates. 

And don't get an IPad with apps on it, 15 app updates in the last 3 days including 7 today. If you do get a Mac you are lucky because you  won't get many updates as it appears Apple has given up updating it. 

[Pieere]

23 hours ago, TheDuke said:

Pierre: you do realize that just the first update was the only large one, right? The other two were smaller fixes. You do realize that all Linux updates are full updates don't you? They also include security updates. 

And don't get an IPad with apps on it, 15 app updates in the last 3 days including 7 today. If you do get a Mac you are lucky because you  won't get many updates as it appears Apple has given up updating it. 

 The DUKE: Yeppers! Every new Windows Upgrade takes 3-6 hours to download, and Updating from1.5 to 3 hrs. Thats reality! Linux took the most 1/2 hour. Android, 15-45 mins. What I am impressed by LInux is: It is being actively monitored and Updates are not cumulative and can control which ones are critical and important! 

 

[RV_]

Pieeere,

No one is trying to get you to stay with Windows or any other OS. Just to let you know that thirty 100 MB tiny patches and performance improvement over a month still adds up to 3TB of data for that month. One 2.1 GB update is less.

I like Linux Mint and it has even improved its intuitive Windows user friendly version of Linux that I thought was the best before, and intuitive even more so now..

Excerpt:

" Linux Mint isn't just the best Linux desktop, it's the best desktop, period.

I run many operating systems every day, from macOS, to Windows 7 and 10, to more Linux desktop distributions than you can shake a stick at. And, once more, as a power-user's power user, I've found the latest version of Linux Mint to be the best of the best.

Why? Let's start with the basics. MacOS has been shown to have the worst bug I've ever seen in an operating system: The macOS High Sierra security hole that lets anyone get full administrative control. Windows, old and new, continues to have multiple security bugs every lousy month. Linux? Sure, it has security problems. How many of these bugs have had serious desktop impacts? Let me see now. None. Yes, that would be zero.

Oh, and by the way, in using Linux desktops for over 25 years now, I have never needed to use an anti-virus program because, for all practical purposes, there are no Linux viruses. Yes, I know you've read stories saying they exist. And, they do, but you must actively try to infect your system to get them.

Then, there's ease of use. Despite ancient FUD, Linux, especially the new Linux Mint 18.3 but really all current Linux desktops, are simple to use. Mint's Cinnamon interface uses a classic Windows, Icons, Menu, and Pointer (WIMP) interface. If you've ever used Windows XP, you'll feel completely at home.

Want to install an application? Sure you can use shell-based tools such as apt-get on Debian-based Linux distributions or yum on the Red Hat family of operating systems. But, ordinary desktop users need not bother with these. Instead, they can just use an app store approach such as Mint's Software Manager. You search for your app, you point, you click. Not very hard is it?

Want to update your system to a new one? With Macs and Windows, that can take hours. With Mint, it took me less than an hour and most of that was waiting for the download to complete. Compare that with Windows, where as a friend recently pointed out, just updating a Logitech mouse driver took about 10 minutes.

Linux desktops are also fast even on older hardware. High Sierra runs as fast as pouring maple syrup on a cold day on my maxed out Mac Mini with its 3.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 CPU and 16GB of RAM. Windows 10, on my Dell XPS 8700 with a 3.6 GHz Intel Core i7-4790 processor and 16GBs of memory, runs fast enough to be useful, but fast is not the word I'd use to describe its performance. Mint 18.3, on my 2011 Dell XPS 8300 with its 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor and 8GBs of RAM, charges along like a champ. I wouldn't waste my time trying to run Windows or macOS on a six-year-old box.

But enough about Linux vs. the others, let's talk about Linux Mint 18.3."

The author, a guy that saved me $300 bucks on my first Windows 8.1 convertible the venerable HP x2 of December 2012, and who got me into Linux Mint 18.0, goes on for a lot of pages with screen shots to show you how easy Linux Mint can be. No matter what OS you are using, even Linux, this article is an eye opening must read:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/mint-18-3-the-best-linux-desktop-takes-big-steps-forward/

[Biker56]

12 hours ago, Pieere said:

And don't get an IPad with apps on it, 15 app updates in the last 3 days including 7 today. If you do get a Mac you are lucky because you  won't get many updates as it appears Apple has given up updating it. 

Hummmm!! Apple just had a update for my iPad Air to iOS 11.2.1 last week and iPhone the same.

If you happen to have a older iPad 2. Apple quit updating it around iOS 9. I just gave that one to my son that was visiting last week as I got tired of updating the apps on it.

[fortytwo]

GRRRR.  This update wiped out my plug in to restore a very useful function which Microsoft seems to seek out to eliminate in their next version -- Copy to/Move to.  Fortunately I still had the fix to restore it.

However,  in an obvious effort to make cortana indispensable when you click the Microsoft Icon in the bottom left corner you only get "power" and "settings".  "File explorer" is not absent.  Anyone know where they hid it, if it still exists?  Alternatively, is there a link to download it as a plug-in?

[Bill Joyce]

fortytwo: All my Windows 10 machines are now updated to Falls Creator's Edition and all have an icon on lower left task bar that  brings up file explorer.   Are you hiding the task bar?

Edit: Do a right click on the start menu and you will find file explorer listed, plus more you are looking for.

[TheDuke]

I have  the same as Bill above. What have you changed or added to the taskbar or recplace it? 

When I click the Windows icon or key, I get file explorer. 

Also, File explorer has the icons to do move and copy. 

What plugin are you installing? What does it do the the basic file explorer?

You might try xplorer2 lite which is free. I have run it for years without any problem with it or file explorer.

 

 

 

[fortytwo]

Bill, Thanks, the Right Click did it.  With a left click I only get  power and settings options.  A Right Click on the long white Cortana bar taking  2 inches of space on the taskbar also brought up a way to hide it.   Can't imagine where MS finds test group subjects that don't have problems with re-arranging, deleting, and/or hiding of key things everyone uses.

I have deliberately avoided voice control features, such as Cortana to date.  May have to change though as Bixby on my new Note 8 appears to have some very useful capabilities.  I now have a need for some type of "help, I've fallen and I can't get up" solution for my wife.  Bixby has a routine to "call XXX (a contact list phone), but the price tag of a Note 8 or S-8 phone is a bit of a steep solution.  I'm searching for a local geek that can teach me how to use an Echo Dot, or reactivate my old Note 3, which has a voice command function, to enable her to call me.  Most of the highly advertised off the shelf systems have less than sterling reviews.  Pretty sure among my fleet of tablets (Fire 8, Samsung S-2, Note 12.1, and Note 3) or one of the speaker/voice controller systems there is a solution.  Maybe should repeat this in a separate thread to collect tribal wisdom for a solution.

[RV_]

Forty,

1st remember that all voice tools use bandwidth, because they "phone home" what you said and then send back the answer, how much varies. I can dial my wife on my Moto Z Play by saying "Gore to Enterprise" (like Kirk to Enterprise) as I changed the voice command, and when it bleeps that it is ready I just say "call my wife on speaker phone", which you can do on many devices. Unless you have a truly unlimited data plan with no caps or slow downs you won't like digital personal assistants. I have unlimited and use Cortana, Alexa, and the Moto Z/Google assistant which is the best so far.

[fortytwo]

Thanks RV.  Don't expect to use a lot of bandwidth as I'm really trying to set up an in-house 911 system.  The alternative is a "Medical Alert" type system, all flavors costing about $30 a month, and all have less than exciting reviews by users, particularly the "fall detection" feature.  Even an old flip phone with my number as the first contact is a challenge for my wife, and a smart phone I bought her was too much for her to grasp.  I'm told my old Note 3 is capable of voice dialing; have to check the impact of adding it to my Verizon plan.  Alternatively Echo Dot's are now going for 30 bucks so I could have several of those around the house if I can cobble a system with dialing capabilities.  Have wifi throughout the house but don't know is VOIP to a cell phone is possible.  Will be visiting local Geeks after the New Year's activity bubble subsides.

[RV_]

Forty Two,

I've been sick with a nasty cold/flu. Hopefully I am on the downhill slope.

I think you are going around the block for an emergency phone. Hands-free for a quad is the same as for someone who cannot operate the phone.

Here are some of the many options:

http://www.ablephone.com/model5000.php

https://www.cnet.com/news/touch-free-phone-disabled-app-quadriplegic-sesame-app-tech-enabled/

https://www.amazon.com/voice-activated-telephone/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Avoice activated telephone

Hope that helps.

 

[packnrat]

microcrap, just did ANOTHER " up-date.

this time it craped my computer.

not a crash i think ( not a computer person).

step one:

the hp logo then there little balls in a circle.

grey screen.

a white bar flash upper left side of the screen.

grey again.

then a message about a failed down load.

then message saying trying to reinstall the older ver of 10.

then grey.

then  black.

back to step one.

[Chalkie]

4 hours ago, packnrat said:

microcrap, just did ANOTHER " up-date.

this time it craped my computer.

not a crash i think ( not a computer person).

step one:

the hp logo then there little balls in a circle.

grey screen.

a white bar flash upper left side of the screen.

grey again.

then a message about a failed down load.

then message saying trying to reinstall the older ver of 10.

then grey.

then  black.

back to step one.

What processor do you have? There is a known issue with older AMD processors and the most recent changes.