Windows Update borks PowerShell – Microsoft won't fix it for a week You'd be forgiven for thinking Microsoft is actively trying to stop people using Windows 10 Anniversary Edition. A patch this week broke one of the key features of the OS: PowerShell. KB 3176934, released on Tuesday as an automatic update, addresses a good number of bugs and other oddities in the operating system, including …
"And Redmond wonders why people are leaving its products for open-source alternatives."
As of yet they don't seem to be. Windows Server market share is still growing as are most of Microsoft's core application platforms such as SQL Server, Exchange, Office 365, Azure, etc, and Linux isn't making any impact on the desktop so far at <2% share - whereas Windows market share is stable at > 90%...
"As of yet they don't seem to be. Windows Server market share is still growing as are most of Microsoft's core application platforms such as SQL Server, Exchange, Office 365, Azure, etc, and Linux isn't making any impact on the desktop so far at <2% share - whereas Windows market share is stable at > 90%..."
I was at a site the other day to fix a desktop. One of the other staff, in conversation, mentioned that her PC didn't always switch on first time and she had to keep pressing the on switch multiple times before it would boot. An obvious hardware fault. Turns out it;s been doing it for months. She never thought of reporting the "fault" to IT "because these things are always having problems, it's just, like, computers, innit".
Users are so used to Windows crapping out on them that they just resignedly put up with it, even when it's a fixable hardware fault. Not helped by actual Windows faults being "fixed" by their IT support either telling them to switch it off and on again or just re-imaging the HDD.
Where as tablet and mobile sales on Android and iOS have been going north since 2008...sales of desktops (mainly running Windows) started to tank nearly a decade ago.
Last I checked Android was Linux.
Next you'll be telling us virtually all desktops use Intel processors. There were more ARM processors shipped last year than Intel shipped processors...in its entire history.
Times have already changed, Microsoft is where it was, Android is where it's at and RasberryPi's are growing the next generation of techs on Linux in schools.
Might be time for me to get in on the computer repair business.
The number of borked W10 machines out there at any given time must be in the millions. I don't know how Joe Average manages to deal with it. Probably thinking about buying Apple or Android... or changing their PC to Linux.
And, I've seen posts on forums lately from people who know their computers and operating systems inside out who are now getting tired of constantly fighting with W10 - the never ending forced updates that break things and reset everything to MS's default settings, etc.
But, I'm sure we'll be getting another canned response from a MS 'mouthpiece' soon reminding us (once again) that "Windows 10 continues to have the highest customer satisfaction of any version of Windows". lol... hilarious stuff.
Very, very, very few people relish constantly tweaking an OS. Once the usual tweaks are done they want to be stable this includes most boffins/nerds/geeks so they can do what they want. Fighting the OS is not something people want to do on a very regular basis.
I use an Arch Linux derivative (Antergos) as my primary OS. Distrowatch says users of Arch and derivatives should expect to occasionally have to do some TLC on the OS. I have found that this TLC is mostly when updating the OS, sometimes one has to do updates in a couple of steps. If one has packages from the AUR, sometimes one has to do a little more work. But I have not seen any issues like those that plague 'bloat 10.
Mr Redmond can I have a word in your shell like?
I just don't get it W7/8 works fine after updates, they know their OS don't they and test changes before they subject users to it?
Like and still use Windows but I'm keeping 7 till it's no longer supported if this is the shape of things to come.
The one I use (Zorin) has been on a rolling update for over 3 years now, minimal restarts on updates and no borking or loss of functionality, installed the latest version for a friend and it's identical to my install.
and giving MS the Finger.
I did that for my own personal use back in 2009. I just got fed up with the annual OS re-install and product load you had to go through as your machine craweled to a stop.
Bought myself a MacBook to run Photshop. That MacBook is still running today. Not had to do an OS re-install on it either. Runs with an SSD and thanks to TimeMachine moving from spinning rust to SSD was easy.
MS simply does not listen to users. It goes on its merry was towards self desctuction.
Sadly, I have to use Windows (W7) for work but as that job is comintg to an end in 5 weeks it might be that I can say goodbye to MS once and for all and you know what, I won't regret it one little bit.
@ Steve Davies 3 "Bought myself a MacBook to run Photshop. [...] Runs with an SSD and thanks to TimeMachine moving from spinning rust to SSD was easy."
You don't even have to bother with Timemachine. I moved my MBP to SSD last year without it: Plug SSD into MBP using a USB adaptor, Reboot Mac into Startup Manager in the EFI, Use Disk Manager in that to clone one drive to the other, power off and swap SSD into Mac (or do what I did and boot from the SSD via the USB adaptor until you are happy all is running fine).
No, average people still aren't contemplating changing their PC to Linux, no matter how much people here might wish that was true.
The most realistic scenario would be finding someone able to install Windows 7 on their PC. Word to the wise, use NTLite to integrate XHCI drivers into your Windows 7 install and you'll have a much easier time on Skylake or future hardware. You need it to automatically integrate DAZ Loader anyway (I don't care what Microsoft says, no one should have to pay for a license to downgrade their PC because the OS it shipped with isn't fit for purpose, or worse that Microsoft malware fooled you into installing Windows 10)
Now that Microsoft isn't trying to push the free Windows 10 upgrades anymore, Windows 7 can go back to just quietly working without requiring you to mess with it.
"No, average people still aren't contemplating changing their PC to Linux, no matter how much people here might wish that was true."
Neither are average people who've been forcibly updated to W10 reloading their own W7 nor installing NTLite or DAZ Loader (which I'd never heard of).
Getting back to a nice stable (as far as these things go), spyware-free W7 is going to be every bit an esoteric art as installing Linux or Unix. And with the arrival of monolithic patches from this autumn avoiding spyware whilst remaining current in other respects might be a bit of a problem.
"Getting back to a nice stable (as far as these things go), spyware-free W7 is going to be every bit an esoteric art as installing Linux or Unix."
1) Your agenda (your emplyer's agenda) is showing. Installing a modern Linux (plenty to choose from) is not an esoteric art, and has not been for a very long time.
2) Replacing a W10 installation with an upgrade to Win7 is tedious rather than esoteric. I've done it several times for several different people, and it involves lots of guesswork and "wait and see" because there's no single reliable document showing how to get from an MS DVD to working and up to date (ish) Win7 installation.
Assuming the hardware is all supported by Win7 (MS seem to have a cunning plan on that front) a fresh Win7 install nowadays has various hiccups like expired certificates and update downloads from out of date places and similar. It can be done, a consolidated HOWTO would be great, for those unfortunate folks that are still tied to legacy Windows systems.
" Your agenda (your emplyer's agenda) is showing."
Fair cop.
a) I'm retired, I have no employer to have an employer's agenda but
b) I realised when I came back to it that I'd worded it very badly. Of course Linux installs aren't esoteric (except maybe to the Windows habituated who probably assume there must have been something wrong & they haven't spotted it).
Nevertheless my next OS will be a BSD - Linux is looking less Unix-like than I'm happy with these days.
As to installing W7, over the last few weeks I've had the task of bringing a new W7 laptop up to current, avoiding the undesirable stuff. Trying to find the appropriate patch that would allow the rest of the updates to run before the heat death of the universe (this patch fixes it; no, this patch supersedes that patch; no this new patch supersedes the superseding patch) plus the stuff in the post I was replying to seems reasonably esoteric.
Neither are average people who've been forcibly updated to W10 reloading their own W7 nor installing NTLite or DAZ Loader (which I'd never heard of).
Which I why I said "find someone to install Windows 7 for them". They won't do it themselves, because they likely won't have a Windows 7 disc. But they will probably know someone who would be able to install Windows 7 for them.
"average people still aren't contemplating changing their PC to Linux,"
Indeed not, the average non-IT home use types I know are contemplating (or have already implemented) a change to something other than a Window box, e.g. getting a Mac or something Android-based for day to day use.
Others will be making that change for day to day use while retaining Windows for whatever legacy reasons continue to tie them to it.
"Windows 7 can go back to just quietly working without requiring you to mess with it."
Suits many people, including me. One small wish: it'd be great if there was a single reliable HOWTO somewhere on how to make a Win7 install from MS DVD actually work in today's environment (e.g. with Windows Update actually doing something). Each time I try it, it takes days to sort, involving numerous HotFixes and stuff, and I don't bother saving the relevant details because "I won't be doing this again, not for me nor for anyone else.". Then something happens to someone (e.g. someone's webcams stop working) and I once again end up doing a Win7 reinstall from scratch, with all the pain it brings...
2 days to install w7? Apps aside (they take the same on w10 or w7) from sp1 there are 1.5gig of updates on w7 on w10 i have 350mb. W7 takes about 2.5 hours start to finish. 1.5 hours updating. W10 takes about 2 hours with most of the time fucking about with powershell disabling stuff
I was updating our W10 image. Do you know how many screens there are to make sure the default language stays as UK over US? 12. Twelve fucking screens. In W7 you went into control panel, went to language and there were 3 tabs to change from US to UK. In W10 you have two control panels to contend with, the old control panel sorts the language AND the advanced screen AND the account defaults AND the options for the default language AND the updates to default language pack. Then you have the new control features that sorts out the text to speech and all the shite that comes with that.
and that is supposed to be usability? You would think that you could set this as default on GPO wouldn't you? Nope. It wont work for new accounts on their first logon - new roaming profile accounts on first logon will take the default options from the machine, subsequent logons will take their options from the GPO.
Righto MS.
re: win 7 install from dvd.
might be easier to make an image (including your faviourite programs) then sysprep it. then you can install it on any hardware and it will be up to date (well, the date of the image anyway). its pretty easy to do. there are any number of guides out there. then you can get your drivers from wherever and off you go. my win 7 image takes 7 mins to restore via usb 3 cradle.
for win updates on 7 taking days, ive found something recently that has made a massive difference.
check task manager - run it as an admin / select "show processes for all users"
if svchost has massive memory usage, and when you click "goto services” on svchost it shows wuausrv as being one of the culprits, do the following.
goto services, and stop wuausrv (windows update service)
install these two updates
KB3050265
KB3102810
this will stop the high memory usage of wuausrv from killing the machine (ive seen it eat 4gb ram and upwards recently)
then restart wuauasrv then reboot
then you should get the updates a lot quicker.
you can also then use wsus offline (google it) which is also very fast, although ive had a few issues with it hanging.
I had good luck with WSUS offline the first time I used it, but not last time. WSUS offline requires a CAB file that it downloads from Microsoft and each version of said file that I was able to get my hands on at the time was corrupt. I found a form on which people were talking about the issue and one of the posters had managed to get a functional copy of the CAB file by...downloading it 30 times. It seems that almost all, but not quite all, of MS's mirrors have a corrupt version of the file.
I find it really hard to escape the conclusion that MS is actively sabotaging Windows 7 update. If I ever get WSUS offline to run successfully again I'll definitely be saving its install directory (and backing it up).
hmm...maybe thats why its hanging. its done it many times on kb3138612 in fact i have one im doing now with the problem.
ive just googled it and there are a number of people with the same issue.....manually install is the answer apparently. i'll try it...
as for MS doing it deliberately....yeah, i reckon you might be onto something there.
to computer repair? I'd advise against that, as there will be so few Win 10 users left before long that you won't have a sustainable business.
Seriously, just how many consecutive cock-ups can you make in quick succession and still have a viable business at all? Why on earth are MS so keen to earn the "toxic brand" label? How to wreck a once great business....
You weren't using their software for anything important anyway, right?
Nah, I was just trying to run a business, and because it was getting larger I started to use automation. Not a big problem.
(no, not me, I abandoned that ship a long time ago so I can watch it all with a level of smugness previously only reserved for Prius owners - but mine's more justified, of course :) )
I have always said "if the answer is Microsoft then you have misunderstood the question".
Windows 10, hmmm, how about, just locking it down and turning off the updates or failing that defer them.
No problems here, updates on those laptops are not coming through. Mint, MacOS, Win 7 etc. all fine here as well.
Gee, they let all of their testers go, and ...
this is an improvement?
Ok, I'll admit that there was a lot of dead weight in the test section. A. Lot. But testing does have to be done. How do you motivate devs to get their act together, especially with a lack of people testing the software? Arrogance and hubris is an understatement to what I saw there. I called it "blue badge disease." You got a blue badge, and then your brains went to sh**. Sort of a variation of Alzheimer's or JKD.
Supposedly, an organization learns from its mistakes. But this stuff just keeps getting repeated, no break in that loop. Oh, yeah: "Goto Considered Harmful." Back in 1968.
Stupid:;
goto Stupid;
They busted up the Trusted Computing group because an audit that uncovered a glitch. Apparently they had been let go in the 90's for getting in the way of a product launch, but due to an accounting glitch they were still getting paid. They were still in the org chart, but even the building they worked in had been torn down. Nobody has seen them since the launch of W98 SE and some may have passed. So they fixed the glitch.
"Supposedly, an organization learns from its mistakes."
Supposedly. In real life, often not. Too many organisations seem to have a top layer that doesn't even recognise the existence of mistakes. Others iterate through top management so that any learning that does reach the top is regularly wiped out. And as the big mistakes are those that percolate down they get repeated.
Funny... I left right after XP SP2 and so did a lot of other quality people.. It was sickening having people over you who could barely turn their PC on... Program Managers ruined so many features with fantasy requests, it's no wonder Win 10 is a huge fuster cluck...
And not only did they release the STEs, they made SDETs write AND run the automation which I found is IMPOSSIBLE...
Seriously. No hint of irony expressed or intended, or requested in reply.
How does something like this not get caught in their automatic testing? They have to have this, right?
If you really know enough about MS's QA process to comment, please do.
Thank you.
-Confused in NY.
They fired all the testers 10 years ago... I used to be one... Now CONSUMERS are beta testers... They do have automated testing but you can't catch everything with automation...
I won't be using it unless they fix that acid trip UI... I tried a Start Menu replacement but the Windows till looked like popups and the "high" contrast colors give me headaches... No way I can look at that 11 hours a day...
Load of rubbish.
Hmmmm now let me see.
Noupdate.reg Contains:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]
"NoAutoUpdate"=dword:00000001
Fixed, no updates and the crappy torrenting function knackered as well.
If you turn off the auto update have you not then violated the EULA? Re.:
6. Updates. The software periodically checks for system and app updates, and downloads and installs them for you. You may obtain updates only from Microsoft or authorized sources, and Microsoft may need to update your system to provide you with those updates. By accepting this agreement, you agree to receive these types of automatic updates without any additional notice.
Source:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/Retail/Windows/10/UseTerms_Retail_Windows_10_English.htm
Or is this not in the EULA of the "free" version?
This post has been deleted by its author
As an ex windows developer, I have always has a healthy hatred & distrust of Microsoft due to their proprietary extensions, terrible documentation, abysmal support, disgusting marketing team and willingness to evangelistic promotion of their own technology, which they then drop like a stone within a year or two.
It was bloody horrific, but at least they still managed to produce some reasonable tools and I always had the impression that there was some competent developers at the heart of MS, just hampered by management & marketing.
These days it looks like marketing are actually doing the coding and testing as well.
I have been trying for several years to disentangle myself from any reliance on Microsoft and am now at the point where the only thing I rely on a Microsoft OS is for games. Even then I also have steam on linux and increasing look for linux compatible games to purchase.
The many people who ask my advice or request my assistance usually end up with a Mint installation for general use with only one person experience any issues (frequent WiFi disconnects on a Dell Latitude, but the house is all hardwired anyway & she doesn't take it anywhere)
I deleted my only Windows 10 installation just yesterday - it was too late to roll back so it was nuked from orbit.
You got an up vote. Good to see a considered response regarding Microsoft. I like Linux, have used it on and off for more than 2 decades, it's progress over that time is amazing. Of all my kit I have 1 vista partition for SQL Server and when it's released for Linux I'll prob dump that as well.
But I would not inflict Linux on an ordinary user, either family/friends or in a business, would be a support nightmare. OSX has its own perculiarities as well as higher initial capex cost but would be a better option provided your application list is suitable.
Don't get me wrong, Microsofts continual face palm clusterfuck is a tragicomedy that equally makes you laugh and despair and I only use it with a barge pole taped to another one and holding my nose.
If you were asked to deploy a Linux desktop across your enterprise, would you run for the hills? I would.
I have a greater faith in my ability to deliver a Linux desktop across an enterprise (to a degree - there's only so much a single person can do), and a far greater belief in my software provider not to screw it up royally. Supporting the system is easy, but I agree that user support would be interesting and require more work (initially, at least).
Why do I say this? Well, the teaching and compute clusters I manage just plain work, even with the overall org's Windows-centric print and file solutions. My users are all pretty bright (being PG students and academics) and able to look after themselves in the main. I'd certainly not offer to extend the service to all academics and the admin staff as they have a College based system that works for them and is supported centrally. SEP.
@ Gr Ninny : I'd suggest college/Unis are a special case, I'm thinking more of supporting Sales dolts across 26 countries not to mention the call centre monkeys/agents. Yes there are solutions out there for many of the problems associated with such a migration, you could do it but the question is whether you would want to. In the end Windows familiarity is a skillset common across the board which essentially subsidises almost all businesses, if you dump that then you are giving all your competitors a leg up. On top of that you need IT staff with the support skillsets to support your estate, there aren't so many who can do that and inevitably they cost more to hire.
As SaaS, PaaS and all that malarkey becomes the standard then a lot of these issues go away, for example tied-down browser based solutions for contact centres or SaaS ERP monstrosities.
"Windows familiarity is a skillset common across the board which essentially subsidises almost all businesses, "
Obviously, I mean Windows hasn't ever changed, has it. Well, apart from maybe the Ribbon? And Vista? And Windows 8? (and others before, but we don't have all day).
"a lot of these issues go away, for example tied-down browser based solutions for contact centres or SaaS ERP monstrosities."
That's more like it. These challenges also go away for Joe and Joanne Public who just want to email and Facebook and such, who are perfectly happy with Android or iPhone.
There was a bloke once who talked about the "squeezed middle". That's where MS's legacy products are headed right now. Little people mostly don't need MS because of Mac and Android. Big companies need less MS because of web-based everything (for the volume business applications - exceptions obviously apply).
"But I would not inflict Linux on an ordinary user, either family/friends or in a business, would be a support nightmare."
I've got news for you, at least as far as family and friends are concerned.
It isn't.
Being retired I've never had to try installing across an enterprise. Back in the old days, however, I used to run stuff on Unix servers for multiple business users.
If you were asked to deploy a Linux desktop across your enterprise, would you run for the hills? I would.
This is certainly the conventional wisdom. But people are more adaptable than you think. During my too-long career in office environments, I've seen the non-technical staff learn to use MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, 95, 98, NT 3.5, NT 4.0, XP, Windows 7, to say nothing of the disruptive changes to Microsoft Orifice.
> ...a support nightmare.
Last place I looked into had this with user support: if one Windows supporter was assigned X users then a Linux supporter was assigned 5*X users. The Linux supports pretty much had manageable work load, the Windows supporters: not so much. You could see it on their faces.
Caveat: academic environment.
Penguin icon to make it easier for the downvoters.
Well, my 79 year old father is definitely not any form of power user but he used windows for word processing as well as e-mailing and surfing the internet. I used to have to fix his windows installations on a regular basis perhaps every 3 months or so there would be an issue he couldn't resolve.
I moved him to Ubuntu about 6 or 7 years ago and only had two support calls after that;
1) "how do I type foreign characters in e-mail and the word processor"
2) "What the fuck happened?"
number 2 was when Ubuntu automatically updated to the Unity desktop. At which point I installed Mint (Mate) and I haven't had to provide any support since.
My life is much easier.
I am the Original AC poster BTW
"If you were asked to deploy a Linux desktop across your enterprise, would you run for the hills? I would."
Linux desktops have already happened in some few big corps by stealth in the form of Linux powered thin clients replacing desktops connecting to massive Linux servers hosting Windows on VMs.
"If you were asked to deploy a Linux desktop across your enterprise, would you run for the hills? I would."
I wouldn't. I am certain a number of companies have already done this - the big names you already know. And the companies that have already done this are NOT going to stand up and shout about it.
Why? They are saving a shed load of licencing and support costs etc, adding $'s to the bottom line and a competitive advantage over rivals. You can be sure they are not going to spread that around for others to copy.
There used to be a time (around 20 years ago) when people would gather to talk about the latest and greatest of both software and hardware and dream what could be done next without worrying about things being broken as much as we see nowadays with people worrying if the next update will make their pcs unusable...
In the old days, one would apply an update happily thinking it would improve security or make programs more stable... 20 years later and instead of having a rock-solid (remember when that was a cliche for windows 2000 or NT?) we endure low quality programming... This has become a trend not only in MS but in a lot of companies like Symantec, Oracle, etc, where they can't keep up with their own developers and rushing unfinished stuff out. I have read how games feel unfinished or needed polishing, but there is the saying, can you polish turds?
The need to release new things in order to stay afloat in the market is what drives companies to release unfinished products, but then, mistakes like forgetting to include a package into the build, really shows how tangled their processes have become, they can't or didn't develop a check program/list of what needs to be included in a patch. That is just amazingly disappointing.
Imagine what companies developing software for MS are building on top of (a terrible and unstable platform, where core functionality just breaks because of an update) and what their products are going to perform.
I read about people just giving up on information technology and losing faith in what can be done, even laughing at MS going down in flames, but it shows how we embraced blindingly the trends and didn't care enough to put a stop on fast development and focus on stuff that works and keeps working from the start.
I agree there has been a distinct reduction in quality not just in software, but in almost every sphere of human endeavour.
When I went to Uni I deliberately chose specifically a Software Engineering degree believing that the industry would inevitably be forced to take up engineering principles and apply decent design methodologies in order to produce quality code. Especially considering how much of our lives were going to be increasingly dominated by software.
Sadly exactly the opposite happened.
People bandy around the term Engineer, without any professional Engineering qualifications
Companies consider design up front to be an expensive luxury they can't afford.
I was employed by a chemical engineering software company whose products were used to design & build huge, safety critical, chemical and petrochemical processing sites. Assuming their engineering principles would extend to the tools they use to build these things. Sadly I was much mistaken.
On my first day I had a 5 minute chat with my manager & we did a bit of white boarding for my first task in his office. What I didn't realise was the two sentences I came out of that meeting with was actually his idea of a design spec for the project which was intended to take 6 months of coding.
Before the end of day he wanted to know why I hadn't written any code yet!
This department used to pretty much rewrite applications from scratch when they wanted to add some functionality. Sometimes because the application had been written in a way that it was impossible to extend and sometimes because the code was so cryptic no-one could untangle it.
Once I was allowed to lead the dev team I would assign 3 of the 6 months for requirements & design. We never rewrote another piece of software, we frequently would implement functionality given 6 months by management, in 6 weeks. Simply because it was designed to be extendible and also because the extensive requirements spec would also give major clues to the next several years of developments.
If it is done correctly engineered software can massively reduce development, time, costs and ongoing maintenance costs.
In the years since I find most developers I have encountered, still don't believe that to be true & management are much, much harder to convince.
These days people seem to forget that there are a number of development methodologies available (if they use any at all). Often though these are just box ticking exercises.
Another thing I encountered more recently was management insisting we use Agile, even in completely inappropriate situations. It really isn't necessary if you \re building an application for which all the functionality is known at the start.
If we built buildings, bridges, cars, planes or chemical plants the same way we build software, civilisation would collapse (and explode, plummet, crumble etc...)
As we rely more and more on software to control our lives we really should be trying to find ways to re-introduce some quality into its production. Sadly I have lost all faith that that will ever happen.
As mistakes go, this is a embarrassing cockup on Microsoft's part should be As mistakes go, this is a embarrassing but hardly unusual cockup on Microsoft's part
FIFY. Let's not leave out important facts here :).
Also corrected:
And Redmond wonders why people are leaving its products for open-source alternatives.
MS users are pretty much permanently on the lookout for alternatives to either fix things MS has borked, return functionality MS has removed in the name of "improvement" (especially in matters UI) or add functionality that MS cannot be bothered with - some are so desperate they are even willing to pay for it (or, I would venture, because these products are typically made by smaller outfits you can actually have a dialogue with and whose solutions are actually worth the money). So it's not just Open Source that comes to the rescue here..
> MS users are pretty much permanently on the lookout for alternatives...
If this is true it's a new thing. I was always baffled by the fact that Windows users would not even remotely consider alternatives, regardless of the sometimes horrible things a have witnessed happening to them.
Just one: new expensive laptop "bricked" (according to user) with an update, with two month of purchase. Solution: buy another laptop, give bricked one to relative who uses that weird "Linux" stuff.
OK, one more: new version does not have driver for some (again, quite expensive) piece of periphery. Solution: bin it and buy one with recent driver.
Icon how I feel after just typing this.
Speaking from experience, more pain than money. Bring back Vista, all is forgiven! Seriously, I've been advising and helping my clients to avoid both Windows 8 and 10 since they came out, but it's getting harder. So is fixing Windows when it breaks.
Incidentally the thing that puts most of my clients off is not the telemetry or updates, but the idea/reality of learning a new UI/modus operandi. The fact that 8/10 are such badly designed retrograde UIs, just makes "stick with what you know" an easier sell.
It's a pity a bunch of sensible developers can't fork Windows just before Windows 8. Call it, I don't know, '7 Double Glazed' - "same functionality as before, just more efficient" :)
Mine's still the one with a roll of Win 7 CoAs in the pocket.
"Someone above posted that it would be a good time to open a Windows repair shop. In brief ; I would rather gnaw my arm off rather than try to fix Windows 10."
Rather than repair, collect. Just emulate the plague scene from Monty Python and The Holy Grail:
Pull a cart through the suburbs labeled WINDOWS 10, ringing a bell, and chanting, "Bring out your dead.", Profit!
@Anon. What a tag line:
"These days it looks like marketing are actually doing the coding and testing as well'
Windows has always been a ball of tangled wool with potential gaping holes, but what's Windows 10 going to be like in 12 months, given the rapid release cycle and rapid withdraw cycle.
Anyone using Windows 10 hoping this will get better is like an alcoholic in denial.
For Enterpise, a potential 4 versions aready in use/testing, Windows 10_1507, Windows 10_1511, Windows 10 1511_2, Windows 10_1607, (+Insider builds for Redstone 2), what happened to the 'one version' of Windows 10 Mantra?
This all points towards a can of worms for testing purposes. It won't be long before the only sensible place to run 'Windows 10' (multiple versions) is under VMware on a LTS Linux install.
Its like raspberry ripple ice cream, where you can vagely see 'Windows 10' in the ripple, the more you stir it, the less visible the wording gets, with a taste that is less than creamy, to a point you wonder what flavour your eating.
Microsoft, get drastic, this needs serious reorgansation, pull the head of Marketing for a start - useless, beyond belief.
You need core code / latest bell and whistles, like Red Hat / Fedora release cycles. Stop combining the two, like raspberry ripple, admit you can't make an updatable on the fly, 'rolling release' combo of these two type of products (before its too late).
Microsoft, get drastic, this needs serious reorgansation, pull the head of Marketing for a start - useless, beyond belief.
You need core code / latest bell and whistles, like Red Hat / Fedora release cycles. Stop combining the two, like raspberry ripple, admit you can't make an updatable on the fly, 'rolling release' combo of these two type of products (before its too late).
I wouldn't bother with recommending any changes to unearth some improvement at Microsoft. As far as I can tell, that ship has sailed about a decade ago. Nowadays it's merely hanging on for the end, occasionally interrupted by some deckchair rearranging.
"And Redmond wonders why people are leaving its products for open-source alternatives"
yep because opensource never has any issues, what with a myriad of different flavours and versions and about a million updates released every month, ermmm opppsss wait what I meant to say was, errmmmm feck it.
For the peeps installing Windows 7, do you know about this? Speeds up the process :D
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/3125574
This rollup package includes most updates that were released after the release of SP1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, through April 2016.
As Paul Daniels (magician) might have once said:
"Its helps a little, not a lot'.
You need to be a bloody magician, to have the patience and the ability to install all of Windows 7's Post SP1 updates successfully. MS have well and truely borked Windows 7SP1 for the home/small biz user.
You might just do it from a fresh install of Windows SP1 by updating Windows Update first, you won't if you use system restore image of the system/hard drive, it just won't update, well not in any timeframe that someone with a job and children to feed, can work to.
You need to know the special secret sauce...
From very recent experience I can tell you If you have w7 SP1 and want to update you need to manually apply the following two patches first...
KB3050265
KB3102810
The rest of the 280 odd patches will download normally after applying these two.
Good luck!
"you need to manually apply the following two patches first...
KB3050265
KB3102810
The rest of the 280 odd patches will download normally"
Much appreciated. I'll be trying this on a couple of systems (maybe more) in the next week or so, I may even report back if all goes well.
Does "download normally" mean wait maybe 24 hours, during which wait the processor and the network connection will be idle the vast majority of the time?
There are various half-answers of varying complexity scattered around the Interweb. If this is all it takes, then you win a beer or two.
I found this out a couple of weeks ago after leaving a new install searching for updates for 4 hours. It took me a couple more hours to find a solution because frankly the internet in general and search engines in particular are virtually completely broken these days. Any search returns many commercial results but almost no informed knowledge. Don't you just love default AND searches <sigh>
Anyway after installing these it identified the required updates in around 10 minutes and then took around 1-2 hours to download them.
Good luck!
The amount of entertainment is amazing.
I proposed that we rename Windows 10 to Windows Schrodinger edition as we can't predict until we come to use something whether it will work today or not. *
Secondly, since things are so damn complicated, trying to explain bits of how it works to people results in about the same level of confusion as explaining the basics of quantum physics.
On the positive side though, if there are an infinite number of parallel universes, in one of them, presumably Microsoft are doing OK and are not acting like complete idiots.
* Figure of speech,being a non-Windows user, except when its pushed by a client.
And the torrent of bad updates continues. Automatic updates though are totally a good thing people... trust us... said Microsoft whilst simultaneously firing the quality assurance team.
Don't worry though, when the fix comes it will have taken ages to ensure the patch meets the highest standards...
"MS users are pretty much permanently on the lookout for alternatives to either fix things MS has borked, return functionality MS has removed in the name of "improvement" (especially in matters UI) or add functionality that MS cannot be bothered with"
I had no idea you'd been spying on my typical day. Although as I am still (and staying!) on Win 8, I guess you could actually spy on me with a webcam since it won't be randomly broken.
When Paul Thurrott looked dejected and thoroughly pissed off this week, having reinstalled Windows Aniversary Update umpteen times, trying to solving the freezing Logitech C920 issue at 1080p in Skype, you know things are looking bad for Microsoft.
As Microsoft reporters go, he's like a stick of rock with Microsoft through it, in terms of his loyalty to MS. (Same with Mary Jo Foley).
He's in effect the equivalent of the Alcoholic in Denial, regards Microsoft's competence. He did the same with Windows Phone, tried to loyally "big it up", right to the end, until everyone else could see its non-existent future, except him.
Mary Jo Foley is still talking about the vapourware 7'' 'Surface Phone', as though it will save MS's mobile division (but in the same breath, says she won't be ditching new Android phone)
Given the flakiness (dying on its last legs) of Windows 10 Mobile, it will probably do more harm to the Surface Pro range of laptops, than help anything in the MS mobile division. (which given the Battery issues on the Surface Pro 3, and the firmware issues on the Surfacebook-hot bag syndrome), best not to tie anymore bad news to the Surface range.
It was just starting to recover, only to be tripped up again by the battery issue. It just highlights the inherent problem of sealed battery devices, including iPads - limited 'sealed' lifespan.
I'm a Unix guy, but in fairness to Powershell - It's way more than just a shell. I needed to test SSH connectivity from a locked-down Windows server to some Linux/Unix boxes, and Powershell has a utility to do that (proving to me that some connections were blocked by a firewall).
Who knows what else it can do (when it's working)?
I don't even read the articles about Microsoft self injuries anymore. There are so many they got boring. But reading the comments is pure entertainment, you guys are the best!
Thank you MS for providing the material. Now, go shoot yourself!!
Where have you all been, this type of issue with WinX was discussed to death and everyone said they wouldn't be stupid enough to install it.
Has there been a sudden influx of noobies looking for sympathy or because they thought they knew best?
None of you can say you were not warned and if you chose to ignore it then learn the lesson, don't come on here bitching "if only someone told me not to install this piece of S**t".
Or perhaps IT professionals, despite being personally sure of the likely quality and problems associated with Wx are still impelled to install it at least once to ensure their impression is accurate or even more likely they may have to support it or develop to it?
I have never wanted to use windows, but my employers always said I had to.
I have Win10 on a laptop I got last year and it has been a horrible nightmare... The only thing I have use for is the better audio and video...
Everything else sucks... The UI is an acid trip designed by a drunk Photoshopper... I just got the Anniv update and it's even worse... All the Windows look like popups.... Having no edges makes it hard to over lap windows... Ths icons are 3rd grade pencil drawings... Especially in the SysTray...
Modern apps totally blow chunks.. I tried WinZip and IHeartRadio... Ewwww... First they get rid of Silverlight rather than trying to remove the NPAPI parts and KEPT FLASH... They they take WPF and screw it up with UWP while there is no difference between a laptop and desktop and buying Nokia destroyed the phone OS...
So I'm stuck with a Phone UI on 23" LCDs...
Windows 10 SUCKS...
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