MS Windows-7 screwed me, Linux/Ubuntu discussion

A while back, sometimes a window would pop up on my computer screen and say: windows needs to update, do it now or in 15 minutes?

Now...they just stop whatever is going on (couldn't possibly be important, right?), and then they update. Part of the process is that they save whatever you were doing, and then take you back to right where you were, after restarting your computer with the new updates installed.

When this happens, I just sigh, and go use the bathroom. Pick up right where I was stopped.

Just now, it updated, re-started my computer, and then I started from scratch. What can I do? I am one step away from getting a used Dell laptop, and swapping the hard-drive to an SDD, and then having a second laptop that runs on Linux/Ubuntu...

I am old and I resist change, but I want to smash Steve Ballmers face into a windows machine at just the moment that it is updating things that I don't even care about. Advice?

spinningmagnets said:

... smash Steve Ballmers face into a windows machine ...

Click to expand...

Call Microsoft tech support and see if you can have that arranged

Ps: I feel your pain.

spinningmagnets, you could set your updates to never. Then update only when you want to.

Thanks, I am embarrassed at how computer illiterate I am for as much as I use one. What are the steps to access the "updates" schedule? (they don't make it easy...)

Be thankful yer NOT having to re-learn Windoze machines all over (sp?) including currently now "Version 7 Pro", something of a rarity, I believe. Well, may be for DOS/Atari guyz.).

spinningmagnets said:

What are the steps to access the "updates" schedule?

Click to expand...

Change how Windows installs or notifies you about updates (Windows 7)
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/...pdate-installation-notification#1TC=windows-7

How To Change Windows Update Settings in Windows 8 & 8.1
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/windows-update-settings-windows-8.htm

Yep. Been 15 years since I have allowed Microsoft do automatic updates.

And when a new one comes out, I always let them 'age' for 3 or more business days before I manually install them, in case there were any bugs when they first released the update... Nearly every major computer crash I've had was because of a bug in an Windows Update

Yea it sucks to have windows automatically install/reboot , but it's also important that you patch important updates within a few days/week of being released.

Start-ControlPanel-WindowsUpdates-Change Settings

There select "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them".

There are bad people out there who would love nothing more then to use your PC and bandwith for their own reasons so it is important to keep up on patches.
In my line of work I see Chinese use broadband customers machines/routers to do their bidding on a daily basis. The majority of those are people who buy a
cable router at best buy open it up to the internet so they can get to it while keeping the default username / password or it's vulnerable to exploits to gain
access.

I try to run all the OS's out there but for someone not pc savy id recommend a mac. Majority of security issues are for microsoft products so by just using a
mac you rid yourself of a lot of that worry. Linux is getting easier and easier to use as well just takes a bit of patience.

You do a lot for everyone here so if I could help you out via Pm or give advice id be happy to do so.

So I discovered that Black Magic Design was having this broadbased sale of their Pocket Cinema Camera, $500 instead of $900, on the LAST DAY of the promotion. I got home late and got to B&H Photo, put the camera in the cart. . . .

. . . .Out of the blue the windows closed, no warning, the system picked that moment to make that extended shutdown and further extended install. Hours later it's past 9pm on the west coast, so past midnight for B&H: The Witching Hour, when I finally got the cart back, it said $900 for what had been $500 at the time I put it in.

Which probably saved me something like $800. Shipping, a micro 4/3rds lens also needing shipping. Not that I really neeed that camera. Might have been happy using it at times instead of the Black Magic Production Camera.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/964117-REG/blackmagic_design_blackmagic_pocket_cinema_camera.html

I turned my machine off 2 days ago and it displayed the message do not power off your machine an update is in progress. So I left it and went to bed, like I have done many times before. However the next morning it would not boot up, it took me a while to get in, then I had to do a registry repair to fix some faults then roll it back to before the update to get it fully functional again!
It would seem the update did some damage! I have now disabled auto update. This machine is on windows 7 pro which I believe is no longer supported by Microsoft update anyway.

Microsoft urges customers to uninstall 'Blue Screen of Death' update
One of last week's security updates has bricked an unknown number of PCs running Windows 7
http://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...mers_to_uninstall_Blue_Screen_of_Death_update

mark5 said:

Microsoft urges customers to uninstall 'Blue Screen of Death' update
One of last week's security updates has bricked an unknown number of PCs running Windows 7
http://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...mers_to_uninstall_Blue_Screen_of_Death_update

Click to expand...

Having read that it sounds like I was quite lucky to get in to be able to put it right!

spinningmagnets said:

Thanks, I am embarrassed at how computer illiterate I am for as much as I use one. What are the steps to access the "updates" schedule? (they don't make it easy...)

Click to expand...

Did you figure out how to disable auto-update? Which version of windows are you using? To check the version, right click 'my computer' (or computer) on your desktop (you might also find this in the start menu) and left click properties.

If you'd rather just watch a video on what might get you there (I know I usually would) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We7tC_e29w0 this looks like a decent one. I found it by going to youtube.com and searching "windows 7 disable auto update" (without the quotes). You could probably replace the 'windows 7' in that search with whatever version of windows you have and get pretty solid video results that will walk you through the process.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply, I will tackle this particular problem on my next day off, so I will not be interrupted when I am right in the middle of a "pimp slap".

Some ideas from a professional developer:

I compose in Word. Not even the latest version – 2010.

When Windows updates, it can force-close, but I prefer it to ask me first, which arrests the forced-restart most of the time. There are some updates that are optional, and some that are required. Eventually the system will time-out and figure that you are asleep at the wheel and force the reboot. This is where I have issues as well for I like to remote into one of my boxes, and when it is forced-updated then I have to manually reset the hardware.

About a month ago I finally went in and changed the update features on all PCs to alert me for updates, it can even download them, but never auto-update which provides the user with the fullest control. Now back to Word: Even if there’s a forced update, Word creates a temp file of your current job and it updates the file every 5 minutes during the editing session (might be a preference setting). I can have multiple docs and spreadsheets open, and if they’ve been modified since the last Save, the Update will preserve the temps.

Forced updates are more difficult to work with because of the eventual timeout, but there’s a practical reason for it mainly to control virus/Trojan/other service pandemic. The reality is that every one of these options is configurable on a PC using late software. The only way you can have the latest is to… update frequently and consistently. As a rule, updates occur following Tuesdays – unless there’s a pandemic situation unfolding.

I know it looks fun to trash a PC, but I have never done it. Many tables have been pounded, my hands possibly bruised even, but I’ve always been of practical mind when it comes to an investment – even going as far as placing Dynomat on the inside to quiet the little screamer. The problem is not the machine, but the people that build them, and the asinine way many programs are installed, designed & managed. The best approach we can take to affect change is by providing constructive feedback … and voting with your feet :wink:

Sympathetic, KF

Thanks, KF. I am leaning towards shopping for a 2-year old Dell, then shopping for an SSD. I have been happy enough from the free "open office" documents, and am thinking about learning the free Sketchup and Gimp (weak clones of solidworks and photoshop).

I am close to being persuaded to try out the Linux version called "Mint", unless someone stops me between now and the used laptop purchase.

That kind of thing is yet another reason I usuallly use Notepad to type everythign up in, with frequent Ctrl-S. I used to have a different version of Notepad that someone wrote so that Ctrl-S actually saves a numbered version each time, rather than ever saving over the previous. But I can't find that on the intarwebs now, and the computer it was on is gone with the fire (the harddisks were "safe" for the most part but not all the data will copy off...that's one of the things I cna't find on it).


I *also* use Clipboard Magic and do Ctrl-A Ctrl-C when typing so when (not if) I somehow screw up and delete something I meant to keep in the text, and then save over the original, I can still go back to the clipboard history and find it.

spinningmagnets said:

I am close to being persuaded to try out the Linux version called "Mint", unless someone stops me between now and the used laptop purchase.

Click to expand...

Do it! it is very good for general use, but if you want to stay cool and happy, select to download not the last istall version
but the last extended support release. this way the automatic update will work for few years, instead of few months.
You will not have the last version but at the same time you will not need to reinstall everything each six months to stay up to date. Up to date means for me essentially to be able to install external programs without having painful problems with dependencies and co ....

have fun!

If you need to find old Steve, he'll be at the Clipper games next year, I hear :wink:

Linux Mint has the same layout as Windows. It has fewer drivers installed so on two of my computers it has problems with wireless drivers and video card drivers.

Ubuntu 14.04 is really straight forward right out of the box. I prefer mint, but I don't know which hardware it works properly with.

But to use Linux as your every day machine takes a lot of learning, because there are 2 states: user and root, and you can only install programs on root. That's why you never get viruses. But it's a lot of password typing. But once you get the hang of it, most things are easier on Linux with the new Software Center. sudo apt-get install command is easy too.

I also should have mentioned this a while ago, and maybe this isn't the right place to do this but, there are forums with versions of software that have an autosave feature much like many word processing programs have. The software is called 'vBulletin', very nice.
bikeforums.net is a forum that is using vbulletin.

Thanks everyone, for the helpful replies. I still have been wanting to get to this, but sooo busy. It is still on the "to do" list.

Well...Windows-10 has decided to "help" me by auto-installing, but now I can't seem to get my computer to work. The good news is that I just recently bought a "back up" laptop (fairly new Dell that has an SSD, refurbished business unit for $300)

The bad news?... (heavy sigh)...I am a lazy procrastinator who always has more important jobs to do, so I never got around to installing Linux (Ubuntu? Mint?).

Anyone around here want to walk me through it? I can pay commensurate with the level of assistance received. Do I need someone to burn me a boot disc? The most important feature needs to be some type of "system restore", so I can easily wipe spyware/malware/viruses that I seem to pick up about once a month (due to all the websites I have to constantly scan for the latest ebike info...thanks, China!)

Would be happy to help in any way. Want to download and burn Linux yourself or with phone/remote assistance? Or want a DVD-R burned and sent to you in snail mail? If snail mail, what flavor/distribution of Linux do you want (the distributions are listed at http://distrowatch.com/)? Mint or Ubuntu? Is your processor 64-bit?

Still, there should be a way to recover from a failed Win 10 update. At least get it working again. This webpage, one of many, says press Shift+F8 during startup to get to the boot menu. And do that as many times as needed to get to the boot menu. In the boot menu under advanced options you can revert to previous Windows version.

Thank you very much for the quick reply, I suppose I can stop drinking myself unconscious while whimpering softly in the dark now. I will review the provided links and try to pick something that is the least horrible choice.

Anyone else have a recommendation between Mint or Ubuntu (user-friendly, few conflicts when using a common wireless router or printer?...