Windows Update: Bane of my existence (some days)

[xylohypha]

So, my computer runs Windows 7, and Windows Update has been a real chore to run for the past few months. It takes for-bloomin-ever! Last night, I started it up--and five hours later, it was still stuck in the same place, with no apparent progress having been made. Frustrating

Comments

[semyaza]

I wish I'd known you were having problems. I followed discussions about this for months until a workable solution appeared. I'd been downloading and installing the occasional update, one at a time, and it seemed to take about 75 minutes no matter the file size. I don't run 'check for updates' - I just let Windows do it - but I download and install manually update by update (and only after checking whether I need them, which I generally don't).

There are times when I think that Windows is the bane of my existence and totally unnecessary to my health and well-being. At those times I start meditating on Chromebook.

[xylohypha]

Oh, I was exaggerating my frustration, a little. It's just that back in April, it was taking FOREVER, and then I found a fix which sped it right up--until again in June it was taking FOREVER. It's just so darned inefficient to have something that we're supposed to do for security's sake be that bug-ridden. And that the cures seem to come from the geek community and not from Microsoft annoys the heck out of me.

At this point, Windows 7 is something I can live with (barring Update annoyances), but 10 is going to be a breaking point for me. With the forced updates and the privacy issues--and the spectre of unavoidable ads on the start screen--I'm not going there. I may have to sit down with a notebook and pencil and figure out Linux.

[semyaza]

I'll have Windows 7 as long as this computer lasts. Dell still offers Windows 7 but I'm not sure that it makes sense to go that route when Windows 10 will be inevitable at some point. I'm no longer on the computer in the evening - I'm on the tablet - so whatever I might feel about Chrome that's what I'm using at least half of the time. And Firefox is buggered. I haven't been able to update it in ages. I know why - and eventually Firefox got around to showing me how to fix it without my having asked (wow!) but honestly - I'm only prepared to spend so much time on fixing crap. The computer is a tool and when it starts eating up my time on 'repairs' then I need to think of an alternative. Preferably a no-brainer alternative. No, not a Mac. XD

[xylohypha]

I have a little tablet that I use in the morning, checking the news and weather while I have my first cup of coffee. It suits me fine.

I'm still using Firefox--but I use the Extended Support Release, which doesn't want to update itself every other day. I don't usually wander into the really wild areas of the internet, and with antivirus and AdBlock and NoScript on the job, that really cuts down the risk of being caught by malware.