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Exponential Algorithm In Windows Update Slowing XP Machines
jones_supa writes "An interesting bug regarding update dependency calculation has been found in Windows XP. By design, machines using Windows Update retrieve patch information from Microsoft's update servers (or possibly WSUS in a company setting). That patch information contains information about each patch: what software it applies to and, critically, what historic patch or patches the current patch supersedes. Unfortunately, the Windows Update client components used an algorithm with exponential scaling when processing these lists. Each additional superseded patch would double the time taken to process the list. With the operating system now very old, those lists have grown long, sometimes to 40 or more items. On a new machine, that processing appeared to be almost instantaneous. It is now very slow. After starting the system, svchost.exe is chewing up the entire processor, sometimes for an hour or more at a time. Wait long enough after booting and the machine will eventually return to normalcy. Microsoft thought that it had this problem fixed in November's Patch Tuesday update after it culled the supersedence lists. That update didn't appear to fix the problem. The company thought that its December update would also provide a solution, with even more aggressive culling. That didn't seem to help either. For one reason or another, Microsoft's test scenarios for the patches didn't reflect the experience of real Windows XP machines."
This is clearly the right time for Microsoft to completely rewamp the update system in XP; and what could possibly be better than to just remove the whole thing and import an already working package system from Debian?
And how exactly does Slashdot not have full Unicode support?
I'm really - I mean really, uncomfortable with the thought of Microsoft planning this kind of thing 12 years in advance...
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Mainstream support ended on April 14, 2009. They've been pumping the dead horse full of adrenaline ever since to keep it from falling over.
Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
How many Microsoft Engineers does it take to change a lightbulb? None. They just redefine darkness as the new standard.
There may be no "I" in team, but there's also no "F" in way.
Just shoot the control panel. Door will just open
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Well, then good news! Windows XP is just four months away from being perfect.
Be sure to use bullets. Using a laser will just make the blast doors close.