Windows 10 Will Soon Let You Opt-Out of Automatic Driver Updates (pcworld.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from PCWorld: Microsoft is giving users some more control over Windows 10 updates, with a new beta build of its operating system released Monday. The build allows folks with the Windows 10 Professional, Education, and Enterprise versions to defer new updates for up to 35 days. In addition, the company will allow those users to decide whether or not they want to include driver updates when they want to update Windows. It's a move that helps respond to one of the key criticisms of Windows 10: that Microsoft's regime of forced, cumulative updates has caused problems for users with some configurations. This way, users can steer clear of updates they don't want to install yet and dodge problematic driver updates. The newly-minted update changes are just one part of the improvements added to Windows 10 with the build released Monday. Microsoft is also working on making the initial Windows 10 setup more accessible using Cortana. The company's virtual assistant can ask users questions at setup -- when they speak languages that it can understand -- and use those answers to configure devices. A small number of beta users will also begin to see a battery life experiment pop up on their devices. Microsoft is also giving users an easier way to connect to a virtual private network. Once Windows 10 has a user's VPN settings loaded, it's possible to activate the connection with the tap of a button without opening up VPN settings.

Comments

Re:I Already Opted Out

[freeze128]

"DEFER" is not "OPT-OUT".

Re:Why were the updates problematic?

[Mashiki]

Easy. Because device drivers can include bugs in bleeding edge releases especially for new games and hardware. An example you're running solid on say the 6mo old nvidia or AMD video drivers, a new game comes out. The new drivers are "optimized" for that game. So, windows decides to install those new drivers and breaks all your old games in the process. Because there were fundamental changes in the drivers. Now you get to have the fun and enjoyable part where you: Uninstall the driver, run the special MS 'deferment' upgrade for the driver they have in the standard release channel. Then install the old driver that was working fine, but shaved off a few FPS for that new game. It gets even worse when Windows will install an older driver over top of a new one. One of my friends had a problem where Windows 10 would install the 15.6 or 15.6 AMD catalyst drivers over top of the 16.xx drivers on every update and not even their "deferment tool" would stop it from happening.

The real problem is that windows has been able to botch driver upgrades since ye olde days of windows 98 and the first gen of PnP(or plug and pray as it used to be called) and brick a windows install to the point where a format and wipe is the only solution. That's either the problem of the hardware manufacture, or something going wrong with windows. That's not even touching on the clusterfucks with minor hardware revisions from companies like Realtek(most motherboards use their chipsets for audio or network connections). And one driver release can work, and another completely breaks the device to the point where you need to remove every single backup instance as well.