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CNET Editor Rails Against Non-Consensual Windows Updates (cnet.com)

schwit1 shares this angry commentary from a CNET senior editor: Maybe you're delivering a presentation to a huge audience. Maybe you're taking an online test. Maybe you just need to get some work done on a tight deadline. Windows doesn't care. Windows will take control of your computer, force-feed it updates, and flip the reset switch automatically — and there's not a damn thing you can do about it, once it gets started.

If you haven't saved your work, it's gone. Your browser tabs are toast. And don't expect to use your computer again soon; depending on the speed of your drive and the size of the update, it could be anywhere from 10 minutes to well over an hour before your PC is ready for work. As far as I'm concerned, it's the single worst thing about Windows. It's only gotten worse in Windows 10. And when I poked around Microsoft, the overarching message I received was that Microsoft has no interest in fixing it.

The editor recalls rebooting his Windows laptop while listening to a speech by Steve Jobs in 2010. (The reboot locked his computer for 20 minutes while updates were installed, "the first of three occasions that a forced Windows update would totally destroy my workflow at a critical moment.") He shares stories from other frustrated Windows users, urges readers to send him more anecdotes, and argues that Microsoft has even begun "actively getting rid of ways to keep users from disabling automatic updates."

3 of 498 comments (clear)

  1. Re:You asked for it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nice bunch of false choices, asshat. The alternative to Blaster, Nimda and Melissa isn't some Nazi-regime where Microsoft sits with all the keys, it's to stop writing shitty, easily exploitable software.

    But I guess that's too much for you and your masters, and it wouldn't further your absolute monopoly ambitions either.

  2. Wrong by fyngyrz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The PC revolution was just a dream some of us had, I guess. Turns out McNealy won, in the personage of Nadella.

    No. You're just using the wrong Personal Computer operating system.

    Neither linux or OS X / MacOS will force you to update.

    The more you support companies that abuse you, the more you will be abused. This is not rocket science, and if your job does not force you to use the Windows OS, you are not locked in to Microsoft, no matter what else makes you think you are. You can make a fresh start any time you like. linux is free. OS X comes with a dongle (you know, the one called "a computer.") Both make Windows looks like the garbage it is.

    Or, you can continue being abused. The rest of us will just watch in amazement.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  3. Re: They're noticing this NOW? by JohnFen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are you really arguing that Windows 10 has made people's computers so unreliable that using the cloud is considered to be the fix? That just reinforces the point that Windows 10 is broken for serious computing..