Windows 10 Update: Would You Like Deleted Files And Blue Screens With That?

Forbes ^ | Apr 25, 2020 | Davey Winder

[dayglored]

Thank you for taking on the comment about Microsoft being “a defacto Indian company”. I was about to respond the same way when I saw that you had done so.

[dayglored]

Good point, and well stated. Thanks!

[Magnatron]

But other than the 64/32 issue, Catalina hasn’t been significantly more or less trouble than any other MacOS release.

Catalina's problems went way beyond 64/32 bit issues. And putting aside 32 bit issues cavalierly are not helpful for those people who rely on 32 bit apps that don't have 64 bit counterparts. A short list:

Stuck updates
Disappearing reminders
Screen share problems
Server connection problems
Express VPN problems
Ringtone sync problems
Mac error code 1008F
iPhone sync problems
App update errors (some 32 bit, but not all)
Bluetooth connectivity problems
Keyboard connectivity problems
iPhoto not working
Wifi issues
iTunes remote app not working
Battery drain problems
AirPod connectivity problems
Excess CPU usage problems
AirDrop recipients disappearing
Apple ID setting problems
iCloud connectivity problems
Music library freezing
Safari extensions not working
Time Machine drive storage location changes and usage
HDR bug with external displays
Freezing/Crashing issues
Kernel panic issues
Security issues
HDMI issues

There are a lot more. Some can be fixed, others can't, but with a list this long, who wants to spend so much time troubleshooting?

I'm on Mojave. I'll be waiting for the next OS before bumping. Catalina is Apple's Windows ME

[dayglored]

Perhaps you mistook my intent, in saying that someone who hasn’t been able to get 64-bit versions of their critical 32-bit apps should avoid upgrading to Catalina. As it happens, I’m in that same boat, on one of my home machines. I turn down Apple’s “offer” to upgrade its Mojave to Catalina every time it pops up. On that machine.

Every other MacOS machine I work on/with, at home and at work, has either been upgraded from Mojave to Catalina, or was fresh-installed with Catalina. These machines are used by our local and remote workforces for software development, with security software, Cisco VPN, various multi-factor auth systems, anti-malware software, disk encryption, all sorts of things that test the stability boundaries. There have been almost no issues. Frankly, the Ubuntu 18.04 Linux and Windows 10 machines have presented considerably more difficulties.

I don’t doubt that your long list of issues is true, but do they represent an overall picture as bad as Windows ME? Really? I remember working with ME — that’s a mighty high bar. I wouldn’t even put Vista in that egregious category, BTW.

Now, thinking back, the release of WinXP SP2 was a big deal, it broke all kinds of things, and raised hell with all manner of apps. What was the result? Software either fell in line with the “new rules” or didn’t. I’d put Catalina in that category — yeah it breaks things, but it was predicted that it would, and people had plenty of advance notice. Lots of people didn’t pay attention. Surprise.

Back to my Mojave system for a moment. Will I upgrade it to Catalina? Sure, eventually, but not until I know I’ve updated my critical 32-bit apps first. People, you and I included, have to take responsibility for our computers, or pay someone reputable to do so for us. Simply complaining when stuff breaks doesn’t solve much.

[dayglored]

OBTW, Catalina is now at 10.15.4. That’s what I’m talking about. The initial release of 10.15 was not fully baked, there’s no disagreement about that. That is unfortunately very common for virtually all software products.

Also OBTW, how did my Windows thread end up being about MacOS? Oh yeah, somebody said they were gonna get a Mac. :-)

[Magnatron]

You are fortunate that you can use Macs for work. Many places I’ve seen force folks to use PC laptops. Macs are best for me and what I do, but I’ve definitely been disappointed the past couple of years with Tim Cook. I wish he’d forget trying to be Gandhi and spend more time sorting out his company —

— or better yet, leave.

He was a good bridge from Jobs, but it’s time to go.

My biggest disappointment isn’t really with Macs or Catalina. I’m not happy with the iPad and the last two iterations. Durability concerns me as I travel a lot. I won’t upgrade from my Gen 2 iPad Pro until they beef up the models. This last “update” was a joke. It’s time to refresh the OS, too. It’s getting stale.

I’ve met Cook a number of times. He’s a nice guy and means well, but it’s time to go.

[dayglored]

I've never had the opportunity to meet Tim Cook, nor do I particularly want to. I will only say that I'm not a fan of what he's done to Apple, other than keep it from collapsing after Steve Jobs passed. As an Apple customer since the Apple-][, I tolerated Jobs' egomania because he was brilliant and most of the time right. Tim does not rise to that bar. I'm sure that, as you say, he's a nice enough fellow and means well.

> You are fortunate that you can use Macs for work. Many places I’ve seen force folks to use PC laptops.

Actually I'm even more fortunate than that. As a software development house, our 100 or so software engineers get to choose their preferred primary workstation OS: currently Win10, Ubuntu 18.04, or MacOS Catalina. Nearly all our hundreds of network servers are Linux, but there are Mac and Windows in there, as well as various BSD Unixes, etc. Our work is cross-platform. And thus as an IT guy, I have to be completely at ease in any of those environments.

At home (personally) I run MacOS on the metal, with VMware Fusion to support Linux and Windows VMs. At the office I run Linux on the metal, with a VMware Win10 VM for Office365/Outlook apps, and a Mac Mini on the side with its own Fusion and Win10 VM. Working remote these days, it's MacOS with Fusion on metal to support Linux and Windows VMs, and RDP to the office Win10 VM. Thank God for cross-environment copy/paste buffers, or I'd be a blithering maniac.

The only OS I resist putting on the metal is Windows, because it's a stability PITA, and the experience of our Win-on-metal engineers bears that out. But then, Ubuntu screwed the stability pooch somewhat with 18.04 and possibly moreso with 20.04 (too early to tell), which is really annoying. I've been fortunate, but I'm not doing development as much these days so I don't stress the system as much as some do.

Ah, well. Nothing is trouble-free this side of an abacus, and even there, the beads can break...

[Dalberg-Acton]

I just got a new Dell and had to pay the Microsoft tax, of course.
First thing, I booted into a linux Mint Live CD and instructed it to erase the hard drive drive and install Linux.
Problem solved! Linux is the update that fixes those nagging Windows problems.

[dayglored]

It's tough to find a computer maker who will sell you a computer without a preinstalled OS -- just the hardware. I thought Dell was one of the few that would still do that, but I guess not.

There are a number of small companies that will do that. Or alternatively, they'll sell it with some version of Linux preinstalled, so at least you're not paying for a Windows license you aren't going to use.

Do you remember the glorious days of Windows Vista, which was so bad, and so hated, that the major computer makers had to play ridiculous games to sell customers what they wanted, and yet not breach their contracts with Microsoft? So many customers wanted to buy a new computer with WinXP on it instead of Vista, but the hardware makers had lock-in contracts with Microsoft that required that they only preinstall Vista, and record the sale as a "Vista sale". So when the pressure from customers got intense, they started offering a "WinXP Downgrade" option, basically a WinXP DVD along with the Vista preinstall. And finally, some makers offered to do the "downgrade" prior to delivery. So the customer got a computer with WinXP installed, and a Vista DVD, the maker called it a "Vista sale" for the sake of their contract, and Microsoft got to claim it as a "Vista sale". Such bull hockey.

We're not done with that contract cr@p either. Which is why you had to pay the Microsoft tax to get the hardware you want.

My office workstation, same situation. HP laptop, came with Win10 preinstalled, removed that M.2 SSD and set it aside, installed a bigger M.2 SSD, installed Ubuntu 18.04 on it. Took a little while to get all the h/w drivers sorted out, especially for the docking station with its own GPU, but it's been a great machine, very fast and stable, since 18.04.3.

[minnesota_bound]

I work at a company Help Desk internal support and Windows updates are being pushed out. I had 3 calls last week where the caller was stuck at the Dell screen with a spinning circle. One was lucky that it eventually got to the desktop but the other 2 are having to ship the pc in to have it re-imaged. I saw other emails about other call with same issues.
Another to common screen is after you log in, you see the Welcome screen for several minutes or forever.
One workaround is to do ctrl, alt, del on the keyboard and choose Task Manager. You should see the desktop screen and then you can close the Task Manager.

[Starcitizen]

US-based, but the Microsoft campuses in Redmond are teeming with filthy disgusting H1B Indians.

Americans need not apply.

[Paul R.]

Yeah, well, several months back I did a “final” Win 7 update on the machine I’m using now, something went wrong, and there appears to be no way to recover the boot drive as there’s a file damaged on that drive that apparently even the recovery (USB) drive somehow needs very early on. (Doesn’t make any sense, but that’s where I ended up.) Luckily when I put in that drive (SSD) I cloned from the old HD, and the old HD still works & has the WIN 7 OS still on it, so I just have to manually specify the old HD in the BIOS and I can run - slower, but functional, and, most of the data and some of the programs on the old SSD are still ok - the programs generally if I can find the executable files. Unfortunately I can’t seem to get “DOSBOX” going properly, so that is a big pain as I still have some legacy DOS stuff (a very old lab program, for one) still around.)

I’d try “recloning” - in fact if I did that I’d go to a bigger SSD, but then I would have major, major program reinstallations to do (never got put on the HD). For now, the present awkwardness is “livable”. I’d just like to pound some code monkey at Microsoft, or at least get about two weeks of free in-home help to replace the time I lost troubleshooting the whole mess...

[Paul R.]

Who the heck would bother hacking a Win 98 machine, in 2020?

Granted that such is almost useless on the web in 2020.

But, yeah, I actually do have a Win 98 machine still running a couple old apps that won’t run easily on Win 7, and all transfers from that machine are by scanned flash drive.

[Pocketdoor]

Did you try just pressing enter? I could swear I had that problem year or two ago. I didn’t type anything
.. I just hit enter and it worked.

[TheStickman]

Fake news. Been using Mac since 2008. Last couple of years I have experienced zero issues with software or hardware on my iMac or my MacBook Air.

I haven’t experience ANY software issues in all these years of using Macs every bloody day.

[trebb]

I haven’t had an issue with any of the Win 10 updates (except one where I had to update my BIOS to get it to take)...but I usually only let my laptop update after the PC gets one and proves OK...that way I have ready access to everything if a “bad thing” happens...keep all my endurable files on an external and use a USB to update important files that change a lot.

[HarleyD]

Yes. I’ve done that many times but it’s good advice. I’m absolutely positive I’ve never set a password for the admin function which makes this whole thing very frustrating.

Never had a problem until a week ago when the update happened on my network. Then all my settings that have worked just fine for years went BOOM. Everything is asking me for an admin password. I could scream. In fact, I’ve noticed several other internal switches were changed as well (like my network suddenly becoming public rather than private on my laptops).

It didn’t help that both my router and NAS cloud drive went out about the same time (unrelated problems). Fortunately I’ve got most of it put back together except for the automatic backup. I’m backing up everything manually. My NAS drive still needs replacing but I’m afraid if I spend $600 on a new one the first thing it will ask me for when I install it is the admin password. At which point I’ll jump off the roof.

I suppose I’ll have to attempt to change the password. Microsoft certainly doesn’t make this easy.

[Pocketdoor]

Did you see post #30 from unbubba? Seems pretty easy to turn off the password function.

[Pocketdoor]

Did you try “password”??? Dumb and simple but password is like a default when logging in. So give it a try.

Windows 10 administrator default password will not be required, alternatively you can enter password for local account and sign in. Follow the steps to create a new account.Nov 19, 2019

[HarleyD]

Yes, I’ve typed in anything you can imagine and then some.
I’m going to give unbubba’s solution a try. If that doesn’t work then I’ll give the other post a try. Today I backed up the system just in case. I’ll probably give it a try at the end of the week.