Posted on 12/15/2016 5:05:04 AM PST by eastexsteve
A word of warning from a retired IT guy with vast experience in multi-platforms. The latest Windows 10 cumulative update dated 12/13 (KB3206632) has proven to be the death of of my Dell Dual Core 780 desktop. I should have heeded the warning signs from the last two big Win 10 updates on this box, as they were troublesome to install, and brought the machine to it's knees both times. But, I was still able to get the machine through the installs both times. This one though, put the machine face down in the mud, and I couldn't even recover it from a previous restore point. I had to do a complete reset and lost everything! Since it was a machine that began with Win 7, that means it cleaned it's clock all the way back to fresh install of Win 7. (Though, I did have a backup of all my data.) Well needless to say, I'll be spending hours re-installing and re-configuring software packages.
I've tried to be a big fan of Windows, since I have software that doesn't have a sister version for Unix/Linux and must run in Windows. And, I can definitely tell that Win 10 is more robust than Win 7. But, This has sent me on another quest to find a Linux replacement for some specialized software that I use.
This has definitely put me in the "If it absolutely positively has to work, don't do it on a Windows box" camp of computer users. Sorry Microsoft. I tried, and I tried hard.
Windows 10 is working and updating just fine on 3 of my machines, two of which are old. After having to mess with XP, 7 and that POS 8, am finding 10 to be the best yet (so far).
I’m running Linux Mint 18 on the bare metal and Win7 in a VM. But Win7 is on a flash drive so I can carry that desktop to my laptop if I wish. I rarely run Win7 anymore.
You own stock in Dell or something? When Microsoft advertises an operating system as universal, it should be universal. And for your information, most computer users out there have machines more than two years old.
I like VirtualBox, and that’s probably the way I’ll go on this machine. If I can just find a suitable Linux replacement for the software I’m running, that will be the real fix.
I’ll agree that Win 10 was much better than Win 7. But, you just can’t trust it. I never have any trouble out of my Linux box. It just runs, updates, and does everything it’s supposed to do. The only problem with many flavors of Linux is that they aren’t quite as user-friendly as Windows. But, that is changing. And, once they are set up and running, they just keep on running. I’ve been a Unix/Linux user since the old days of HP/ux.
> If I can just find a suitable Linux replacement for the
> software I’m running, that will be the real fix.
Yes, that’s why I need a windows VM.
I run things like Studio-One, Camtasia, and VideoStudio, none of which run on Linux.
There are Linux equivalents, but they’re just not “there” yet, if you get my meaning.
All of those things would run on a Mac, but too little bang for the buck for me.
I have a W10, don’t use it much because of all these horror stories. So far no problems but I trust it less than the others. Miss my W7. RIP. :(
my next desktop will be a mac. I was so pissed at the auto update from 7 pro to 10 that I’m willing to jump to the evil side and learn a whole new OS just to get away from MSFT. I’ll own their stock, but won’t buy their desktop. Bastards.
Thanks, FRiends. I’m so glad that I quit wasting time with W10 back in 7/15 after months of Insider Preview. I don’t know what the future looks like for me, though. And I’ve had and worked with M$ from DOS 2.0, including all the Windows versions from Win1 forward since 1985.
Even better, you can download the ISO file and use any number of utilities to install that onto a thumb drive creating a bootable thumb drive. Then if your BIOS is correctly configured (or you hit the right magic key combo on startup) you can boot from the thumb drive and try out Linux without committing to an install. Of course it will be a little slow running from the thumb drive, but you'll get to try it out.
“This forced update stuff is just horrible”
You can block the updates with a firewall. Then install them months later after the bugs have been ironed out. The updates used to break stuff on my devices at the most inconvenient times. Not anymore.
Same macMini since 2009
You should setup a dual boot Windows 7 and 10.
I’m typing this on a Dell 780 Core 2 Duo (slightly different from your dual core). It’s set for automatic updates, and I’ve never had an issue with updates. I also have a couple of dual core Dells (not 780s) that are set for automatic updates, and have never had issues with those, either.
“Dell Dual Core 780”
There’s your problem. My son bought one of those for $15 at the university auction. It turned out to be one of my old work machines. PSU’s are suspect
I agree, I've had my new computer for almost two weeks now and still haven't been able to receive emails in Outlook 2016 and anything I do send is not saved.
Fortunately I still have my old computer connected to the internet so I still receive my emails on it.
Sorry to hear of your troubles. The forced upgrade “feature” in Win10 is pathetic and despicable. It’s happened on a few occasions that I needed to use my PC, turned it on, but only to find it could not be used for an hour while Win10 installs its privacy-violating bloatware and reboots several times.
I also have Ubuntu 16.04 on this machine, which is what I usually use. That required a few tweaks to make touchscreen work well but the windows partition is accessible. I’d say now Ubuntu and the Unity windows manager are 90% good, not ideal - but at least there is something I can do about it.
Thank you for the warning, I will make sure my backups are up to date before I boot into win10.
Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desktop. Use WINE for those pesky Windows only apps.
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