Posted on 01/30/2019 7:34:30 PM PST by dayglored
April (2018) still on top as Microsoft's difficult October update slowly trickles onto PCs
With the next release of Windows 10 edging closer, users continue to steer clear of Microsoft's October 2018 update.
Figures published by ad slinger AdDuplex show that the Update of the Damned, aka the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, has dribbled its way onto 12.4 per cent of Windows 10 PCs sold.
It's a far cry from the near hysterical rate at which the April 2018 Update was flung out, demonstrating just how cautious the software giant has become after the disastrous debut of Windows 10 build 1809 back in October. Back in the day Microsoft claimed April's effort saw "higher satisfaction numbers" and "fewer known issues" due to its AI boffinry.
Clearly those AI brains rebelled, as Microsoft hurriedly pulled the follow-up, the October 2018 Update, as problems (including a data deletion bug) surfaced.
The update was re-released on 13 November accompanied by a blog post heavy on excuses but strangely light on words like "sorry".
The update was initially only available to users willing to say "1809" five times in front of a mirror click the "Check for Updates" button, and at the end of November accounted for a paltry 2.8 per cent of Windows 10 installations. By the end of year the figure had crept up to 6.6 per cent. Microsoft has now started pushing the code to users with devices its AI thinks can stand the heat and installations have nearly doubled to a mighty 12.4 per cent.
The figures are based on the tracking of apps that are part of the AdDuplex network but are a handy pointer to where things are in the absence of official statistics from Microsoft.
19H1, aka the Windows 10 April 2019 Update, is likely to hit in a matter of months. While it would be nice to pretend that 1809 never happened, the Update of the Damned has been slapped with the Long Term Servicing Branch (LTSB) moniker, meaning it will hang around for another 10 years.
(Confusing as it is, the Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC/LTSB 2019 edition is based on the 1809 build, and has extended support to January 2029. Support for the 1809 build of Windows 10 Home, Pro, and Pro for Workstation editions runs out in May 2020, and May 2021 for Enterprise and Education flavors.)
Still, those confident October tweets of the Windows Insider team could always use the company for the next decade. ®
In the case of Win10, yeah, the "winver" command tells you.
Note that the update / version is NOT the same as the operating system kernel number (the "NT" number). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT#Releases for the concordance of NT kernel versions with Windows release names. E.g.: NT5.0 was "Windows 2000", NT6.1 was "Windows 7", NT6.3 was "Windows 8.1". With Windows10 they matched them up: NT10.0 is "Windows 10". And Microsoft is not changing that again (so they say).
For Windows10 the "Build Number" is what advances with each "Update".
I have a Win10 tablet. Sometimes it updates several times during the day. I know because I have to re-log in. About once a week I have to reboot manually because an installion did not complete the rebooting.
I only use the tablet for online radio. Win10 is too frustrating to do much else. For most regular computing/web surfing I use my Win7 desktop and laptop.
We have 1809 on two out of three of our Windows 10 computers. I haven’t allowed the update on my Windows 10 virtual machine. It caused severe problems on my primary computer with a bug that put it in a loop with harmless software within an ISO file that it was unable to modify.
I’m still on 1803. Should I hold off on any more updates, and how to?
Regards,
Personally I'd wait for 1903 (or whatever they call it) because 1809 was awful.
As to how to delay updates, it's a bigger topic than I can lay out here. There have been numerous Windows Ping List threads the past year or two that discuss various means. I encourage you to search FreeRepublic on keyword "windowspinglist" and check the thread titles. Also, searching on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc. will turn up lots of info.
LOL, I hear ya.
I am with you on Windows 7. Actually I bought a used laptop refurbished and it came with Windows 10. But there was a sticker on back showing it was built with Windows 7 and had the activation Key showing. So I downgraded it to Windows 7, because I am more familiar with 7.
In the case of Win10, yeah, the "winver" command tells you.
Okay, I guess I'll proceed with the instruct to find out if I have the dreaded October update. Thank you.
Thanks, Chad. I’ll try running the winver command.
I got 1809 two days ago.
These Version Updates always change something about how my Edge Browser works on Free Republic.
A year ago, a new Version made the scroll dial on my mouse suddenly and randomly jump forward or backward several clicks when I used it.
The next Version fixed that, but replaced that issue with an Enter Key issue, that put my cursor on one line, then jumped to a new line as soon as I started to type.
1809 fixed the line jump, but now when I post Comments, chunks of sentences are chopped off, and I have to refresh the Comments page to get the whole Comment to Post.
Also, with 1809 I now get screen freeze inside the FR Comment Box when I’m composing, a new headache that can only be solved by doing a select-copy operation, which unfreezes it.
The good news - the Version before 1809 wiped out my ability to post photos at Free Republic. 1809 gives me back the one step photo post operation I used before.
More good news - Edge always works flawlessly when you use Microsoft products and websites.
I run 1809 on every machine we have at home and at work (roughly 7) and every system I work on for customers gets fully updated to 1809 before it goes back to them.
Have not had any problems with it since it was re-launched.
Plus the current Media Creation Tool for installing Windows 10 installs directly to 1809. That works great also.
Much ado about nothing.
The majority of issues are machines running very old releases of Windows 10 that had other issues keeping them from updating properly at all... just like any other version of Windows throughout history. If it gets messed up, updates don’t work properly. Imagine that.
“Update of the Damned”
My first update took 8 hours of download. The next went overnight and was a failure. I now have a notice that I must download it by March. Buying something new. I’m not even sure if I know what I’m talking about.
What you share here shows that they are changing stuff that was working fine and didn’t need to be touched. Sometimes I wonder if they are breaking it on purpose.
Just reading this thread hurts... lol
Most likely not by now. I am at 1809 with no issues.
, and how to?
You can block or manage them. Right in Start>Setting>Windows Update>Advanced options you should be able to delay updates for up to 35 days, and with other options.
Microsoft already ended mainstream support for win. 7 in 2015 and its extended support for Windows 7 is set to end on January 14, 2020, while extended support for W/10 is set to end on Oct. 14, 2025.
You can make Windows 10 much like W/7 without losing improvements. Start with Classic Shell . Also helpful can be Winaero Tweaker and Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4.5 for Windows 10. What is it that you find detrimental that cannot be changed?
Try a different browser. You can run Firefox Quantum portable even from a USB stick, and I do it (as a supplementary browser) from a HD, Of course the classic Firefox ESR provides far more functionality via extensions that Quantum nuked, including BBCodeXtra An extension which adds to the context menu new commands to insert BBCode/Html/XHtml codes in an easy and fast way... Very useful for FR.
You should be able to build build your own for under 400.00 even with a brand new AMD Ryzen CPU (graphics and audio included), minus keyboard and monitor and OS. .
Thank God for such tools as PC and the software that makes them work. May all be used for God's purposes and good
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