Yeah, duh. That’s actually what the podcast is about… updates in the world of Microsoft, of which Windows is a part… It’s strictly necessary that they talk about them. That takes NOTHING away from what I said previously… it’s only nerds who care about or ever even notice Windows update. Most users just let the OS manage itself because they’re not retired Apple apologists and they have real work they want to get done.
1 Like
I have had two major issues with two windows updates in the last three months. This should not be an issue in 2021. So the claim that most people won’t notice is not true unless, we accept that the average user will have to re install everything every now and then.
But that is not the definition of the average user, they do not want or know how to re install windows.
Paul and Mary Jo provide updates about updates exactly because their quality is not great and some should be avoided. Imho they are doing a service to the community this kind of information is invaluable.
1 Like
Well I would argue you are not an average user. Who knows what you did to bring calamity down upon yourself? I have a dozen or more machines (virtual or otherwise) that run Windows, and I have literally NEVER had any issues with Windows updates. Most of these machines are 5 or 10 years old, have run Windows 7 and been updated all through 8 to the latest of 10. I base my experiences on that and the fact that I provide support for many friends and family and they too have never had any of these issues. Some people just have bad luck, I guess… but by my experience, not many “average users” have that kind of bad luck. In fact I know more people who run Linux and have had an update screw their WiFi or some key signing key blocking them from getting any further updates, than I know Windows users who needed rescuing of any sort.
Yeah that is true I am not an average user, but when it comes to windows, I do not use it much, they are mostly stock. I do most my work on Linux and my work (virtual) pc is being managed by my company anyway.
I have 2 use cases for windows, steam games and VMware Horizon client, nothing else.
I was not comparing Linux vs windows updates. I was just stating that this happened to me on an almost vanilla installation. I also had a similar issue with a Linux installation and the last time this happened to me with Linux was more than 20 years ago but that is not relevant to this discussion.
In any case judging by Paul and Mary Jo’s updates this is not very rare, also there are a lot of people on the web that face this issue and the suggested solutions did not work for me. In the last one I upgraded a VM to the latest major version of windows and the shutdown functionality stopped working. Apparently this is something that happens. That was my most recent issue and eventually I gave up and rolled back by re-importing my vm from my backup.
The other issue I had on my laptop installation was that a .NET update was corrupted and prevented any other updates from being installed. No idea why that happened…
The truth lies somewhere in the middle. Usually, hundreds of millions of people update every month with few or no problems.
I run a fleet of a couple of hundred PCs and laptops and probably have to deal with maybe 3 or 4 PCs a year that cause problems.
But there are millions of people who do have problems and sometimes on a regular basis.
So, the average user probably doesn’t have any problems, but a small, but still significant number of people do have problems with updates.
3 Likes
I agree with that, it looks like it was my turn to be bitten by this…
1 Like
Exactly my point - hence my comment that Paul and MJ were discussing the dumpster fire that is Windows updates
1 Like
There is a lot of distance between “not great” and “dumpster fire”. But I get it - you’re not a fan of Windows. You’re discrete about it - but there’s a subtle undertone of antipathy toward that particular operating system. We all have our preferences.
2 Likes
I have MacOS, Windows 10 and Linux Mint systems! I said the Windows update process is a dumpster fire because of what I hear from Paul and MJ each week - it gives me a chuckle, especially when Paul is curmudgeonly about it - is it ok to be amused by that? I watch every week and hear the same issues over and over - my observation, that’s all 
1 Like