… with my computer, and the Windows 10 updates…
*Bella, my laptop, is still “alive” and keeps trying to download and install the tiresome updates; but for some reason she has not yet been successful with the last “Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems (KB4015217)” this weekend.
And as far as I can understand, Windows does not even give one the choice to do it manually any more, even when one feels that might be better.
Automatic updates may sound good in theory – implying that “you’ll hardly notice it being done”… Bah! The thing is, when it doesn’t work out smoothly, what actually happens is that one ends up thinking about nothing else, and getting nothing else done either! The computer’s eternal searching and downloading and failing to install slows everything else down too. And after a certain amount of trying and failing, poor Bella sometimes gets overheated now and just gives up and shuts down… (I can’t say I really blame her! I tend to do the same myself…)
Checking up on when I bought it, I find that it’s actually 7 whole years that we’ve been together now. That’s a long time for a laptop. She probably deserves to retire!
So I’ve started looking into finding a replacement… But there’s sooo much to think about, and I’m not really all that good at all the technical details and terminology. Basically I still want one rather similar, but perkier and not full of 7 years of cumulative update clutter…
Young Bella back in April 2010.
(She still looks much the same, really.)
*(Named ‘Bella’ by me because it’s a Packard Bell.)
My computer keeps offering to do automatic updates, but I tell it NO! I'll do them when I get around to it.
ReplyDeleteJanet, my experience with Windows 10 is that it does not offer the option to say no. The only thing I can choose is a time span of hours when the computer is not allowed to do automatic restarts. That doesn't stop it collecting the updates, slowing other things down in the process, and then giving up and just shutting down, though...
DeleteSo frustrating!! I am so sorry. I remember when you got this computer, time sure has gone by fast. I wonder if the downloads have gotten corrupted, or maybe they are incompatible for a computer this age. I always research before I buy, because some brands are so unreliable. This is the website I use, so do many professionals, they have video and written reviews by experts. Of course you are in Sweden, but they should sell many of the same brands over there. At least this would be a starting point.
ReplyDeletewww.cnet.com
Thanks Ginny. The one I've been thinking about isn't reviewed on that website though. And one problem I find when looking around for reviews is that more often than not you get reviews for a different model than the one you're looking for. (Like XYZ007ab instead of XYZ007cd, or whatever. And you still have no idea how much one really differs from another of the same brand.)
DeleteOh dear, the dreaded updates... With my home computer, I am still on WIN7 and happy with it. My work laptop is from last November and of course came with WIN10 pre-installed. It keeps asking for updates but I usually say no until it suits me, and so far, I have been lucky in that they all went through smoothly.
ReplyDeleteI hope you can either find a good replacement for Bella or send her for a spring-cleaning and proper update at a shop who specialises in such things.
Meike, with most of the other "minor" software, I do get asked, and can decide whether/when to update/restart, then or later. The problem with Windows 10 is that it never asks. It doesn't even let me know what it has in mind, or when. If I go to the Settings I can see if there are updates available, but I find no way to manually control when to do them. Sometimes I leave the machine on just hoping it will get on with it (and I've even given it permission to restart on its own) but then it does not seem to be in the mood. I'm beginning to feel a bit like if this were a marriage, we'd need therapy, because we obviously don't understand each other... ;)
DeleteI ran a google search and there are many having this update get stuck, do you have something you can search on other than the laptop. there are many fixes for it. doesn't do it to all computers it looks like I ran a search for the info in this post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sandra. I haven't actually searched for problems/fixes for this specific update... Yet. The computer is useable (now and then, in between, when it wants to...) and I also have the smartphone and a tablet. I'll check it out... BUT in the meantime... I've actually bought a new laptop today! I'll do a blogpost about it later... It's still at the store, they’re going to do the initial setup and backup for me and install antivirus software.
DeleteI would comment but I know that you have replaced Bella so I won't!
ReplyDelete