Microsoft unleash another botched update that makes Windows 7 machines go wobbly
DRAGON LANCE
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The title says it all:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2834535/security/four-more-botched-black-tuesday-patches-kb-3000061-kb-2984972-kb-2949927-and-kb-2995388.html
I posted on these boards about this a few times now, last time in August. How many times is it now Microsoft have released broken patches that by strange coincidence seem to cause Windows 7 machines in particular to go wobbly? It embarrassing.
I've finally got wise to this and turned off my automatic updates. I always wait and see what happens before installing them now. I think all Windows 7 users should do the same.
But its just utterly shambling. Its pretty clear to me that they are purposefully trying to knacker Windows 7 to try and force people to downgrade to that piece of crud they that is Windows 8 (or if they're more patient and sensible wait for Window 10). Their should be a law against software companies doing this sort of thing.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2834535/security/four-more-botched-black-tuesday-patches-kb-3000061-kb-2984972-kb-2949927-and-kb-2995388.html
I posted on these boards about this a few times now, last time in August. How many times is it now Microsoft have released broken patches that by strange coincidence seem to cause Windows 7 machines in particular to go wobbly? It embarrassing.
I've finally got wise to this and turned off my automatic updates. I always wait and see what happens before installing them now. I think all Windows 7 users should do the same.
But its just utterly shambling. Its pretty clear to me that they are purposefully trying to knacker Windows 7 to try and force people to downgrade to that piece of crud they that is Windows 8 (or if they're more patient and sensible wait for Window 10). Their should be a law against software companies doing this sort of thing.
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Comments
Don't confuse conspiracy with incompetence.
There is no way MS does this on purpose, as it knows it's main income is from business customers running Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2. With millions of PCs running untold combinations of hardware/software, things are bound to go wrong sometimes. I'm not excusing it, I'm just saying it happens. Apple have a very limited hardware range they need to test for iOS 8, but they still got it wrong.
Turning off updates is just storing up problems. They are cumulative, rightly or wrongly and there are too many individual updates to vet and ensure which ones you might need (or need for the future as a prerequisite). It has become a 'one size fits all' mentality.
This is partly due to the fact that the OS does much more than it ever should have, and Microsoft updates apply to other Microsoft products (such as Office) unless you have set your preferences otherwise. One recommendation I would like to make is that anyone with an expired trial of Office should uninstall it, as it still downloads updates, turn off Windows Defender if you use alternate AV software. If you can avoid programs that utilise Dot Net Framework, then that removes many time consuming updates too.
As for optional driver updates, they can be avoided unless the OEM driver does not work properly. All the optional updates are exactly that.
The article you linked to refers mainly to patches that have upset Servers and those running VMs -- hardly likely to impact upon the majority of users here.
The majority of patches are released to mitigate security threats and I would rank up to date software as important as real-time AV protection. If you are happy to run outdated software that allows such exploits then that might be acceptable to you, if you have no data on the PC that you value or do not complete any kind of financial transaction or use your identity to interact with others. Even if you have an email address book then by not taking these offered steps to update software, you are potentially exposing those who share information with you to increased risk. Your machine may be hijacked and used as a relay for all kinds of activity (DDoS attack, Spamming, Phishing etc.) that don't serve any benefit for the wider world.
Waiting to install updates is a choice - yes there can be problems, sometimes it may pay to wait but if no-one goes first then how will we know there are problems? Plus, if any of the exploits are live then you just increase your window of exposure.
Finally, if you are troubleshooting an issue, a missing update may well be the case of a problem, but if machines are not up to a baseline then you may never solve it.
So, it's your choice but it's a false economy IMHO.
How many zillion times do W7 users have to be told that W8.1 is actually very good in terms of robusteness, driver support, more efficient start-ups etc and with a bit tweaking plus use of a free or very low cost 3rd party start menu, it can be easily made to feel like W7, plus as it is the current version, it is clearly going to be better supported. Get up to date in OS and keep up to date, and you have a much greater change of all being fine!
Now I will sit back and probably see another W7/W8 battle explode!
Given those facts, please explain to me why I should spend money on an OS that, from my point of view, requires 3rd party software to make it bearable when the one I'm using is perfectly fine?
With regard to the original post - only one of the problems listed seems to be unique to Win7, the others are either peculiar to specific applications or also affect 8.1 and Server 2012.
You shouldn't. But you should be aware that MS gaze has shifted - as it will for Win 8.x users when Win 10 is released. There was a kerfuffle a few weeks back when it was discovered MS was patching Win 8.x differently to Win 7.
Win 7 will never get the store or the apps (could be a good thing) but envisage if you will a time towards EOL when like now for Vista you are restricted to IE9 etc. You may not use the browser, but it's runtimes may be a prerequisite for future services.
Win 10 will probably be your upgrade path - the Start Menu is better (than 8.x default), the UI is less hybrid and more polar. But it's still the same horse, just younger and cared for.
Without 3rd party software (many contain nasties) how come it takes 3 or 4 times as many key press to achieve something simple like device manager?
I know it can be done in 3 key press, but will the average user Know?
That does annoy me, especially when IE gets locked by one of those Java Update scams and you have to end the process to be rid of it.
The average user will search - comes up at 'dev....'
Regular system images and restore points is my strategy.
So that will be 5 key presses then.
Yeah but they don't have to know where to look, just know what to search for....
Device Manager is two clicks in 8.1.
Right click on Start button, then left click 'Device Manager'.