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Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don't do it. |
Today I was fighting a vintage-lit Christmas tree that I finally gave up and will tackle trying to fix it next year when I take it out from storage. E
[See the full post at: Before you start work on a misbehaving thing]
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Make sure you have the necessary spare parts before a project even if you are merely investigating something with your computer. Before you start, do you have a backup? Preferably before the issue started occurring. Do you have another “thing” that you can use to search for solutions? This “thing” can be another computer, a tablet, and in a pinch a phone. If you think the issue is related to the hard drive, do you have a spare SSD drive? If worst case scenario occurs, do you have the original cdroms to reinstall your applications, or these days, do you know the usernames and logins to log into a site and download them again?
I built my first DIY back in the late ’90’s. Off-the-shelf PC’s had not enough/too much to suit the setup I had in mind, so I ordered parts and built it myself. That’s been my procedure except for laptops (I’ve only had two) and after a house fire in 2011, when I needed a new box quickly. Both my daily driver and my NAS are purpose-built.
As a result of DIY and hardware upgrades, I have lots of spare parts that I can use when something misbehaves. Every piece of software I use was either downloaded or ripped from its CD/DVD and digitally stored in a number of places. Available updates get the same treatment. In the worst case scenario, I can rebuild from bare metal. A few years ago a motherboard went belly-up, I replaced it, booted up and kept trucking.
I’ve also had my “vintage light string” moments, like this one and this one. But for hardware upgrades, there’s nothing like planning ahead, being prepared, and taking the time to get it right.
For problem fixing, one of the best rules I have learned is avoid doing any fixing after midnight, and avoid starting any fix if it won’t be done by midnight. (For a corporate user, maybe translate this to 4PM if you go home at 6PM). Bad decisions that lead to disaster often happen when you are tired and frustrated, as can happen when things keep breaking and seeming to get worse.
Extended computer warranties and support have their merits, my biggest complaint with Dell and similar Microsoft or manufacturer support is they can be quick to clean install Windows or replace the whole drive or machine, which is fine if your settings aren’t too customized and you have your data backed up and in a convenient to restore folder. But for some users getting back up to speed after a clean install is a big burden, and sometimes you can’t (assuming you have one) just do a full restore of your image because that will bring back the problem.
If you have multiple backups of your important data, and ideally a spare computer that can do your work if needed, that at least can limit the damage you are likely to face to the cost of the hardware, and the cost of not having the troubled computer available. That is the nice thing about the cloud concept or the “roaming login” dumb terminal idea of computing (Chromebook), that if all your stuff is in cloud, if your computer gets a virus you press the reset button and are functioning again in a few minutes after you login. Or even if the computer dies, as soon as you login to a spare you are all set.
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