Blocking Automatic Windows Updates – another reason (on Ghacks.net)

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Martin Brinkmann is reporting on ghacks.net of Win10 “stable update” machines being offered “preview builds” – Insider versions! Microsoft’s Brandon L
[See the full post at: Blocking Automatic Windows Updates – another reason (on Ghacks.net)]

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Great Lake Bunyip, abbodi86, GreatAndPowerfulTech, Elly, woody

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Yep, got that notification Sat. morning but only on my Windows 10 Pro desktop with 1803. Does anyone at Microsoft have a clue what’s going on anymore? Maybe in a sense this doesn’t matter, we are all beta testers in the end anyway.

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Great Lake Bunyip, abbodi86, GreatAndPowerfulTech

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Maybe if the overworked, understaffed Windows engineers keep getting everything perfect the CEO will keep de-funding them until they can’t any more. Wall street would say that any organization able to execute with perfection is too expensive…

-Noel

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Great Lake Bunyip, GreatAndPowerfulTech, Bill C.

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Exactly, everyone in a bureaucracy must justify their continued existence, the Peter Principle in reverse.

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Somebody made a mistake. It happens. But whotta mistake – and it happened when many ‘Softies, including managers, are out on vacation.

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Great Lake Bunyip, Noel Carboni, Elly, AlexN

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Woody, you’re assuming that it was actually a mistake.  Sadly, Microsoft has gotten to the point where it’s hard to discern making an honest mistake from lying to our faces.

Fortran, C++, R, Python, Java, Matlab, HTML, CSS, etc.... coding is fun!
A weatherman that can code

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anita.yk, Great Lake Bunyip, Bill C., Cybertooth, HiFlyer, Noel Carboni

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Perception is reality.

They’ve discovered that it’s perceived as a mistake if they SAY it is. And what, exactly, does an apology from a big, heartless company mean?

People throw out mentions of 1984 etc. but they’re not really joking. The condition is very real. We are systematically being numbed through social engineering to tacitly accept exactly what was considered completely wrong before. And apparently noticing that it’s being done doesn’t stop it.

Just think how nice it would seem, for example, if they increased the release cadence from 6 months to 1 year. Of course they’d claim that they’ve listened and responded to their dear customers. We’d all feel like we were given a fresh breath of air, but it’s only because we’ve been suffocated for years now!

Another phrase I like is: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I’ve just been through another sweep in v1803 to try to ferret out all the layers of software that try to resurrect Windows Update if it is stopped. The amount of cross-coupling between “medic” service this and “orchestrator” scheduled job that would make the most persistent virus writer proud.

Speaking of social engineering… We’re already almost past all the emphatic utterances that we simply don’t want our operating system as a service.

-Noel

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JCCWsusser, Myst, anita.yk, Great Lake Bunyip, RamRod, Sessh, GreatAndPowerfulTech, wdburt1, johnf, Karlston, Bill C., Elly, HiFlyer

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If I may be so bold —

Operating systems exist to allocate and manage system resources for application programs.

Windows 10 is a data collection and advertising platform that is masquerading as an OS.

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JCCWsusser, Myst, Great Lake Bunyip, Noel Carboni, johnf, Bill C., Cybertooth, satrow, Elly

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This smells like the same kind of mistake like the GWX…

 

Or a beta tester job offer that came out by mistake…

 

Or just another buggy update, nothing to see here. Please move on to the next working PC near you and carry on. We are controlling the transmission. Trust in M$ and Automatic Updates is strenght!

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johnf, HiFlyer

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Let me throw a constipation theory here: Is Windows 10 some sort of social experiment to see how far people can handle this kind of pushes in their everyday and worklives, and how deep can the Stockholm Syndrome with Microsoft go on?

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abbodi86, johnf, Bill C., Cybertooth, HiFlyer, Noel Carboni

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I do agree with this “Stockholm” suggestion.

As part of the “hostage” group (Win7 / Win10), I decided about a year ago that Win10 would not see me again.

And Win10 hasn’t seen me since then.  I am in process of migrating from Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit to Linux Mint 18.3 Cinnamon, which I regard as “long-term sustainable”.  Wonderful.

HMcF

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johnf, Bill C., HiFlyer, Noel Carboni

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Kirsty wrote:

Blocking Automatic Windows Updates – another reason

Shock! Horror! A few of us received a short sentence we didn’t particularly need to read.

The disabling of automatic updates MAY have prevented the notification in first place IF the notification is initiated through a new update check by Windows Update.

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johnf

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Did this not happen before? MS has no clue what they are doing. Most people who work at MS have little coding experience and only a two or one year online certificate courses. No college education are being hired since they cost to must for MS to have and keep employed. MS needs to bring back Bill Gates, who ran it better and had some college educated on pay roll.

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I’m curious about where you get your information. I probably don’t know, as a non-techy, what particular careers deal specifically with coding, but going to Microsoft’s careers/job listings, in the US, they don’t even list any with less than a bachelor’s degree required…

and they are developing/offering materials to local colleges that they feel that new tech graduates should know…

and a lot of the AI development is very technical (as poor as the results of inflicting it on long-suffering W10 Home users for testing prior to enterprise deployment)…

I’m thinking that a lot of the problems with Microsoft is that they are enamored with their tech, especially AI, and not thinking about the implications for end users that really don’t care about the speed that updates are deployed with, rather than focusing on do they provide actual value and work on the hardware at hand? … they are in love with their own ideas, and clearly don’t understand that end users don’t have the same love for what is being pushed out.

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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Myst, AlexEiffel, Great Lake Bunyip, wdburt1, johnf, HiFlyer, BobbyB, Kirsty

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Go for a job interview at MS and you will see that they will hire you on the spot without a BA.

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Speaking of blocking updates, a recent Softpedia article mentions how to block the update to the upcoming 1809 release of Windows 10 (for both Home & Pro editions):

https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-block-the-update-to-windows-10-version-1809-522502.shtml

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BobbyB

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Patch Lady did a post on blocking 1809 in Win10Pro a couple of weeks ago 🙂

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that post by Patch Lady only covers Win10 pro but not Win10 Home, Kirsty.

The Softpedia site AND now the Majorgeeks.com site has articles on blocking the 1809 update for both Home and Professional editions of Windows 10.
https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/how_to_block_the_windows_10_version_1809_october_update.html

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I’ve tried this and it does not work. You cannot manipulate the registry to change branch readiness levels in 10 Home. You can add the keys, but the OS does not respect or follow them. That’s why the general consensus has been to change to a metered connection, which somewhat trumps everything else, but even then, some of those have not worked and updates have installed anyway.

BobbyB posted a how-to in the Win10 Lounge on using WUMT to check for and hide the updates at boot on Home, since when the updates are hidden, the OS will not install them. It’s not elegant, nor is it fully automated, but it’s probably the only surefire way to go.

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I think the realistic answer is that the Win 10 Home edition is not the way to go if you want or need control.  Go Pro.  I have both versions, but only run Home on my expendable PC.  I would upgrade that if I needed to use it for something important.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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