A question
I did a lot of scribbling yesterday.
And I mean a lot.
As a result, that part of the brain that deals with my creative streak is somewhat knackered today. And I mean really knackered, bunched, fucked. This isn’t helped by a somewhat shortened night due to an early awakening.
Now I realised after a grand afternoon nap that there was still a tiny part of my brain working – that little corner that used to deal with techy stuff. It’s full of spiders and cobwebs but it still sort of works.
I decided to check Windoze to see if it needed any updates in the virus area or whatever.
Now I do use Windoze for my magnum opus scribbling [in spite of some excellent alternative suggestions], the main reason being that I can be distraction free. Linux is perfect for normal use but there are just so many programmes there that I can easily wander off into an art programme or delve into photographs or even play a game of cards [Linux beats the crap out of Windoze when it come to card games!].
So Windoze announced that it did indeed need updates. I told it up go ahead.
In Linux, there is a little indicator which is very discreet. If it flags an update I tell it to fire away and I carry on doing whatever I’m doing. Next time I check the indicator it tells me everything is grand and dandy.
Not so in Windoze. It tells me there are updates so I tell it to fire away. It does and then tells me a restart is required. I click on Restart. Those little fucking dots start chasing themselves in circles. Windoze is updating DO NOT TURN OFF. It restarts. Back to those fucking balls twiddling around. Windoze is 0% complete DO NOT TURN OFF. Several minutes later, Windoze is 100% complete DO NOT TURN OFF.
Time enough to make Herself a mug of coffee.
Herself is now supping on her excellently made mug of coffee and Windoze looks like it’s ready.
Except that there is a little warning that Windoze needs to restart to apply updates. Fuck me with a greasy barge-pole!
It goes through the same rigmarole only this time there is an extra bit thrown in for luck –Windoze is tidying up DO NOT TURN OFF 0% complete. After several minutes this naturally becomes Windoze is tidying up DO NOT TURN OFF 100% complete which takes several more minutes.
So here is my question – What the fuck?
Why does it have to restart at all? Why can’t it do all that shit in the background like Linux does? This is a genuine question. I can see no reason other than to piss everyone off.
And an ancillary question – don’t those gobshites in Microsoft know that the counter is supposed to count, and not just jump from 0 to 100?
Been there done that many times. Always thought it was just me moaning but if an expert like you find it a pain I feel better.
Why can't the pillocks leave things alone. Some update or another has fucked my drop down bookmarks menu. It used to be single spaced. I have a hell of a lot of bookmarks –I think. I don't know what would be seen as "normal". I could find what I was after mainly by the shape of the list not by reading every line. Just memory. Now it is double spaced. I've nearly worn out the scroll wheel on my mouse. It is a simple unimportant thing in the scheme of things but it is a pain in the arse. It slows me down it disturbs my routine and I'm bloody sure there is no reason for it or benefit to Firefox or whatever.
Reading comments and questions on Google seems to me it cannot be returned to single spaced. Various suggestions are posted but with my total ignorance of computing there is absolutely no chance I will even try, and risk disaster. And none seem to work anyway..
Why is it so difficult for them? Once it was single space now it isn't–so something changed– what? why?–just give me the option to say sod off I don't want it and change back. Of all the arrogant imposed "improvements" over the years this one has really pissed me off.
I feel a bit better now. Thanks.
You don't mention which browser you use, but I used to have a lot of trouble with Firefox and their updates. The crunch came when they redid all their coding and screwed up everything, including making half my add-ons redundant. I switched to Waterfox and have never looked back. They do the odd update [including one last night] but it looks exactly as I want all the time.
I use tons of bookmarks, and like yourself, I rely a lot on the familiarity of their positions. You have my sympathies!
In my rather extensive experience with Windows (since version 3.0. Loved those Norton Tools!), Windows has never learned to count. It started out ignorant in that area when it first arrived and has remained so ever since. The closest Windows ever came to counting accurately was, "About…".
As far as restarting once or more during the update I've come to the conclusion that any update that has to do with the kernel in the slightest–Windows panics. It couldn't possibly handle anything like that in the background while it was running. Could it be that even the latest version of Windows is still using that ancient NT kernel?
And downloading the update(s), installing and restarting is only half of it. After that's done then comes the after-updates cleaning. For me it means running the built in disc tools for the Windows drive in order to clean all the crap leftover from applying the updates, running good ol' CCleaner and finally defragging (not using the built in piece of junk) in the case of a hard drive.
I know this doesn't answer your question and I've asked the same myself numerous times. I don't think there's an answer except possibly…Because it's Microsoft?
I used to love Norton Defragment [or whatever it was called]. If ever a punter in RTE pissed me off, I would "defragment" their hard drive and tell 'em they couldn't use the PC until it was finished. They would end up just staring at those little blobs flicking around the screen.
The only time Linux suggests a reboot is after a kernel update, and even then it's just a suggestion and won't involve any additional time at all.
Of course another aspect of Linux is that the update system involves every programme you have installed. So you don't fire up a programme only to find an irritating message demanding an update [and acceptance of terms and conditions and all that crap]
And don't forget the occasions when it does all that then Windoze refuses to restart, eventually Windoze decides to uninstall the failed updates, which can take much longer than the installation and leaves behind all the crap and changed settings everywhere.
It is scary that the majority of businesses rely on Windoze. It must cost the world billions in lost productivity?
It's roots are back in the early '80s, in the days when "No-one was ever fired for buying IBM" was virtually axiomatic. Once the PC/MS-DOS systems (pretty crappy, even then) became pervasive, the rest – and the future – became history.
Microsoft, having achieved almost hegemony, stopped caring. Or bothering.
Well this is timely. I was catching up on the comments and just noticed a prompt that my device needs to restart in order to finish installing recent updates.