"The word 'no' is the way you keep your commitment to the people you have already said 'yes' to."
- Phil Schroeder
Monday, June 28, 2010
I'm so tired of updates on my computer. I get the dumb reminder, and it wants to install, (or it installs itself) and then it tells me I have to restart, and if I don't it'll eventually do it to me anyway when I walk away from the computer. And it's not just Window's, it's all kinds of programs. Feels like every program needs to update:
Virus Protection
Web Browser (in my case, firefox. They're the worst offenders. It's like once a week.)
Flash
Java
Adobe
Microsoft
Even the HP printer has updates...
And I'm sure there's more. It seems that every few days, someone wants to install an update which I wouldn't care so much about except that I have to restart my computer. And that's a pain, because I have all kinds of stuff I'm working on, and I hate having to remember what all I had pulled up so that I can go reopen it all again...and then I have to keep clicking "remind me later" over and over all day. Aaaargh! Enough Already!
Anybody know of a way around that?
I've thought of two ways:
1- A way for the computer to save all my stuff and restore it after the restart. The computer does save all my stuff,(it's called "hibernate") but a full restart cancels that out.
2-The computer could put all the updates in a bin, and do it all at once, once a month.
Am I the only one that gets aggravated by that?
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Comments on "Updates, Updates, Updates...ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!":
2. hollins
- 06/28/2010 1:17 pm CDT
Note that stopping "Automatic Updates" can leave you vulnerable to security problems if you are not able to reboot your computer fairly soon. Microsoft often provides security patches, particularly on the second Tuesday of each month. However, this method at least avoids the constant "remind me later" messages.
I have found that Microsoft is the worst offender on your list, at least in terms of requiring reboots.
3. Bill
- 06/28/2010 1:36 pm CDT
What Hollins said.
On a side note, in my experience, the Mac does a much better job of this. I get an update notice (I think) approximately weekly, and can just put it off for later. And it only does a reboot if necessary. It's just more unubtrusive and way less irritating than what I get on Windows.
And the reboot on a Mac is much faster than on a Windows box.
The other option is to switch to Ubuntu Linux :-)
(note: I'm an equal opportunity PC user - at home I have an iMac (which is excellent!!!) and a dual boot Windows 7/Ubuntu laptop. The Windows experience is my LEAST FAVORITE. I'd go whole hog ubuntu but there are things I need Windows for, primarily work stuff that has proprietary hooks in IE . . . grumble . . . )
4. Evan
- 06/29/2010 10:28 am CDT
Huh. My experience is actually opposite. I feel the whole PC updating routine has gotten much better. I still use Windows XP, and nearly all Microsoft updates are bunched into that second Tuesday of the month as hollins mentioned. And about half the time, they don't even require a reboot of the computer.
The Firefox updates (which I admit have become much more frequent lately), typically only require you to restart your browser after update. I don't think I've ever had to totally reboot the computer after one. Same with the antivirus and flash and adobe software.
I guess I remember the bad old days of Windows 95 and 98 too vividly with all the inserts of disks and multiple reboots to get anything installed. The current process is relatively painless to me, although I have sympathy for network admins when you have dozens or hundreds of computers and updates seem to inevitable crash a few.
And actually, the only update process that currently annoys me is Apple's for my Ipod Touch. I-Tunes for Windows takes forever to boot up. Then, the vendors that create apps seem to issue new versions every other week, and you really have to manually screen the updates before installing them so you don't lose functionality and/or increase annoying ads. I've pretty much taken to rarely syncing my ipod at all, and leaving dozens of app updates uninstalled.
5. Bobbi
- 06/29/2010 11:58 pm CDT
I just think of computer updates as dealing with old cars that you were never sure would start. You floor it if it is flooded, you try to fool it, you speak kindly to it, but some days you just can't go anywhere. In the future computers will be like automatic drive cars. But of course those who want to shift gears and crash computers can continue to do so.
Leave a Comment:
I get extremely annoyed by that as well. Most of the time I cannot take the time to restart my computer. Here is one solution.
Go to "Services".
It may be in different locations on different versions of Windows.
On XP, it is on "Start" -> "Settings" -> "Control Panel" -> "Administrative Tools" -> "Services".
Highlight "Automatic Updates" and select the "Stop Service" button in the toolbar above.
This will keep you from getting the annoying "remind me later" messages. You can reboot at your leisure.
Supposedly the Apple operating system is not as bad as Windows. I imagine Linux is far better as well.