The fight with windows

[pucho812]

I have a laptop pc used for specific tasks.
It runs the AP and makes patchbay labels.
Windows constantly wants to update even though I shut all that off and keep it off the net, usually. Every time it does It causes the ap software to not find the hardware. AP recommends updating their software to the latest version which is a huge expense and brings features I don’t need. Their other recommendation is to roll back the update. I have done the latter successfully. Even with auto update turned off windows still sneaks in an update causing me to do the rollback again.
Is there anything I can do further or have I missed one of the turn off auto updates?

 

[Youngwhisk]

You can delay Windows updates but you can't turn them off completely.

If you don't connect it to the internet it will not ask to update (in my experience).

 

[Tubetec]

Microsoft obviously wanted to remain in control of updates , so it seems its impossible to stop WIN10 from trying to update .
This is their way ultimately of making pc's eventually grind to a halt and display messages about what ever version of Windows you have no longer being supported .

There are other anoyances too , like the fact that Windows doesnt shut down completely even when you tell it shut down ,
This is damaging the battery in my laptop , as after a few days disconnected from mains power my battery would reach 0% .
I found a few ways to reduce power consumption , the main one being to switch off the external USB charge feature in the UEFI menu , this supplies power to charge USB devices even with the pc off , so even with nothing plugged in it consumes double digit % of your battery each day .
I wouldnt be at all surprised if Windows has other marketing stuff running in the back round , listening out for keywords and serving you up targeted content next time your online .

I found Win10 pro slightly better than Win10 home as far as auto updates go ,but Im still nowhere near happy to use it .

There was a setting in devices and printers in the old days , it allowed you stop windows from looking for or applying driver updates for USB hardware , not sure if such a thing is available in WIN 10 .

 

[living sounds]

They are constantly improving their software. So why is it getting worse and worse? With every new OS I spend more time researching and implimenting changes to get rid of "improvements" and "features"...

 

[PermO]

"It's not a bug, it's a new feature"

I have one computer (my studio PC) that has never ever been online... old P4 XP machine, starts up like a rocket, still, after 15 years of use...

I you read the smallprint and accept Windows 11, officially your hardware is now not longer yours... I think the bigger part of my powerconsumption and data use is Microsoft, not me...

 

[Tubetec]

Ive been testing a version of WIN PE 10 lately for the basic audio tasks ,
Took a bit of work to gather the various boot camp drivers for the apple hardware I have ,but now it works great running from the internal SSD drive .
Theres none of the usual Windows crap asking twice or even three times to confirm changes to this PC , no updates are needed ,ever .
Theres no Cortana , no edge browser ,
no 'Tiles' ,very few blue toggles switches ,
And it doesnt come with Gb of third party spyware pre installed ,

Agreed Permo,
the amount of crap running away in the backround in modern windows is a joke ,
Its like the big computer and IT companies did a deal with Microsoft , to offload some of the data processing from data centres to peoples private computers , so yes absolutely your footing the bill , both in terms of power consumption and the actual workload that your computer has to handle , which gets in the way when your trying to actually do something .
Your paying for the previledge of being marketed to , with an increasingly sophisticated AI litteraly stealing the thoughts out of your head and serving you up on a plate to marketing in a live auction.

I currently have two laptops with WIN10 and WIN11for testing ,
They remain offline ,
The finger print scanner was the first thing to go ,
camera gets covered with black tape ,
wireless and BT is set to off ,
Any software I need gets transfered via USB thumb drive ,
and it still feels like its upto something behind my back ,

I wish I could just stick a screw driver in a slot and lobotomise the f*%king thing , its not that easy though

 

[JohnRoberts]

I have two PCs that I haven't turned on for probably a year, A third with a failed hard drive. Now that I shut down my drum tuner business and stopped actively doing new electronic design I don't need the 3D cad, or embedded micro programming environment. My very old seat of eagle license is on the PC with a failed HD. I need to discard my excess computer clutter during this spring cleaning.

I used to dislike the Apple dumbed down computer environment but now I appreciate it.

===
I'm currently helping an old friend by technical editing his next book. He is using Word an old PC word processor, and when I send him back my edits using the apple WP he can't open the file. The apple WP can save two different formats of word doc files. Neither format works properly for him.

That's ok He only needs to read my edits so I can just send him a PDF version of his chapters with my edits added.

JR

 

[pucho812]

yesterday in the middle of work, a pop up.
Basically said We have an update for you, do you want it now or later.
I hit later and went about my work until it came up again and again, multiple times in the course of 2 hours.
I left the bench for a second to get some air and it started the update without me saying yes.

Sure enough after the update, couldn’t find my AP hardware. Roll back the update

 

[Rusan]

Sure enough after the update, couldn’t find my AP hardware. Roll back the update

I've had my desktop computer fail to boot on two separate occasions after automated Windoze updates. Thankfully, Startup Repair did its job.

I you read the smallprint and accept Windows 11, officially your hardware is now not longer yours... I think the bigger part of my powerconsumption and data use is Microsoft, not me...

Beginning with Vista, the EULA of each successive WIndows OS has been pretty harsh, and Windows 11 is indeed downright Draconian. I've installed the OEM version of Windows 11 on a few computers I've built, and have been able to work around the mandatory Microsloth Account thing during installation and configuration. However, a few days ago I was unable to when using the standard, non-OEM version of Windows 11 Home on my wife's new computer. There's simply no way around it.

Some would say it's all part of the bigger picture of surveillancing and controlling the populace. Myself, I don't believe that at all. I'm so glad I live in the U.S., where the government and big corporations don't monitor the citizens and know their each and every movement.

Well, that is, except for the constant satellite, drone and camera surveillance (using AI and facial recognition software), the monitoring of my emails, text messages, internet usage and phone calls, the continuous real-time tracking of my vehicle and cell phone locations, the record keeping of every place I've ever lived or worked (including my compensation/wages, position/title, where, when and for how long), my birth history, medical history, dental history, address history, income history, credit history, ownership of real property, gun ownership, the ownership/rental/leasing history of every vehicle I’ve ever had, insurance history, criminal history, child custody and support history, marital history, banking history (loans, accounts, debit and credit card usage including where, when, what for and how much), educational history, my children and everything they do and are involved in at school and away, as well as my fingerprints, DNA, household size, family status, race, religion, photograph and political party affiliation. Except for those few minor things, it's great. At least I don't have an Alexa, or one of the car brands that the manufacturers openly admit are listening in on the passengers' conversations, right?

I'm so glad I live in a free country where the government respects your privacy and freedom, unlike nasty places like North Korea, where the government monitors you and tells you that places like the United States of America lie to their citizens about the privacy they have. Just ask Bill Gates, he'll tell you the truth.

 

[pucho812]

it did it again. Last night, I paused and had dinner. Came back the system was already rebooting with the update. I never selected to do that. I also would push it back when the pop up would come on the screen. Anyway sure enough, after the update, I couldn't access my AP hardware again. Roll back and back in business. Annoying but at lest I have a work around until I can afford an upgrade.

 

[Youngwhisk]

it did it again. Last night, I paused and had dinner. Came back the system was already rebooting with the update. I never selected to do that. I also would push it back when the pop up would come on the screen. Anyway sure enough, after the update, I couldn't access my AP hardware again. Roll back and back in business. Annoying but at lest I have a work around until I can afford an upgrade.

Why do you have that computer attached to the internet?

 

[pucho812]

Why do you have that computer attached to the internet?

Yes, why do I?
I have shit that off since. It’s bollocks it does that.

 

[s2udio]

I use two win update block software packages
Incontrol
https://www.grc.com/incontrol.htm
Blocks Windows "feature" OS updates, but still allows security updates.
And this one which blocks (disables) all Windows 10/11 updates , you can also block or restore at will.
https://greatis.com/stopupdates10/
Or get a copy of windows 10 LTSC 1909 only allows security updates and totally customizable.

 

[Tubetec]

I was able to reduce Win 10 battery consumption from around 15-20% per day to around 5% when the laptop is dissconnected from the mains .
Ive already had to dissable fast boot , prevent sleep or hibernate mode and dissable external USB charge capabillity , some one gave me a tip to dissable 'wake on lan' too as apparently that consumes some extra battery power even in the off state .

Its true the sheer amount of personal data required to get windows !! going is extremely intrusive ,
has anyone gone through the Eula ?
you'd probably need a team of lawyers to explain it ,

Poltics has allowed the corporations and social media to stalk the earth for prey ,
what they didnt realise is they get chewed up and spat out by the gristmill very very quickly themselves.

 

[grid_stopper]

they dont make it easy but it absolutely can be permanently disabled. you can do so by creating a policy in the registry.

https://rmm.datto.com/help/de/Conte...e NoAutoUpdate value of the,them, set it to 0.