How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

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mercalia
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by mercalia »

Vorpal wrote:
meic wrote:
(You can turn it off, ditto windows updates)

I thought that we could no longer turn off our Window's updates on Windows 10.

There's software for that :wink:

really? tell ?
kwackers
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by kwackers »

[XAP]Bob wrote:Last RedmondOS machine I built I set it doing updates... 4 hours later it proclaimed itself happy, so I turned it off and went to bed. The next morning I opened it and it had 187 updates waiting :shock: (several hours later...)

That usually only happens if you have an old version of the install for the OS. It installs the version you have and then applies several patches.
Macs can do this too depending on what you need to update.

If your OS version is old it's usually better to patch the install disk. If that's up to date then you rarely have many issues.
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by Vorpal »

mercalia wrote:
Vorpal wrote:
meic wrote:I thought that we could no longer turn off our Window's updates on Windows 10.

There's software for that :wink:

really? tell ?

One option is to download a specific update: http://bgr.com/2015/07/29/windows-10-up ... -turn-off/
Another is to set your connection as metered https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/316 ... -10-a.html
A third is to get an program that 'looks' for automatic updates and prevents them from installing. I've got one on my Windows 8 machine. It was the only way I could keep windows 10 from installing. I don't want Windows 10 on my main laptop because I run some software that is incompatible.

I'll have a little look later & see if I can find a Windows 10 version of my software.
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by Vorpal »

Vorpal wrote:
mercalia wrote:
Vorpal wrote:There's software for that :wink:

really? tell ?


I'll have a little look later & see if I can find a Windows 10 version of my software.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/gwx-contr ... 10-upgrade
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by [XAP]Bob »

kwackers wrote:
[XAP]Bob wrote:Last RedmondOS machine I built I set it doing updates... 4 hours later it proclaimed itself happy, so I turned it off and went to bed. The next morning I opened it and it had 187 updates waiting :shock: (several hours later...)

That usually only happens if you have an old version of the install for the OS. It installs the version you have and then applies several patches.
Macs can do this too depending on what you need to update.

If your OS version is old it's usually better to patch the install disk. If that's up to date then you rarely have many issues.


There is no excuse for declaring yourself happy and then deciding you need 187 updates after a reboot. You should either know that you need them, or not need them.

However far I’ve ever updated other OS I’ve never had one lie that badly about the state of updates.
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
mercalia
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by mercalia »

Vorpal wrote:
Vorpal wrote:
mercalia wrote:really? tell ?


I'll have a little look later & see if I can find a Windows 10 version of my software.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/gwx-contr ... 10-upgrade


I think that MS have stopped trying to push windows 10 onto windows 8 users now ( some time ago) so the gmx thing not needed. And one reason I have kept windows 8.1 on my desktops is that you can turn off updates if you want - I used to have that gmx thing and destalled that long time ago.
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by kwackers »

[XAP]Bob wrote:There is no excuse for declaring yourself happy and then deciding you need 187 updates after a reboot. You should either know that you need them, or not need them.

However far I’ve ever updated other OS I’ve never had one lie that badly about the state of updates.

When you create a patch you choose the version you want to patch from and to. After a while there are simply too many permutations, so you allow incremental updates.
Each of those 'increments' applies itself and "declares itself happy" - except of course until the next update round comes along and discovers there's an update for that version too.

The mac does exactly the same, perhaps it hides it better. Personally I take no notice.

FWIW most of windows 'updates' are single file changes rather than an actual patch. I've no idea why MS enumerate them the way they do, obviously they should simply bundle them together as a 'single' update to keep the users happy. I'm guessing someone at Richmond thinks users like to see big numbers for updates because they think they're getting value for money or something (I've been in those meetings...)
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by Vorpal »

mercalia wrote:
Vorpal wrote:
Vorpal wrote:
I'll have a little look later & see if I can find a Windows 10 version of my software.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/gwx-contr ... 10-upgrade


I think that MS have stopped trying to push windows 10 onto windows 8 users now ( some time ago) so the gmx thing not needed. And one reason I have kept windows 8.1 on my desktops is that you can turn off updates if you want - I used to have that gmx thing and destalled that long time ago.

The latest version of gwx allows Windows 10 users to more easily control Windows 10 updates.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by [XAP]Bob »

kwackers wrote:
[XAP]Bob wrote:There is no excuse for declaring yourself happy and then deciding you need 187 updates after a reboot. You should either know that you need them, or not need them.

However far I’ve ever updated other OS I’ve never had one lie that badly about the state of updates.

When you create a patch you choose the version you want to patch from and to. After a while there are simply too many permutations, so you allow incremental updates.
Each of those 'increments' applies itself and "declares itself happy" - except of course until the next update round comes along and discovers there's an update for that version too.

The mac does exactly the same, perhaps it hides it better. Personally I take no notice.

FWIW most of windows 'updates' are single file changes rather than an actual patch. I've no idea why MS enumerate them the way they do, obviously they should simply bundle them together as a 'single' update to keep the users happy. I'm guessing someone at Richmond thinks users like to see big numbers for updates because they think they're getting value for money or something (I've been in those meetings...)


Most updates for most software are relatively small - each bug fix gets its own commit to change management and you can pull whichever ones you like (mostly).

Windows update ran and said “I’m done”, I let it check for new updates and it said “Nope, definitely done”.
I rebooted and it changed its mind - that is what I object to... not only did it lie, it was barely half way through... Good thing I didn’t need to use the computer the next day...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
kwackers
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by kwackers »

[XAP]Bob wrote:Windows update ran and said “I’m done”, I let it check for new updates and it said “Nope, definitely done”.
I rebooted and it changed its mind - that is what I object to... not only did it lie, it was barely half way through... Good thing I didn’t need to use the computer the next day...

This is why I always patch the install disk, or download the latest version.

I'm sure it can be a pain, but then installing any OS is a pain (linnux is probably one of the easier ones).

If its any consolation if I want to run OSX on my mac I have to plug in my backup hard drive. The last update I did killed the version on my computer so now it'll only boot windows! (Amusingly).
I'd reinstall it but don't want to risk killing windows too.
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bigjim
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by bigjim »

I don't know what people on here are talking about once they get into technicalities.
However my wife and I both use Dell d520 laptops. I imagine they are pretty ancient, well over 10 years old. Bought secondhand. They both run windows 8. I also have about three spare machines for spares. I have changed batteries, keyboards, hard drives, memory and screens when needed. I usually pay about £35 for a working 520 ebay machine with something missing. They are fine for what we need. Just surfing and storing and editing pics and online banking.
They are pretty slow on startup and Firefox is also agonisingly slow to startup. However I'm not usually in that much of a hurry.
mercalia
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by mercalia »

bigjim wrote:I don't know what people on here are talking about once they get into technicalities.
However my wife and I both use Dell d520 laptops. I imagine they are pretty ancient, well over 10 years old. Bought secondhand. They both run windows 8. I also have about three spare machines for spares. I have changed batteries, keyboards, hard drives, memory and screens when needed. I usually pay about £35 for a working 520 ebay machine with something missing. They are fine for what we need. Just surfing and storing and editing pics and online banking.
They are pretty slow on startup and Firefox is also agonisingly slow to startup. However I'm not usually in that much of a hurry.


well if they have SATA drives they would benefit from a cheap SSD as I did with my equally old HP NC4400's - lIke you have a few spares. The SSD makes my NC4400 laptops very fast to boot up even though only SATA 150 - the old rotating drives of that era were very very slow. Worth looking into, would give a new lease of life in them. Mine also happily run Windows 10, though the latest update seems to not want to install
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by Sweep »

After a tip from al (thanks again al) my main "pc" is now a chromebook which cost £170.

Also have two android tabs, 10 and 7 inch. All three effectively synced.

Latter for cycle touring and carrying in a bag round town.

And the latter very cheap.

Don't need anything else, and don't even use a smartphone. It is possible to have too much syncing in your life.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by [XAP]Bob »

kwackers wrote:
[XAP]Bob wrote:Windows update ran and said “I’m done”, I let it check for new updates and it said “Nope, definitely done”.
I rebooted and it changed its mind - that is what I object to... not only did it lie, it was barely half way through... Good thing I didn’t need to use the computer the next day...

This is why I always patch the install disk, or download the latest version.

I'm sure it can be a pain, but then installing any OS is a pain (linnux is probably one of the easier ones).

If its any consolation if I want to run OSX on my mac I have to plug in my backup hard drive. The last update I did killed the version on my computer so now it'll only boot windows! (Amusingly).
I'd reinstall it but don't want to risk killing windows too.


Yep - Installing and keeping linux up to date is an absolute breeze compared with Redmond. OSX is ok - it takes a little while every so often, but it keeps you informed about the state of updates, and allows easy overnight scheduling (heck it's one of the buttons on the easy notification)


Given that it's years since I've had to install a Redmod based OS - I'm not keeping a patched install disk around, and I'm not downloading their latest... I've got a valid retail install of Win7.
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
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epa611
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Re: How old are your computers? Is there any need to upgrade

Post by epa611 »

5 year I'd Sony Vaio laptop now running Mint 17. Changed the old disk for a SSD and still going strong [emoji123]

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my D5803 using hovercraft full of eels.
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