PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows Win 10 forced updates - any plan on going to Linux?

I was a programmer/systems-analyst for 19 years (make that 37 since I am 63 and need to include my work since I became self employed). Here is how I see it.

When I had the 20 years experience guy who serviced my computer come in to do some work he mentioned the downloads of the MS updates were taking too long. He complained that he did not know what was going on at Microsoft and it was effecting his business of travelling out to the clients to do that work (he could not apply the updates while onsite). My assumption was their network was overloaded (too many people downloading at once). If this is the cause of this problem or even if the problem is specific to the computer the method I prefer to use would resolve the problem and MS would not get blamed even if they did have inadequate download capacity to handle the overload in demand. After all they can not be expected to project such a demand since they can't read minds. Here is how I believe all this should be handled and MS could (if they put their mind to it) provide assistance for the green computer users.

1/ Allow the user to download the update and store it for later install. They may have several of these updates collected over time if they are busy. The MS program could help the user manage them for future application. In my case my methods have protected me for 30 years so there is no panic rush to get these updates applied today. If I get a malware that could have been avoided with one of these updates I won't be blaming MS or myself. It happens. I just do what I have to do and move on.

2/ When the user is ready to apply the updates at a time that is best for them they either restore the latest clean image of the machine they took immediately after they got the machine home or they format the drive and install the operating system from a fresh DVD.
2B/ Now take an image if applicable named (MachineRefresh_A_#1_OperatingSystemLoaded)

3/ Now the user applies all the updates which have been collected (when the machine is 100% guaranteed to be clean rather than applying these updates to a machine that is full of internet junk and uninstall junk).
3B/ Now take an image named (MachineRefresh_A_#2_AllMicrosoftUpdatesApplied).

4/ Only after all the MS updates have been applied would I then start to apply my software updates. The ones that could be applied off-line would be applied first.
4B/ Now take an image named (MachineRefresh_A_#3_Off-linePersonalSoftwareApplied)

5/ Now the remaining software the user uses should be applied (the software that needs an online connection to be installed).
5B/ Now take an image named (MachineRefresh_A_#4_On-linePersonalSoftwareApplied).

6/ From this time on a record of any additional installs of personal software should be kept so that the next time the user decides to go through the above procedure they can apply this software at step number 4 or 5 above. If the machine was ever refreshed again they image names would be "MachineRefresh_B_whatever". It would be a good idea to also keep a record of any software parameter changes but this may just be too much work to make it practical (one does what they can using their own judgement).

7/ The data should be well backed up at this time. I won't get into that to avoid making this too long.

The advantage of this approach is it is a catch all for any software problem (not a hardware problem). What I mean is if the machine starts acting up to the point where it becomes too much of a problem and you can't figure out what it is, you do not need to spend money having people look at it. You go through the machine refresh procedure and you are all set. I refreshed in the XP days many times applying service packs #1, #2 and#3 then applying all my software after that. It works like a charm. If you do several machine refresh procedures it avoids multiple downloads if you store the updates off the machine as data backup. Another advantage is you get 4 images (some might want to skip #1 and #3).

It could be taken to the level where it actually tracks this whole process and helps the user keep track of all software that was installed since the very last image I mentioned above (what I am referring to in step #6). A simple list of software could be provided for the user. It all seems pretty simple to me and once it is finally documented and laid out as above it really is very simple. I mentioned this before but it was not as well laid out with the proper image names selected to make it clearer.


No. Let me explain.

A/
If it was occurring due to something wrong with the machine that will be occurring after the download when the actual install is being run. The above method fixes that because the machine is always returned to a clean state before these update installs are started. Extremely easy to understand once it is pointed out. This is why I say MS is going backwards. They are now forcing an install while the machine is dirty with who knows what where as before they were doing it correctly (allowing the user to clean it up first). It comes back to what my service person with 20 years experience was saying "What is going on with Microsoft?".

B/
If this occurred due to too many downloading at one time they would increase their download capacity and the above method reduces the download demand during multiple machine refreshes. I suppose one could say the methods I use to protect myself reduce the download demand completely (Microsoft would love that wouldn't they since I am not competing with you). I still use antivirus software (just not Microsoft). I was reading just yesterday that any good antivirus software can protect against any malware. I always keep Avast up-to-date. I guess I forgot to mention that. Avast takes a lot less time to download and install and maybe it is part of the reason I have not been having any problems when I shut off MS-updates. There is a lot of marketing and competition going on here too.

Unfortunately MS does not have the software to guide the user to do all this and I am betting they are getting too many service calls with users blaming them for problems actually created by malware so they are forcing malware fixes down to reduce their support costs. Its a guess.