A pox on windows updates

4lex said:

It was demonstrably the updates that caused the problem. Having laboriously removed them all the machine worked again.

Hmm. My machines respond pretty much the same as they did when initially installed. Even with all the updates.

About the most I notice after applying all the updates to a fresh install is maybe a few extra seconds to boot time and maybe a few additional milliseconds for some app launches.

The problem may have been installing all the updates at once. It's usually best to selectively install only a few at a time if you've got a slew of them to install (that's about the only fallability that I know about Windows Update). If that's not the cause then I would suspect that you may have problems with software you've got installed (including third party).

I think you have to apply that 'if it aint broke' school of thought a little differently when it relates to software.

Julio Cortez said:

Yes, I also stick to the "if it's not broken" policy.
But I also think updates are meant to fix something that actually is broken somehow (e.g. has flaws that can be somehow exploited to obtain control of the machine, even if the software looks like working like a charm).

The only thing I want to have control of is, of course, when to download/install updates.
That's why I set Windows Updates to notify me when there's something new to install, but not to download anything before I tell it to do so.

Feeling quite comfortable this way, at the moment.

Exactly! You put it nicely (much better than I did). People think everything's 'perfect' with their initial install. Just because it works perfectly doesn't mean it doesn't have flaws/vulnerabilities.

Ditto on the updates. They are applied when I'm ready, not before.

F5ing said:

I think you have to apply that 'if it aint broke' school of thought a little differently when it relates to software.

Yes. Sometimes it's broken, and you don't realize it until it's patched!