Say no to automatic updates?

A friend of mine called because his computer was freezing every few minutes. He was in the middle of an online exam, due the next day. He was tearing his hair out, ready to go purchase a new computer. Eventually I figured out that update 2823324 was the cause of his problem.

Seems to me this is completely unacceptable OS behavior. If MS can effectively destroy a computer through its own updates, how can we recommend that users leave the automatic update setting in place? Shouldn't the OS have the ability to recognize that it's creating the problem, and fix it internally?

...Steve

His computer did not have Kaspersky installed.

There's simply no way that a non-techie would be able to diagnose this. Without help, they'd be forced to do what my friend was about to do - trash the computer and buy another one. Perhaps this is Microsoft's new growth strategy.

Ironically, a new computer might well have ended up with the same issue after the updates were installed.

Bugs happen. No one can be expected to write as much code as M$ has to without an occasional bug sneaking through, especially when writing for the huge number of hardware and software combinations that are out there. That is the reason I set my computer to download updates but not install them until I tell it to, generally three or four days after the download. This normally gives me enough time to find out if anything went pear shaped with one of the updates.

Sorry, but "bugs happen" just shouldn't cut it. 30 years into the era of personal computers, a user shouldn't have to worry that explicitly following Microsoft's instructions could turn his PC into a paperweight. The vast majority of users never touch the default settings, and those who are less sophisticated are the least likely to turn off auto-update.

weamish said:

Sorry, but "bugs happen" just shouldn't cut it. 30 years into the era of personal computers, a user shouldn't have to worry that explicitly following Microsoft's instructions could turn his PC into a paperweight. The vast majority of users never touch the default settings, and those who are less sophisticated are the least likely to turn off auto-update.

True, bugs shouldn't happen. For that matter, if M$ had gotten it right from the word go, there would be no need for updates. However, considering how complex OS code is and the pretty much infinite combinations of software hardware that are possible, there is no way in Earth, Heaven, or Hell anyone, other than God Himself, is going to even come close to getting it right the first, or even the 100th, time.

Yes, but there are bugs and there are bugs. In this case, MS destroyed peoples' ability to use their computers, while taking no responsibility. Gotta wonder how many folks figured their PC had simply died and needed to be replaced. Not an unreasonable conclusion when getting blue screens every few seconds...