What the hell’s going on with Microsoft lately?

[hanselthecaretaker]

It’s no secret that Microsoft’s restructured way of rolling out Windows Updates has been...troublesome for a lot of people. The question is why haven’t they apparently done anything about it yet? It sounds like if it’s impossible or impractical for them to actively troubleshoot their software before sending it out in the wild, then they need a more robust system in place that catches these issues beforehand. I personally haven’t had many issues other than the printer bug on my work PC, but it was an easy fix with a new driver installed. Still, there’s a reasonable argument to be made that a lot of these issues shouldn’t exist. Maybe it’s due to the fact that there is a broader swath of hardware specs than ever after Windows 10 streamlined the user base so much.

So is this being blown out of proportion at all? Is Forbes full of it and has it out for Microsoft? That could partially be true but wouldn’t explain the other vast criticisms from other sources.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Why pay a Quality Assurance department when you can get your customers to do the job for you for free?

 

[Agema]

Why pay a Quality Assurance department when you can get your customers to do the job for you for free?

They normally do a sort of "early access" don't they, where users volunteer for a beta? At least, I've seen the option to do a prerelease upgrade (with warnings).

 

[Phoenixmgs]

The main thing needed is here is context. What percentage of people actually get these issues? And, then what's the percentage change with these type of issues in comparison to say Windows 7 updates?

Outside of that, I can only personally say that Windows 10 has been really solid for me and I even switched from Win7 to Win10 on my desktop as the OS was showing its age now. I kinda think the main problem is more so with how Microsoft has forced updates on users much more than ever before. I think it was either the Spring 2019 or Fall 2019 major update that allowed users to be able to pause and delay updates much more than they were in the past. And, in Win7, you could just disable the Update Service to stop updates and in Win10, you gotta jump through hoops and use a 3rd-party tool to do so. I only update Win10 for the Spring and Fall feature updates and that's it. The saying "don't fix what ain't broke" applies to computers just as much as anything else.

Also, to people complaining about losing data over Win10 updates, it's sorta their fault for keeping any data on the C: drive and also not backing up anything you don't want to lose. I don't get why Microsoft doesn't do away with such folders like "My Documents", "Music", "Pictures", "Downloads", etc. NO DATA SHOULD EVER BE SAVED ON THE C: DRIVE. Lastly, people should image their C: drive with imaging software before doing updates so if an update busts Windows for whatever reason, you just recover your image and you back up in less than 10 minutes. I realize that's more of an advanced thing to do but it's something anyone that depends on their PC should learn. Just for this last Spring 2020 update I had to extend my C: Drive because I made it too small and in extending it, my Windows boot got corrupted, which wasn't a big deal because I just imaged the drive in preparation for the Spring update. Thus, I just installed Win10 from USB, installed Reflect, then restored my imaged and everything was up and running again.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

I remember one time Windows 10 just flat out glitched up and wouldn't update the important stuff. It added little stuff in updates like security and such, but I got stuck on version 1809 for at least a year, without realizing the supports were getting more and more unstable. After an update in October (I think) happened, the system finally collapsed on itself. Audio drivers were glitching, multiple programs got stuck on loops where I could close them and cut their processes but they couldn't open properly afterwards, troubleshooting broke entirely among other things. It flat out would not update past 1809, and even trying to force the update with Windows tools didn't work. After a Windows re-install with a USB drive to the latest version it all got fixed.

So that was fun

 

[Agema]

I remember one time Windows 10 just flat out glitched up and wouldn't update the important stuff. It added little stuff in updates like security and such, but I got stuck on version 1809 for at least a year, without realizing the supports were getting more and more unstable. After an update in October (I think) happened, the system finally collapsed on itself. Audio drivers were glitching, multiple programs got stuck on loops where I could close them and cut their processes but they couldn't open properly afterwards, troubleshooting broke entirely among other things. It flat out would not update past 1809, and even trying to force the update with Windows tools didn't work. After a Windows re-install with a USB drive to the latest version it all got fixed.

So that was fun

My oldest laptop (which is Win7 generation, and I only use to play stuff through the TV as it won't cope with anything more complex) has had about 3 updates for Win10 all of which caused it to hang on restarting, although a hard reboot would see it okay and update completed. On my last laptop, one upgrade crippled the trackpad - as far as I could tell it stopped recognising the driver and treated it as a PS/2 wheel mouse so it lost a load of functionality. Miraculously recovered a few months later (presumably via a hotfix?)

The trackpad thing was incredibly annoying as it was so clumsy to use I had to plug in a mouse, but generally I've not had anything critical.

 

[Gordon_4]

Why pay a Quality Assurance department when you can get your customers to do the job for you for free?

Because there is literally hundreds of different configurations for a personal computer. Microsoft’s QA section will be using standardised devices, if not virtual machines running on a SAN. So yes, Windows Update is occasionally an exercise in the law of unintended consequences. I personally have been fortunate that my setup is fairly inoffensive and updates install and integrate with minimal issues. Others have experienced everything from inconvenience to catastrophic failures. Those number are probably low in the grand scheme of things but that’s cold comfort to the user with a bricked box.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

The main thing needed is here is context. What percentage of people actually get these issues? And, then what's the percentage change with these type of issues in comparison to say Windows 7 updates?

Outside of that, I can only personally say that Windows 10 has been really solid for me and I even switched from Win7 to Win10 on my desktop as the OS was showing its age now. I kinda think the main problem is more so with how Microsoft has forced updates on users much more than ever before. I think it was either the Spring 2019 or Fall 2019 major update that allowed users to be able to pause and delay updates much more than they were in the past. And, in Win7, you could just disable the Update Service to stop updates and in Win10, you gotta jump through hoops and use a 3rd-party tool to do so. I only update Win10 for the Spring and Fall feature updates and that's it. The saying "don't fix what ain't broke" applies to computers just as much as anything else.

Also, to people complaining about losing data over Win10 updates, it's sorta their fault for keeping any data on the C: drive and also not backing up anything you don't want to lose. I don't get why Microsoft doesn't do away with such folders like "My Documents", "Music", "Pictures", "Downloads", etc. NO DATA SHOULD EVER BE SAVED ON THE C: DRIVE. Lastly, people should image their C: drive with imaging software before doing updates so if an update busts Windows for whatever reason, you just recover your image and you back up in less than 10 minutes. I realize that's more of an advanced thing to do but it's something anyone that depends on their PC should learn. Just for this last Spring 2020 update I had to extend my C: Drive because I made it too small and in extending it, my Windows boot got corrupted, which wasn't a big deal because I just imaged the drive in preparation for the Spring update. Thus, I just installed Win10 from USB, installed Reflect, then restored my imaged and everything was up and running again.

The issue is most people buy PC’s out of the box with only C: drive.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

The issue is most people buy PC’s out of the box with only C: drive.

PC manufacturers could partition the HDs with C and D drives instead of just a C drive. Or Microsoft could included a partition wizard as part of Windows 1st-time setup where it merely asks the user how big they want their system drive to be (giving a recommendation as well) and it does the rest. Then, those "My Documents", "Downloads", "Pictures" folders could be created on the D drive instead during user profile creation.