Rant I'm an old man and I hate software updates

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Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,306
10,804
136
Psstt...my main work PC is an i5-2500 with Windows 7. Have to keep it for the sake of reprogramming my financial institution's Safenet Tokens because the software uses ActiveX in Internet Explorer.

Whoa.... more like "Unsafenet" lol. (hope they paid for extended support!)

Reminds me of how some older ATM's are STILL running stripped down XP!
 
Reactions: igor_kavinski

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
63,429
11,758
136
I'm also an old man...hella old. I don't mind updates that actually FIX things that need fixing...but get
mad when all the update does is change things that were working just fine before.

Want to change the appearance of an app or OS? ASK me if I want that change.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,933
12,383
126
www.anyf.ca
I still have a win 7 machine that I use for games, at some point I might upgrade to windows 11, maybe once it's out of beta and considered mainstream. No sense in going to 8 or 10 at this point. I don't really game a lot but I imagine lot of modern games will refuse to install on it. I kinda want to try to MS flight sim. I presume that won't work on 7. Have not actually tried it though.

I don't go online on that machine, and it's on a separate vlan that I reserve for anything game related. In some cases you may need to forward ports if you're hosting a game, so I like to split that up from my main network in case there's a vulnerability in the server portion. Even my torrenting is on a separate vlan for same reason, in case there's a vulnerability in the torrent client that allows remote code execution or something. Updates are only a small part of the security equation, and is a never ending battle because nothing is ever actually up to date. So I always like to set things up with the assumption that there is already a vulnerability.
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
63,429
11,758
136
I still have a win 7 machine that I use for games, at some point I might upgrade to windows 11, maybe once it's out of beta and considered mainstream. No sense in going to 8 or 10 at this point. I don't really game a lot but I imagine lot of modern games will refuse to install on it. I kinda want to try to MS flight sim. I presume that won't work on 7. Have not actually tried it though.

I don't go online on that machine, and it's on a separate vlan that I reserve for anything game related. In some cases you may need to forward ports if you're hosting a game, so I like to split that up from my main network in case there's a vulnerability in the server portion. Even my torrenting is on a separate vlan for same reason, in case there's a vulnerability in the torrent client that allows remote code execution or something. Updates are only a small part of the security equation, and is a never ending battle because nothing is ever actually up to date. So I always like to set things up with the assumption that there is already a vulnerability.

Find an older version of MS Flight Sim.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,875
10,300
136
I really hate the "update" right-click feature on Windows 11 on the desktop & File Explorer...now you have to click "Show more options" to get the original menu to get the full, original list of options. Bleh!
Or how in Windows 7 (IIRC) they stop making "expand to open folder" the default in Windows Explorer. Any time I watch a coworker poking through network folders with this option I have to stop them and make them turn on expand to open folder. It's just senseless.

I'm also still pissed off the killed the chart wizard in Excel and the macro record in Powerpoint in 2007.

I'm also still just amazed at how few people change any settings, or create any shortcuts.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,875
10,300
136
Google has ALWAYS been terrible at UX.

You should try navigating the Android API docs. It's a fucking nightmare that will end up making you go in circles and clicking on dead links.
Android is much better if you use a third party launcher. I use NOVA. The main interface stays exactly the same after each update. Setting menu changes every time for no reason, though.
 
Reactions: igor_kavinski

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
37,852
8,313
136
I really hate the "update" right-click feature on Windows 11 on the desktop & File Explorer...now you have to click "Show more options" to get the original menu to get the full, original list of options. Bleh!
I keep saying no to MS's Win11 update. Until I hear a reason I should, I won't.
 
Reactions: Pohemi

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
37,852
8,313
136
Every time I reboot I am asked to update Samsung Magician. Doesn't matter if I updated the time before. So, I have started to just say no.
 
Last edited:
Jul 27, 2020
18,021
11,750
116
I keep saying no to MS's Win11 update.
At some point, it may trick you. Happened to me. On a critical work PC. It said updates are available (Update and Restart/ Update and Shutdown were being shown). I chose update and restart. The next thing I know, I see it doing the Win11 update. I literally freaked out coz I thought I would have to wipe the SSD and start afresh, wasting a whole frickin' day configuring stuff on that PC for its intended purpose. Thankfully, nothing broke (miracle really) so I'm still using Win11 on that one.
 
Reactions: Pohemi and Muse

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
18,060
10,242
136
I'll handle that inevitability the same way I did with Windows 7 EOL .... I'll "upgrade" (lol) when I'm forced to do so by security concerns and not before!

Around the time that I wrote the OP I had a fleeting thought: "I could just go back to Win7" Then I remembered that Win7 and Win8x users have recently started getting a message from Chrome that the final version for them has been released.
 
Reactions: Pohemi and Captante

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
18,060
10,242
136
Every time I reboot I am asked to update Samsung Magician. Doesn't matter if I updated the time before. So, I have started to just say no.

Adobe Flash Player and Skype for Windows Desktop used to do this, just run an install program every so often that downloads the latest package, regardless of whether the version available for download is the same version as what's installed.
 

NTMBK

Lifer
Nov 14, 2011
10,269
5,134
136
My pet peeve is UI changes that give us HUUUUGE icons and acres of whitespace. Great job dumbasses, now my enormous 4K monitor can only show as much content as my old 1080p one did with the old UI. Great fucking progress.
 

biostud

Lifer
Feb 27, 2003
18,407
4,968
136
I keep saying no to MS's Win11 update. Until I hear a reason I should, I won't.

I'm currently running it at work and win10 at home, but will install win11 pro with my new machine. I like that file explorer finally supports tabs, and I have a Microsoft family account so I like the integration with Onedrive.

I will however install a custom taskbar, so I can keep it on the left with the start button in the upper corner.

I also always have PowerToys installed.

I also send data to Microsoft so they can see how I use their OS.
 

biostud

Lifer
Feb 27, 2003
18,407
4,968
136
My pet peeve is UI changes that give us HUUUUGE icons and acres of whitespace. Great job dumbasses, now my enormous 4K monitor can only show as much content as my old 1080p one did with the old UI. Great fucking progress.
But they are soooooo crisp
 
Reactions: Pohemi and NTMBK

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
37,852
8,313
136
pretty sure a firmware update nuked my NAS. through sheer luck i was able to recover the raid group. would have been ~4TB down the drain (music, movies, photography backups, various program installers)
My NAS is 2 mirrored 3TB HDs (Synology DS2014play), never have had an issue, but I backup to an external 3TB HD every week and store off-site. I won't lose much data, probably little to nothing of consequence if nuked, burned, stolen, whatever. I'm told I can upgrade to 14GB data, I'm not running out of space on the NAS, but the drives are about 2/3 full now.
 
Last edited:

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
37,852
8,313
136
I'm currently running it at work and win10 at home, but will install win11 pro with my new machine. I like that file explorer finally supports tabs, and I have a Microsoft family account so I like the integration with Onedrive.

I will however install a custom taskbar, so I can keep it on the left with the start button in the upper corner.

I also always have PowerToys installed.

I also send data to Microsoft so they can see how I use their OS.
I don't use Onedrive at all. I haven't turned it off, I just never depend on what MS stashes in their cloud. I keep all data I'm the least bit concerned about on my NAS, which is backed up regularly.

I used to use Powertoys years ago but don't now, at least not to my knowledge...

I'd never heard of tabs in File Explorer. Hmm. Well, if I get the idea I need it or really want it maybe I'll install Win11. However, I'd want some insurance I won't regret don't the "upgrade." Sending data to people? I occasionally say OK, usually just say no, it's just more stuff going on, more bandwidth used.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
48,518
5,340
136
At some point, it may trick you. Happened to me. On a critical work PC. It said updates are available (Update and Restart/ Update and Shutdown were being shown). I chose update and restart. The next thing I know, I see it doing the Win11 update. I literally freaked out coz I thought I would have to wipe the SSD and start afresh, wasting a whole frickin' day configuring stuff on that PC for its intended purpose. Thankfully, nothing broke (miracle really) so I'm still using Win11 on that one.

Windows 11 is just Windows 10 in cosplay. And Windows 10 is just DOS lol.
 
Reactions: Pohemi

Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,306
10,804
136
Nah, it can be useful, but I don't normally use it.

I swear by Samsung SSD's but I bailed out on Magician years ago... it literally does nothing useful that the OS can't handle on its own and sucks up resources at the same time.

At the very least prevent it from loading at startup and only run it when actually using it.... the last time that utility was useful in Windows was before "trim" for SSD's was supported natively. (in other words Vista and below)
 
Last edited:
Reactions: Pohemi and RLGL

biostud

Lifer
Feb 27, 2003
18,407
4,968
136
I don't use Onedrive at all. I haven't turned it off, I just never depend on what MS stashes in their cloud. I keep all data I'm the least bit concerned about on my NAS, which is backed up regularly.

I used to use Powertoys years ago but don't now, at least not to my knowledge...

I'd never heard of tabs in File Explorer. Hmm. Well, if I get the idea I need it or really want it maybe I'll install Win11. However, I'd want some insurance I won't regret don't the "upgrade." Sending data to people? I occasionally say OK, usually just say no, it's just more stuff going on, more bandwidth used.
I back up my data on a external hard drive as well, but I use onedrive to share photos to my family, as I don't want those on SoMe. So the convenience and safety it brings is something I'm willing to pay for, and I don't need the storage space of a NAS.

Power toys has some really nice features, but it works equally well on win10 and win11.

I'm on 500/500 no cap so the little amount of data Microsoft collects from me is not a problem hardware wise. Maybe I should be concerned what data is being send, but I'm not. I will have to clean up the camera roll after my girls (3-5 years old) got hand on the iPad and used it for playing "doctor"....
 
Reactions: Captante
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