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  1. #1
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    Windows Updates (relevant to upgrade to Windows 10)

    A bit of a continuation of our previous thread on the dreaded Windows 10 and MS' update shenanigans:

    I was hiding all of the Win 10 or telemetry-related updates...refused to download them since I had no intention of upgrading.

    Well...I started having all kinds of hiccups on my computer. I normally turn on the computer when I first go downstairs and sit down at it about 20 minutes later...lets all the start-up stuff and searches get themselves out of their systems so my brief time on the 'puter isn't impacted.

    The computer started to make churning noises the minute I touched the mouse and I couldn't get any clicks to work at all...couldn't even get the Start button or task manager to come up. I ended up turning it off at the power switch and when I turned it back on, it was fine. I'm usually on the computer for only about 15 minutes at most so wasn't getting back to what turned out to be the "magic" 20 minute mark. This went on for close to a week. I checked to make sure all my drivers were UTD, ran Norton (including their Power Eraser) (nothing ever found).

    I did a restore point and was baffled by having only one restore point to select...from my last backup to the external drive.

    Made no difference.

    Then FireFox changed my home page (to itself), and I figured it was FF doing something hinky and switched back to Internet Explorer (which I like better but hate that it won't keep some passwords...like my server one...like FF did). Issues continued.

    Windows Update failed one morning, troubleshooter found nothing (no updates that morning anyhow) but my settings were changed to automatically install and also to check for only Windows products and not other products by Microsoft. Hmmm.....

    I called Norton and had a remote session which found nothing.

    This morning, I was monkeying around with it and realized that my backup was going to start running in about 15 minutes. I decided to change the schedule to tomorrow and when I went into backup and restore, found that there were no restore points in the system and my backup looked like it had never been used...default settings and "last backup: never". My hard drive showed just how much backing up I'd done, it was just the settings that got trashed. Yikes.

    And then I remembered all those updates I hadn't installed. Could it be something to do with that? Took a chance, downloaded all of my hidden stuff, rebooted. Ran Norton and Power Eraser again. Rebooted. Tested at the 20 minute mark. Other than IE's normal search for its own updates (or whatever it normally does that slows things down briefly), the computer was fine. I've tested it again twice since that...seems to be fine.

    Now I have that stupid little window icon on my taskbar, mocking me and trying to lure me into upgrading to 10 (and watching my every move), but that's far better (so far) than what I'd started experiencing.

    If this hadn't worked, I was going to go ahead and upgrade to 10, figuring that my Win 7 was too trashed.

    I've got my fingers crossed.

    Thought I'd share in case anyone else started having weirdness and wasn't doing those updates...save you the wondering and thoughts of buying a new computer.

  2. #2
    coppercleaner
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    I upgraded to 10 a month ago, and I LOVE it. Not even so much as a hiccough since the download. Since Adblock Plus does nor have a free version out yet for Edge, I have been using Firefox, and now I think I prefer it over IE, definitely seems more secure than IE, so I may just stay with FF.

    Churning noise from the comp may be the hard drive failing. I would make a backup on a flash drive just in case it dies. Also, wouldn't hurt to run CCleaner and a full scan with your virus program (make sure it is current and up to date).

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by coppercleaner View Post
    I upgraded to 10 a month ago, and I LOVE it. Not even so much as a hiccough since the download. Since Adblock Plus does nor have a free version out yet for Edge, I have been using Firefox, and now I think I prefer it over IE, definitely seems more secure than IE, so I may just stay with FF.

    Churning noise from the comp may be the hard drive failing. I would make a backup on a flash drive just in case it dies. Also, wouldn't hurt to run CCleaner and a full scan with your virus program (make sure it is current and up to date).
    The churning is the normal "background search" noise that I've always heard when programs like Norton or a browser are doing their regular thing. It's not like the awful churning noise I got when my first computer became possessed and even Gateway threw up their hands and just replaced it. I did a backup to the hard drive and ran scans/cleaners a few times yesterday. It seems good to go now. Whew. My next step will be Windows 10...I'd like to wait till they get more bugs out, though. It sounds like they're still tweaking...and I really do like Win 7.

  4. #4
    Senior Dog ckfalz's Avatar
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    I tried upgrading to 10 twice and the upgrade failed both times. No idea why. The error code doesn't say anything.
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  5. #5
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    I too wanted to wait for a while before upgrading to Windows 10. A while back my laptop got stuck in a loop; nothing I did would correct the problem. Finally had to take it to the Geeks. They said that it looked like it got stuck while uploading Windows 10. What?? I had not opted to do that.

    No problems so far on the desktop.

    We'll see what happens.
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  6. #6
    Real Retriever PinkDragon14's Avatar
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    To me, your issue sounds like some kind of update that is slowing your computer down (or something in the background that Norton isn't detecting). According to tons of sources out there regarding the Windows 10 upgrade, apparently Microsoft forces updates to your computer to "prepare" you to upgrade. So basically, they're sneaking in with your regular Windows updates and hiding until they're needed. IMO, that's a lot like malware or any kind of virus plotting against you (another reason I left Microsoft LOL)

    As for upgrading, I'd stay away from 10 as long as I could. Support for Windows 7 (so its updates, Microsoft tech support, 3rd party software support, etc.) will last until January of 2020 I believe, so you have plenty of time to stick with 7. There have been numerous stories posted about how 10 is "spying" on you, forcing you into its automatic updates, etc. The one thing I don't like about the forced updates is, if something goes wrong in the update that is pushed out to the users, the users then download that onto their computer and deal with a messed up computer until Microsoft pushes a patch for the issue. If they don't force their updates to users, then they can simply avoid any issues until they're fixed.

    I would stick with 7 for as long as possible. There's a way to "disable" that window in the taskbar, but I'm not sure how complicated it is (I haven't used a PC since we got a Mac. I have a MacBook Pro too so the only PC I use is at school, but that's close to never LOL). If you notice your computer is running slow, I'd add some more RAM or go into the control panel and uninstall old programs that you don't use anymore.
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  7. #7
    Real Retriever amyb's Avatar
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    I am waiting..I am quite fine with Windows 7..
    DOGS ROCK!!!

  8. #8
    Senior Dog
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    Despite going ahead and downloading those other updates, I'm still stalling out...but it's obviously something to do with Windows Update. What's funny is that Bob doesn't go through this on his computer even with all the updates installed...and my laptop is still fine with the Win 10 updates hidden. I get around this by just turning the computer on about a half hour - 45 minutes before I sit down at it. For "quickies", I just use the laptop.

    I got a Win 10 (for Seniors...good grief) book and don't like what I see. Yep...I'll be limping along with Windows 7 as long as possible. I just hope MS doesn't decide to pull the plug on supporting it for as long as they initially announced.

 



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