Oh, How I Hate You, Windows Update

MoofytheMan

So earlier today one of those messages for Windows 7 popped up where it told you it was going to update your computer in 10 minutes. I postponed it for 4 hours and later started playing The Sims 3. I played for a while, then I built the best pool ever in Edit Town. It took forever, and I was just wrapping up the description for the lot when my game closed. At first I though, "What the heck is going on?" but then I remembered that 4 hours ago, I had postponed the update for 4 hours, and I was like, "Crap." So, because of Windows Update, I just lost the best pool ever.

dreamerz13

Aww, that sucks. It's happened to me before. Sometimes the popup minimizes out my game so I know it's there, other times it doesn't and my computer just restarts. :roll: It's not normally bad if I've just postpone it 'cause I usually know I need to keep my eye on the time and save frequently.... but then sometimes you get caught up and forget. I hope you can recreate your pool (it is usually easier to make the second time, but it is frustrating to do).

igazor

The best way to manage Windows Update is to have it tell you when new updates are available and do them on demand instead of having them scheduled.

Many in IT learn that lesson the hard way as well -- the executive boss at that board meeting doesn't typically like to display a "Windows is processing your updates" on the projector screen followed by two reboots instead of the PowerPoint presentation they worked all week putting together.

Bobbo

Never let your computer auto update. You need a system backup before you apply updates in case one renders your computer unusable.

SimsplyRuth

I have my windows update set to only update when I tell it to. Windows 7 hates it - but I no longer lose gameplay to it....

GalacticGal

I guess I'm the odd person out. I just go ahead an update when it tells me I need to. I know I'm a bit of control freak. I use Razor Game Booster, and I generally get a warning my update is off. (Heaven forbid)So, I immediately open that window and turn the alert back on. Yes, I've become a slave to the technology. :shock:

TreyNutz

On my gaming PC I actually have auto update disabled. But I remember to check once a month after Microsoft's patch Tuesday. I'm thinking of having that computer download and notify me instead.

Fairy_Happy

Sometimes my computer doesn't even bother to remind me it needs to update. It just cuts off and updates whenever it feels like it. :?

and I have auto update disabled too

TadOlson

I've got it set up to tell me about Windows updates and choose to install them.I don't have my browser set up to automatically update either because I've had awful experiences from those so-called update.

Seera1024

I have mine set to install automatically. Every day. At 3 am.

At 3 am, it's time to shut the game down anyway.

dreamerz13

friendlyone20 wrote:

Sometimes my computer doesn't even bother to remind me it needs to update. It just cuts off and updates whenever it feels like it. :?

and I have auto update disabled too

This is my problem. I just don't care to fight it and let it do what it wants. Just I was going to bring this up too though, for the people saying they just turn off auto update and whatever, not everybody's computer obeys that. My dad's seems to, my mom's doesn't, on the exact same model of laptop, it seems to be a slightly flawed system.

Vaher

Some of the people who create computer viruses love it when a new Microsoft update is released because they reverse engineer the update to learn about vulnerabilities that were previously unfamiliar to them. To a malicious code writer a Microsoft update is an exploitation opportunity advertisement because they know that there are people who will delay installing the update, or never remember to install the updates, due to various excuses. That lack of diligence is exactly what malicious code writers want from you.

Instead of complaining about updates that are provided to protect your computer and you, try pausing the game, save and then exit. Complete the Microsoft update. Then, restart your game.

I agree that when you are giving a presentation a Microsoft update is unpleasant. Therefore, at the end of your presentation notes place a reminder to turn auto updates back on.

igazor

What you are describing is similar to a Zero Day attack. Those of us who manage corporate environments do have to be extra aware of those since it can take as long as three weeks to get Windows updates/patches and the like through testing to make sure they don't break anything mission critical. We NEVER patch on the day or even a few days after they come out, except under unusual expedited circumstances, and have caught several flawed patches while doing such testing over the decades.

But for home users, yes patching is critical. It just doesn't have to happen in the middle of a game or some other such activity that doesn't involve *much* interaction with the Internet.

dreamerz13

Vaher wrote:

Some of the people who create computer viruses love it when a new Microsoft update is released because they reverse engineer the update to learn about vulnerabilities that were previously unfamiliar to them. To a malicious code writer a Microsoft update is an exploitation opportunity advertisement because they know that there are people who will delay installing the update, or never remember to install the updates, due to various excuses. That lack of diligence is exactly what malicious code writers want from you.

Instead of complaining about updates that are provided to protect your computer and you, try pausing the game, save and then exit. Complete the Microsoft update. Then, restart your game.

I agree that when you are giving a presentation a Microsoft update is unpleasant. Therefore, at the end of your presentation notes place a reminder to turn auto updates back on.

People just complain because they're frustrated. Not everybody gets that notice in time to save first, the fact that updates are important doesn't give you back what you spent hours working on and lost because you never got the popup. That's what people complain about. I think most people realize the updates are important. It's just frustrating when your computer is like "Okay I'm just going to very suddenly shut off now with no warning to update for you. I hope you lose lots of progress, bye-bye." Not trying to argue that updates aren't important but it's not always as easy as saving and doing the update, and people will complain when they're frustrated it's part of venting and getting it out of your system. Okay I mean OP postponed theirs so in that case they could have saved shut down and gone back to their game, but sometimes that notice doesn't show up for people to react at all.

Vaher

igazor and dreamerz13,

Thank you for your replies. I am enjoying this conversation.

igazor,

Would you not agree that the great majority of participants within this forum are home users. Thus, the coporate user's argument applies here least. Let use solely focus on the home user's arguments. If the home user does not remember to patch in the middle of the game, then when will they remember to patch? Would you prefer that their computers remain unprotected, and if so why?

dreamerz13,

I have to concede to you.

My computer always provides me warnings about Windows updates before installing by displaying the Window Updates icon in the right bottom corner of the monitor window (within the System Tray). Users who play on widescreen can loose visual of the System Tray and may not see this warning. So, let us find a solution for these gamers.

One solution is to use a mod that prompts the Simmer to save the game every X minutes of real world time, or every X minutes of game play time. May I suggest the NRaas Saver mod for this purpose. With this mod if your game unexpectedly quits for any reason, be it Windows Updates or power failure or freezing and crashing, most of your latest progress can be reloaded from a recent save.

http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Saver

Vaher

A computer maintenance and optimization utility solved my most recent Widows Update installation problems, and helped to reduce game crashes. My update installation problems were not Windows Update's fault. The fault was that I was not servicing my computer's operating system. A maintenance and optimization utility now does this for me automatically.

I use the paid version of System Mechanic. A review of the free version is available here > http://download.cnet.com/System-Mechanic-Free/3000-18512_4-10030183.html

dreamerz13

Vaher wrote:

igazor and dreamerz13,

Thank you for your replies. I am enjoying this conversation.

igazor,

Would you not agree that the great majority of participants within this forum are home users. Thus, the coporate user's argument applies here least. Let use solely focus on the home user's arguments. If the home user does not remember to patch in the middle of the game, then when will they remember to patch? Would you prefer that their computers remain unprotected, and if so why?

dreamerz13,

I have to concede to you.

My computer always provides me warnings about Windows updates before installing by displaying the Window Updates icon in the right bottom corner of the monitor window (within the System Tray). Users who play on widescreen can loose visual of the System Tray and may not see this warning. So, let us find a solution for these gamers.

One solution is to use a mod that prompts the Simmer to save the game every X minutes of real world time, or every X minutes of game play time. May I suggest the NRaas Saver mod for this purpose. With this mod if your game unexpectedly quits for any reason, be it Windows Updates or power failure or freezing and crashing, most of your latest progress can be reloaded from a recent save.

http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Saver

Actually I'd thought about that mod after too, I do completely understand where OP's coming from and nothing changes that it happened, but it can be a good lesson to be better about saving in the future, even if it takes mods. For me I just save often, and also minimize my game often to check for naggy little popups. Even then really the best method is to just save lots, just minimizing out the game to check doesn't always work. At least for me that popup just doesn't show up at all unfortunately if you deal with that problem I have no idea what to do other than to make sure you're saving anything you don't want to lose and often just in case. But it took me a couple times to learn that, I learned pretty well when I did learn though and just the paranoia is my reminder to save but the saver mod is good for people who might need the reminder. Also effective for people opposed to mods is timers set the timer before you start your game and save when it goes off and reset it so it goes off again in 10-15 whatever minutes and just keep repeating.

Seera1024

dreamerz13 wrote:

Vaher wrote:

igazor and dreamerz13,

Thank you for your replies. I am enjoying this conversation.

igazor,

Would you not agree that the great majority of participants within this forum are home users. Thus, the coporate user's argument applies here least. Let use solely focus on the home user's arguments. If the home user does not remember to patch in the middle of the game, then when will they remember to patch? Would you prefer that their computers remain unprotected, and if so why?

dreamerz13,

I have to concede to you.

My computer always provides me warnings about Windows updates before installing by displaying the Window Updates icon in the right bottom corner of the monitor window (within the System Tray). Users who play on widescreen can loose visual of the System Tray and may not see this warning. So, let us find a solution for these gamers.

One solution is to use a mod that prompts the Simmer to save the game every X minutes of real world time, or every X minutes of game play time. May I suggest the NRaas Saver mod for this purpose. With this mod if your game unexpectedly quits for any reason, be it Windows Updates or power failure or freezing and crashing, most of your latest progress can be reloaded from a recent save.

http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Saver

Actually I'd thought about that mod after too, I do completely understand where OP's coming from and nothing changes that it happened, but it can be a good lesson to be better about saving in the future, even if it takes mods. For me I just save often, and also minimize my game often to check for naggy little popups. Even then really the best method is to just save lots, just minimizing out the game to check doesn't always work. At least for me that popup just doesn't show up at all unfortunately if you deal with that problem I have no idea what to do other than to make sure you're saving anything you don't want to lose and often just in case. But it took me a couple times to learn that, I learned pretty well when I did learn though and just the paranoia is my reminder to save but the saver mod is good for people who might need the reminder. Also effective for people opposed to mods is timers set the timer before you start your game and save when it goes off and reset it so it goes off again in 10-15 whatever minutes and just keep repeating.

And set automatic updates to install the updates at a time you aren't likely to be in game. Or otherwise needing to use the computer. LATE night tends to be a good candidate. You're likely to hit the start button and notice the update symbol on the shut down icon before it automatically installs them.