Windows 10 Update Issues -- I am sick of this, and so are my customers

Hear me out here. This is long. I legitimately want some feedback because people coming into my store for these issues, and then coming back every quarter is unsustainable.

Maybe it's just observational bias on my part, but I can say that there are at least a number of customers that have come into my shop with their computer being soft-bricked by the 1803 update -- and before that, the 1709 update, and before that the 1607 update. The 1709 update and the 1803 update seem to be more pervasive.

I had one week where every day at least 3-5 customers would come in with PC's (that were mostly desktops, come to think of it) that had the mouse and keyboard disabled by a Windows update. Simple solution was to dism and remove the update that was installed, or to even perform a system restore where possible. This was in the 1709 era.

Now, I'm getting computers coming into my shop that attempt to install the 1803 update, fail out, bifurcate the user profile -- so half of it is in Windows.old and in Users -- and totally screw these computers to where I can't do anything. I cannot dism the update and remove the kb, I can't perform a system restore, I can't roll back the update in many cases because Windows Rollback is broken, and I can't perform a manual system restore... I literally cannot do anything but backup and reload the operating system.

This isn't sustainable. There has got to be a better way for me to fix this problem in a permanent fashion to where a majority of my customers are able to process Windows updates in a normal fashion without said updates bricking the ****ing computer.

My career as a computer technician is already unstable as it is because it is offset by the ubiquity and popularity of mobile devices, but this problem is just making it worse... with PC's that soft-brick themselves with simple Windows updates and ASUS Desktops that freeze on every cumulative update available, and in general, computers that crap themselves every quarter now will become a strong incentive for people to simply switch to using their phones if they can, and if they can't they're going to think I'm an idiot for having to see me every quarter.

I had one lady come in today after last seeing her in January; then, her computer wouldn't process the 1709 update because her computer had a bad hard drive and corrupt Windows. So I upgraded to a solid state drive, performed a repair install and she was _golden_. Today, she brings it in and it fails 1803. Bricked the OS. It's not my fault, it's not her fault, but I felt bad so I discounted the labor charge...

...But seriously... What am I going to ****ing say when it fails the next damn update and bricks her OS again not three months from now because of this Windows as a service nonsense? What about the next customer. And the next? It's sickening to me. It's a constant revenue stream that is horrible because I have to erase all their programs and have them start over... and I don't have a repair option that is under $50 to fix this in most cases now.

Am I the only one? Are you guys experiencing this too? How do you fix this?

I've got 10 computers on my home network, everything from Intel Atom 32GB devices to a Ryzen 7 and various flavors of AMD and Intel processors in desktops and laptops, both retail off the shelf and custom built.

I have had exactly 1 upgrade problem since Windows 10 rolled out and that was my late father-in-laws. His was a Windows 7 to 10 upgrade and it would not take the very first major upgrade to the second edition of Windows 10. I believe I've still got a couple of computers around here that are on 1803 and started out as windows 7 to 10 upgrades.

The reason for my father-in-laws was because he was click happy. He would just click on whatever popup or link came up. Good only knows what crap he installed by his random mouse clicking. A clean install of Windows 10 solved all the problems on that computer after he passed.

The secret to the other computers' success? Number 1 is a good clean install of vanilla Windows. Install only the applications and programs that are needed and will be used. That means leave most of the factory installed bloatware off as well. Second, I don't install any anti-anything software except for Windows Defender. In at least 10 years, never had a virus or malware. Maybe a couple times there were some annoying popups starting that a simple routine drive cleaning removing temporary internet files solved.

I believe those two steps make a huge difference in the proper functioning of Windows Updates. I've seen horror threads on here where people spend weeks trying to get an update to take. Just bite the bullet, back up user files, do a solid clean install. Avoid the temptation to click on or install the fix your PC ads and third party anti-everything software and more than likely Windows updates will run just fine for years in the future.

NONE of the clients I have, and they are all senior citizens, are having any issues with Win 10.

This goes back years and why Windows was such a success. There was years ago deskview which was ten times faster than Windows and also os/2 nothing ever went wrong with them. So computer shops didn't like selling them but Windows went wrong and every new version needed more RAM or disk space so shops had a steady revenue if they sold Windows PCs so they pushed it and that's why it became so popular. Os/2 ran most cash machines until very recently and I worked on it at Barclays Bank

Yes, Windows requires more attention to keep it running. I spend more time maintaining my tower PC with W10 than any other OS I've ever used. I average at least an hour a day maintaining just one deskside machine that is used mostly for internet browsing. I have a box full of backup drives and disks just to keep tools to recover this one machine when something goes wobbly. From viewing other threads here, I'm convinced that the root of the problem is that MS doesn't test their updates nearly as well as they should. The OS has become very bloated and they simply don't do enough integration testing that is needed. I've been using PC OSs since Windows v3.1 and the OS/2 era, and I've watched Windows get more and more error prone (W98, Vista, etc). It's part of the environment now, and it's not going to get better soon. Embrace the added revenue while you can. Think of the millions corporations are spending maintaining their MS environments. I remember when people started claiming that computers were simply commodities and should be cheaper. The trade off was operating systems that were just that, commodities.

jaigomes said:

Now, I'm getting computers coming into my shop that attempt to install the 1803 update, fail out, bifurcate the user profile -- so half of it is in Windows.old and in Users -- and totally screw these computers to where I can't do anything. I cannot dism the update and remove the kb, I can't perform a system restore, I can't roll back the update in many cases because Windows Rollback is broken, and I can't perform a manual system restore... I literally cannot do anything but backup and reload the operating system.

Were the win.old compromised or were the win.old usable?
Consider saving the win.old and performing a clean install.

NavyLCDR said:

I've got 10 computers on my home network, everything from Intel Atom 32GB devices to a Ryzen 7 and various flavors of AMD and Intel processors in desktops and laptops, both retail off the shelf and custom built.

I have had exactly 1 upgrade problem since Windows 10 rolled out and that was my late father-in-laws. His was a Windows 7 to 10 upgrade and it would not take the very first major upgrade to the second edition of Windows 10. I believe I've still got a couple of computers around here that are on 1803 and started out as windows 7 to 10 upgrades.

The reason for my father-in-laws was because he was click happy. He would just click on whatever popup or link came up. Good only knows what crap he installed by his random mouse clicking. A clean install of Windows 10 solved all the problems on that computer after he passed. Rufus MapQuest UpToDate


The secret to the other computers' success? Number 1 is a good clean install of vanilla Windows. Install only the applications and programs that are needed and will be used. That means leave most of the factory installed bloatware off as well. Second, I don't install any anti-anything software except for Windows Defender. In at least 10 years, never had a virus or malware. Maybe a couple times there were some annoying popups starting that a simple routine drive cleaning removing temporary internet files solved.

I believe those two steps make a huge difference in the proper functioning of Windows Updates. I've seen horror threads on here where people spend weeks trying to get an update to take. Just bite the bullet, back up user files, do a solid clean install. Avoid the temptation to click on or install the fix your PC ads and third party anti-everything software and more than likely Windows updates will run just fine for years in the future.

oooh! thankyou u did explained me in a really good way!