For you own safety, you should never Check for Updates in Windows

hello10 · 16 Dec 2018

"... besides ticking the Become an Insider box there is another way to tell Microsoft you like to live on the wild side, and that is simply clicking on the Check for Updates button... In a blog post last week Michael Fortin, Corporate Vice President of Windows revealed that clicking that button marked you out as an advanced user willing to test early versions of Windows 10 patches."
Source: Tip: For your own safety, you should never Check for Updates in Windows 10

That's a fair warning, but how many ordinary users understand the gravity of clicking the button?

[Update]
The author of the source corrected the misspelled title.

Bree · 16 Dec 2018

hello10 said:

That's a fair warning, but how many ordinary users understand the gravity of clicking the button?

Sometimes you just have to click the button. These C/D releases are the first chance to get an urgent fix before the next Patch Tuesday B release. A recent example being the fix for the 1803/1809 bug where you couldn't set default file associations. Now that bug came in a regular Patch Tuesday cumulative, so avoiding the button wouldn't have helped, in fact in this case checking for updates was the cure for a bug, not a risk of getting one.

The real risk comes at Feature Update time (as it is now). Declaring yourself a 'seeker' means you may get 1809 earlier than you had planned for.

hello10 · 16 Dec 2018

There's a point, but here's how I see it.

The default file association issue had been the consequence of a previous update. We also know all the updates break something somehow, somewhere, and everytime in return for fixing some others their predecessors have broken. MS indicates the list of things it is aware its current update breaks even while proceeding with the release, but that doesn't mean the new and upcoming issues will be limited to its list. Sometimes, the treatment brings a worse ailment. Therein lies the gravity of clicking the button.

Users who want to and could control the updates keep the one with the least evil for as long as possible until the next relatively safer update comes out; hence, the rise and popular use of software like Windows Update MiniTool and Windows Update Manager. Furthermore, these users must keep themselves abreast of what's happening in the Windows updates front to be able to effectively apply these tools.

For those who are unaware of software like these, they really have got only the button - and a little prayer - to turn to. Here's to less 1809s in the coming days.

jamis · 16 Dec 2018

As I see it, the only insurance for MS's wildly unreliable updates, is to have a regular, periodic, and exercised back up procedure. It's the only way to keep your system (and sanity) with W10's updates these days. I advocate that MS should keep (and support) the old W7 backup and file history functions for the "informal" or non-technical users. Nothing wrong with MR, but there are many, many W10 users that could benefit from a MS supported safety function, especially since their production releases seem to be less tested than a beta release.

hello10 · 16 Dec 2018

This is based on what I understand, or rather believe, about the Windows 10 market scheme.

Unlike with Windows 7, the Windows 10 Home userbase, which is naturally heaviest hit by problematic updates, is essentially a corral of advanced beta testers - by MS design - for supporting paying Windows 10 Pro and above users. That is why the Pro and above users have a choice to delay their updates, why the Home users do not have such a safety mechanism by default, and why Home is offered practically for free to the world. That free links back to the naturally above.

The MS problem with this cunning scheme is that noises from the Home userbase are producing the most number of damaging headlines about Windows 10 in general in the relevant industries.

jamis · 16 Dec 2018

Yeah, us "freeloaders" ruin everything. Never mind that MS forced me to update to W10 if I wanted to run a "supported" system.

Berton · 16 Dec 2018

jamis said:

Yeah, us "freeloaders" ruin everything. Never mind that MS forced me to update to W10 if I wanted to run a "supported" system.

Me, too! Except I wasn't "forced", just was nice to be able to rehab and Upgrade several machines to the latest OS without much or no expense in addition to saving electronics from the local landfill.

hello10 · 17 Dec 2018

I asked this question in one of my posts here before.

If an MS OS can totally operate a space vehicle going to the moon or Mars today, which would you have on yours: Windows XP or Windows 10?

dalchina · 17 Dec 2018

XP - but not for the reason you think. I'd choose old-style hardware with large silicon dimensions (assuming there was no more robust technology). That's exactly what was done on a Mars mission. The smaller the dimensions, the greater the impact of cosmic radiation.

'10 won't run on very very old hardware so...

But actually you need special purpose software with multiple redundant platforms. One development philosophy has - say- 3 independent teams produce computing solutions meeting the same objectives. Should a difference in decision be detected in one, the others can outvote it.

Steve C · 18 Dec 2018

Bree said:

Sometimes you just have to click the button. These C/D releases are the first chance to get an urgent fix before the next Patch Tuesday B release. A recent example being the fix for the 1803/1809 bug where you couldn't set default file associations. Now that bug came in a regular Patch Tuesday cumulative, so avoiding the button wouldn't have helped, in fact in this case checking for updates was the cure for a bug, not a risk of getting one.

The real risk comes at Feature Update time (as it is now). Declaring yourself a 'seeker' means you may get 1809 earlier than you had planned for.

If you defer feature updates you will only get them when you choose. You also won't get the interim C/D releases.