How do non-tech people cope with Windows 10’s forced updates?

wiganken · 08 Dec 2020

I have used computers since 1990 and, because I am interested, I have also learned how to fix things that go wrong. I have used Windows from 3.1 through to Windows 10 and it is only Windows 10 that forces updates onto user’s computers. For myself and most tech-savvy people this is not a problem but, over the last 5 years, since Win 10 came out, I have been asked by several non-tech people if I can fix their PCs/Laptops that have become very slow to boot up and to respond afterwards.

In many cases these people are casual users who just want to spend 10 to 15 minutes doing emails or some browsing and then shut down their computer. This is OK until Windows update wants to install updates and the PC is not left switched on for long enough for them to download updates, never mind install them. The next time the PC is switched on W10 keeps trying to download and install updates which never get finished. Over time the update queue builds up slowing the PC down. I usually find there is a queue of updates that it takes me 2 hours just to get Windows up-to-date and the computer becomes fast again.

How many non-tech people who only use their Win 10 computers for short periods find their machines slowing down and give up using them? I know of two non-tech people who each paid £400 for a laptop and decided to stop using it after about 9 months because it became unusable. I had shown both these people how to install Windows updates to prevent the problem but (in my experience) non-tech people haven’t got the interest to retain the learning and they give up rather than continue to struggle. I’ll bet there are a lot of Win 10 laptops lying unused on shelves out there across the world.

I’ll bet this never happened with previous versions of Windows.

Has anyone else found this with PCs that are not used very much?

Paul Black · 08 Dec 2020

Hello @wiganken,

Have a look at this Tutorial => Enable or Disable Windows Update Automatic Updates in Windows 10
A lot of members on the forums use => Option Seven in the Tutorial above.

There is also this Tutorial => How to Specify Target Feature Update Version in Windows 10
Especially look at @Matthew Wai's => Option 4 in the Tutorial above.

This might also be of interest => https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...3=#post1813875

I hope this helps.

wiganken · 08 Dec 2020

Thank you Paul. Option 7 in first link will help me to help anyone else who asks for my help.

I do feel sorry though for all the non-tech owners out there. They would not know of computer forums and are probably paying out £ to computer repair shops to 'fix' a problem that Microsoft have created.

Instead of Windows updates being done in the background why doesn't MS show a pop-up so that users can see that updates are in-progress and "Do not switch off the machine until 'Restart Now' is displayed"?

dalchina · 08 Dec 2020

Update notification:
Turn On or Off Windows Update Restart Notifications in Windows 10

And remember Active Hours.

The difficulty for non-tech people is all these things are somewhat arcane, and the default setting is to automatically accept and apply updates, except that now, at last, feature updates prompt users - and driver updates are now, finally, optional.

Free utillities to control WU have been around for some years- WUMT, Windows Update Manager (WUmgr) and the earlier somewhat clunky Sledgehammer which uses those.

The game is differnet with Win 10 as the spec. keeps changing. Witness how MS messed up file explorer search (1903 being the best) and keeps reinventing Cortana. (Do I hear cries of ''how do I turn Cortana off?")

wiganken · 08 Dec 2020

Thank you dalchina. The problem I come across with non-tech users is that they don't use the computer for long enough so they do not see any messages. Another problem is that these users just close the laptop lid to power-off so any on-screen warnings are missed. I tell them not to power-off by closing the lid but there must be a lot of non-tech users out there who do exactly that.

The ability to change the option when closing the lid to 'Sleep' or 'Hibernate' (instead of 'switch off') have their own problems so I tell people not to close the lid. I say to switch off using the power button or Start/Shutdown but look for messages on-screen whilst doing so just in case updates are in-progress.

I have found that tech advice is lost to non-tech users. They just don't seem able to grasp the importance of the advice. I believe there are 'tech-wired' brains and 'non-tech-wired' brains and that's just how it is.

dalchina · 08 Dec 2020

Very true. A PC isn't a simple consumer item. It needs awareness - and backups!
I suppose there must be a better than default configuration for non-tech people that minimises obvious issues...

Contrast my 1980s audio equipment. No updates - still works!

But turn my smart phone on after just 2 or 3 days and there are 8-15 apps eager to be updated. But they update and (usually) no issues arise. (One banking app 'broke' all by itself).

One man at church spent a lot of time pre-Covid working with a group helping older and disabled people use their PCs.

wiganken · 08 Dec 2020

I have also done volunteer work. I tried to teach computers to people in our local village hall for 5 years and in the last year of that period I also ran 'Laptop Surgeries' where people could make appointments to bring their laptops into the hall and I would fix them. All for free. It is over that 5 year period that I developed my downbeat assessment regarding being able help non-tech users. They were all lovely people but I realised I was banging my head against a wall for about 90% of them. I don't do it any more.

I fear for non-tech people, my wife included, in the future.

dalchina · 08 Dec 2020

Agreed- our churches have Zoom meetings and services streamed via Facebook now- never pre-Covid- but many in our small church are elderly, and are never present. (They might watch the video I guess). There is another man at our parish church in town making himself aavailable to help people access these and basics too.

I've found myself confounded with having to register a banking app on my phone which is then used for 2 factor authentication for PC internet banking in a 2 minute time limit in a particular sequence. I couldn't work out how to set this up from the instructions- which didn't say I mustn't log in to the app before the PC browser site prompted me for authentication and started the timer.

I was on the phone (landline) juggling smart phone and PC... giving my very best impression of being elderly and confused. (Certainly the latter!).

sdowney717 · 08 Dec 2020

StopUpdates10 3.5.0.115 - Take your Control over Windows updates!

I use this on win 10 version 1909, and it works great to stop updates. I run WMC on it and dont want it getting wiped out with every upgrade to the next major release. An OS is only as good as the apps you want to run.

NavyLCDR · 08 Dec 2020

My 76 yo mother-in-law is as completely non-tech computer savvy as you can get. I set her up with a used SFF desktop PC, gosh about 6-7 years ago. If I remember correctly, I did a base install of Windows 7 on it because that is what she was used to. Then on the original Windows 10 release, we took the plunge and upgraded her to Windows 10. With a good, solid base install of Windows 7 followed by a good, solid upgrade to Windows 10, her computer has just plain ran with automatic updates with no issues at all.

The main problem I see are with computers that have errors in the OS to begin with - or have been tweaked by the user. A good solid base install of Windows 10 for the average user who doesn't care about tweaking the OS will seldom run into problems. When I do a clean install of Windows on a computer, I let it run through all the updates. Then once it is updated, I run dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup /resetbase. Follow with sfc /scannow. Once there are no errors, the systems just seem to run with no issues after that.