The Pain of Updating Windows
Although not being used in any productive manner, I decided to update the Windows 10 virtual machine (VM). Usually I update every month or two.
Version 1909 was installed, which no longer is supported. The Windows updater informed me that I needed to update to the next “feature” version of 2004. Immediately I knew I was not going to enjoy updating.
The update required four and one-half hours.
While Firefox is configured as the default web browser, after rebooting and logging in a series of Microsoft Edge dialogs were shoved into my face. A new taskbar widget News and Interests appeared, which thankfully was disabled easily. News and Interests? The madness of Microsoft data mining and tracking continues, all under the charade of “user experience.”
After the update, the virtual disk size doubled from about 27 GB to about 52 GB. Most of the space was consumed by backing up the previous install. A decent gesture and I have no complaints about that. Reducing the disk size was straightforward but time consuming with system cleaning, defragging, running sdelete, and compacting the virtual disk.
After the update, subsequent testing from within the VM showed expected network speeds. Despite the rude and annoying Edge shenanigans, no default software was changed. The Microsoft folks seem to have improved the update process some by not clobbering user configurations, at least none that I noticed.
Four and one-half hours. Many people at Microsoft work hard and mean well, but this is absurd to the point of being WTF territory.
No wonder computer users fear and loathe updates.
Posted: Category: Usability Tagged: Windows
Next: Complex Software
Previous: Disaster Recovery Testing — 5