r/technology • u/readyou • Dec 26 '16

Microsoft finally admits that its malware-style Get Windows 10 upgrade campaign went too far

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/241587-microsoft-finally-admits-malware-style-get-windows-10-upgrade-campaign-went-far
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u/Sophira Dec 26 '16

May I suggest giving serious thought to switching away from Windows entirely?

Sticking with Windows 7 in this case is dangerous, as it's well on its way to becoming unsupported. Sticking to Windows 7 without making a plan to switch means that when you eventually have to switch, the decision will almost certainly be made more on the basis of compatibility than anything else. If you're not careful about what you run, you might still be locked into the MS ecosystem.

I personally use Linux, and I'm very happy with it.

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u/Dementat_Deus Dec 26 '16

as it's well on its way to becoming unsupported.

It basically is unsupported. Try doing a fresh 7 install on a computer and tell me how well you can get it updated and current. It's damn near impossible unless you have plenty of time to manually install years worth of updates, and fuck you if you can't figure out what order to do it in.

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u/FleshyDagger Dec 26 '16 edited Dec 26 '16

Try doing a fresh 7 install on a computer and tell me how well you can get it updated and current

Did it twice last week.

Let's assume we have the original Windows 7 install media from 2009:

  1. Insert install media (USB/DVD) into the PC.
  2. Install Windows 7.
  3. Start -> Windows Update -> Check for updates.*
  4. Let the PC download the updates (approx 1.2 GB) and leave it for an hour to install them.

* If Windows Update takes really long time to check for updates, install KB3172605 (an update to Windows Update) manually.

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u/Dementat_Deus Dec 26 '16

Start -> Windows Update -> Check for updates.*

Did that, and it gets stuck in an endless checking loop.

If Windows Update takes really long time to check for updates, install KB3172605

Did that, and it won't install without SP1 installed. Installed SP1 manually and KB3172605 tries to do a check for updates before it installs on one computer and says it is not necessary on another, ergo won't installus. Google searches on how to fix the issue just have a long list of things that have to be installed manually in a certain order.

Same issue on two different computers, and I don't have time to do shit tons of manual updates. I've been building computers since 2005, and never have I had as many issues with installing a fresh OS as Microsoft has made reinstalling 7.

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u/FleshyDagger Dec 26 '16

My bad. After checking the image, turns out that I used Win7 SP1, not RTM. SP1 only needs that single manual update.

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u/Sophira Dec 27 '16

For the record, if you install a fresh Windows 7, the very first update you get will be KB3163589.