Windows 10 - The NeverEnding Story
Last night I performed the Windows 10 Feature Upgrade to version 20H2 on my computer. It took a long time, was stressful, confusing, and misleading. It was not quite a nightmare, but was close enough to one that it popped the title of a movie into my head: Halloween H20. Maybe I am a little dyslexic, because when I see 20H2 it makes me think of that.
Why are they naming Windows versions confusing names like prescription medicines? Sheesh. 20H2 is probably a number on the period table or at the outside has something to do with calculus. I hated calculus in school. Hated it. Still hate it 40 years later.
I didn't write "installed" because that is not a good enough word. When surgeons involve themselves in a surgical operation, they perform the operation, they don't do an install or uninstall. There is always a lot of stress, anxiety, worry, and heart palpitations, whenever Microsoft walks into the room with that portable transplant ice cooler.
Yeah. I know. They don't actually walk into the room. And yeah, they don't have that portable organ transplant ice cooler. I know that. But that's what my minds-eye sees whenever there is a feature update for anything related to Windows 10 pending or installing.
I always thought an image like that should remain on the screen until any Microsoft update has completed. With Windows 10 it never actually informs you when it has finished updating. You have to guess at it. Me, I watch the Hard Drive light on my PC until it stops blinking. I see it stop blinking, think to myself it is done and now I can use my computer, but right before my fingers touch the keyboard the light begins blinking furiously again. I sit back and wait, watching, and repeat that a few times;
Microsoft no longer informs us when Windows 10 is done updating to whatever update it is doing. It doesn't. It hints, it suggests, it whispers, but it never actually says "Completed. Done. Ready." because I don't think that it ever is. I truly believe that some updates they send us are only being sent to prepare our computers for a different update.
Don't Turn Off Your Computer. This Will Take A While.
It can take a long time to do updates / upgrades. It does a percentage, reboots, does another percentage and seems to stick there at the 30% or whatever for a long time, reboots again, and again, sometimes going quickly, sometimes slowly. If you have your Windows 10 configured to do updates only during set hours you might have to click "restart now" in the middle of this process because it now has other updates that need to be installed after the update you just now updated to. It needs your permission to do that right at that moment, apparently. It is a maddening cycle of mental abuse.
It takes so long to do, and the entire time you are full of worry, anxiety, and doubt. Don't turn off your computer, it says. Sure! I won't. Does anyone turn their computer off in the middle of an update? Oh, I imagine there are some people who would. "I don't have time for this!" and they unplug everything and run out to do some errand or meet friends, or they started the update 30 mins before they needed to leave to go to their job. We all know those types of people. If you are one of those types, you probably stopped reading this when it got longer than Tweet.
I won't turn off my computer. But who is to say that someone else won't turn it off? My worry, the longer the process goes on, is that the power company will turn off my computer. There are many reasons our computers can have a power loss situation: A brownout, power surge, a power cut, outage, or that someone forgot to pay the electric bill. I know people who've had their computers unplugged because their cat or dog decided that it would be for the best.
Years ago any serious computer user had their computer plugged into an Uninterruptible Power Supply (or Source). It was a small heavy little rectangular box that was more or less a battery backup. The original intent of these things was to provide emergency power to allow for shutting down your server system or home computer properly during a power emergency.
A UPS would keep your computer running for a minute or two during a power outage. They were not cheap, but later became cheaper and were sold in great numbers to the average home computer market. However, those cheaper ones were not the same thing as the original UPS Battery Backups. What they actually were, and did, was power regulation. They provided constant regulated power at the same voltage all the time. They were little more than very expensive surge protectors. If the power went off in your house, so did the UPS and your computer. There was no 1-2 minutes of power supplied. That came as a complete surprise to most people who bought the cheaper not-really-a-UPS the first time they needed it to do what they thought it would do.
The only reason I mention the UPS here is because even if you had one today, one that kept your computer system up and running during a power outage - even if it is a high-end one that keeps it going for 10 whole minutes - it would not matter in the least. There is no emergency stop/pause/cancel option during a Windows 10 Update or Upgrade. There is no safe way to turn off your computer during that process. If you lose power, even if you lose it 10 minutes after your entire building went dark, chances are the Windows 10 update still has 20 minutes left to go.
After all the Windows 10 upgrades and feature updates over the years, after the stress of living through each one, waiting and watching my HD light flashing (don't stare at it if you are an epileptic!) and finally getting to my desktop, I always wonder the same thing: What was the big fuss about?
Most of what Microsoft has added/changed to Windows 10 are features that I don't need, don't want, and don't even notice. When I do notice something new or changed, 9 times out of 10 I disable it. Like with the Cortana personal productivity assistant; They say that if you disable that it will make something else less usable, or unusable. I am fine with that. Whatever turning it off broke, I didn't want in the first place.
All of us using Microsoft anything in these modern times, we are nothing more than sheep. That would make Microsoft the wolf, you might think. What Microsoft actually is, and has been for many years, is the shepherd of the flock, who is constantly drunk and eyeing us sheep amorously, and with intent.
Microsoft is the wolf too, I guess. It is the wolf in sheep's clothing, that is eating the sheep, but before that is giving it a rather hard night.
That's a nice way of saying that Microsoft has been screwing us for years.
Why are they naming Windows versions confusing names like prescription medicines? Sheesh. 20H2 is probably a number on the period table or at the outside has something to do with calculus. I hated calculus in school. Hated it. Still hate it 40 years later.
I didn't write "installed" because that is not a good enough word. When surgeons involve themselves in a surgical operation, they perform the operation, they don't do an install or uninstall. There is always a lot of stress, anxiety, worry, and heart palpitations, whenever Microsoft walks into the room with that portable transplant ice cooler.
Yeah. I know. They don't actually walk into the room. And yeah, they don't have that portable organ transplant ice cooler. I know that. But that's what my minds-eye sees whenever there is a feature update for anything related to Windows 10 pending or installing.
I always thought an image like that should remain on the screen until any Microsoft update has completed. With Windows 10 it never actually informs you when it has finished updating. You have to guess at it. Me, I watch the Hard Drive light on my PC until it stops blinking. I see it stop blinking, think to myself it is done and now I can use my computer, but right before my fingers touch the keyboard the light begins blinking furiously again. I sit back and wait, watching, and repeat that a few times;
Microsoft no longer informs us when Windows 10 is done updating to whatever update it is doing. It doesn't. It hints, it suggests, it whispers, but it never actually says "Completed. Done. Ready." because I don't think that it ever is. I truly believe that some updates they send us are only being sent to prepare our computers for a different update.
Don't Turn Off Your Computer. This Will Take A While.
It can take a long time to do updates / upgrades. It does a percentage, reboots, does another percentage and seems to stick there at the 30% or whatever for a long time, reboots again, and again, sometimes going quickly, sometimes slowly. If you have your Windows 10 configured to do updates only during set hours you might have to click "restart now" in the middle of this process because it now has other updates that need to be installed after the update you just now updated to. It needs your permission to do that right at that moment, apparently. It is a maddening cycle of mental abuse.
It takes so long to do, and the entire time you are full of worry, anxiety, and doubt. Don't turn off your computer, it says. Sure! I won't. Does anyone turn their computer off in the middle of an update? Oh, I imagine there are some people who would. "I don't have time for this!" and they unplug everything and run out to do some errand or meet friends, or they started the update 30 mins before they needed to leave to go to their job. We all know those types of people. If you are one of those types, you probably stopped reading this when it got longer than Tweet.
I won't turn off my computer. But who is to say that someone else won't turn it off? My worry, the longer the process goes on, is that the power company will turn off my computer. There are many reasons our computers can have a power loss situation: A brownout, power surge, a power cut, outage, or that someone forgot to pay the electric bill. I know people who've had their computers unplugged because their cat or dog decided that it would be for the best.
Years ago any serious computer user had their computer plugged into an Uninterruptible Power Supply (or Source). It was a small heavy little rectangular box that was more or less a battery backup. The original intent of these things was to provide emergency power to allow for shutting down your server system or home computer properly during a power emergency.
A UPS would keep your computer running for a minute or two during a power outage. They were not cheap, but later became cheaper and were sold in great numbers to the average home computer market. However, those cheaper ones were not the same thing as the original UPS Battery Backups. What they actually were, and did, was power regulation. They provided constant regulated power at the same voltage all the time. They were little more than very expensive surge protectors. If the power went off in your house, so did the UPS and your computer. There was no 1-2 minutes of power supplied. That came as a complete surprise to most people who bought the cheaper not-really-a-UPS the first time they needed it to do what they thought it would do.
The only reason I mention the UPS here is because even if you had one today, one that kept your computer system up and running during a power outage - even if it is a high-end one that keeps it going for 10 whole minutes - it would not matter in the least. There is no emergency stop/pause/cancel option during a Windows 10 Update or Upgrade. There is no safe way to turn off your computer during that process. If you lose power, even if you lose it 10 minutes after your entire building went dark, chances are the Windows 10 update still has 20 minutes left to go.
After all the Windows 10 upgrades and feature updates over the years, after the stress of living through each one, waiting and watching my HD light flashing (don't stare at it if you are an epileptic!) and finally getting to my desktop, I always wonder the same thing: What was the big fuss about?
Most of what Microsoft has added/changed to Windows 10 are features that I don't need, don't want, and don't even notice. When I do notice something new or changed, 9 times out of 10 I disable it. Like with the Cortana personal productivity assistant; They say that if you disable that it will make something else less usable, or unusable. I am fine with that. Whatever turning it off broke, I didn't want in the first place.
All of us using Microsoft anything in these modern times, we are nothing more than sheep. That would make Microsoft the wolf, you might think. What Microsoft actually is, and has been for many years, is the shepherd of the flock, who is constantly drunk and eyeing us sheep amorously, and with intent.
Microsoft is the wolf too, I guess. It is the wolf in sheep's clothing, that is eating the sheep, but before that is giving it a rather hard night.
That's a nice way of saying that Microsoft has been screwing us for years.