Windows 10 problem

God, I hate the arrogance of the computer industry.....and I worked in it for 30+ years (including both at IBM and Microsoft).

Believe it or not, I still use WXP on my main system. Why? Because it's stable, and it doesn't have complex facilities that I don't need (and which seem to be more for the benefit of the manufacturers than the users). Problem is that more and more applications won't run on WXP, so I also have W10 installed on an old computer where I run such applications (e.g., Quicken).

I purchased W10 Home edition to save bucks since this old computer was only going to be a secondary platform for me. Big mistake. The Home edition basically has the attitude: "We here at Microsoft know what's best for you, so just do what we say." For example, I can not turn off these updates (none of which I want). Microsoft makes it hard to control such things even in the Pro editions, but in the Home edition, it is impossible (even if you know how to tweak the registry etc). So this update you are talking about forced itself on me a couple of days ago. Nothing I could do about it. Lucky for me, the update appears to have been successful.

I truly feel for you. I am very experienced in these things, but I'm afraid no one can help you other than to give you advise (not much help). Having a 2nd computer helps because then at least you have a platform to go to while you wait for Microsoft to provide a fix. If I were you, I would do everything in my power to put my data into safe keeping. Here's how I would do that (this only works for desktops):

1. Remove the hard drive from the down computer.

2. Install said hard drive in another computer as if it were a extra data drive.

3. Using "File Explorer" (or other tool), methodically comb through that hard drive looking for your data files and transfer them to the working computer using some directory scheme that helps you keep track of what's what.

4. Replace that hard drive back into the down computer

5. Now you have your data safe. Once you get your main computer up and running, if all is OK, you wasted your time; but if something goes wrong, and you have to re-install W10, you will still have your data files on that secondary computer. Those files can be transferred back to the main computer, and you are back in business

Doing all this is more complex than it sounds....mainly because you will have to find all your data files, and then figure out where to put them all when you re-load them. OTOH, this can have benefits too because then you can decide how to organize your data directory hierarchy instead of defaulting to the structure Microsoft and the rest of the app providers force on you.

Expect to give up a week of your life to accomplish all this.....can be much less if you can decide that only a few data files are vital, and you are willing to lose all the rest permanently.
 
Colby,

This all makes my head explode. Good luck with the solution.
I wished that I could help you out.

Are you in the PNW getting ready for another boat ride to Alaska.???????

Jack in Alaska
 
Sorry. I didnt have this issue after upgrading 3 PC's to the Spring 2018 Win 10 version.

In the past, I used the Media Creation Tool and ISO image was included to an USB thumb drive which made boot able and was successful. On another computer, I need to make a bootable thumbdrive to save files then used the MCT
 
Thank God I back all my data files up on a routine basis. That is all of them monthly on an external hard drive at home and daily used files every night on a USB drive! So I’m good there. But the thought of any reset requiring me to load all my software again (time consuming) really pisses me off at Microsoft! I do also have a recovery USB that maybe I need to throw in the computers travel bag. I’m hoping I can find another computer user in the marinas the next few nights that will download the necessary files for me on a bootable usb that I can see possibly fixing this ms fu! If not, I’ve only got my iPad and iPhone along to work from, neither of which I care to do much internet with!

Jack, see my other thread,2018 inside passage south, for my cruising plans and current status. Next year I’m still hoping to get to SE Alaska. Colby
 
I just booted up my computer at the cabin and got a notice that it was updating Windows 10. 30 minutes later it was done and, after looking at the photo card from my game camera, I came to this site. No problems yet, but since the updates seem to be automatic (i.e., without consent), I'm not sure that I can do anything to stop this on my home computer. I'm starting to see an Apple in my future.

Mark
 
Marco Flamingo":39hz2jnj said:
I'm starting to see an Apple in my future.
Click to expand...

This problem is not exclusive to Microsoft. I lost a MacBook Pro a couple years ago that became a brick and never recovered from a forced OS update. It was "forced" in the sense that I couldn't connect a new iPad to my Mac without first updating iTunes, and I couldn't update iTunes without first updating the OS. I had always resisted those iTunes "updates" as long as possible (seemed like every "update" was a downgrade in functionality at that time), and so when I finally did, I lost the whole laptop.

On my Windows 10 laptop, there have been a couple of forced updates that have not gone well either (taking hours to install, and resulting me having to do several hard-reboots due to no progress for hours), but nothing to the extent of what Colby has experienced or what happened to my MacBook Pro.

Computers. They seem to give me almost as much grief as boat trailers in salt water!

Good luck Colby, and was nice meeting you in Friday Harbor!

-Mike
 
MikeR":hm058hql said:
Marco Flamingo":hm058hql said:
I'm starting to see an Apple in my future.
Click to expand...

This problem is not exclusive to Microsoft. I lost a MacBook Pro a couple years ago that became a brick and never recovered from a forced OS update. It was "forced" in the sense that I couldn't connect a new iPad to my Mac without first updating iTunes, and I couldn't update iTunes without first updating the OS. I had always resisted those iTunes "updates" as long as possible (seemed like every "update" was a downgrade in functionality at that time), and so when I finally did, I lost the whole laptop. ......
-Mike
Click to expand...

I went over to the Apple cart about 20 years ago and still have a couple of older computers which were never updated from MS Windows XP or SE. These computers are never connected to the internet, are well backed up, just in case...and used for specific issues.

I have found that as long as you do back up the Apple computers regularly, that they do not come to grief from software issues. However, I did have a 14 month old MacBook 12" loose the hard drive about 18 months ago. That computer had the SSD soldered to the main board, and I was told it would be almost as expensive to get a new main board as to buy a new computer. I updated to a Mac book pro, and have no problems...However, I do back up all to the time capsule, external hard drives and the I cloud. No data or material was lost. The most recent macs I have paid for the extended warrantee and Apple care--certainly seems to have been worthwhile. (In that I did have some questions--and no failures!). Just one option. Plus the I pads are so good now, that traveling I just take a backed up SSD "hard drive" (about 2 x 3" 3/8") of 1 Tb and an I pad. Leave the computer at home.
 
Leaving the computer at home isn't really the best option on extended travels. Not only do I use it for chart planning, photo organizing, email and Internet, but bill paying and some other necessities. I'm just not as comfortable using my iPad and iPhone for those last items and the first few items can only be done on my laptop... :( Colby
 
Colby, We have our I pads and I phones synced with the Mac Books, and information in the I cloud. Thus we can do almost every thing on the I pad including photo manipulation, filing etc. There is a good article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, on why your I phone is just as good as your computer...I have not finished it yet, but a number of good suggestions there. Less stuff to take on the boat!. With a separate keyboard as part of the case, the typing becomes a rapid as on the computer...Just works for us.
 
Well, I was able to download the necessary file on a library computer and after some messing around able to get my computer working again. Unfortunately as I expected, all my software is gone and will need to be reloaded! :cry: Sure wish there was a better operating system but much of my software is built for PC! Colby
 
Colby, I know this may sound odd, but I no longer use either Windows or Mac. I run a cheap (sub $200) Chromebook. The Chromebook on its own is the best web browser there is, and it can run Android apps too, BUT thanks to Chrome's Linux heritage, you can download Crouton and install a full Linux operating system. I am using Ubuntu 16.04, the LTS (Long Term Support) version. "Crouton" stands for "Chromium OS Universal Chroot Environment." This is a series of scripts by Dan Schneider that allows you to a run full version of Ubuntu alongside Chrome OS and easily switch back and forth.

It is very easy to install, there are lots of guides on the net. Here is a good guide. There is a litte bit of stuff you need to do at a command line, but you can mostly copy and paste the commands, you do not need to be a computer nerd.

Not only is Linux more secure than either Windows or Mac OS, but virtually all software is free, and there is a ton of it. About the only thing I can't do with Linux is manage my iPhone and iPad, and I have a (lame) 2011 MacBook Pro to do that. I have been using Chromebooks exclusively for a couple of years now, and thanks to the Linux capability, I have not missed the "lame stream" computers that you all seem to feel a need to use. Not sure why! It seems you guys have nothing but problems! I am happy as a clam. PM me if you want more particulars!
 
What about software like Quicken, Turbo tax, Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, Garmin Homeport & Mapsource, MS Office, Outlook and Works? Those are probably the main software I use and some others I’m sure. Oh, and iTunes! Colby
 
colbysmith":11v5f0i6 said:
What about software like Quicken, Turbo tax, Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, Garmin Homeport & Mapsource, MS Office, Outlook and Works? Those are probably the main software I use and some others I’m sure. Oh, and iTunes! Colby
Click to expand...

The MS Office entire suite is completely covered by LibreOffice. Chrome is a better browser than Firefox (IMHO) so you don't need Firefox. Thunderbird has long since been left behind - you can do everything Thunderbird does with better web clients. Outlook? Gmail, Google Calendar, etc., do all of that. Works? you must be kidding! The other programs you list probably will run on Linux under Wine but if you need a Windows computer for one or more of your programs, hang on to an old one, but you will pay the price of having a computer that does not work a lot of the time, gets viruses, and gets updated by MS right when you are in the middle of doing something important. And Garmin Homeport? What is that? Support for a dedicated Garmin chartplotter? Dedicated chartplotters are on the way out, being replaced for a lot of folks by iPads and some very capable navigation apps. In fact I heard commercial airline pilots have abandoned the tons of paper maps thye used to carry for iPads in the cockpit, does that match your experience? And iTunes, I acknowledge there is no Linux equivalent, so I have my MacBook Pro, which is not 1/10th the computer my Chromebook is at 1/6th the cost - it is slow and has spinning beach balls that drive me nuts, but I hang onto it for iTunes. Obviously you should stick with what works for you, but this thread started off with your complaints about Windows! I will only say MY computing experience has been enhance by an order of magnitude since I switched to a Chromebook with Linux.
 
The MS Office entire suite is completely covered by LibreOffice. Chrome is a better browser than Firefox (IMHO) so you don't need Firefox. Thunderbird has long since been left behind - you can do everything Thunderbird does with better web clients. Outlook? Gmail, Google Calendar, etc., do all of that. Works? you must be kidding! The other programs you list probably will run on Linux under Wine but if you need a Windows computer for one or more of your programs, hang on to an old one, but you will pay the price of having a computer that does not work a lot of the time, gets viruses, and gets updated by MS right when you are in the middle of doing something important. And Garmin Homeport? What is that? Support for a dedicated Garmin chartplotter? Dedicated chartplotters are on the way out, being replaced for a lot of folks by iPads and some very capable navigation apps. In fact I heard commercial airline pilots have abandoned the tons of paper maps thye used to carry for iPads in the cockpit, does that match your experience? And iTunes, I acknowledge there is no Linux equivalent, so I have my MacBook Pro, which is not 1/10th the computer my Chromebook is at 1/6th the cost - it is slow and has spinning beach balls that drive me nuts, but I hang onto it for iTunes. Obviously you should stick with what works for you, but this thread started off with your complaints about Windows! I will only say MY computing experience has been enhance by an order of magnitude since I switched to a Chromebook with Linux
Click to expand...

I think a lot of it comes down to familiarity. Other than the occasional glitches, what works for me works well. Yes, I do use works. While a lot of my spreadsheets are now in an excel format, I also have some other works programs I use. And again, familiarity. Even before I left flying, we were converting over to the iPads. But to be honest, a paper chart was still much easier to read. (Did I tell you change is hard! lol) And while my chartplotter has great mapping, it's still nice to pull out a chart and see everything at once, rather than scrolling or zooming out. Homeport is charting software. I can plan and copy all my routes on my computer, then transfer them to my chartplotter. Or I can copy all my tracks to my computer and edit them. With all my travels, I keep a lot of tracks, routes and waypoints for the next time I go somewhere. I doubt my chartplotter would hold all of them.
Yet, I'm still intrigued by your recommendation of a Chromebook, so sometime I'll have to take a look at one. I suspect however, that it's still not hassle free. No computer is! Guess it's kind of like my iPhone vs. an Android. With my last purchase of the iPhone 7, I sat and stared a long time at the Samsung S7 as I was getting fed up with Apple's propeitary products. Pretty much the same price. However, when I got my previous iPhone 6, I went for an android, and that lasted 1 week before I went back to the iPhone. In the end I got the iPhone 7 and didn't have to make any changes or relearn anything new. During this "stare off", I spoke with a nieces significant other, who works for Verizon, and another Best Buy salesman. Both said it really comes down to preference, and that 1/2 of the folks that changed from one or the other with a new purchase, brought it back to go back to the operating system they had prior. Colby
 
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