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Comment by herpderperator | Hacker News Reader

Before Windows 10 I would just disable the Windows Update service and enable it on my own schedule when I wanted to do updates. I've had my machines stay undisruptive for months on end, sometimes up to a year without rebooting, and the reboots would be initiated by me (hardware changes, power outages, or updates that I actually wanted to install.)

Since Windows 10, Microsoft has caught onto this and added a new service that checks if you disabled the Windows Update service and re-enables it automatically, and sets permissions that initially deny you from tampering with it that then makes this a little more challenging to get around, but still possible to do manually. I later found Windows Update Blocker (WUB) which does all of this for you in one click. I have been using it ever since, and have never again been nagged by any update or experienced an unexpected reboot: https://www.sordum.org/9470/windows-update-blocker-v1-5/

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I think I killed mine with the shutup10 tool. I can't imagine having my OS telling me when to update (and potentially kill the features I need, e.g. the Hyper-V) and when to restart. I understand the need to force an Office-running, email-attachment-clicking user to update periodically, but as a dev this is way past the line I would ever tolerate. And thanks to (also) folks like you, I don't have to, so thanks for that.

Another first thing I do after Windows 10 install is killing the task scheduler. Among other things, it contains a broken task related to Xbox support, which activates on idle and takes up like 50% of the CPU. I think that people think that the machine is running a defrag or some other optimization.

If Linux got its UI business together, I would flee from the Windows immediately. I've been 10 years on Mac but we all know where that's going. Now with WebKit and Node.js so advanced, I'm not sure what's stopping us from creating a really nice Linux UI ecosystem. Perhaps the state of Linux laptop drivers, mainly the touchpad ones.

>Not sure whats stopping us from creating a really nice Linux UI ecosystem. Perhaps the state of Linux laptop drivers, mainly the touchpad ones.

Only one laptop where I use a touchpad, but I've had no issues with it. Optimus was a bigger issue, but Pop worked with it oob.

I think the bigger issue with the Linux UI ecosystem is that everyone has a different idea on what it should be. I've found that with distro's that have opinionated defaults (Zorin, elementary, Pop!_OS to some extent) almost everything is a consistent UI.

I would even say my Pop laptop has a nicer/more consistent UI than win10 oob.

Microsoft has caught onto this and added a new service that checks if you disabled the Windows Update service and re-enables it automatically, and sets permissions that initially deny you from tampering with it that then makes this a little more challenging to get around, but still possible to do manually.

Before Windows 10, I knew of only two categories of software would behave so offensively as to actively fight your attempts to control it: malware and DRM (which some would argue could be grouped into the former, but I digress...) Software that "phoned home" with details on what you did with it was also widely criticised and known as "spyware".

It's sad that such tactics have now become the norm, with the excuse of "security" justifying the means.

This sounds like fighting with your own computer. No thanks, I go to GNU/Linux.

Running GNU/Linux involves a different kind of fighting with your computer for a lot of machines. The intent is different but the result is the same.

Depending on the user, the psychological result can be quite different. I mean it doesn't really matter if Windows reboots and kills your computation overnight, you can just do it again! On average over time, it probably doesn't waste your time any more than making Linux work would. But it feels rude.

On average over time, I feel that Linux definitely loses out on desktop. But it's not about rudeness, but about the choice of when you want to use the administration time. If you have a strict deadline or presentation coming up, then that 1 hour for updates or a forced restart can be much more costly than when the update happens during the weekend or while watching a movie.

Yes but I've been in a situation trying to debug CUPS because it was corrupting fonts, and urgently needed a print out of something. So, pick your poison...

My solution to this is to use a LTS type release that's reinstalled and configured once every few years for boring desktop work. Almost never add or remove any software, just apply updates weekly or so.

For dev or other technical work I find a more up to date system that undergoes frequent changes and might break on occasion to be tolerable.

Around the time Win10 came out, these effort curves crossed to Linux favor for me. Running bog standard Ubuntu LTSes has given me zero issues and zero shenanigans over the past decade.

Sadly, I work for an enterprise and need MS Office

Works with CrossOverOffice, at least the not-latest versions.

Relation: happy customer

I'm glad Windows forces updates, I certainly don't want machines like this connecting to the public network.

By all means make the default behaviour apply security updates, but that is very different to forcing updates of all types no matter what.

In any case, for users who do have some idea of what they're doing, OS security updates are probably a relatively low priority today. Frequent robust backups, proper firewalls, and applying security updates to any applications that pull content from remote sources are likely to be more important in practice. If you get to the point where you're relying on your OS to protect you, you've probably already gone wrong at least once. Most desktop OSes won't do much to protect you against threats like data exfiltration anyway, because the security models are nowhere near sophisticated enough.

Would you be glad if your government forced you to live in the way it wanted you to, "for your health and safety"?

This gradual creeping rise of authoritarianism in all aspects of our life really really boils my blood.

"Those who give up freedom for security deserve neither."

What freedom am I giving up? I use Linux.

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