Microsoft fails on new laptop

Very early in the New Year of 2019, I went on a bit of a spending spree. One item was an Acer Aspire1 14 inch laptop, 4GB RAM, 64GB SSD, Apollo Lake CPU, for just AU$240. I wanted something to replace my baby laptop with Intel Cherry Trail CPU, that being very Linux-unfriendly.

So, have had this Aspire1 for almost a couple of months, it has Windows 10S, and have not tried Linux on it, haven't done anything to it, just used it to browse the web while reclining in my lounge chair.

I couldn't even change the web browser, as it will only install from the Windows Store, so was stuck with Edge.

It was doing upgrades automatically. Then, a couple of days ago, was browsing the web, suddenly Windows crashed, with the message:

Your PC ran into a problem and has to restart. We're just collecting some error information then we will restart for you

So it sends off a report to Microsoft, then restarts, then informs me that it is finishing an update. Then got the desktop, then after a couple of minutes, crash again, and the same message as above.

It seems that the last update broke my computer!

This cycle of crash and reboot repeated itself three or four times, then Windows decided, enough, and booted to the Recovery window. Various options, and I chose to reset the computer.

That worked, and I have tried to set things so it won't do automatic updates. They can no longer be stopped, it seems, but I did turn on "metered connection". However, the monthly data limit setting that was in Windows 10 Home, is gone, so Microsoft will still force updates on me, despite having a metered connection.

I have on-going issues with every version of Windows, see the previous post:

http://bkhome.org/news/201808/windows-10-is-soooo-awful.html

I am truly amazed that a brand new Acer laptop has been broken by a Windows update. I saw on TV recently, a company named "Geeks2you" guys who come to your home and fix your computer -- obviously they are doing a roaring trade and can afford to advertise on TV. There must be so many people with broken computers, running slow, virus-ridden, and so on.

Yet, the great unwashed masses will stay with Windows. For now anyway. As they experience the reliability and security of their phones and ChromeOS (and the Apple OSes?), it must raise questions in their brains. Or maybe not. 

Tags: ethos