The Upcoming Windows 8.1 Apocalypse 293
arglebargle_xiv (2212710) writes "As most people will have heard, Microsoft will end support for anyone who hasn't upgraded to Win8.1 Update 1 on May 8. What fewer people have heard is that large numbers of users can't install the 8.1 Update, with over a thousand messages in this one thread alone, and that's for tech geeks rather than home users who won't find out about this until their PC becomes orphaned on May 8. Check your Windows Update log, if you've got a "Failed" entry next to KB2919355 then your PC will also become orphaned after May 8."
Re:Apocalypse, Really? (Score:5, Informative)
No, it's microsoft having a different minimum spec for 8.0 and 8.1. It's a cpu issue. Version n.x software should alway run on the same hardware n.x-1 ran on.
What does Microsoft suggest people do about this? Buy new hardware? Live without the security fixes after just a year or so? Downgrade to 7?
In some countries this would possibly enter consumer protection territory. In the UK possibly the 1979 Sale Of Goods Act.
Re:There are people running 8.1? (Score:5, Informative)
Are there still people running windows ?
Many more than all other platform combined, at least on the desktop.
Re:Apocalypse, Really? (Score:0, Informative)
Re:Apocalypse, Really? (Score:5, Informative)
>Freshly minted account
>Only posts on this thread - no other posts on anything ever
>Friends: dingl_ (3643599) is all alone in the world.
>Blaming the user
>Blaming the OEM
>Blaming anyone but Microsoft
Oh look, a new Microsoft shill account.
--
BMO
Maybe you should read what the issue is (Score:2, Informative)
You may want to read up on the issue. The problem is people CAN'T update.
There is a particular update that can fail and then it blocks all the other automatic updates from happening. So without even touching the machine and automatic updates turned on you get a computer that does not get any updates. The machine won't even notify you in the store that 8.1 is available until you get that one particular update cleaned up.
This is through no fault of the end user, its completely a Microsoft issue.
Re:Right... (Score:5, Informative)
As they say, truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense.
It's true. If you are running 8.1, update 1 is mandatory to keep getting support: http://www.infoworld.com/t/mic... [infoworld.com]
Microsoft said it themselves here: http://blogs.technet.com/b/gla... [technet.com]
Originally they only gave 30 days to install it, but then they upped that to 120 because of all the compatibility and installation problems (and the few companies running Windows 8 screaming).
Bizzarely, Windows 8.0 users aren't affected in the same way. This affects 8.1 users only. As usual, Windows 7 users can ignore this ongoing fiasco and keep doing productive work.
Awful (Score:5, Informative)
The thing would not download updates. It would just say "Downloading updates..." and stall for hours at a time. I searched as much as I could online and only found barely any help. Most of it involved stopping the windows update agent service, and then deleting cached update files. But then it would just freeze again when I started it again. After a whole bunch of attempts, I noticed it was filling up the cache folder again after every time I restarted the update service, and that if I waited a bit, and then rebooted the computer, it would apply a few patches. So... that's ultimately how I ended up getting the thing all patched up. Stop update service, delete all cached patches, start update service, wait a few hours while they download in the background with no fucking mention of what is going on, reboot machine. I guess running the windows update must have been causing some sort of deadlock with the background updater or something... What a fucking mess. How in the world did they ship an OS with a non functioning update manager... And to top it all off, I couldn't just download win 8.1 separately, like how you could download the xp service packs separately. If I could have just done that... it would have been a hell of a lot simpler to get everything working. Instead they want you to download it through the microsoft store in metro... which won't show up unless, you guessed it, you already have fully updated through windows update.
On the plus side, everything works fine now that it is fully updated.
Re:Lamepocalypse (Score:5, Informative)
> Or would you really drop nearly $250 on an operating system?
Oh c'mon, that's FUD and you know it. I build systems as a sideline, and I can buy locally Windows 7 Home Premium for $129 and Windows 7 64 Pro for $159. Amazon has Win 7 64 pro for $138.98. Amazon sells Windows 8 64 Pro for $129.99. For less than $10 more, you can get an operating system that actually works and results in fewer tech support calls to me. It's a good investment.
Mind you, as an early adopter of Win8, I bought it for $59 when they were trying to promote it, but after upgrading to 8.1 and seeing no relief, I finally system restored my own system back to 7, because I use my computer to do stuff, not to wrestle with operating systems. And there it sits until Microsoft gets their act together. In the meantime, the systems I build still have Windows 7.
Re:They surely are shuffling things around (Score:5, Informative)
as far as settings go there is a trick that has been around for a while now
"To activate God Mode in Windows 8, follow the steps below:
1. Go to the Desktop
2. Right-click and select New Folder.
3. Right-click on the New Folder and select Rename.
4. Change the name of the folder [just copy & paste the following string]: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
5. Open the folder and you will find every utility Windows 8 has under the sun.
Note: With God Mode, you can easily access all the Administrative options and make any desired adjustments.
Enjoy!"
or just for "fun" https://dl.dropboxusercontent.... [dropboxusercontent.com] is pre rigged for your amusement
Re:Lamepocalypse (Score:3, Informative)
That's the point.