Installed 8.1 on 2015 Win 10 laptop

[Teeotsa]

If you make online purchases you might consider upping your security a little and staying on top of your updates.

No thanks, im fine. As i said above, i don't really care about my security

 

[SCANNERMAN]

I suppose that resonates with the voice of a new generation. Snowden was right.

 

[TechnoMage]

I'm a retired PC tech, and I can't tell you how many times I've been called out to repair a PC that was disabled by a MS Update. So for my own PC's MS Updates remain OFF. And I've never had any reason to regret it.
Today, when I install Windows 8.1, I run two little programs, one totally disables updates, and the other one is "Never 10".

Then, I disable all the Windows Services that I don't need or want. There's more, but that's where I start anyway. And, I have a really great running little HP SFF PC.

 

[SCANNERMAN]

I concur. I still do the updates but I do them at my leisure. First, before I do the updates that I have let stack (Auto updates are always a big mistake) I clean up my drive, make certain my drivers are all updated, run a thorough virus scan, make a system restore point, reboot and begin the updates. I am lazy so I use third party software to block programs I never use. I also use an independant firewall. I do this every month or so. It is said that Win 10 uses a very good VS. I've heard this about other Windows operating systems in the past. I'm not convinced. There are better independant data bases that are more dedicated to keeping their definitions up to date. About twice a year I run a fresh system image because file history only goes so far. Backup is not optional. I doubt that I shall ever run Win 10 on my Work Station and I have yet to see any reason anyone should be using Win 11. I made the grevious error of putting Win 11 on my laptop and it won't let me roll back. Fortunately, these days, I rarely use my laptop. My Work Station also sports Windows 7 Ultimate so even if all these measures fail my EMS is set to resurrect Windows 8.1 from that o/s. Moral of the story: Back up your backups.

 

[TechnoMage]

I can't even remember, how many service calls I've taken over the years, where a customer performed a MS Update on their PC, and it never booted up again!!!!
So after hours of repairs, I would turn OFF MS Updates and never have a problem again.

So when I set up any version of Windows, I always shut off MS Updates. Works for me, and always has.

Cheers Mates, and kudos to the guy who said, "if it works, don't mess with it".
TechnoMage

 

[SCANNERMAN]

Sadly, this is very telling. It really makes one wonder how essential updates really are. Given the time it takes to just reinstall the o/s and recover with a backup it probably takes less time and energy than having to fight with a recent update that won't even let your system recovery function. This happened to me recently and Microsoft was no help at all. (I hadn't called them in seven years so I thought I would see if they had any solutions to the problem they generated on my PC.) In the end I was forced to hack my o/s to make it work. I'll probably just do a migration as I'm considering putting my NVMe into RAID 0 just for kicks. I couldn't agree with you more on your bottom line: Backup! Backup! Backup!

 

[Teeotsa]

I would turn OFF MS Updates and never have a problem again.

Same here My system works better than ever.

 

[TechnoMage]

Back in the day, I could set up a new computer in the time it took me to enjoy a cup of coffee.
But, to properly set up a new PC today, and disable all the security holes, and tweak and tune it to patch the Safe Defaults, takes several hours, even though I use a bundle of batch files and scripts to speed up the process.
I'm so glad that I'm finally retired, and I'm not called on to set up new PC's anymore.
Recently one old friend/customer called me to help him with a new PC that came with Windows 11 installed. He had started the install himself, contrary to my long-standing instructions, and he got confused and just shut the PC off. Arggg!
I saw that he had created a bucket of worms for himself, and I was not inclined to get involved.
So I referred him to a PC Repair shop in town, that I've heard good things about.
I'm Old School, and I refuse to touch any PC with Windows 11 on it. Windows 10 was bad enough.

After evaluating Windows 10 here for myself, I decided that is was just too much of a hassle for an OS to be run on a Home Computer. I'll be running Windows 8.1/Pro from now till.........
(with Classic Shell installed, and MS Updates turned OFF)

Y'all have a great day now, Y'hear?
Happy Memorial Day
TM

 

[SCANNERMAN]

That's amazing but I probably really shouldn't be amazed.
Ironically, retirement has put me in the unofficial business of fixing PC's. I never had time when I was so dedicated to chasing that not-so-mighty dollar. Now I'm a father of five and a grandfather of many. The young ones actually call upon me for help and people ask me to fix their PC's constantly.
We are certainly similar in our regard for Win11. I'm not sure I could bring myself to work on any PC with Win11 except my own laptop and I have a good mind to factory reset that one back to Win10.
I refuse to put Win10 on my work station. I can't risk it messing up all my tools. I have it on my gaming rig because that platform only works with Win10 and Linux. So that one has both. I also run the Classic Shell but I haven't turned my updates off yet.

I'm also on the Windows 10 Forums and I suppose some there are not impressed with many of my "unorthodox" views. I'm too old to care and I know there's more than one way to skin a lizard. We are hardly alone in our regard for Win11. I tend to sympathize with Jody here:

 

[TechnoMage]

A friend sent me a link to a Microsoft download site! He may as well of sent me a copy of DOS 2.0.
Like most of the world, I'm forced to run a MS OS on my IBM Compatible Personal Computer.
Sorry, I don't want anything to do with the Microsoft company.

I've run other computers, that ran on Cobol, Fortran, Fortran II, and even Commodore Basic.
But for personal computing, MS DOS and then MS Windows has become the default OS for everyday use. I'd be running DOS today, if I could use it to get on the internet and check my email.
I've put up with the changes, from Windows 95, to 98, to ME, to XP, Vista, 7, 8.0, 8.1, and finally 10. STOP! I'm not playing anymore.
I'm here on the Win 8.1 forum because this is the end of the road for me. I'm tired of all the updates, upgrades and problems that they all entail.
There are three great programs that I've run on all my 8.1 PC's. (12)
First is the Classic Shell, to give me more control over the looks and actions of the OS.
Then I run a little script that totally disables MS Updates, and another program from GRC.com, called "NEVER 10". Love it!
OH, and I also run the little program from Steve Gibson, called the "Discombobulator". (don't ask!)

I'm finally on the downhill slope....no more punching a time clock, or taking service calls all day, or traveling up to 1500 miles a week, in every kind of foul weather imaginable, fixing more peoples screw ups, than machine failures.

I love to go out to eat, see an occasional movie, and spend time messing with my own PC's, and watch a lot of my favorite TV shows. Now watching "The X Files". lol

Cheers Mate!
TM

 

[SCANNERMAN]

The last Win 10 quality roll up nearly did my system in. I had fun scrambling to rescue it and now I'll likely have to make a drive image of the thing at some point just to make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm planning on running that o/s on RAID 0 via NVMe at some point anyway, but I'm in no rush. Just glad my more serious rig doesn't have Win 10 or later on it. The gaming rig can wait til winter as I'm not really a hard core gamer anyway. Just built it for the bucket list after building so many gaming rigs for other people. It'll likely be a winter project. Retirement is great if you know how to keep busy. I have three young daughters despite my old age so that's easy enough for me.

 

[SCANNERMAN]

The last Win 10 quality roll up nearly did my system in. I had fun scrambling to rescue it and now I'll likely have to make a drive image of the thing at some point just to make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm planning on running that o/s on RAID 0 via NVMe at some point anyway, but I'm in no rush. Just glad my more serious rig doesn't have Win 10 or later on it. The gaming rig can wait til winter as I'm not really a hard core gamer anyway. Just built it for the bucket list after building so many gaming rigs for other people. It'll likely be a winter project. Retirement is great if you know how to keep busy. I have three young daughters despite my old age so that's easy enough for me.

As an after thought I typed this on Win 7 U . The stability and smoothness of this o/s is just amazing now that Microsoft has stopped messing with it. Definitely keeping it. I wish the newer operating systems worked so well.

 

[TechnoMage]

Well, kind of like an old car, when "7" breaks down, it's hard to find repair parts, etc.
Sort of like working on a '49 Studebaker. Runs great, till it doesn't.
Do to malfunctions at the junction, I had to reinstall my Win-7 several time, and every time I'd have to dig out several driver disks to get everything working again the way it was supposed to. What a PITA!

Windows 7 comes with almost NO drivers, and what little it has are just the most generic. It would give me video, of the most basic form, but no Audio and no LAN.
Whereas, I have found out, Windows 8.1 comes with almost the same driver pact as Win-10.
When I install Win 8.1, which I've done many times now, it always installs video, sound and LAN, and usually picks up my Epson printers too. What's not to like? *

And Win 8.1 is somewhat of a trickster too! During the initial install / setup, it may not come up with a driver for some particular piece of hardware, like the correct video driver. But when I boot up the PC a day or two later, VOILA, it has found and installed the correct driver.

On a recent install, Win 8.1 did that to me, with the Sound Driver. On install, I had no sound and I had to resort to an external USB Sound device. A few days later, WOW, I had sound out of the on-board sound port. I only found out about that, when the little message came up in the system tray, that Windows was loading the sound drivers. Surprise!!!

Still in Hobby Mode and still just having fun!
TM

 

[SCANNERMAN]

Now if only the newer operating systems had so many all's well that ends well stories. As for Win 7 I have so many backups and backups of my backups I'm really not that worried about losing drivers. But even in the event that a driver is lost there are several ways of still retrieving them. I have a box full of mini and micro discs full of those old drivers as well, but as one who restores old PCs on a regular basis, I can safely say that there are ways of getting most of them online.