Update Fatigue

[k4kyv]

I normally put my computer in sleep mode overnight.  Soon I'll be shutting it down completely, pulling the power cord and disconnecting the cable connection from the modem to avoid lightning damage.

The problem is, every time I start it up the next day, it takes for ever while all kind of updates load and slow the computer down to a crawl.  The OS, the anti-virus, the firewall, the browser and/or other software.  I used to get a couple of update notices a week. Now it is several a day.  Reminds me of the proliferation of junk phone calls.

I suppose if I left the computer running 24/7 it would automatically download these updates overnight and I could install them at my leisure (I refuse to have updates automatically downloaded and installed without my knowledge and okay). But if I left the computer running over night during T-storm season it would be guaranteed to become toast within weeks, or at best I would be getting up in the middle of the night to disconnect everything when awoken by thunder. In addition, I happen to subscribe to the school of thought that the hard drive will last longer if it is not spinning thousands of RPM non-stop 24/7 even though my window of opportunity and convenience for using the computer may be only one or two 2-3 hour time period per day.

I used to leave my receiver and vfo running all the time to avoid warm-up drift and the strain of daily power-up.  Now, I disconnect everything, antennas and all for the same reason as above, plus to extend tube life.  I have finally concluded, from experience, that small receiving tubes don't last longer if you run them 24/7.

But at least I don't have to wait 15 minutes while my radio equipment updates itself every time I hit the power switch.

[KF1Z]

Just change the update settings ....

I don't allow any automatic updates.

If a popup says I really should update "whatever program"...
Then I let it do it usually...

None of them take much time at all, so it's no inconvenience.

[WQ9E]

Don,

How about a wireless router with a wireless card in your PC which will prevent the PC from getting zapped by a surge on the incoming network cable.   Then put the PC on a good surge protector (and also use a good whole house protector like the ICE units).  You should be able to set your hard drives to spin down after a certain time without activity.

Thunderstorms are forecast for here tonight so I will be disconnecting the antennas later.  All of the ham gear has AC killed by a separate shutoff to its breaker panel.  I was reminded again of why I don't rely upon the built in power switches when I recently finished restoring a Trio TX-310 transmitter and prepared to hook up the matching JR-310 receiver which I have owned for awhile.  I would not have been surprised by problems with the "new" transmitter but when I plugged in the receiver I was greeted by sparks and smoke from a power switch that had developed low resistance to ground since I last used the receiver.  I had not updated the power cord to three wire and the Trio was wired with the switch in the non-fused side of the line cord and that side ended up plugged into the load side of the outlet.  It now sports a proper 3 wire cord with the fuse and switch in the load side.   The odd little Trio combo is now working as it should.

[K5UJ]

What kind of computer do you have Don?  i.e. what op. sys.? 

this time of year I simply uplug everything and leave all the antennas disconnected outside.  it takes about half an hour to get everything hooked up and running so I don't operate much until winter.

[w1vtp]

Don,

How about a wireless router with a wireless card in your PC which will prevent the PC from getting zapped by a surge on the incoming network cable.   Then put the PC on a good surge protector (and also use a good whole house protector like the ICE units).  You should be able to set your hard drives to spin down after a certain time without activity.

Thunderstorms are forecast for here tonight so I will be disconnecting the antennas later.  All of the ham gear has AC killed by a separate shutoff to its breaker panel.  I was reminded again of why I don't rely upon the built in power switches when I recently finished restoring a Trio TX-310 transmitter and prepared to hook up the matching JR-310 receiver which I have owned for awhile.  I would not have been surprised by problems with the "new" transmitter but when I plugged in the receiver I was greeted by sparks and smoke from a power switch that had developed low resistance to ground since I last used the receiver.  I had not updated the power cord to three wire and the Trio was wired with the switch in the non-fused side of the line cord and that side ended up plugged into the load side of the outlet.  It now sports a proper 3 wire cord with the fuse and switch in the load side.   The odd little Trio combo is now working as it should.

Absolutely agree with this method.  Another possible CYB would be to install an imaging SW and make a habit of imaging your compuker.  This image could be used to reinstall your OS on a new HD should there be a catastrophic failure. Full recovery should not take more than 30 to 45 minutes and you're back on the air, so to speak.  This technique works for a compuker that has been trashed by a virus also.

Al

[K9ACT]

It is my humble opinion that updates, automatic or not, are the source of more problems than they solve.

I allow no updates unless they specifically relate to a problem I have and they never do.  To make matters worse, one rarely knows WHY the update in the first place.

To allow gigabites of junk into my computer, 99% of which relates to stuff that I don't even use or care about, is sort of like leaving the keys in my car in a bad neighborhood.

I have never had a virus or any of these sorts of problems and the conclusion is obvious.

However, some programs just won't take no for an answer and they keep asking but I just keep ditching them.

Why update something that works?  If something does not work, I go look for a fix.  Restore to a previous date is frequently the magic bullet.

js



 

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Why does it take so long to boot up when your processor can run billions of operations a second?  Boot up should be nearly instananeous, if MS actually knew what they were doing.

[flintstone mop]

Imaging hmmmmmmm
Most people think of disk imaging as a backup utility. As you've pointed out, if you "mess things up", you can restore the system to the original state that it had at the time you took the image. The problem is that the image is monolithic - all or nothing. That means any and all changes you've made since making the image will be lost when you restore. All of them.

"... any and all changes you've made since taking the image will be lost when you restore."Now, I don't know about you, but while I do "mess things up" on a regular basis, I also do many, many other things that I don't really want to lose. So for me the approach to restoring from a full disk image would be to first try to copy off the data that I want to preserve, hope that I got it all, restore the image, and then restore the data. That seems like a fair amount of work to me.

Purpose for imaging?
The single biggest use for imaging software is in corporations, where large numbers of machines need to be built out frequently, and identically. Rather than running through the setup for Windows and whatever other applications might be part of the standard configuration over and over for each machine, it's done once, and then imaged. That image can then be restored onto multiple hard disks significantly faster than the standard setup process.


Good idea to use I.C.E. to protect my DSL modem from MaNature

Don must have a PIII running at 300mhz and 512meg of RAM. Very slow, as I HAD one too and retired it. Gets too jammed up. Every clik to a new website and the DAM ads, not pop-ups, load first before your requested content loads.

Fred

[K5UJ]

Okay I see part of the problem--you guys are running windows PCs.   Unfortunately the ham world seems to be dominated by microsoft for some reason.  If you get a mac (a mac mini does all of the most routine things and works FB for me) and run OS X (That's "OS Ten") you can configure the update checking function to run on some regular interval (I have mine set up to check Apple for updates every Friday) or only when you tell it to check.   It downloads everything after you enter your password, but you get to find out what they do and pick and choose what you want to download, or blow them all off which I frequently do.   Anything I install goes right in and works--a no brainer.   This thing you are dealing with Don sounds like windows hell.

[wb1aij]

When a computer takes a long time to boot sometimes the problem is that there are too many tasks in the start up menu..... good place to start as it is quick & easy to check & modify. Next, you can leave your computer running but have the monitor & disc drive shut down after a period of time which is settable. What I do is leave my computer on all night on Saturday to do all of its updating duties at once when I am not using it. Works for me  so far.

[KE6DF]

Okay I see part of the problem--you guys are running windows PCs.   Unfortunately the ham world seems to be dominated by microsoft for some reason.  If you get a mac (a mac mini does all of the most routine things and works FB for me) and run OS X (That's "OS Ten") you can configure the update checking function to run on some regular interval (I have mine set up to check Apple for updates every Friday) or only when you tell it to check.   It downloads everything after you enter your password, but you get to find out what they do and pick and choose what you want to download, or blow them all off which I frequently do.   Anything I install goes right in and works--a no brainer.   This thing you are dealing with Don sounds like windows hell.

Windows has all the same options. You can choose schedule from every day to just once a week and select the time.

You can also have the system download the updates on a schedule, but not install them until you want to. You install them by manually starting Windows Update.

The download program is called Windows Update and when you start it select "change settings".

On the HD issue, we just let our four computers run 24/7 -- although the power saver options are set to blank the screen after the computer is idle for a while.

HDs have MTBFs in the 500,000 hrs and up. Probably you don't need to worry about HD life issues.

Stisitically some do fail, but usualy it's within the first year due to manufacturing defects -- or "abuse" like lightning or poor cooling.

Here in CA we have so few thunder storms that just a surge protector is all that's needed -- usually.

Although my main desktop machine is on a UPS.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I generally switch the power on in the house office (where the computers are) in the morning and shut all power down before I go to bed. If I leave the house for a number of hours, all power in the room is shut down. I see no point in leaving all the computers running 24/7. The only thing that runs 24/7 is the cable modem box which also drives the TV and telephone service. Boot up and settling down of the computers, routers, switches, etc. generally takes 30 seconds or less. I set the Window's script for Window's updates to check once a week. The computers also have a script to check for updates to drivers for hardware that was initially installed by the computer manufacturer  and it's also set to check once a week. The updates are downloaded, but not installed, until I initiate the action, if I desire to do so. If a thunderstorm is on the horizon, all power is shut down. It makes no sense to me to leave all this hardware electrically active, even in sleep mode. It's energy wasteful. Likewise, when I'm not in the radio shack, all AC power is off. Nothing there ever stays on 24/7; that's really asking for trouble.

[K5UJ]

Good things to make a practice of Pete; powering down completely is a good habit to get into.