Everything seems to need a software update these days

[mustang1]

I'm really into tech, I love it. But when I want to get away from it, I just can't. It seems like everything needs a software update these days. The games console, each game on the games console, the various computers, the phones and tablets and all the apps installed also need updates. I dont like just installing updates without knowing what's being installed but it seems most of the time I just click update and let it do it's stuff.

Sometimes Garmin is broken, sometimes the computer. A new security bug here or there. It's crazy! While I really like Di2, I don't think i can get it; not only due to the expense but more than that, I'm pretty sure if something stops working on it and I take it to the shop, they'll ask if I've installed the latest update.

The car dealers saying the headlight doesn't work because it needs a software update. WTH are they smoking? If I go for a simple bike ride and afterwards I want to log my distance traveled and hey presto, garmin isn't working. What shall I do, try and fix it or wait in case it starts working again after a few days? And how do I fix it, just disconnect bluetooth and re-connect it? I paid money for this product. It was working when I bought it and then thru no fault of my own, it's now not working.

I used to be all for technology/computers/software control systems and things like that. There are many benefits but sometimes I sure miss the days when you got a video tape or DVD rental and it just worked. There was no resetting routers, there was no buffering issues, there was no "pay extra for HD" (HD, there's another joke). I remember the days when you user to muck around with your computer and you was called a nerd. Nowadays everyone stares at their phones while walking into the road.

As software has become easier to program, software quality really has taken a nose dive. In the 1990s and 2000s, the big advantage with web-apps (horrendous as they were) was that you didn't have to worry about software updates. The web servers contained the software and the website owners did the updates _locally_. The only thing we had to do was update the OS and the browser.

But would I go back to those days? I don't think so, but sometimes I sure can see the benefits.

 

[winjim]

Some things only need updates because the network has told them they need updates. Switch the network off and they'll run fine. I tend to do this with games that I think might want to download for three hours before letting me play them.

My bank has just told me that their app will no longer work on my version of Android, so it looks like I'll be spending £300 on a new phone so I can keep up with my banking.

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

It’s all going to end in tears

I think that something will grind all of this to a halt at some point and people will not know what’s hit them

 

[MontyVeda]

I think half the time with gadgets and games, it's not really a software update... it's the manufacturer doing a sly survey to see how many users they have.

I can't think of a reason my printer would need an update, but every month or two, Kodak tells me there's an 'update' available.

 

[FishFright]

Paging @anyprogrammerordeveloper and come armed with fire and sharpened stakes.

 

[Drago]

I too like gadgets - I am a radio ham after all - but only where there is a proven benefit to me.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I think half the time with gadgets and games, it's not really a software update... it's the manufacturer doing a sly survey to see how many users they have.

I can't think of a reason my printer would need an update, but every month or two, Kodak tells me there's an 'update' available.

Kodak's "Updates" are pieces of code that stop third party inks from working with your printer. Whenever the cheap ink suppliers get round the latest software and sell you compatible inks at a third of the Kodak price, hey presto, Kodak decide to send you down another update.

I never, ever, register a printer online. Just use it out of the box and let them stick their rogue software downloads.

 

[Milkfloat]

I think a lot of you are looking back with very rose tinted spectacles. Tech of yesteryear was often far, far more of a pain to get working than now. Do you not remember loading via a tape on your spectrum, manually setting a video to record or searching for drivers for Windows 3.1?

 

[swee'pea99]

The ones that really hack me off is where they hobble or even disable a piece of kit you've paid good money for.

My Samsung smart tv was fine, then it got an update, and now it's something called TV plus, which means every time I turn it on, rather than being on the channel I left it on, which is how I like it, it's on Samsung's special channel, pushing me to rent movies. My phone used to be very good at doing voice-activated searches, but since an update, when I say 'Ok google', instead of opening google search, it pops up a message trying to get me to install Google Assistant, which I don't want.

Neither is a deal-breaker - I just change the channel, or say Ok Google again, at which point it gives up and gives me the search facility I want. But both are a bloody nuisance, and have genuinely degraded devices for which I paid good money, and for which I did not need or want spurious 'updates' that nobbled their usefulness.

 

[classic33]

I think a lot of you are looking back with very rose tinted spectacles. Tech of yesteryear was often far, far more of a pain to get working than now. Do you not remember loading via a tape on your spectrum, manually setting a video to record or searching for drivers for Windows 3.1?

It's more to do with the fact that the updates are "automatic", installing themselves. I prefer to be able to decide if I want them updating.

 

[User6179]

New Windows 10 major update is out, spent 6 months changing settings, drivers, bios, etc on my computer to sort BSOD issues out and the new update has changed all the settings again, marvellous.

 

[Drago]

Aye, that boils my bladder too. I run a lot of weird drivers to be compatible with may ham radio gear, and an unwanted W10 update removes the lot and I have to reinstall it all. Daft.

 

[aferris2]

New Windows 10 major update is out, spent 6 months changing settings, drivers, bios, etc on my computer to sort BSOD issues out and the new update has changed all the settings again, marvellous.

It's totally failed on my wife's computer. Microsoft are blaming Avast. Avast saying nothing's wrong... All I get is a black desktop, lots of error messages, and a start button but nothing in it. Thanks!
I'm hoping that the solution I am running at the moment will get it back to normal. So far 4 hours spent trying to fix it and I haven't even started running the downloaded program on the previously working PC. That's supposed to take an hour or so.

 

[User6179]

It's totally failed on my wife's computer. Microsoft are blaming Avast. Avast saying nothing's wrong... All I get is a black desktop, lots of error messages, and a start button but nothing in it. Thanks!
I'm hoping that the solution I am running at the moment will get it back to normal. So far 4 hours spent trying to fix it and I haven't even started running the downloaded program on the previously working PC. That's supposed to take an hour or so.

If you google windows update problems 1803, I think its 1803, theres a website listing all the known problems with links on fixes.

 

[Asa Post]

I left the Windows 10 update to install itself when I went to bed last night.

This morning, the first job was to uninstall all the bloatware it had added.

No doubt Microsoft will reinstall it with the next update.