usnret Loc: Woodhull Il

It was only about 6 weeks ago that I installed windows 10. After a few weeks I figured I might ought to click on the "new updates" option. A few changes were made that reconfigured things a bit but not a big deal. My thinking was that doing the update thing was likely needed as an added security precaution. Just a few days ago I clicked on allow again so it could preform what ever maintenance tasks it needed to do. Soon as I rebooted, things went totally out of whack. Took a fair amount of time to get things back to normal. Had to weed through a bunch of advertisements just to get to my msn home page. Question is, how necessary is it to allow these downloads? (I do have Norton 360 installed). Any and all comments will be most appreciated!

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

I read that a recent update had problems. Seems like we're at the mercy of their programmers when an update is done!

jonjacobik Loc: Quincy, MA

If you don't do them at a convenient time, they'll happen at an inconvient time. They should not effect your life it the way you described unless you are using old hardware.

When a major update occurs, you can reverse it during the first week.

kenArchi Loc: Seal Beach, CA

Is it less problems to buy a new computer with windows 10 versus dowloading to a windows 7 which may have hidden infections buried in your system?

SteveR Loc: Michigan

My computer has been down for a year. I've been using my wife's MacPro. I just updated everything and it seems to be working fine.

usnret Loc: Woodhull Il

Cannot imagine why the age of my hardware would matter. No matter, is there a way to prevent the down loads altogether? If not, shame on a bunch of micro soft goons. Amazon must be compensating them quite well! To that end, Iv'e no doubt you are right and I thank you for your frank and honest reply. I'm getting up in years and I struggle hard to keep up with technology.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

First, toss the Norton - a waste of disk space and CPU time. Secondly, make sure you have recover points enabled and record a recover point. Finally, what browser are you using? If Edge, consider Firefox or Chrome instead. I don’t think any user particularly likes Windows 10 mandated updates, but in general, the virus definitions and vulnerability patches are a good idea, and while some do fail, the vast majority go smoothly, and a recover point will let you revert the system if one does. You can postpone the updates, but not prevent them.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Because the programmers write software to get full benefit from the latest hardware and likewise the hardware engineers design to get the max out of the software (for the price point of the machine).
At some point the software and hardware of an older computer just cannot work well together and eventually can't work together at all.

And the only way to prevent the updates is use a machine that NEVER goes on line.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I had a slight liquid spill on my MacPro 15" about a year ago. I have Windows 10 bootcamped on it and used Windows 10 primarily. Apple quoted $750 over the phone to fix it so I put it off, using my wife's 13" MacPro sans Windows in the meantime. I finally got mine fixed and I've noticed some differences. Safari, for one, loads instantly while Firefox takes some time. In fact, at times, Firefox is downright obstinate and doesn't want to start. I thought I liked Windows 10 better, but after using Safari, I may have to go back. I'll give Windows a little time. There are some things I like about having Windows, such as some of the programs available on it such as Excel, which I've used for years. Also, I have my photos stored in Windows and will continue to keep them there. I also like Windows Word program. So, I may use Safari for communication and Windows for other tasks. It's nice to have the option.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I wonder if you might try removing FireFox and then reloading the latest version - mine loads within a second or so from SSD.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Not long after I posted that I got a message that my 2018 Windows update would no longer be supported. I thought I'd gone to updates and initiated all the updates I missed, but apparently not. Things do work faster after I downloaded the most recent update. However, I still notice a lag time in Windows compared to Sierra when pulling up any webpage.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Steve, I just got the same message on one of my Win 10 machines - it was at 1803. On the same day, I got a note from Raytheon (we supply aerospace parts to them) warning us of a newly discovered vulnerability in Win 10 and advising us to patch to the latest rev ASAP. Oddly, when I tried to update the OS using the update function, the message was that I had reached the end of the release and couldn’t upgrade it (!). Soooo, I downloaded the latest 1909 release, updated the machine with no issues - strange indeed. If you’re at the latest rev of Firefox and Win10, and it’s still slow, then I might look at the performance tab in task manager (ctrl-alt-Del) and see if there are any clues there. If not, then I guess Safari is the choice unless you want to run Chrome (IE/Edge are non-starters for me).

I’m presuming you have adequate memory (at least 8 GB as a BARE minimum) and are running SSDs for storage. Except for photo storage when you need many TB and SSDs are just too expensive in terms of $/TB, HDs and “Fusion” drives are yesterday’s technology, and you pay for them in lots of time waiting for the machine.

Cheers,

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I pulled up the task manager and the firefox icon was there. Does that mean anything other than firefox is running?

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Next, go to the performance tab and look at the network, CPU, memory and disk percentages while opening Firefox, and if one of those stays maxed for more than a second or two, that may give you a clue as to what is causing your slow performance.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Trix, I checked the performance as you said and there is nothing to indicate that the computer is running slowly. In fact, I'd say it's not being stressed at all!! Things are working more smoothly than when I first started using Windows again and probably as a result of the latest upgrade. However, I still must say that things take a bit longer to load in Windows/Firefox than they do in Sierra. Sierra is amazingly immediate. It operates the way you'd want a computer and internet to operate. I don't know if it's Windows or Firefox.