Because Shiny Things Are Fun - The New New Windows v Linux Thread

Y'all can keep your beige towers.

Me, I'll stick with my gunmetal black tower.

Originally Posted by soppy Back to your statement, I hate when Windows Updates. I really don't know what it is deciding to install and half of the time the update fails to continue after it installs, asks me to reboot and goes to "Stage 3 of configuring". So it then takes 20 more minutes to reload the Windows Backup and then finally I'm back at my desktop. But oh wait!!! New updates are available!! Let's try again!!! :/ Nope... I've only had Linux screw me over once on updates (Fedora 8 to 9) but that's because Fedora 9 sucked anyways. I've never (even now when I run Arch-Testing), have I had my computer crash due to a bad update. Can't say the same about Windows. :/

Yeah, IIRC I had heard some bad things about XP's SP3 when it was first released (this was back before knew much of anything about Linux), so I would always have to uncheck it whenever MS wanted to put it on my computer.

I've never had the problem you're describing of it still configuring things after a reboot, though...but it did tend to annoy me that you almost always had to reboot after an update. With Arch I don't have to. Hell, I don't even have to update if I don't want to! But I usually do anyway.

Originally Posted by jiml8 Y'all can keep your beige towers. Me, I'll stick with my gunmetal black tower.

...and I'll stick with my maroon-reddish laptop.

The only Linux update that require a reboot to take effect is the kernel itself. And even then it's harmless not to reboot, you'll just keep using the old kernel.

One thing I HATE HATE HATE about Windows updates is that every 5 minutes, it pops up a window that you have to cancel or it will reboot automatically, and you can't stop it!

Originally Posted by MTK358 One thing I HATE HATE HATE about Windows updates is that every 5 minutes, it pops up a window that you have to cancel or it will reboot automatically, and you can't stop it!

They're just trying to protect you from all of that pesky "thinking" and "decision making"!

Originally Posted by MTK358 The only Linux update that require a reboot to take effect is the kernel itself. And even then it's harmless not to reboot, you'll just keep using the old kernel. One thing I HATE HATE HATE about Windows updates is that every 5 minutes, it pops up a window that you have to cancel or it will reboot automatically, and you can't stop it!

That's very true. I was getting there :P

Yes, Linux is kind of safeguarded from having to reboot after installing updates. I can use my Ubuntu netbook for hours after I install updates (the only thing after a kernel update that it plagues me with is the red power button in the upper right corner) and can reboot when I feel like it. That is a serious problem with Windows.

I usually get a message box on XP asking "Restart Now" or "Restart Later".

Originally Posted by MTK358 One thing I HATE HATE HATE about Windows updates is that every 5 minutes, it pops up a window that you have to cancel or it will reboot automatically, and you can't stop it!

You could type shutdown -a to abort a shutdown, if you can get to the DOS prompt.

But how would I get to it in time?

It still doesn't solve the fact that Windows Update is terribly stupid for doing that.

You can press the windows key plus the letter 'r' to open a dialog box and type cmd.exe

Of course, if the pop up window prevents you from typing shortcut keys, then I don't know no other way. :/

I don't understand.

The popup window has a progress bar that counts down to the automatic shutdown, and buttons to cancel the automatic shutdown and shut down now.

The problem is that when you cancel it, it comes back in a few minutes. So if you dont's want your computer to shut down, you have to never leave your computer and deal with the annoying popup every few minutes.

I found these two links online, maybe they can help

How to stop Windows Update nagging you to restart after an update
http://www.the-pc-guru.com/How_to_st...s_Update_n.php

Prevent Windows Update from Forcibly Rebooting Your Computer
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windo...your-computer/

Nice that you can disable it, even though I don't really care since I'm not using Windows

And still too bad that they can't just put a "don't nag me to restart every 10 minutes" checkbox in the settings.

Oops! Sorry -- I though you were

That's OK.

I just pointed out something I don't like about Windows Updates, both because this is the Linux vs. Windows thread and because someone argued Windows updates were more trouble-free.

Yes, and here's what I think:

Who is going to want to reboot after *ALL* updates and programs are installed, even if they are totally unrelated to the functioning of the system? In my opinion that's downright stupid, and Windows forces that on you.

The Regi$try is to blame, that miserable good-for-nothing piece of crap that basically dictates the configuration of the system instead of Linux's highly decentralized configuration system that isn't built into the kernel. It was a very bad idea from the beginning and can get corrupted so easily that the mere thought of editing it makes even highly trained power users scream. And when it does get corrupted, there's no other way to restore it but to reinstall Windows. If any Linux configuration files have syntax errors, you can edit them to correct the errors. But Windows's highly centralized configuration system causes your system to not boot when even the slightest thing goes wrong with the goddang Regi$try.

Windows is like a compiler that gives you errors instead of warnings or notes.