We're all doomed. Well, Windows users are:

Win7 and 8.1 to get cumulative updates – you no longer control your Win7 or 8.1 machine

It is possible to turn off the updates and just install the monthly security updates should you so wish.

Dave,

I know of no way to take control of updates.

In my attempts to understand Win10 (generally unsuccessful), it seems M$ arrogated to itself to force updates. The only option we get is to delay reboots until we can do it safely, at our convenience. There is a time limit on this (three days, if I recall correctly). Pass the M$ arbitrary time limit, reboot will occur under Windows-update control.

It's (almost} enough to send me back to Linux ...

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"We have met the enemy and he is us." -- Pogo
Greetings from coastal Washington state, the scenic US Pacific Northwest.

With Windows 10, Microsoft Blatantly Disregards User Choice and Privacy: A Deep Dive

I got the impression that it was still possible with 7 & 8 to only get the security updates and to do these at one's leisure. However, having been Windows free this Century on my own machines I could well be talking nonsense!

Thanks for the link, Les. 'Tis a good summary.

I was unaware of Cortana's deep involvement in M$' spy-ops. Fortunately, 'she' is disabled on all but one of my Win10 boxes -- a box which runs only CPDN and QCN.

By the way, I run six copies of Win10, no two of which behave in exactly the same way. Settings are as close as I can make them but that doesn't mean seemingly random idiosyncrasies don't exist within and among them, especially after reboots. Frustrating.

Jim

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"We have met the enemy and he is us." -- Pogo
Greetings from coastal Washington state, the scenic US Pacific Northwest.

Microsoft Has Broken Millions Of Webcams With Windows 10 Anniversary Update

On August 2nd, Microsoft released the Anniversary Update for Windows 10 and when the bits arrived on computers around the globe, it brought with it new features and also broke webcams for millions of consumers. If your webcam has stopped functioning since the release of the Anniversary update, you are not alone but the good news is a fix is coming, hopefully in September.

Microsoft made a significant change with the release of Windows 10 and support for webcams that is causing serious problems for not only consumers but also the enterprise. The problem is that after installing the update, Windows no longer allows USB webcams to use MJPEG or H264 encoded streams and is only allowing YUY2 encoding.

Why did the company remove these options? The short answer is that with the Anniversary update there are new scenarios for applications to be able to access the webcam and the MJPEG or H264 encoding processes could have resulted in duplication of encoding the stream (poor performance) so the company limited the input methods to stop this from happening.

The case against Windows 10 Anniversary Update grows

For what it's worth:

So far, four of my Win10 boxes were "upgraded" to Win10 Anniversary Update. That part seemed to follow the script. Then came updates M$ couldn't / wouldn't bundle into the installation package. On one machine, the 3350, an update was downloaded and was going to undergo a forced reboot 30-minutes after completion of installation. Fortunately it was this morning, soon after my feet hit the floor and this instance of M$ corporate arrogance was caught with a few minutes to spare.

Three other upgraded boxes were forced, by me, to look for and download / install critical "Anniversary" bug fixes (a rose by any other name ...). On one box, one download, no reboot required. On the other two, three "updates", reboot required -- with the same 30-minute "grace" period. Generous of them, eh? (In case you wondered why I forced the upgrades, it was precisely as an attempt to shortstop M$ corporate arrogance -- such as the unanticipated 30-minute forced restart.)

By the way, the two boxes with three updates weren't offered the same way. One was as expected, all three as a set. The other? First two then, after another query, one. (Mutter, mutter...)

Other than that, no operational garbage noted with the Update. Yet.

The moral of this little tale is "assume nothing" -- except, perhaps, that M$ has myriad ways to make hash. (It's almost like they use a random-number-generator to index into a table of troubles -- from which to demonize ... us.)

Caveat emptor.


[Edit]
Forgot to mention: In this update, M$ claims to leave everything as we left it. Don't believe it. So far, the many "apps" (I loathe that term) icons I'd long since axed from sight were restored. It seems M$ canonized a "feature" which too-often reared its ugly head earlier, "forgetting settings". Prudence dictates that I recheck all settings, just in case.

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"We have met the enemy and he is us." -- Pogo
Greetings from coastal Washington state, the scenic US Pacific Northwest.

... an update was downloaded and was going to undergo a forced reboot 30-minutes after completion of installation ...

My afternoon cuppa must have taken longer than 30 minutes - as I came back to the PC to find it rebooting without my permission (Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems (KB3176936) and Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems (KB3176934)). No CPDN models crashed but open applications closed whatever state they were in, losing some work. Unlike the anniversary update itself, there have been no blue screens of death yet, as indeed there were after the main Windows 10 update - perhaps that's what "anniversary" means.

... no operational garbage noted with the Update. Yet.

The appalling Excel Analysis Toolpak now vanishes every time Excel is closed rather than randomly. Is consistency an improvement?

Comically, a Microsoft box appeared asking whether I would recommend Windows 10. They value my opinion, apparently, despite all indications to the contrary.

Comically, a Microsoft box appeared asking whether I would recommend Windows 10.

Careful Iain, that may be a trick question.
If you say No, your computer may melt into a pile of bubbling metal and plastic.
:)

And the tentacles of the dark side reach out even further:

Windows 10 cumulative update KB 3176934 breaks PowerShell

Windows 7 log file compression bug can fill up your hard drive

And another one, Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems (KB3176938). And the BSODs are back. The three-day ultimatum was bad enough but at least a warning was issued: this auto-reboot is preposterous.

I am running Linux on this machine, but I have one with Win10, and another has Win8.1. Haven't yet seen the September "update", but I'll be on the lookout for it. Thanks for the warning.

I don't know if it's possible to block updates on Win10. There are utilities that can stop some traffic with MS, but haven't yet tried to stop the update "service". Not sure if doing that would have bad side-effects. I liked it better when it was possible to review updates before installing them.

Looks like it may get worse before MS will have to rethink these update policies, especially for sophisticated users who can't afford to have work interrupted and the instability going on.