Windows 10 and mandatory updates

[Reefmagnet]

Worst fears being realised by some...

Fears Windows 10 will blow data caps

Consumer groups have slammed Microsoft for its policy of forced updates for Windows 10, which is hitting customers in remote locations with massive bill shocks by blowing out their data caps.
But they warn bill shock may affect many more customers, regardless of where they are located. And, with many customers yet to receive their monthly internet bills, the full extent of the problem may not yet be apparent.
Maureen Hilyard, an internet user in the Cook Islands, an autonomous region associated with New Zealand, claims she faces a bill as much as $NZ600 ($A532) for the month of August, thanks to Windows 10 automatic updates.
Windows 10's forced updates are causing some customers headaches.
Windows 10's forced updates are causing some customers headaches. Photo: Reuters
EFA executive officer Jon Lawrence said EFA was "very concerned" about reports from internet users in remote locations whose bandwidth had been "completely swamped" by forced updates.
"In this context, where internet access is both painfully slow and seriously expensive, these forced updates are almost literally forcing people off the internet and are resulting in massive excess data charges," Mr Lawrence said.
Know more? Email us
Bluesky, the monopoly telco in the Cook Islands, charges $NZ49 ($43) a month for 3.5GB of data on its broadband service, plus 4 cents per megabyte thereafter. The service is mainly delivered by satellite through a partnership with 03b Networks.
By comparison, Telstra, Australia's largest telco, charges $35 a month for a 4GB data cap 4G mobile broadband plan, and an excess data charge of only 1 cent per megabyte. Telstra's basic plan on a faster fixed-line broadband service is $75 per month, but includes 100GB of data.
The EFA was not yet aware of any complaints on the mainland about Windows 10 forced updates, but such complaints were "expected", Mr Lawrence said.
Teresa Corbin, chief executive of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), the peak body that represents consumers on communications issues, said many consumers were unaware of Windows 10's forced updates, or did not realise the initial 3GB Windows 10 upgrade file might cause them problems in terms of data usage.
"It doesn't matter where you live; you need to make sure you're not using mobile broadband [for upgrades]," Ms Corbin said.
"If you can, use a wireless [Wi-Fi] option or another option, such as paying someone to install it in a shop."
Microsoft began rolling out Windows 10 for PC and tablet devices globally on July 29, so customers whose monthly billing cycle is not yet complete may be unaware of any looming bill shock.
To add insult to injury, Microsoft has confirmed it is hijacking users' internet connections to upload software updates to other users, through "peer-to-peer" technology.
While the practice takes a load off Microsoft's servers, it may also cause headaches for users with data caps or slow internet connections.
A Microsoft spokesman said the initial 3GB Windows 10 upgrade file was a "typical download size for operating systems", and stressed that all users on capped connections would see a message pop up on their screen warning them of potential extra charges from their internet service provider (ISP) before they agreed to download the file.
"As with Windows 8.1, Windows 10 won't automatically download updates or apps if it detects the PC uses a metered connection," the spokesman said.
A Telstra spokeswoman advised customers wishing to upgrade to Windows 10 to do so while connected to Wi-Fi or fixed-line broadband only, not mobile broadband.
ACCAN is advising users not to upgrade to Windows 10 "at this point in time", and for those who have already done so to roll back to their previous version of Windows, which they can do through Windows 10 settings within 31 days of upgrading.
Ms Corbin said customers experiencing bill shock should speak to their internet service provider.
The EFA's Mr Lawrence urged Microsoft to "urgently rethink" its forced updates policy.
Users already signed up to Windows 10 and worried about bill shock may take comfort in the form of a workaround.
Users can tweak their Windows 10 system settings by enabling a "metered connection" by searching for "Change Wi-Fi settings" in the start menu, clicking on "Advanced Options" and enabling "Metered connection". This lets Windows 10 know the Wi-Fi connection you're on is capped, so instead of forcing a software update onto your PC or tablet, it will notify you first. You can then choose to delay the upgrade until you are on an uncapped connection, or until you've rolled over into a fresh month of data.
This workaround only applies to Wi-Fi connections, however, not Ethernet connections.
A second workaround actually comes in an update which Microsoft itself released. It's a bit more fiddly though, as it involves manually uninstalling driver updates and then downloading a special troubleshooter app to prevent them from installing again automatically. The full instructions are available online.
Despite the concerns, Windows 10 has received generally positive reviews from information technology experts, supporting the popular adage that every other Windows release is a winner, separated by duds.
Australian users experiencing issues with Windows 10 are being urged to contact Microsoft through its Windows 10 support line during business hours on 132 058.


Read more: Fears Windows 10 will blow data caps
Follow us: @brisbanetimes on Twitter | brisbanetimes on Facebook

[DeepFrz]

So here is some further experience with Windows 10. My desktop is a few months old and until about 3 weeks ago I ran win 7 pro. I updated to Win 10 pro. I had a few crashes at the beginning but now I am only getting errors at night after the system goes or is put to sleep. This is happening about every 2 to 3 days, mostly every 2 days. They are windows errors and miscellaneous (Windows) errors complaining about the system not shutting down correctly. They seem to occur after MS decides they should install updates on the system. When I go to start the system in the morning I have to first power it down and then back up. It does, now, come up quite quickly though so its no real biggie. Searching the Technet forum and there are lots of power problems reported. Some can't power down their laptops, etc. Just FYI.

[Vasco]

Went to 10 when they first offered it. Found out I hated it and found out later that I could switch back to 7. Sticking with 7.

[Reefmagnet]

I "scored"an old I7 powered PC the other week and just for fun have set it up with Windows 10. This morning I decided to use it as a test bed for some applications. This is my first real "hands on" for more than a few minutes and straight away the negatives (so far) are:

• Search is combined with web searching. Great when wanting a heap of non relevant results. If I want to search the web, I'll use a browser, thank you very much!
• The "start" menu isn't much better than the 8.1 version which, imo, is just plain nasty.
• Here's the best one. I mapped a drive with my user credentials to my Linux workstation. Navigated to a sub folder containing some .exe files I wanted to download and the folder showed empty. After some head scratching, I discovered that the permissions on the Linux box for the files needed to be changed to "read only" for the equivalent of everyone before the files showed. Of course, viewing these files on a Win 7 machine was no problem

One other thing I've also tried previously was to use Windows 10 to download and manage photos and videos from my still and video cameras and it failed miserably. Admittedly, Shotwell on Ubuntu isn't spectacular but Windows 10 fails to delete the images and videos off the devices (it just sits there forever during the deleting process); it cannot connect more than one device at a time and it doesn't actually show any pictures in the "photo" (or whatever it is called) app - just grey boxes.

I'm afraid the fail is strong in this one

[jcapo]

Originally Posted by Vasco

Went to 10 when they first offered it. Found out I hated it and found out later that I could switch back to 7. Sticking with 7.

I tried it also and went back to 7. The text fonts were fuzzy on my Toshiba 10.6" small laptops that I use for ICW navigation. No amount of tinkering with 10's font tuneup cruft helped.

[Colin A]

I updated to it on my Wife's Lenovo. When updated in August it was pretty annoying constantly updating and rebooting and had a few bugs. Since mid September it's been great for the most part. My wife uses it for her work email and runs Money small business 2004(still working 11 years later) and of course surfing the web. My son runs some games on it without issue. The only issue we seem to have left is with the connection to the 8 year old Epson wifi printer. I have to reset the connection about once every 2 weeks right now.
I think for average users Win 10 is fine and is likely an actual improvement over previous version for most consumers. For tech people it's likely kind of annoying but so is pretty much every new version of windows since 3.0. I remember people going crazy when XP came out saying it was a step backwards. It's all relative.

[transmitterdan]

Colin, the Wi-Fi printer issue may not be the fault of Windows 10. There are lots of wireless routers that will kill a connection that hasn't seen any traffic in a while. Printers often fall into this category. We have to reboot our wireless router about every 2 weeks else we can't talk to the printer. It has nothing to do with Windows 10 I think except maybe it doesn't waste time "chatting" with the printer and so the router kills the connection for lack of activity.

[DeepFrz]

The first major update to Win 10 has just been released and I am downloading it as I type this. This update should make the system ready for prime time IMHO. I have been using it on my desktop now for a few months and since my last post there have been a few updates that have corrected the issues that I was experiencing. I also have noticed that boot time is much faster than it was and system performance is good. It seems that it isn't updating every week now. More like 2 weeks. Hopefully after this major update it will revert to the monthly update.

I have gotten used to Win 10 and like it. I use it much like Win 7. There are still a few minor things that I don't like but overall it seems like a good OS.