Roast in Hell, Microsoft...

Dang it all to hell. Friday morning I relented to allow my laptop that I use for my emails to to the updates from Microsoft that the little nag reminder has been insisting that I do. I never do them immediately, as I would prefer the bugs to get worked out of such updates by other unwitting beta testers for Microsoft before I implement them. So I ignore the nag-o-grams for about a week. But it had been about a week, so what the heck.

Wrong move. My system seemed to get slower and slower by the minute while using it. I use Mozilla Thunderbird for my mail reader and it stopped picking up messages from the servers. Trying to read old emails was a joke. It's like my system had converted to a 300 baud modem.

Of course, there was no restore point (I know, I know....) to fall back to. Last system backup I took was back in January, but I do have my email files are backed up. But the problem with backups is that you never know if they are any good until you REALLY need them. And I've been bitten by corrupted backup files in the past.

BTW, my laptop is a Win 7 64 bit system, in case you are wondering.

Anyway, I found an option in the screen to uninstall programs that showed a list of all the system updates and lo and behold, it has an UNINSTALL option for them. Wonderful, I thought. So late last night I went and uninstalled every update that was done on the 16th and 17th. System seemed to reboot like normal after all that, but I found that I'm not connecting to the internet. Matter of fact, I'm not even reaching the router, as ALL network services aren't functioning. I tried both wireless and direct ethernet cable to the router, but nothing. Reloaded the ethernet driver, still nothing. Now I do recall that most of the updates had to do with some sort of .NET services, so I guess those UNINSTALLs corrupted something.

Apparently a restore point was created before those uninstalls I did, so, what the heck, I ran that. Figured I didn't have much to lose at this point.

Nope, still no network access. Everything in Device Manager looks OK, nothing flagged as a glaring error. The automated network check in Windows says I have an error, but yeah, thanks a lot, I KNOW that, just tell me how to FIX that error.

Great......... Anyone got any suggestions about where to look to find the CAUSE of this problem? I'm doing a backup of the system "as is" now in case I make things even worse. And no, I didn't do a backup before the update uninstalls.

Thanks a lot, Microsoft. You are probably the best marketing friend that Apple could ever wish for.

Well, I was getting ready to try loading a backup file about a year old and decided to try some last ditch poking around before doing that.

Long story short is that several settings in the ethernet and wireless drivers had become disabled somehow. So I merely enabled them, and SHAZAM, it's now working. I know I didn't accidentally disable them, as I hadn't done anything in that "advanced" menu tab section for those drivers.

Well, hopefully I'm out of the woods on this. Good thing, as there is no telling what I would have lost going back to that old backup file. Or even if it would work, perhaps leaving me with a big expensive coaster for my drinks.

After my netbook got KILLED doing the first update after I bought it, and had to be replaced (under warranty) I have never done one again on any Windows device.

In November I finally hit my limit of patience in waiting for the Windows laptop to boot up and launch a web browser. I switched to Mac. SOOOO happy with that decision.

When I was looking for a new computer a while back, I actually walked into the local Best Buy store fully intending to buy an Apple. But seriously, I looked at that funky little keyboard that comes with the Apple systems, and looked around me thinking I MUST be on candid camera or something. Thing is, they KNOW their keyboards are an embarrassment and yet they still sell the funky things with their systems. Check out any Apple ads and in nearly all cases, they try their best to de-emphasize the keyboard by making them nearly impossible to make out in the ads.

Apple does things like this. I remember back when they came out with the original MacIntosh and they came out with a monochrome screen instead of color that made the original Apple computers so popular. When I heard a quote from Steve Jobs saying that he didn't believe people needed color screens on computers, and instead the square pixels that the Mac used were MUCH MUCH better, I knew I just wasn't on the same wavelength as Apple. That and the fact that they sole sourced all the add ons for the Apple, and tried to sue everyone and their brother that even came close to imitating any feature even remotely similar to their product. No, I came to dislike the entire Apple corporate mentality and never even looked at their products for YEARS until that recent incident mentioned above.

Maybe they've changed, but that keyboard issue indicates to me that they really haven't much at all. To me, a good keyboard on a system will make or break it for me. It's the way I interface with the box, so I tend to place HEAVY emphasis on it. I guess that you can replace the keyboard on the Apple with an aftermarket one, though, but still........

Which, I guess is why Microsoft can still get away with whatever they want to.

Since crumbs and coffee continue to kill keyboards regularly for me, I tend to wait til I find some on sale for $10 and pick up six at a clip. I seem to have run out again, and I realize that all thee computer widget companies want my money more than once in my lifetime, hence why all things manufactured are designed to wear out or break.

I'd seen something in sci-fi movies and then saw them first a couple years back in reality, and am seriously considering getting one of these this year, to hopefully offer a more permanent solution to the never-ending keyboard dilemma. However, it has many more parts which will inevitably break, so will likely last just as long as six $10 keyboards. I agree, it is indeed a keyboard conundrum.

There Is No Keyboard.

A man with a 45 took care of his problem.

just sayin'

I find Apple keyboards to be really comfortable! I like the little Bluetooth keyboard for using with my iPhone/iPad. Small enough to fit in my purse, and it weighs nothing.

Did I mention I've rebooted this laptop once since I got it in November?

Actually, I have one of those programs that are supposed to convert speech to text. Perhaps it can be set up to control Windows and pretty much replace the keyboard, I'm not sure. Sounds nice in theory, but every once in a while I'll get into a mode where I like to play shoot-em up games on my PC, and I would imagine that would be quite interesting doing via voice commands.

At one time I thought cybernetic input would be the salvation I'm looking for, but heck, my mind wanders mare than I care to admit lately. So no telling what they would do to a computer interface. Probably kind of like being on YouTube following all those completely unrelated links that show up when you view the video you were looking for, until you wind up in the twilight zone of YouTube. I ALWAYS seem to wind up there no matter what my starting point. How I got from viewing how to lubricate brake calipers to people with the largest zits in the world is beyond me.....

Anyway, so far my laptop seems to be running fine. Speed is back and no obvious glitches so far. Got the little notice from Microsoft about updates. Not on your life, buddy.....

They always have said Microsoft is the only virus you pay for. But unless doing heavy graphics, I still prefer Windows based systems. Dragon is supposed to be one of the best speech to text programs going. I had thought about getting it a while back to try it out. My laptop was invaded by a trojan a while back lost everything. Wouldn't have surprised me much but being where I was when Avast and Add Aware went off did. In this modern days arms race between Virus protection and hackers, viruses, and trojans it is all a crapshoot anyways.

I suspect for some of us,
having old operating systems and installing new updates or new software causes a malfunction.
Unlike being able to install an old program into a new operating system, which is seldom if ever a problem maker.
I can only imagine what Dragonware might auto-spell-check words which are not in the mainstream vocabulary into though. Like any kind of new technology, I will resist.