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Old 19-08-2012, 02:48 PM
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DavidTrap (David)
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A word of warning to users of Windows 7

I had an imaging run interrupted by Windows 7 last night.

I was out under dark skies and had setup a run on CCD Commander. Knowing I had to drive back home early this morning, I went to bed.

Windows decided to install an update at 3am - a time it thinks will be convenient for the user and cause little interruption. I had attached my laptop to the internet via my phone during the daytime and it must have downloaded an update in the background. Unfortunately it was an update that automatically rebooted the system.

The LRGB images had all captured, but the run of darks and dawn sky flats that I had setup to record were interrupted. Fortunately, the mount had been parked before it started capturing the Dark frames, so it didn't try to drive itself into the pier.

I have now told windows to install updates at 10am!

DT
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Old 19-08-2012, 03:29 PM
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Thats why I have all auto updates turned off still must have been a real pain to discover that I can sympathize .
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Old 19-08-2012, 03:40 PM
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It would have been a real pain if the LRGB hadn't completed. The others can be done at a later time, but it is frustrating!

Learn something every time I get the gear out!

DT
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Old 19-08-2012, 03:45 PM
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I got caught out with laptop and power saving mode once where it decided to turm off drives ect when idol doh!
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Old 19-08-2012, 04:13 PM
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I have had that happen. It took me a few days to work out why imaging ceased at 3am on 2 successive nights.

It was an update messing things up.

Greg.
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Old 19-08-2012, 05:53 PM
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Haha, happened to me to! Took me weeks to work out what was up.
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Old 19-08-2012, 06:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marke View Post
Thats why I have all auto updates turned off still must have been a real pain to discover that I can sympathize .


Never had it interrupt an imaging run, but auto-update had caused me drama's at other times over the years. Since then I have always had it turned off.
I had also read somewhere that MS 'hotfixes' aren't that great. They're just band-aid fixes apparently, dunno if that is true or not but these days I just wait for the service packs.
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Old 19-08-2012, 06:51 PM
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Thanks for fessing up that you've all been affected by this problem previously - I'm obviously in good company!

Nonetheless, you should have confessed to your misfortunes previously - no need for us all to reinvent the wheel!!!

DT
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Old 19-08-2012, 07:06 PM
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I hate having MS auto updates active, I always do them manually when it suits me,
and my imaging laptop always has "no power savings" active, just to spite Ms fancypants.....

Well there you go, my advice to you David, better late than never I suppose.

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Old 19-08-2012, 07:50 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RB View Post
I hate having MS auto updates active, I always do them manually when it suits me,
and my imaging laptop always has "no power savings" active, just to spite Ms fancypants.....

Well there you go, my advice to you David, better late than never I suppose.

Thanks Andrew,

I have always set power savings off on my laptop when imaging.

What caught me this time was having connected to the internet during the daytime and Windows downloading an update "on the sly"! Normally when I'm away from home, the laptop wouldn't get the chance to download an update for installation at 3am.

One of the many perils of this hobby, especially when one is doing unattended imaging runs!

DT
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Old 20-08-2012, 01:18 AM
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Thanks for the tips everyone.

I've just purchased a new astro laptop and have been slowly getting it ready for use.

There's a few thing here I would not have thought about but no doubt discovered at the most annoying time.
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Old 20-08-2012, 09:54 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MrB View Post

I had also read somewhere that MS 'hotfixes' aren't that great. They're just band-aid fixes apparently, dunno if that is true or not but these days I just wait for the service packs.
It may be true that occasionally a fix will cause you problems. I'm sure that MS do a lot of QA on their patches but the Windows ecosystem is incredibly complex and it's impossible to test every combination of hardware, O/S and DLLs. However, not installing the patches makes you vulnerable to all sorts of known security exploits. IMHO that's a greater risk for any computer that is ever connected to the Internet.

Cheers,
Rick.
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Old 20-08-2012, 10:49 AM
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Just setting up a laptop for my wife. Never used Windows 7 before. I'm told it's great IF you have never seen a computer before, but coming from XP, nothing makes sense anymore (or can be found!)

Took me hours to beat it into submission, turning of all the automatic this and automatic that.

Now it mostly just sits there waiting for me to give in instructions - like a good little laptop should.
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Old 20-08-2012, 11:25 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS View Post
It may be true that occasionally a fix will cause you problems. I'm sure that MS do a lot of QA on their patches but the Windows ecosystem is incredibly complex and it's impossible to test every combination of hardware, O/S and DLLs. However, not installing the patches makes you vulnerable to all sorts of known security exploits. IMHO that's a greater risk for any computer that is ever connected to the Internet.

Cheers,
Rick.
+1 from me on this.
If you DON'T have updates turned on then at least manually do the updates when it is convenient for you when online.
I do computer support for about 500+ users and many hibernate their PCS for months rather than do full shutdowns and reboots on the network (field engineers). Unless they do that they don't get patches, antivirus updates etc which can cause even bigger grief later.
I know it can all be a pain but believe me if you get one of the nasties go through your PC because you didn't update you will be even more unhappy. I have had to try and recover corrupted data and files from some of the most stupid inactions you could think of.
It is all about managing it to suit your own requirements.
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Old 20-08-2012, 03:08 PM
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You can have it notify you of available updates but not automaticaly d/l and install . You can d/l them at your own conveinience then.
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Old 20-08-2012, 07:47 PM
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What happens after Microsoft patch Tuesday?



Malware Wednesday! When all the bag guys release malware to attack the people who ignore patch Tuesday
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Old 20-08-2012, 11:46 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marke View Post
You can have it notify you of available updates but not automaticaly d/l and install . You can d/l them at your own conveinience then.
Yes, very happy to be notified that updates are available. I don't turn that option off for any software.
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Old 21-08-2012, 10:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidTrap View Post
Windows decided to install an update at 3am - a time it thinks will be convenient for the user and cause little interruption. I had attached my laptop to the internet via my phone during the daytime and it must have downloaded an update in the background. Unfortunately it was an update that automatically rebooted the system.
Hi David,

It gets even worse than that.

Even if you select "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download
and install them", once in a Blue Moon one of those very updates will set it back
to the "Install updates automatically" mode.

Many of those updates are to patch holes in the security and one wouldn't
want some piece of malware rebooting your machine overnight and losing
any work in progress.

So it is ironic that some of the patches that are protecting you from that malware
end up doing the same damage.

Many Software Engineers would have read Fred Brooks' "The Mythical Man-Month"
as part of their reading at university, but despite the lessons learnt way back in the
60's and 70's, it beggars belief in the 21st Century that despite the thousands
of guys working on it, the billions of dollars spent on it and the billions of
installations out there, that Windows can still have these types of terrible flaws.

Anyway, keep an eye on that the updates doesn't toggle back to automatic at some point in the future.

Last edited by gary; 22-08-2012 at 09:30 AM.
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Old 22-08-2012, 12:34 AM
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DavidTrap (David)
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Thanks Gary,

My solution to that was to set automatic updates to 10am.

DT
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