Windows frustration

[kosborn (Kevin)]

It's been cloudy for the last week and cloud forecast for the next week but clear tonight . So scope out, drift align, great polar alignment then... 'Updating windows 24% do not turn your computer off' Then 20 minutes later 'Updating windows 24% do not turn your computer off' Then 1 hour later 'Updating windows 24% do not turn your computer off' Then 2 hours later 'Updating windows 25% do not turn your computer off' Then 3 hours later 'Restoring your previous version of Windows' Now 4 hours after excellent drift alignment, still 'Restoring your previous version of Windows'


Time to dismantle and bring everything inside I guess.

[spiezzy]

yep my last windows machine ended up as a door stop for the same reason and it isn't even good for that gone full MAC no issues no updates every 5 minutes and no crashes

[raymo]

Mine did the same thing, and removed my Windows games, and now DSS
won't work, even when reinstalled. I feel for you.
raymo

[kosborn (Kevin)]

Eventually Windows comes up without turning the computer into a brick. It's after midnight but what the heck - tomorrow is Saturday and I can sleep in so I start again. Running 5 minute subs, check the second one and after 4 hours in the cold of course I've lost focus. Delete those subs, spend a bit of time really nailing the focus and then start again. Two really nice Ha shots of Trifid and then.... cloud!!


Definitely finished for the night now. This can be a frustrating hobby!

[AndyG (Andy)]

Two ideas may help with this Gentlemen,


https://www.pccasegear.com/products/39033/kingston-ssdnow-a400-120gb-ssd

(the item, not necessarily the seller)


https://www.pcworld.com/article/3102...-installs.html
...Interesting point being that our "active hours" are probably the inverse of the default settings

[Wavytone]

Originally Posted by kosborn

Time to ...

TBH I'm still shocked Microsoft has such a crude way of forcing updates on users. I've had the same happen when about to do a presentation for the board (great timing, Microsoft), with no way to stop it.

I'm just waiting for the day some poor unfortunate is driving a car with Windows embedded in it somewhere and it decides to do an update while in motion ... oh whoops, just killed the occupants.

I'll suggest you consider switching ... Go Mac, you will never look back.

In OSX or iOS Apple simply lets you know an update is available, you can install when it suits you, or never if so be it. And Apple has a policy of relatively modest incremental updates, with plenty of warning (ie years) before something being rendered incompatible.

[Benjamin (Ben)]

I’ve been fortunate not to have had too many interuptions (I can’t remember if I adjusted settings) but I’m also running Windows 10 64bit Home edition on a MacBook Pro using Virtualbox. It works great although when errors pop up knowing where to look can be nightmarish. I found it hard to bypass ASCOM to make all my gear work nicely together (for imaging) but I’d love to know how to do this natively with a Mac? I’m using SGP, PHD2, CdC, EQMOD with a ZWO Camera and EFW plus a Prostar LP-Guide Cam and a Rigel nSTEP autofocser...

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

In my lab, our mass spectrometers operating programs can only run off Windoze. If we update Windoze, then sometimes, the instrument software then needs a patch to work again. Windoze machines are ok for playing games, not much else.

In a professional environment, I can't have the machine chugging away on updates all day. Simple solution. Leave it off line. If off line, it doesn't need endless security updates. Data is transferred via a thumb drive that is only plugged into a mac at the other end so viruses can't jump the fence so to speak. Our oldest machine has been running offline without regular updates since 1990. We ran one MSDOS based package 1990-1999. Then updated once to another system in 1999 and have run that for the past 19 years. The newer machines started online then we started running into problems with updates and so both have been offline for 8 years and 5 years respectively. No problems.

Joe

[kosborn (Kevin)]

Originally Posted by Wavytone

I'll suggest you consider switching ... Go Mac, you will never look back.

In OSX or iOS Apple simply lets you know an update is available, you can install when it suits you, or never if so be it. And Apple has a policy of relatively modest incremental updates, with plenty of warning (ie years) before something being rendered incompatible.

I have a Mac book running PixInsight that I do all my processing on but a Win laptop controlling mount and cameras for acquisition/guiding. I have ASCOM/EQMOD, Astrotortilla, Stellarium, PHD2 and SGPro running. I know there are Mac versions of some but is there a Mac solution for all of that?


Kevin

[glend (Glen)]

Turn off Windows updates. It should not be allowed without your permission. I still run Win 8 on both my systems and will never move to Win 10.

[sharkbite]

Or turn off the wifi....

I do this about an hour before nightfall so that it can't get any updates when i'm outside

[raymo]

I have the laptop that I am using to write this, which has W10, and will not
allow DSS to work properly, and has every W10 related problem known to man, including random reboots [almost always when I'm in the middle of doing something].
I have another laptop which ran W8, and I kept it offline, and had no problems using DSS and a lot of other software. A few weeks ago I went
on line with it and it started updating , so I left it to it, and when I came
back it had installed W10 and removed all my MS games[hearts, freecell
etc:], refused to run DSS properly, and now has all the same problems that this machine has, except the random rebooting.
My grandson comp whizkid went into the registry on both machines and
each machine is recording in excess of 100 errors per day!!!!!!
He is going to install W7 on both machines for me, as apparently Windows
shouldn't autonomously update my machines from W7 to W10.
The saga continues. Oh how I miss XP. It's all made worse because I am
a comp illiterate.
raymo