Windows Fall Update 2018/1809

It is with a bit of regret that I updated so quickly from 1803 to 1809.  A few hours later, there were articles about data loss.

I'm not really seeing a lot of visual changes.  I tried the new screen shot functionality and it didn't work as I expected.  I tried Windows + Shift + S to activate it and used the mouse to frame a window.  The screen shot included the background and that window, rather than just the window.

For some reason, I expected just the window.  Why it excluded the other windows but not the background, I can't imagine.  It seems a convoluted way to capture it and still make you edit the screen shot to exclude the rest of the display.

This morning, the Disk Defragmenter was running on its own.  I suspect this could account for data loss.  I'm not sure that anything is missing, but I'd rather not experience this.  In any case, Microsoft has pulled the update until they figure out what happened.

Quite a few extra instances of tasks seem to be running now, in contrast to a couple of days ago when 1803 was active.  I'm hoping for the best, but I expect it will be a couple of weeks until things are updated again.  I may pass out from holding my breath.

Update 2018.10.10: The fixes arrived fairly quickly and I'm wondering if they just moved the problem (as they did in the old days) or they actually fixed it.  Since data loss is not minor, they probably found the actual problem and fixed it.

Update 2018.11.04: Still having various small issues.  Can't decide whether they're from the update or something else.  I'm guessing that there is a combination of problems that has been exaggerated by the update.  Putting the machine to sleep seems particularly difficult now.

Update 2018.11.23: I can sign into my account more quickly but it still takes a very long time until I can do anything, with everything checking something at startup time.

You'd think that Windows 10 would be a great operating system by now.  Windows 7 showed that Microsoft could almost erase its history of half-ass work.  Windows 10 needs one person to guide it and tell people what's wrong and to have enough power to have others fix it.  Every company that develops products needs a mad genius of sorts.

Update 2018.11.28: Apparently, my interface to iCloud hasn't been working, so Apple worked that out.   Every other day, it seems that there is a new problem with the Windows update.  I haven't had this much "fun" since Windows 95.

 

Update 2018.12.06: The other day, I looked to see if any other updates were available to make things more reliable.  What showed up was a surprise--a cumulative update for 1803.  Considering that I've had 1809 for a bit, I'm not sure how I can be put back to 1803.  I'm now wondering if I have some sort of dreadful mix between the two.

Update 2019.01.08: The 1809 update arrived again.  This time it took a whole day, possibly because my main drive is failing, but it didn't seem to be making quick progress with the internet connection either.

The good thing is that the computer seems settled now.  Things seem to work more smoothly and consistently.  Hopefully, they take a long time to test the 1903 update before they let anyone have it.

Oh, and there have been mini updates off and on since the 1809 arrived.  Apparently, security updates are still a priority.  It's good to see Adobe Flash security updates but why do I want Flash installed at all?

Update 2019.02.15: I continue to read that there are problems.  It seemed that I was getting daily Windows updates.  Does any of this make sense?  I hope to never be a guinea pig again.

Update 2020.02.17: I've been on 1909 for a while.  Microsoft still doesn't test things well and their latest security update seems so broken that they removed it to be fixed.