Updates - Is Microsoft wasting our time ?

[bannerman100]

Windows updates regularly take several minutes to install and then several more minutes to configure the next time I start up.

I can't help wondering - how long does it really take to overwrite a few files ? Surely just a few milliseconds ?

Is all the rest of the time taken just a sneaky trick, to fool us into thinking Microsoft is giving us magnificent value for our money ?

Can any expert resolve this thought which has troubled me for many moons ?

Thanks,
Frank.

 

[niemiro]

I understand your frustration, and I cannot answer your question very well, hopefully someone else will do a better job.

When Windows updates, the files must not be in use, and so the file has to be stopped, and switched to alternate "behind-the-scene-components". The files is then replaced, including things like versions, the catologs are updated, the update progress is changed, the history saved. The WinSXS is then updated, and everything switches back onto the new files. The secondary files then follow the same procedure, and are updated, and finally, the procedure finished. This is for each file, and the registry may also have to be updated.

Microsoft would not deliberately slow the procedure down, as the average end user would just wait, and for them, the faster the better. They don't care how it works, it "just does". They would not think that it is amazing, just because it is slow, and therefore must be complex, they would just want it to work! Therefore, it helps Microsoft (and you) to make it as fast as possible.

For a fuller break down, see:

C:\Windows\Logs\DPX\setupact.log
C:\Windows\Logs\DPX\setuperr.log

^^ and do not worry about errors, this is normal

C:\Windows\WindowsUpdate.log

Richard

 

[bannerman100]

Hi Richard,
Thanks for your message. Pardon me if at my age I become just a little cynical !

(I wanted to put a smilie here, but I don't think they've invented a cynical one.)

Frank.

 

[niemiro]

Hi Richard,
Thanks for your message. Pardon me if at my age I become just a little cynical !

(I wanted to put a smilie here, but I don't think they've invented a cynical one.)

Frank.

Don't worry about it Frank.

The one I REALLY hate is the Windows Installer. Ever installed some two file piece of software and had to wait five minutes while it "Gathers Information".

In a test I did, why did it take several MINUTES to install one file, when any other installer or even a C++ or C# program can do this same 10kb file instantaneously.

This is inexcusable, and there is NO explanation that I know about, it simply should not take so long!

RANT OVER!

Richard

 

[bannerman100]

Good Rant ! But I think most people feel some degree of suspicion. My current laptop came with Vista Home Basic, which immediately required Service Pack 2 Upgrade, which took hours.
I left it and went to bed.
(So I don't actually know how many hours.)

Let me tell you a secret:
All modern program installers are now able to use the PCs inbuilt "Client Frustration Detector Circuit".
By this means, the adaptive artificially intelligent software perceives the user's level of personal urgency and deploys an incremental positive feedback loop to selectively and discreetly de-tune the program interface until the user's patience is entirely exhausted.

The loop can only be terminated by a scream of at least 97 decibels.

But I think most people have found this out by now.

 

[niemiro]

Nice secret! However, I have never been too unhappy about Vista SP2. The first (long) bit is done while you use the computer, but the second bit, although you are warned for a rough couple of hours, often only takes 20 minutes, and I have never seen it take more than an hour. This is on a moderate PC, but nothing overly powerful

 

[Jacee]

Try installing SP2 on dial-up ... been there done that!

 

[niemiro]

Try installing SP2 on dial-up ... been there done that!

Forgot about dial-up!