Microsoft are coming in for a huge amount of stick for making Windows 10 Home users install ALL updates automatically, whether the user wishes to have them or not. 

You cannot refuse them. 

 

BEWARE OF THE Windows 10 Home Edition  'CREATOR' UPDATE. There is a major problem with it, and it's causing issues. As yet there is NO FIX. 

 

My wife has a brand new laptop which is a reasonably powerful i5 model. 

 

Unfortunately every time she turns it on, she is unable to do anything at all on it until the blasted updates have downloaded, sometimes  this is taking a whole morning. 

I don't know the answer to her question, so I wonder if somebody can advise. 

If she sets the updates to automatically  install at say 3 am daily, does she need to leave her laptop permanently switched on and running. 

Obviously, if she leaves it plugged in but physically switched off, it can't do it. What's the answer? Baffled. 

?? My head hurts. 

Please can you help? 

 

Edited 12 September, 20178 yr by FurryFriend

I'm on Pro & still have it updating as & when it wants.....core is not the problem RAM is....

 

I have an i7 (8core 3500mhz?)..& 16gb or RAM...25% usage with win10 updates & the only way I can replicate that is photomerging 6 plus full size images as a panorama..

 

Basically in settings I think activate the metered broadband setting...

 

My computer is switched off if not at desk....so usually when I turn it back on it wants to update...so leave it to do this....also I notice my antivirus is updating bigger chunks/amounts each time also.....

Edited 8 September, 20178 yr by fabdavrav

10 hours ago, fabdavrav said:

I'm on Pro & still have it updating as & when it wants.....core is not the problem RAM is....

 

I have an i7 (8core 3500mhz?)..& 16gb or RAM...25% usage with win10 updates & the only way I can replicate that is photomerging 6 plus full size images as a panorama..

 

Basically in settings I think activate the metered broadband setting...

 

Tv computer is switched off if not at desk....so usually when I turn it back on it wants to update...so leave it to d

o this....also I notice my antivirus is updating bigger chunks/amounts each time also.....

Thanks very much for this.  When you say My computer is switched off if not at desk....so usually when I turn it back on it wants to update...so leave it to do this....also I notice my antivirus is updating bigger chunks/amounts each time also.....Does that not then lock up the screen doing updates and preventing you from working? 

Last night I persuaded my wife to leave her computer plugged in, and it went into sleep  mode as in the settings. Put the updates to occur at 3am.

Success, as just now 07.45 Saturday, and all updates done, and the laptop able to be used immediately. 

But she worries about leaving anything plugged in overnight. 

So if she now turns it off 8.06am and then wants to use it again at  let's say 17.00 today..... Will it immediately start to try and download any NEW updates, OR,  will it wait until 3am?

 

Sorry to be vague on this. I tried W10 myself, but couldn't get on with it, and reverted  to Windows 8.1. 

I take your point on the memory, and will check that out today. 

Thank you. 

35 minutes ago, FurryFriend said:

Thanks very much for this.  When you say My computer is switched off if not at desk....so usually when I turn it back on it wants to update...so leave it to do this....also I notice my antivirus is updating bigger chunks/amounts each time also.....Does that not then lock up the screen doing updates and preventing you from working? 

Last night I persuaded my wife to leave her computer plugged in, and it went into sleep  mode as in the settings. Put the updates to occur at 3am.

Success, as just now 07.45 Saturday, and all updates done, and the laptop able to be used immediately. 

But she worries about leaving anything plugged in overnight. 

So if she now turns it off 8.06am and then wants to use it again at  let's say 17.00 today..... Will it immediately start to try and download any NEW updates, OR,  will it wait until 3am?

 

 

I have computer shut down..ie go to power options & chose shut down....

 

Computer cam only update when I fire it back up..I have no set time for the updates, but  "active hours is 8am to 5pm"..so it can look for updates in this time...if switched on..

Thanks for this. 

 

I think we're going to work around this by scheduling these wretched constant updates to happen at a time during the day when we can use each others machines whist they take place. 

Some of the updates are just plain crazy. Like updating fixes for all sorts of stuff in Microsoft Office. She doesn't even  use it! We both use Open Office. 

Thank you. 

 

1 hour ago, FurryFriend said:

 Like updating fixes for all sorts of stuff in Microsoft Office. She doesn't even  use it! We both use Open Office. 

Thank you. 

 

 

easy

settings..updates..advanced options...untick/deselect "check for updates for other Microsoft products.."

Great! Thanks. Very helpful. 

 

Thanks for this. 

 

I think we're going to work around this by scheduling these wretched constant updates to happen at a time during the day when we can use each others machines whist they take place. 

Some of the updates are just plain crazy. Like updating fixes for all sorts of stuff in Microsoft Office. She doesn't even  use it! We both use Open Office. 

Thank you. 

 

Now looking at other options. 

Our ISP Plusnet are insisting that there are no problems with our service. 

However, last night, with ALL our devices turned off, except my wifes brand new Lenovo i5 laptop running Windows 10,  I ran some small downloads  to check. 

On a direct Cat 6 ethernet cable a download of 100mb which I know from previous testing used to take about 3 to 4 minutes, took an almost unbelievable  38 minutes. We had better download speed than that with a plug in internet dongle 12 years ago! 

 

Switched off her laptop. Now fired up my own Desktop PC which I built myself and is well used, proved and plenty powerful. Gigabyte motherboard, 8gb memory and i7 quad core etc. Connected via the same ethernet cable again direct to the router, and it was as though the whole system was running through treacle. Unbelievably slow. Never seen anything  like it. Again 36 minutes for the same download. 

Changed the cable for another out of the packet brand new Belkin one. Same result. 

 

I think we have an issue, but Plusnet say not. 

I've done all the usual stuff with their router. Reset it by sticking pins in it, switched it off and on, put a new phone cable in it from BT socket to router. 

Almost....... Took a hammer to it! But sense prevailed.. 

 

Any ideas welcome, as I am  starting to climb the wall with it. 

Thanks. 

 

PS  By router, I mean the Plusnet router, not via any split/extension  router boxes. Straight connection from main router to PC in both cases. No other load on the network at all. 

Edited 10 September, 20178 yr by FurryFriend

Run a speedtest and try and get some signal to noise stats from your router (to see if you have a line problem from house to exchange), also go to the BT website and run a line test.

Not sure how to do that, but thanks. 

I think I have now made the decision to ditch Plusnet and to go over to cable, but not with Plusnet. 

I need to consider all the various packages on offer. 

 

I had a big problem with my PC downloading Windows Updates at random, causing the internet to become almost unusable. I used this guide to disable to automatic downloads: https://www.howtogeek.com/224471/how-to-prevent-windows-10-from-automatically-downloading-updates/ - you will need to use the registry editor if you're using an ethernet connection. I now have complete control over when updates are downloaded and installed - I usually check once a fortnight.

 

23 hours ago, FurryFriend said:

Any ideas welcome, as I am  starting to climb the wall with it. 

 

Former Plusnet employee here - what sort of router are you using for the connection? I'll happily help you run some basic checks so that you can go back to Plusnet with the information required to get this sorted. Moving to a different ISP will not solve the issue if there is a problem with your physical connection to the telephone exchange, and based on previous experience I would avoid Virgin Media like the plague...

1 minute ago, sparckzero said:

 and based on previous experience I would avoid Virgin Media like the plague...

 

May one ask why one should avoid Virgin Media like the plague ?

2 minutes ago, Auric Goldfinger said:

May one ask why one should avoid Virgin Media like the plague ?

 

One may!

 

Had a few experiences with them (admittedly, I know that this is all anecdotal and that there are probably hundreds of thousands of happy customers, but I'll never be one of them unless there's no other option):

 

I was a customer a few years ago, and suffered aggressive peak-time throttling to the point where online gaming was a total crapshoot. Network outages seemed fairly common. In general, I get the impression that in some areas, the network is over-subscribed to the point where significant investment is needed in the infrastructure. The router that they provide is complete garbage (and, in some cases, suffers from a fundamental flaw: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/09/intel_puma_modem_woes/).

 

I then moved house to a non-VM area, and had Sky Fibre. Completely different experience - knowledgeable staff, excellent consistent speeds, and only one outage over the course of 2 years (caused by an over-exuberant engineer disconnecting the wrong cable in the cabinet when doing some maintenance - the issue was resolved within around an hour).

 

I now live in a flat where it's impossible to get any kind of fibre connection (my phone line connects directly to the exchange, rather than via a street cabinet). Virgin Media then proclaimed that they could provide a fibre service, so I thought I'd give them another go to see if things had changed. Placed the order at the start of May, was given an install date that was then pushed back indefinitely until they eventually cancelled the order in August. Unfortunately, it seems they still suffer from the same problems - a disjointed organisational structure which means that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, resulting in silos of information which are all but impossible to navigate when trying to discover what's going on.

 

In short: I am sure that if you have no problems with VM, everything is fine. But, at least in my experience, the way they react when there's a problem simply isn't good enough.

37 minutes ago, sparckzero said:

I had a big problem with my PC downloading Windows Updates at random, causing the internet to become almost unusable. I used this guide to disable to automatic downloads: https://www.howtogeek.com/224471/how-to-prevent-windows-10-from-automatically-downloading-updates/ - you will need to use the registry editor if you're using an ethernet connection. I now have complete control over when updates are downloaded and installed - I usually check once a fortnight.

 

 

Former Plusnet employee here - what sort of router are you using for the connection? I'll happily help you run some basic checks so that you can go back to Plusnet with the information required to get this sorted. Moving to a different ISP will not solve the issue if there is a problem with your physical connection to the telephone exchange, and based on previous experience I would avoid Virgin Media like the plague...

Thanks for this. 

In desperation, we took the decision to factory reset my wife's brand new Lenovo i5 Windows 10 laptop yesterday. It had become virtually unusable. 

We disabled the button 'check for updates to other Microsoft products', ( thanks to  Fabdarav for that, as above)... turned off the beastly Cortana nanny, and have set Google chrome as default internet rather than the hateful Microsoft Edge, so that we can synch all our devices. 

 

THEN... As she started to use it, a box came up suggesting she checked her Microsoft account settings ready for the update to 'Creator Edition'......... and I almost threw myself over the settee to stop her pressing OK. 

 

In case anyone is contemplating installing this nonsense  DO NOT DO IT! 

There is a MAJOR ISSUE WITH THE CREATOR ISSUE DOWNLOAD. Check out a number of forums.... a download  error 0x800700 20. 

So for now, use the 'ask me later' button. The download starts, fails, and continually tries to reset, and that's what was causing the issue. 

THERE IS NO FIX AS YET..... So don't  bother looking. A similar fix has been posted, but DOES NOT WORK and is for earlier versions of Windows ONLY. Don't fall for it. 

Lots of suggestions from the sub continent with completely useless fixes (as always everyone in Mumbai is an internet expert). 

 

Now to Plusnet. Using Wifi Analyser, I monitored our connection yesterday. 

Finally reset the router to Channel 12.

It had been set to AUTO. 

The issue was that on auto, it just sat on Channel 1. Surely on Auto  it should move to whichever channel gives the best signal. It didn't. 

Certainly working better on a different channel which only dropped out once yesterday, unlike Channel 1 which was going  up and down like a bloody yoyo. 

We are going to go cable/fibre.  Unfortunately Plusnet and BT use the same infrastructure, and I've lost confidence in them as a result. 

Virgin don't use the BT system  at all. 

 

Thanks very much. 

 

Edited 11 September, 20178 yr by FurryFriend

1 hour ago, Auric Goldfinger said:

 

May one ask why one should avoid Virgin Media like the plague ?

We were in a Virgin Media cabled area before we moved. Not only were their speeds dreadful, the best we ever saw was 10Mbps despite being offered 50Mbps, but also the service was predictably unreliable - when it rained we lost internet, every time, but Virgin Media failed to find any problem.

 

Now with BT on Infinity 2 and getting consistent 55Mbps over an overhead phone line, and paying less as well.

Edited 11 September, 20178 yr by SWBoy

Intresting, I/we have ben Virgin Media Broadband customers for donkeys years.  Our BB arrives at the house via a cable, not down the phone lines and it's super fast. 

Never really had any problems and the Internet speeds are epic. We are moving shortly and VM is not available in the area we are moving to. Broad band will arrive down the phone line, it'll be like going into the Stone age.

 

Plusnet aren't what they were.

I had been a customer for about 5yr and decided to stick with them when I moved house to make things 'easier'.

Ended up with no phone or internet for 6 weeks. There was no technical fault they just couldn't process an order through their own systems and kept cancelling it. They had incorrectly logged that I wanted to keep my number (not possible changing exchange, I know that I've worked in IT and comms for 17yr) and rather than flagging the mistake they just cancelled the order. 6 times. I had to phone them up every day and effectively project managed the work myself.

 

Tried to complain and they just ignored me. Promised refunds and free months never appeared (paid for those 6 weeks of non-service) .

 

Ended up on a 2yr contract but I'll ditch them out of principle when it's up.

 

But back OT, yes Windows 10 updates are a disaster. But you can still get hold of individual patches through - http://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Home.aspx

 

You do need to know the KB of the patch causing problems.

2 hours ago, Aspman said:

Plusnet aren't what they were.

 

Couldn't agree more. I worked there before the BT acquisition and it was a real pleasure to man the phones. Focus was on "first time fix" rather than steaming through calls and tickets. Not a very cost-effective way of working, but excellent customer service is worth its weight in gold. I could see that things were going downhill when a dedicated retentions team was formed (complete with retention bell that would be sounded every time they had convinced someone to stay).

 

2 hours ago, Aspman said:

There was no technical fault they just couldn't process an order through their own systems and kept cancelling it. They had incorrectly logged that I wanted to keep my number (not possible changing exchange, I know that I've worked in IT and comms for 17yr) and rather than flagging the mistake they just cancelled the order. 6 times. I had to phone them up every day and effectively project managed the work myself.

 

I had a similar experience with my most recent attempt to get Virgin Media to do the install in my flat. I was given conflicting information each day, promised call-backs that never happened, and I got the impression that I had more knowledge about what was going on compared to the people I was talking to. Eventually the order was cancelled as they couldn't get permission to dig up a pavement (despite already telling me that permission had been granted).

 

Out of interest, I just checked their site and they still claim they can provide services at my address. I know that no construction work has taken place in the meantime. Left hand, meet right hand...

7 hours ago, Auric Goldfinger said:

Broad band will arrive down the phone line, it'll be like going into the Stone age.

If you can get FTTC such as Infinity 2 or equivalent then you should get download speeds in excess of 50Mbps and upload speeds in excess of 10Mbps, so you'll probably struggle to notice any difference.

 

21 minutes ago, SWBoy said:

If you can get FTTC such as Infinity 2 or equivalent then you should get download speeds in excess of 50Mbps and upload speeds in excess of 10Mbps, so you'll probably struggle to notice any difference.

 

If I hard wire my Macbook Pro to the router ( Virgin Media )  I get around 200Mbps or by Wifi it's around 140/150Mbps

 

I think I'll notice a difference  

Thanks for all of this. 

I have, today ended our Plusnet contract, which ended this month anyway,  and made arrangements to move to BT Infinity unlimited 1, which I feel will be adequate for our needs. 

 

My ideal choice would have been Virgin on their 200Mbs Fibre, but sadly although the green box is on the road right outside, we live in a block of retirement flats, and the building is not able to be cabled atm. 

 

Today on Router Channel 12 we have had virtually no problems, but I lost confidence in Plusnet. Their 22 minute waits to speak to customer services advisors, most of whom were pretty clueless, were a large part of that. 

 

As usual, and like far too many UK companies,  they are all over you like a rash to take money off you, but once you've signed up.....!! 

 

Edited 11 September, 20178 yr by FurryFriend

1 minute ago, FurryFriend said:

I have, today ended our Plusnet contract and made arrangements to move to BT Infinity unlimited 1, which I feel will be adequate for our needs. 

 

My parents have the same package with BT and they're happy with it - although as a word of warning, the BT Smart Hub is utter garbage. They had a problem where it constantly rebooted and crashed - only to be told by BT support that there was a problem with the phone line / exchange / insert nonsensical excuse here and that they'd need to get an engineer out. In frustration, I got them set up with a proper ASUS router (http://amzn.eu/dDu2MGC) which is extremely stable and they haven't had any problems since - although it's perhaps a little bit overkill for their needs.

 

6 minutes ago, FurryFriend said:

Their 22 minute waits to speak to customer services advisors, most of whom were pretty clueless, were a large part of that. 

 

It's a real shame to hear this - especially for an organisation that (at least used to) pride itself on the quality of its customer support team. It seems that there is a race to the bottom in terms of customer service provision for most utility companies - provide the bare minimum and just hope that everything runs smoothly. It's hard to measure the impact of good customer service on the bottom line (at least, in the short term), so it's an easy candidate when costs need to be cut.

Thanks for this. I'd be quite happy, and capable of changing the router itself / settings etc. Presumably there's no obligation for me to use the BT one? I'll see how I go with it, and what model it is. 

Yes, I absolutely agree with what you've said. I am firmly of the opinion that when you pay for a service, any kind of service, you should get that service. 

All the things that Plusnet told me could be an issue...... Why should it interest me? Their problem, not mine.  I pay for it. I don't want THEIR problems. 

 

All I do know for sure is that 34 minutes to download a 117mb file over a 5 metre Belkin Cat 6 ethernet cable (yes you read that right), is completely unacceptable, and ridiculous. 

 

I had a lecture from a Plusnet support guy on Saturday on why wifi signals can be problematic if walls, doors and microwaves are in the way or in the signal zone. 

Really? Gosh.... As if I came down in the last shower of rain. So why should this interest me when I'd already told the guy that I was using an ethernet cable.  Clueless. 

 

Edited 11 September, 20178 yr by FurryFriend

1 hour ago, Auric Goldfinger said:

If I hard wire my Macbook Pro to the router ( Virgin Media )  I get around 200Mbps or by Wifi it's around 140/150Mbps

 

I think I'll notice a difference  

What package are you on from Virgin Media? They only offered 50Mbps when we moved in March...

 

BTW why is your WiFi slower than hardwired? If you use an 802.11ac WiFi access point (which has a speed capability of at least 1300Mbps) then WiFi should be no slower than even gigabit Ethernet.