7 ms·

I would like to keep my Windows Update on, but I just can't afford it. Data bundles are too expensive where I live. I can buy a week's worth of groceries with t

I would like to keep my Windows Update on, but I just can't afford it. Data bundles are too expensive where I live. I can buy a week's worth of groceries with the amount I spend buying just 2GB data bundle. Not everyone lives in a country with cheap data bundles.

vezycash 9y ago
This is exactly my situation. Worse, ever used a wifi network slowed to a crawl by different laptops updating windows? I once had to turn off updates on all laptops in my workplace so we could use the internet. (They thought the network was under a virus attack)
- ZoFreX 9y ago
  > I once had to turn off updates on all laptops in my workplace so we could use the internet. In such a situation you can dramatically reduce the bandwidth required by setting up an update server. There's no need for every laptop to download the same patch from the internet, download the patch once and everyone gets it. (I appreciate that doesn't help the situation where you don't have enough data for one machine)
- lmns 9y ago
  You should have a look at traffic shaping and different networking queues. Fq_codel is great, but even SFQ works better than nothing. No need to turn off updates.
- vocatus_gate 9y ago
  I'm Army Reserve and we frequently have this problem in field exercises. Fire up some Win10 laptops on our very limited Verizon MiFi access point, they promptly download gig's of updates without consent and immediately push the bandwidth past the limit and the AP gets throttled to oblivion. Yeah yeah you can turn of Windows updates or whatever, but you shouldn't have to do that just to force Microsoft to respect your wishes to update when you want to. And no, I'm not talking about some stupid restricted 8-hour window with no other option outside completely shutting down the service. TBH I'm still surprised they haven't tried to block users from doing that too at this point.
  - sumanthvepa 9y ago
    Windows 10 has the option of specifying that a specific network is a metered connection. It won't update the OS when connected to those networks. Found this out the hard way after getting a big bill while traveling and tethering to my phone's 4G connection.
    - vocatus_gate 9y ago
      Good idea thanks. We'll check it out. But of course again, that's not something the user should have to do (and not something we want to have to do on every single system that connects). Wifi != "unlimited bandwidth."
    - digi_owl 9y ago
      I could have sworn that with Anniversary and later this is no longer the case, as people used that on their home network to get Windows to shut up.
Fifer82 9y ago
Is Satellite an option, that sounds pretty expensive.
- madiathomas 9y ago
  Satellite isn't an option. Satellite here is used for digital TV only.
  - Fifer82 9y ago
    Sorry to hear that man, I used to have this problem and I used to hate feeling so limited. Was stressed out if I could download X file without it costing another limb. It is an outrageous business model which doesn't work for cases where connectivity is limited.
retox 9y ago
I believe at one point the windows 10 complete installer was downloaded to everyone, 'just incase' they decided to install. Really narrow-minded behaviour.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- vocatus_gate 9y ago
  I worked in Antarctica last year, a "winter-over" contract as combination Network Engineer/Glacier Search and Rescue (GSAR) team member, at one of the very small U.S. research stations. In the atmospheric/climatology lab there are a number of computers running very specific versions of Windows (down to specific patches) tailored to really obscure science research software packages, some industry standard, most custom-rolled and tailored to that project. Which means they're very fragile and need to be left alone. Of course Microsoft blasts Win10 installer files down our very expensive, very slow satellite link, and proceeds to force Win7/8 systems to Win10 which broke a few multi-million dollar experiments in a place that takes MONTHS to get to in the winter. So effectively killed the research. And yeah, you can argue "well you should've disabled Windows updates etc etc" but in REALITY, not perfect-theory world, you should be able to trust your OS manufacturer not to force-install a major OS revision without your consent. And in the old days of Microsoft, you could. Now they just say "f--- you, we're installing it regardless what you want." That company can die in a fire for all I care.
  - sumanthvepa 9y ago
    Out of curiosity, would it not have been a better idea to build your experiments/software on Linux or a BSD variant? Was it a lack of software drivers for your equipment? Given the precise control you can get over the operating environment on these OSes, you can pretty much ensure that the environment your programs run under will never change.
    - vocatus_gate 9y ago
      They weren't "my" experiments - I was the station network engineer with double-duty as helpdesk/IT person. Imagine this: you're a broke grad student and you're given $xx grant money to conduct a certain experiment in N months. What are you going to spend your VERY limited time+money on? Finding a good Linux hardware developer to roll some custom solution that no one can understand or support? Or just throw together some hacky Python or .net MVP that will run on Windows which practically anyone in the world can troubleshoot with basic knowledge? Linux is great and all (runs on all my systems except one), but it is NOT the best option when there are heavy time constraints and the system is going somewhere very remote where there will be one, MAYBE two people with basic IT knowledge to troubleshoot.
Jasonbe 9y ago
This is a far more common reality than the media reports. I too have had this problem and had to resort to finding cheap wifi just for updates. While internet access is fast and cheap in large dense populations in africa, there are still millions of people with limited or expensive internet access.
- madiathomas 9y ago
  Majority of people who write these articles aren't in touch with what is happening in the rest of the world. Where I stay, it is fast but expensive. Lack of competition keeping prices artificially high.

vezycash 9y ago

This is exactly my situation. Worse, ever used a wifi network slowed to a crawl by different laptops updating windows? I once had to turn off updates on all laptops in my workplace so we could use the internet. (They thought the network was under a virus attack)

ZoFreX 9y ago
> I once had to turn off updates on all laptops in my workplace so we could use the internet. In such a situation you can dramatically reduce the bandwidth required by setting up an update server. There's no need for every laptop to download the same patch from the internet, download the patch once and everyone gets it. (I appreciate that doesn't help the situation where you don't have enough data for one machine)
lmns 9y ago
You should have a look at traffic shaping and different networking queues. Fq_codel is great, but even SFQ works better than nothing. No need to turn off updates.
vocatus_gate 9y ago
I'm Army Reserve and we frequently have this problem in field exercises. Fire up some Win10 laptops on our very limited Verizon MiFi access point, they promptly download gig's of updates without consent and immediately push the bandwidth past the limit and the AP gets throttled to oblivion. Yeah yeah you can turn of Windows updates or whatever, but you shouldn't have to do that just to force Microsoft to respect your wishes to update when you want to. And no, I'm not talking about some stupid restricted 8-hour window with no other option outside completely shutting down the service. TBH I'm still surprised they haven't tried to block users from doing that too at this point.
- sumanthvepa 9y ago
  Windows 10 has the option of specifying that a specific network is a metered connection. It won't update the OS when connected to those networks. Found this out the hard way after getting a big bill while traveling and tethering to my phone's 4G connection.
  - vocatus_gate 9y ago
    Good idea thanks. We'll check it out. But of course again, that's not something the user should have to do (and not something we want to have to do on every single system that connects). Wifi != "unlimited bandwidth."
  - digi_owl 9y ago
    I could have sworn that with Anniversary and later this is no longer the case, as people used that on their home network to get Windows to shut up.

Fifer82 9y ago

Is Satellite an option, that sounds pretty expensive.

madiathomas 9y ago
Satellite isn't an option. Satellite here is used for digital TV only.
- Fifer82 9y ago
  Sorry to hear that man, I used to have this problem and I used to hate feeling so limited. Was stressed out if I could download X file without it costing another limb. It is an outrageous business model which doesn't work for cases where connectivity is limited.

retox 9y ago

I believe at one point the windows 10 complete installer was downloaded to everyone, 'just incase' they decided to install. Really narrow-minded behaviour.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
vocatus_gate 9y ago
I worked in Antarctica last year, a "winter-over" contract as combination Network Engineer/Glacier Search and Rescue (GSAR) team member, at one of the very small U.S. research stations. In the atmospheric/climatology lab there are a number of computers running very specific versions of Windows (down to specific patches) tailored to really obscure science research software packages, some industry standard, most custom-rolled and tailored to that project. Which means they're very fragile and need to be left alone. Of course Microsoft blasts Win10 installer files down our very expensive, very slow satellite link, and proceeds to force Win7/8 systems to Win10 which broke a few multi-million dollar experiments in a place that takes MONTHS to get to in the winter. So effectively killed the research. And yeah, you can argue "well you should've disabled Windows updates etc etc" but in REALITY, not perfect-theory world, you should be able to trust your OS manufacturer not to force-install a major OS revision without your consent. And in the old days of Microsoft, you could. Now they just say "f--- you, we're installing it regardless what you want." That company can die in a fire for all I care.
- sumanthvepa 9y ago
  Out of curiosity, would it not have been a better idea to build your experiments/software on Linux or a BSD variant? Was it a lack of software drivers for your equipment? Given the precise control you can get over the operating environment on these OSes, you can pretty much ensure that the environment your programs run under will never change.
  - vocatus_gate 9y ago
    They weren't "my" experiments - I was the station network engineer with double-duty as helpdesk/IT person. Imagine this: you're a broke grad student and you're given $xx grant money to conduct a certain experiment in N months. What are you going to spend your VERY limited time+money on? Finding a good Linux hardware developer to roll some custom solution that no one can understand or support? Or just throw together some hacky Python or .net MVP that will run on Windows which practically anyone in the world can troubleshoot with basic knowledge? Linux is great and all (runs on all my systems except one), but it is NOT the best option when there are heavy time constraints and the system is going somewhere very remote where there will be one, MAYBE two people with basic IT knowledge to troubleshoot.

Jasonbe 9y ago

This is a far more common reality than the media reports. I too have had this problem and had to resort to finding cheap wifi just for updates. While internet access is fast and cheap in large dense populations in africa, there are still millions of people with limited or expensive internet access.

madiathomas 9y ago
Majority of people who write these articles aren't in touch with what is happening in the rest of the world. Where I stay, it is fast but expensive. Lack of competition keeping prices artificially high.