Windows Update

[RednBlack]

Anyone having problems installing this one? KB2481109

Mine keeps kicking it back....
I googled it, and seems a lot are having problems with no easy solution yet.

[pocket-rocket]

XP, Vista, or 7? I have mine running 7 and the wifes pc as well as my laptop are running XP, and none of ours have done anything out of the ordinary lately.

[WrathOfSocrus]

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec.../MS11-017.mspx

The update is for Remote Desktop users. Says something about a vulnerability to attack on certain applications while using RDT. Been a while since I messed with RDT and if you don't use it I wouldn't be overly concerned with the update.

As always, the best way to prevent data loss is regular back-ups. Hard drives are so vast in size and dirt cheap anymore that even I can afford spare drive. Picked up a brand new SATA 6.0 Gb/s 500GB drive for under $40 shipped. Just stay away from Seagate, their quality control has been rock bottom the past couple years.

[pocket-rocket]

Strange, my preferred hard drives have always been Seagate. My 320Gb internal is a single platter perpendicular recording SATA 3.0Gb and I picked up a 1Tb FreeAgent desktop model a few weeks ago (on sale for $80) and haven't had any problems with either (loving the automatic 10PM daily updates on the external). Now my first Samsung Spinpoint in my laptop...

[WrathOfSocrus]

Yeah I was the biggest Seagate fan. A few years ago they did something, were bought or sold or whatever. They took over Maxtor and since then they have been very hit and miss. The drives are fast but if you try doing RAID with them you're almost guaranteed to have one dud drive. I've completely given up on using RAID 0 or 1. I built a slew of computers for friends and family 2-3 years ago n the only 2 original drives still going are Samsung. WD is nice but they are slower and the fast ones are more expensive. I've been doing 3 internal drives - OS, games, and then back up so if anything happens I can change the drive order and boot off the big slow WD.

On the update issue - There are different people and different users of computers. Some computers are part of a network where it is being accessed a lot and have to be updated to avoid compatibility issues. There are some that are lightly used and never encounter any issues and don't really need a lot of updates. Then there are computers that people go over and update everything because they are terrified their computer isn't going to work. Generally speaking if you put together a computer and everything is working fine then a good bit of updates aren't needed. And if you update your BIOS without a UPS and the power dies you just made one big paperweight untill (if) u can get a replacement. I have Vista and 7 on other computers but I run XP on my main rig. It has been around long enough where all of the bugs have pretty much been worked out.I used to wipe my drive every few months whether it was needed or not. Now I just back up the important stuff, spam a few copies to other computers of any critical information, and this drive has been humming along no errors data corruption viruses or anything.

But no matter which camp you are in the back-ups are priority. I hate seeing people get online with an issue and learn the hard way that everything is gone because it wasn't backed up. Computers are really reliable because they have few moving parts. The parts that do move (drives, fans) are the weak points. When they go its usually a big hit (drive, video card, CPU, power supply toasted).

I miss the old computer modding sites i used to go to, They are all dead now

[RednBlack]

The update was not a problem at all, just a strange anomally. I merely turned it off. But I've never known an update to fail. Oh well, no worries.

[pocket-rocket]

But no matter which camp you are in the back-ups are priority. I hate seeing people get online with an issue and learn the hard way that everything is gone because it wasn't backed up.

That's like my reason for buying the second Samsung in my laptop. I bought an identical drive to swap out the controller board hoping that was the reason it died. That didn't work, so it was the drive motor itself that failed. Then I got stupid and almost thought of disassembling both drives and putting the patters from the old drive in the new drive to get my data back (things like our wedding pictures, tax information, ect). I never did take them apart, I just stuck the new one in the laptop because i was tired of not having it up and running- and that drive has worked fine since (~3-4 years now where as the first one got about 8 months). I did keep the old drive around though, and I still have it.