Do not install Windows 10 KB5034441 Update!

If you look closely you'll find a good version of Windows.

12 hours ago, DNSKILL5 said:

Everyone go back to windows 3.1 NOW. The gig is up. 

Win 3.1? Everyone go back to QDOS, its better

I had an update installed yesterday and it wasn't kb5034441, interesting.

The description of this reminded me of an update a few months back that did the same thing, hang the computer for hours when you can see it does absolutely nothing until you hard restart. It then tells me that it failed to install, well duh, the thing stalled instead of installed. This is hardly something that is brand new for updates on Windows.

So I take it that it is safe to restart the computer despite the "Do Not Turn Your Computer Off" message?

The short version is that kb5034441 has to do with something called BitLocker (which most users don't even have.) The error is in Microsoft trying to install a new recovery image to fix a vulnerability in BitLocker that's too big for the actual partition that Windows sets aside for recovery images, even on a fresh install of Windows 10. Their solution is to have users manually increase the partition size, which even seasoned IT pros are hesitant to do.

For added comedy, a coding mistake means that when the update errors out, it shows a generic error message and not the specific error message about disk space that it's supposed to show. Just an absolute shitshow all around.

I did reboot my machine and nothing happened. You're probably fine.

23 minutes ago, june gloom said:

BitLocker

Oh shit I encrypted my External Hard Drive with that

woah, a faulty and/or bad windows update? definitely never seen, heard, or dealt with that before

1 minute ago, Paf said:

woah, a faulty and/or bad windows update? definitely never seen, heard, or dealt with that before

Damn. I guess I must be really lucky in that regard, because this is actually the first time an update had me (briefly) worried.

8 hours ago, DoomGappy said:

Gotta wait for the next version.

Sadly they'll be shoving AI in it

cant wait for windows to start hallucinating

Jeez, I really need to start upgrading to Linux soon, don't I

I keep considering getting into Linux, but I'm afraid I'll never get laid again. LOL at the "just increase the partition size" "fix" though.

This morning I read this thread and thought "well I'm running Windows 11 so I have nothing to worry about :)" and it's only now more than 15 hours later that I'm remembering that the laptop I use every day is on Windows 10.

Hell, this reminds me that I haven't booted into windows in months

I actually admin a few computers at work so I know it definitely isn't the first update to break otherwise perfectly functioning computer. Or in my case computers in row. One fine day in the morning. So let me please correct your statement: "Do not install Windows 10 Updates" or even better "Do not install Windows". If you don't have to. Cheers.

I do my serious computing in herbstluftwm, but I have pretty good facsimiles of the good versions of Windows that I use when I'm playing games or doing more graphical or window oriented tasks. These are custom themes for icewm in my antiX linux:

I've decided I prefer the Win 3.1 style interface, my reasoning being that people naturally tend to interact with their computers via desktop doom-piles, and a Program Manager is a tidier version of this. I've also been spending a lot of time in actual Win 3.1 via DOSBox-Staging, as well as just actual DOS.

Realistically, I feel Microsoft peaked with XP. I have Win 11 installed but I haven't used it in months. It's so full of cruft and spam and nonsense, I don't see how anyone could tolerate it.

My comp updated and it's fine. Guess it's just #BuiltDifferent

19 minutes ago, Aaron Blain said:

I have Win 11 installed but I haven't used it in months. It's so full of cruft and spam and nonsense, I don't see how anyone could tolerate it.

It may seem that way at first glance but you can disable most (if not all) of the spam with some quick tinkering in the settings - has been that way in every Windows version I've used (since 95), unless I'm misremembering or not understanding what you mean. My Windows 11 looks pretty clean at least:

I can delay it, I don't know if I can stop it though

I have to reinstall windows 10 tomorrow as I'm replacing my boot drive. Worst timing ever.

13 hours ago, Andromeda said:

It may seem that way at first glance but you can disable most (if not all) of the spam with some quick tinkering in the settings

The point is that you shouldn't have to do that in the first place. It's also made worse tenfold in Windows 11 compared to previous versions of Windows, and it definitely takes more than just some "quick tinkering in the settings".

Don't get me started on the fucking UI either. They finally decided that they were going to rewrite everything (the fundamental programming had been the same since Windows 95), but the way they implemented it is fucking awful, and presumably it had to be that way in order to not break backwards compatibility (and at that point; why "fix" something that isn't even broken to begin with). Everything feels like a cheap overlay over the "real" UI now. The new taskbar is missing loads of functionality and is clearly a poorly implemented overlay rather than an actual replacement for the original taskbar. And now there's two completely separate versions of most right click context menus, one that uses the new UI system and one that uses the old, and the new ones are almost exclusively missing more options. What a load of bullshit. I'm sorry but I just cannot take anyone who defends Windows and especially Windows 11 seriously.

2 minutes ago, Individualised said:

The point is that you shouldn't have to do that in the first place.

Agreed, but it's something you have to do on nearly every piece of software - just look at GZDoom for example.

7 minutes ago, Individualised said:

It's also made worse tenfold in Windows 11 compared to previous versions of Windows, and it definitely takes more than just some "quick tinkering in the settings". 

I did a reinstall six days ago and it took me less than three minutes to set everything to my liking.

9 minutes ago, Individualised said:

And now there's two completely separate versions of most right click context menus, one that uses the new UI system and one that uses the old, and the new ones are almost exclusively missing more options. What a load of bullshit.

Agree, the context menus were kinda half-assed but it doesn't bother me too much honestly - maybe I'm less resistant to changes than most people I guess.

11 minutes ago, Individualised said:

The new taskbar is missing loads of functionality and is clearly a poorly implemented overlay rather than an actual replacement for the original taskbar.

What? The taskbar is probably the component that changed the least since 7 and is an upgrade to how it was on XP and below.

15 minutes ago, Individualised said:

I'm sorry but I just cannot take anyone who defends Windows and especially Windows 11 seriously. 

Not defending Windows, in fact I would switch to Linux if I didn't have to rely on Wine to run most software I use.

39 minutes ago, Andromeda said:

Agreed, but it's something you have to do on nearly every piece of software - just look at GZDoom for example.

GZDoom isn't trying to shove advertising and malware into my face when I first install it. There's a huge difference between changing an application's settings to your own personal liking and making the software usable at all.

39 minutes ago, Andromeda said:

I did a reinstall six days ago and it took me less than three minutes to set everything to my liking.

Maybe this is the case if you're very familiar with modern Windows, but I'm not and personally struggled to "de-crapify" the most recent install of Windows I had to do for someone. Such malicious features, if they must be implemented, should be intuitive to disable even if you've never even used Windows before.

39 minutes ago, Andromeda said:

Agree, the context menus were kinda half-assed but it doesn't bother me too much honestly - maybe I'm less resistant to changes than most people I guess.

It's not about changes and more about the functionality of it. If it takes twice as long to do a certain action, with no benefits, then that means it's less functional, not just different.

39 minutes ago, Andromeda said:

What? The taskbar is probably the component that changed the least since 7 and is an upgrade to how it was on XP and below.

To be fair I didn't want to mess around with it too much.

39 minutes ago, Andromeda said:

Not defending Windows, in fact I would switch to Linux if I didn't have to rely on Wine to run most software I use.

It's going to be like that for a long time.

EDIT: I realise this and my last post may have came off as rude. I assure you that was not my intention, and any frustrations are directed towards Windows.

I for one am glad to see the return of Windows being dragged through the mud. Reminds me of the 90s - we need another version of Microshaft Winblows

On 1/12/2024 at 8:31 PM, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

I keep considering getting into Linux, but I'm afraid I'll never get laid again. LOL at the "just increase the partition size" "fix" though.

I use Linux for networking/sys admin and ever since that point my love life has been terrible. Women who were all over me moments prior immediately recoil in disgust when they see my tux bedsheets with the big arch poster over the bed.

Then they get all creeped out when I tell them I'll take them back to my 127.0.0.1 and give them sudo access  

official word from bill

https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/topic/kb5034441-windows-recovery-environment-update-for-windows-10-version-21h2-and-22h2-january-9-2024-62c04204-aaa5-4fee-a02a-2fdea17075a8

17 hours ago, Andromeda said:

It may seem that way at first glance

Thanks for the encouragement. I probably would have put more work into this if I hadn't been successful so far getting things to run in Linux and had ended up spending significant time in Win 11. I'll give it another go.

My intention wasn't to criticize anyone's habits or preferences, but rather to say that I share the OP's frustration with forced obsolescence and loss of control and I've developed my own ways of responding to it.

18 hours ago, Individualised said:

The point is that you shouldn't have to do that in the first place. It's also made worse tenfold in Windows 11 compared to previous versions of Windows, and it definitely takes more than just some "quick tinkering in the settings".

Agreed. Fortunately all the old code is still there thanks to 'compatibility' - imagine how much software might break if they cannot find what they want to hook into anymore.

It took me 5 minutes of googling to set the taskbar back to its old functioning style, and then adding a start menu replacement will hide all the crap for good, including the ads!

All things considered this was an ill advised change for the sake of change that should never have been done. They took all the wrong hints from Apple here, trying to mimic their dock, even though it has always been an inferior copycat of the Windows task bar.

It is moments like these when I wish that Linux was in better shape for desktop use. But it's still the same old problems as always. Fundamentally broken app distribution and driver models plus bad compatibility with older software will forever ensure that its market share will remain at 2% or so.

On 1/12/2024 at 5:17 AM, Professor Hastig said:

 

Not anymore. These days you may get some software that either doesn't run at all on Windows 7 or is just broken.

I've yet to encounter this in any meaningful way. Both my high-end PCs are dedicated W7.

Quote

If you choose to stay behind, you will eventually be left behind for good.

Not really, because if I need anything that requires W10 or later, I have a dedicated low-end mini-PC for that (about $100), which is stored away in another room, that I can simply Remote Desktop into.

If I wanted to play the latest high-end games (which I don't), then sure I would need to be running the latest systems.

Quote

 

I can understand holding off on updates for potential breakage but willfully using an unsupported and obsolete old OS is just playing with fire.

 

This isn't true, as I actually haven't installed a single Windows update of any kind since 2016. Isn't that incredibly risky, you might say? Absolutely not, since I purchased high quality backup software (Macrium Reflect), which creates fully functional incremental backups of my OS on a daily basis, which can be restored if necessary in under 10 minutes. I even have multiple cold-storage backups in case some virus goes on some LAN rampage and destroys my regular backups, which let's be honest, isn't going to happen anyway.

What about banking, or some other task that requires extra security? Again, that can be done on any modern low-end PC.

I understand that keeping up to date with the latest OS, software, hardware, patches etc is the simplest and easiest choice for the vast majority of people. But this is strictly a choice, not a requirement.

With a little work I found Open Shell, which makes Windows 11 vastly more palatable for me.

2 hours ago, AndrewB said:

I've yet to encounter this in any meaningful way. Both my high-end PCs are dedicated W7.

steam no longer runs on win7, unfortunately. discord has some problems as well with screen capture

regardless of that, i still run windows 7. i'll upgrade.......eventually.............