Dear Bill Gates.....

[Dr Mordrid]

http://www.theregister.com/2006/08/21/bill_gates_invoice/

[High_Jumbllama]

That's a seriously ****ed up Windows install.

[Gurm]

Dear Bill Gates,

I borked my computer. Completely ****ed it up. All kinds of system errors, did all kinds of bad things, essentially it's FUBAR.

But because it's trendy and fashionable and the "in" thing right now, I'm going to blame YOU. That's right.

And I'll let you in on a secret... I've been putting cooking oil in the gas tank of my Taurus... and I'm suing Ford because it doesn't run any more!

Yours Sincerely,
A Dimwitted Sheep

[Jessterw]

Erm, did we read the same article? This was obviously not user error. Windows Update ignored the preferences set by the user; installed software and restarted the computer without confirmation. How is that the fault of a "dimwitted sheep"?

As far as being the "in" thing, when has blaming MS for problems with their software - even if due to user error - not been popular? I certainly can't remember a time in the past 10 years when it hasn't.

[agallag]

Yes, I'm sure we all read the same article. It couldn't possibly be a Windows problem, or we'd have more than this one guy reporting spontaneous reboots due to windows update. I know I've never seen, or even heard of that happening when it's properly configured.

[Jessterw]

I've had it happen and I can guarantee things were properly configured. Of course I didn't lose anything, but that's beside the point.

The fact is that people have come to expect somewhat erratic behaviour out of computers and most are not going to notice or think about such an occurence (the update and reboot), especially if nothing is lost (or what is lost is unimportant).

[lowlifecat]

i've also seen cases of automatic reboot despite the configuration of autoupdate.

[Jessterw]

So you've never had a computer do something unintended (such as crash) that was not directly your fault? Are average computer users not allowed to gripe simply because they may not be up on all the technical terms and specifics?

Oh and your "real noob" is this fellow:

http://www.newswireless.net/index.cfm/aboutguy

[Jessterw]

I don't disagree with the premise, having spent six years in the trenches of system administration and more than that in general customer support before wising up. But given there are known instances of Windows Update behaving oddly and because I've seen it happen, I give this instance far more credit than I might otherwise.

[Jessterw]

*shrug*

[Gurm]

I'm just wondering what this guy did to make his mouse nonresponsive. I mean, whenever a customer's machine locks up, usually the only thing that WILL move is the mouse!

[Jessterw]

Yeah the mouse part is a bit more of an odd occurence, though I can think of several things that would cause it, not the least of which is too many damn processes loading/running in the background (all at once). Usually see it if someone has way too many tray-resident applications loading at startup.

Hell, I have that happen in OS X on occassion when I'm doing several things at once that might require a heavy processor cycle hit.

[High_Jumbllama]

Personally, I am not dumb enough to trust "Automatic Updates" on a critical use machine or daring enough to trust it on any personal machines because of M$'s reputation.

[Gurm]

Personally, I am not dumb enough to trust "Automatic Updates" on a critical use machine or daring enough to trust it on any personal machines because of M$'s reputation.

Yup. In a properly configured organization, all the updates are pushed from the local server at a time of the admin's choosing, and never without warning.

[Technoid]

I've seen that behauvior on many machines, Windows update (even the manual one) has a tendency to change settings, most usually the "don't let anyone open any attachments in OE".

The mouse thing is an old but good one, move mouse an inch, hear the hdd trash for 30 sec, see pointer move an inch, rinse and repeat.

Downright weird shit has a tendency to happen on computers with Windows, and it also has a tendency to be spontaneus