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Win10 1803 pushy upgrades: Never give a seeker an even break


Karlston

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Microsoft’s rapid-fire announcement and release of Win10 1803 left many Win10 1709 users — and me — wondering why they were upgraded so soon. There’s an answer, but you probably won’t like it.

Microsoft Windows update arrows on laptop and mobile phone
Microsoft / IDG

One of the endearing qualities of Windows 10 is its redefinition of common household terms. Case in point: In Windows Update, clicking “Check for Updates” doesn’t just, you know, check for updates. It checks, queues them up, and installs them, bam-bam-bam, with no emergency escape switch to block the inexorable progress. Once you’ve clicked “Check for updates,” your only opt-out is to pull the plug on the internet connection.

 

That’s how it’s been forever — and will, no doubt, continue until Windows freezes over.

 

What’s changed is the cutover point at which a new version of Windows is pushed, automatically, when you click “Check for updates.”

 

In the past, when a new version of Windows rolled out, Microsoft approached it cautiously. Those who went to the Download Windows 10 page could manually install the latest version, of course. After the release date, and at an undocumented pace, Microsoft would gradually roll out the new version to machines that, based on telemetry, were most likely to tolerate the jolt to the system. The rollout took months.

During the rollout period, you could click “Check for updates” for a substantial period of time — days, weeks, months — before the new version would appear. It all depended on whether your machine’s telemetry identified the machine’s inner workings as being new-version-tolerant. Machines were upgraded to the new version when Microsoft’s matching algorithm determined they were ready. Some people found themselves on the new version after clicking Check for Updates. Most were just updated overnight.

 

That all went out the window this week.

 

Now there’s a new term — “seeker” — and a new behavior. At least, I’ve never heard the term “seeker” before. If you’re running Win10 1709 and you click on “Check for updates” any time after version 1803 was released midday on Monday, you become a seeker.

 

Lucky you.

Microsoft had a hard time getting version 1803 out the door. Build 17133 shipped on March 27. Most people expected that to turn into the final version of 1803, but it was usurped on April 16 by 17134 with vague mumbles about blue screens. Build 17134.1 got a cumulative update on April 27 that turned it into 17134.5. Yusuf Mehdi announced the release of Win10 1803 on the same day.

 

But the version that’s being pushed right now is the older one, 17134.1. There’s been very little time to think, much less explain.

‘Softie John Cable alluded to the seeker change in one sentence of a Windows blog post on April 30, the release date, the day the seeker behavior changed:

The April 2018 Update is available today if you go to Windows Update and manually check for updates. We will begin the global rollout out via Windows Update on May 8. As with previous rollouts, we will use real-time quality feedback to smartly update your device when we have data that shows your device is ready and will have a great experience. You don’t have to do anything to get the update; it will roll out automatically to you through Windows Update if you’ve chosen to have updates installed automatically on your device.

There’s no official definition of the “seeker” term that I can find, and no definitive explanation of the behavior. But as best as I can tell, unless you have Windows Update set to defer updates (a complex, mashed-up mesh of settings), when you become a seeker, you become fair game. Microsoft pushes 1803 onto your machine.

 

It isn’t clear if there’s some sort of seeker safety net. If you become a seeker but your machine is clearly version-1803-intolerant (or perhaps it’s not sending enough telemetry), I’ve seen no reticence. Your machine gets it. If you know of a counterexample, I’d sure like to hear about it on the Lounge.

 

AskWoody poster dononline echoes the call for truth in advertising:

How would it affect your user experience if “Check for Updates” meant check for updates instead of “Install all Available Updates and Upgrades”? How would it affect your user experience if updating and upgrading was a two-step process: 1) Check for Updates/Upgrades, and 2) Download and Install Updates/Upgrades?

And Noel Carboni adds:

The button DOES say “check for updates” instead of “install available updates now”. This sure smells like an outright attempt at deception, presumably to enlist more unpaid testers sooner.

It’s just one more example of patching changes without warning.

Oh, just a little ginger ale, dear.

 

Are you an involuntary seeker? Join us on the AskWoody Lounge.

 

Source: Win10 1803 pushy upgrades: Never give a seeker an even break (Computerworld - Woody Leonhard)

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1 hour ago, BDX said:

Why do you even want to check updates if you're not ready to install them :blink:

Because they are a update seeker I guess?  If you don't have updates blocked sooner or latter its going update on you anyway  and install the next time you reboot  .  If you don't want to install updates on windows 10 only you can defer them but sooner or latter you're going have to take the update  unless you block them looks like after 2 and a half years they would figured it out by now . Even if you block upgrades by blocking windows updates and just install security updates in 18 months is long as a windows10 release can get updates. Unless you on Enterprise and Education editions witch you can defer for only another 6 more months ,

 

Quote

 

The Windows 10 support lifecycle has a five-year mainstream support phase that began on July 29, 2015, and a second five-year extended support phase that begins in 2020 and extends until October 2025.

 

A note to that policy qualifies the support commitment to devices where the OEM continues to support Windows 10 on that device. And that's where things become complicated.

 

Windows 10 feature updates (the new name for what used to be full-version upgrades) are delivered via Windows Update automatically. Microsoft released the first major update, version 1511, in November 2015; the second feature update, version 1607 (the Anniversary Update) was released in summer 2016; versions 1703 and 1709 were released in April and October 2017, respectively.

These updates are required for ongoing servicing, and Microsoft supports each feature update for 18 months. That period ended for the initial release of Windows 10 on May 9, 2017. Support for the Anniversary Update ended on April 10, 2018.

 

For an up-to-date list of end-of-service dates for each Windows 10 version, see the Windows lifecycle fact sheet. (Spoiler: Version 1703 servicing ends on Oct. 9, 2018, and the end date for version 1709 is April 9, 2018.)

 

Microsoft has made one exception to these dates for customers running Enterprise and Education editions of Windows 10 versions through 1709. For those customers, the end-of-service date is pushed back an additional six months, which means the end date for Windows 10 version 1607 is October 9, 2018.

 

But what if your device is incapable of installing a new feature update? That unfortunate situation actually happened to owners of three- and four-year-old devices built using the Intel Clover Trail chip family. Microsoft has blocked those devices from installing the April 2017 Creators Update , but eventually agreed to extend the support deadline to match the Windows 8.1 support lifecycle.

 

The 10-year upgrade cycle for Windows 10 matters most to customers running the Long Term Servicing Branch (LTSB) in enterprise deployments. The 2015 LTSB release shares the support dates shown here. For the 2016 LTSB release, the support dates are pushed out by a year, to Oct. 12, 2021, and Oct. 13, 2026, respectively.

 

Mainstream support ends: Oct. 13, 2020

Extended support ends: Oct. 14, 2025

How long will Windows 8/8.1 be supported?

Microsoft's official Windows 8.1 Support Lifecycle Policy treats Windows 8.1 as if it were a service pack for Windows 8. That means the lifecycle calculations start when Windows 8 shipped, in 2012.

Support for the original release of Windows 8 ended "two years after the General Availability of the Windows 8.1 update," or Oct. 18, 2015.

 

A similar policy applies to Windows Server 2012 (released at the same time as Windows 8  and 2012 R2 (equivalent to Windows 8.1). Both operating systems are still supported, but the end of support date is identical for both and is based on the release date of Windows Server 2012.

 

Most PCs that included a preinstalled version of the original release of Windows 8 have long since disappeared from retail channels. For the dwindling population of PC users still running Windows 8, a free upgrade to Windows 8.1 is available through the Windows Store.

 

Mainstream support ends: No longer supported

 

Extended support ends: Jan. 10, 2023

https://www.zdnet.com/article/when-will-microsoft-pull-the-plug-on-your-version-of-windows-or-office/

 

I got rid of all these problems on my computers tell 2023 and remained legit . I removed Windows 10 RS3  when Ubuntu 18.04 came out from my Dell   .  One computer i have only have  Linux on  and the other one I'm using Windows 8.1 and dual booting Linux and i don't have to worry with Linux upgrades but  every 3 to 5 years depending  on witch  OS i chose and Windows is good tell 2023 and i most likely will not use windows anymore after this unless Windows 10 becomes stable, like Linux is. I even beta tested Linux Mint before and even there betas for upgrades were mostly stable. :D

 

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