windows updates

Went to shut down my Windows 7 VM today after rebooting to see how long it would take to boot (over 2 minutes). I actually started the timer at least thirty seconds into the process and it still managed to hit 9:20 before I saw "Shutting Down" appear. This is why people at work hate Windows Updates. They have to take their computers HOME with them, and this prevents them from LEAVING. Which means shutting down early, going to the bathroom, coming back, packing up, and then throwing the laptop into a backpack whether it's done or not. I did this myself once, assuming it would finish shutting down on its own in there, and it did not. Somehow, it failed to finish shutting down, but because it was en route, it never went into sleep mode either (didn't expect it to, expected it to shut down). About an hour or two later, at home, I was entertaining guests and picked up the backpack by its handle to stow it in a safer place. The handle was warm. I got the laptop out right away and the screen was black and I could barely touch the thing in most spots. I held in the power button, it shut off, and I placed it on the floor for a minute to cool off before setting it on a desk (seriously, I couldn't pick it up, it was too hot).

That scares me for many reasons. First, I don't know if it was still getting hotter or if it had stayed that way a while. If it was still increasing in temperature, and did so long enough to become a fire hazard, well, enough said. (I've heard of beds catching because people leave laptops on their covers with no ventilation, although it's probably rare compared to the number of people that likely do that.)

Normally I'm not one to protect dumb people. However, being a seasoned tech who did something stupid (trusting technology to shut itself down like it should), I can't help but think that maybe some things are simply not well-thought-out. What happened to the old XP thing of shut down and install updates? Then if you didn't do it then, it could keep prompting you until you said "fine do it." I know not everyone will do what they're supposed to, but leave that choice to the user. Forcing the uninformed (or the uncaring or absentminded) to do something isn't solving the problem. I'd rather get yelled at for losing someone's work during the reimaging process than hear that someone's house burned down. So, give me the viruses, not a fire.

The two-minute boot time is annoying me at home. At work, I have a pattern - I turn it on, walk off and get a cup of tea. That in and of itself takes three minutes. I get back and log in, wait a split second, hit the lock sequence so I can leave it unattended while it finishes booting, and then go off and check in with the colleagues that are already there. This takes another five to ten minutes. By the time I get back to my desk, my apps are loaded (I have them autostart for me so I can be more efficient since waiting for shit takes too damned long). No biggie there. At home, however... I usually fire up Windows (and the VM itself) for one quick reason or another and egads, two minutes to open an application is ridiculous, which is what it really is to me in the end... opening an application. I /know/ I'm booting an entire machine, or resuming one, but come on... I close the cover of my macbook, walk off, come back the next day, open it up, wait one or two seconds, enter my password, and there it is waiting for me even after 37 days. (I just started noticing fluky issues, which is why I checked its actual uptime... and the flukiness only happens with the VM being on, which is understandable anyway.)

I love Windows 7 when it's up and running but crikeys, even after modifying a bunch of startup items, it's still slow. I could get 98se up in 13 to 17 seconds, and XP in 30, sometimes less. What's with this?! I have downloaded something called "Soluto" to see where the issues lie, but from my understanding, people using this to track those things down are only shaving 10 seconds off anyway. So I might be looking at 1:37 down the road, at best, if their times are any indication. I think I'll shut off Windows Updates entirely... W7 is only for my use of certain programs anyway, and those updates got in the way of my boot time testing. It's not like I need to (or do, other than updates) go online with the damned thing. Works perfectly fine the way it is as far as I'm concerned and I'm the one paying for hard drive space so BYTE ME!! Asides, I've got it backed up so I can always replace its little VM file with a new one if it cranks out crap on me.

Evil Windoze. The more I've gotten to know my mac, the more I've begun to dislike Windows, improvements or not.

NOW... that being said, I WILL say that my MAC boots slowly, too, and I'm not exactly enamoured with that. However, I've not figured out how to tweak it yet, so I'm totally clueless and too chicken to mess with it since it's my primary machine hosting everything else. So, I simply put it to sleep each day. Unlike Windoze, the Mac doesn't mind waking up 99% of the time. (The other 1% is typically fixed by resleeping it and reopening the lid in 10 seconds or so, that usually "bumps" it and gives me my password prompt.)

HA!

~nv