Ah, this may explain an unexpected looping BSOD that started a few days after that date.
I started getting a KMODE Exception Not Handled BSOD with no driver listed. Have done full diagnostics of memory, graphics card, everything... even in safe mode without networking it would still BSOD shortly after boot.
I reinstalled Windows, applied updates... and it happened again.
It's quite vicious if this is it... there's not a lot one can do about this. Well, I flipped to a Linux laptop instead.
Of course, if the update leaves your system in an unbootable state you'd expect there to be no telemetry, and the only thing I can imagine more like a black hole than feedback to MS would be feedback to Google, IBM or Oracle.
Someone has a working exploit patched two days ago, and they want to extend its useful life by sowing confusion.
A disinformation campaign targeted at technical site seems like an interesting approach, as we HN types provide advice to the non-technical folks around us.
Dammit. I’m telecommuting with LogMeIn and last week Outlook’s email search bar inexplicably moved to the top of the screen. And yesterday one of my monitors was just a black screen. After logging out and back in the problem went away. After reading this post, I’m more nervous.
Hey Microsoft! Think you can take a break on non-security updates?
Linux updates are famously vastly more convenient and reliable than Windows or Mac updates. No forced updates, usually no restart required, usually no breaking changes, usually no BS. I can't say that about either Mac or Windows.
Linux just doesn't tell you when you need to reboot. You (or the package manager) has to know that updating something will affect a library that a running program has loaded, and you need to restart it to actually patch your system.
Some package managers handle it better than others, but the popular idea of "never need to restart to update" is super misleading when the reality is "updates on disk, doesn't update in-memory unless you restart that program". Windows' file locking system is really inconvenient, but it does have some knock-on benefits.
Well, I had my workstation in a broken state after updates many more times on Linux (Gentoo, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Arch) than on Windows. Actually, I haven't ever experienced these "broken" updates on Windows 10.
The update process might be more convenient and more transparent on Linux but it's definitely not as stable as on Windows.
This is exactly why I turn off automatic updates for everything, and only update once the canaries have left the coal mine. Automatic updates might be good for keeping the masses secure, but if you're between that and a power-user then they add too much unpredictability into the system, even if something bad happens only once in a blue moon.
> if you're between that and a power-user then they add too much unpredictability into the system, even if something bad happens only once in a blue moon.
What's the cost-benefit analysis on that? I have literally never had an issue installing updates on the day of release at least since Windows 10 was released, so spending even a few days thinking about it already seems like a wasted cost to me.
I started getting a KMODE Exception Not Handled BSOD with no driver listed. Have done full diagnostics of memory, graphics card, everything... even in safe mode without networking it would still BSOD shortly after boot.
I reinstalled Windows, applied updates... and it happened again.
It's quite vicious if this is it... there's not a lot one can do about this. Well, I flipped to a Linux laptop instead.