Thurrott Daily: December 19

Thurrott Daily: December 19

Tech tidbits from around the web.

12/19/2016 8:22:32 PM

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Fixing a “stuck” Windows Update on Windows 7

This probably warrants a full article, I know, but I am so over Windows 7 and its inability to find and download Windows Updates. That said, if you’re having this problem, I think I have the solution (and no, it’s not “just upgrade to Windows 10 already”). Thanks to a few readers who noted my complaining, check out this Reddit thread, which I’m told just works.

  1. Set Windows Updates to ‘Never Check For Updates’ and Restart
  2. Install KB3020369 & Restart
  3. Install KB3125574 & Restart
  4. Install KB3138612 & Restart
  5. Install KB3145739 & Restart
  6. Install KB3172605 & Restart
  7. We have Offline Updater setup on a server here at work. At this point I run that and let it install whatever updates it finds. Restart. Repeat until Offline Updater doesn’t find any more updates. This step is optional, and you can skip to step 7 if you want, but it makes things easier/faster if you do a lot of Win installs.
  8. Check for updates through Windows. As of 7/21/16 when doing above steps it’s finding the remaining updates VERY quickly (less than 10 minutes), and only finding a half dozen or so updates (if you did step 6).

*If you are using images for your installs and your image is less than ~6 months old it’s probably quicker to skip step #2. CLEAN INSTALLS SHOULD ALWAYS DO STEP TWO!

Thanks everyone. I’d love to never, ever address this topic again. 🙂

Coming OneDrive UI is an exact copy of Dropbox

While I understand the logic of “there’s only so many ways you can design a thing,” I’m not on board with a coming UI change to OneDrive, which doesn’t just mimic Dropbox, but actually copies it outright. MSPowerUser covered the new UI last week:

[Microsoft] is currently A/B testing a new OneDrive flyout design which you can see in the … screenshot that provides a cleaner experience and offers slightly more information. As you can see in the above screenshot, the OneDrive flyout now displays the recently uploaded/downloaded files on your OneDrive which can be a bit useful. Previously, the flyout would only tell you whether your OneDrive is synced or not.

What they don’t tell you is that this is a copy. Here’s the screenshot they allude to:

onedrive

And here’s what Dropbox looks like:

dropbox

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL [was] available for just $299 in the US

Not to belabor the point, but I am the Belaborer in Chief: This is the price this phone should have been a year ago. Anyway, MSPowerUser reports, and I shall otherwise ignore because buying this phone would be a huge mistake. (And because it looks like they are both out of stock. Which means that, yes, the swamp has finally been drained.)

Microsoft Store is now selling the Lumia 950 XL device for $299 (was $499.00) in the US. You can also save up to $60 by creating your own Lumia 950 XL accessory bundle. It seems like Microsoft Store has very less [sic] units of Lumia devices in stock, if you are interested, you need to order it before it goes out of stock.

Find the deal at Microsoft Store using the below links:

Lumia 950 XL – $299
Lumia 950 – $249

 

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Conversation 23 comments

  • 1584

    19 December, 2016 - 8:35 pm

    <p>I’m not sure what you’re pointing out about the OneDrive flyout … I see the same thing on both the Anniversary and the Insider.</p>

  • 1816

    19 December, 2016 - 9:11 pm

    <p style="text-align: right;">"Fixing a &ldquo;stuck&rdquo; Windows Update on Windows 7"</p>
    <p style="text-align: right;">And people wonder why Chromebooks are becoming more popular. &nbsp;</p>

  • 6643

    19 December, 2016 - 9:16 pm

    <p>Having had a couple of androids and not being able to fully embrace them, I had no option but to buy one of this a couple of days ago. I’m very happy with it,&nbsp;and thinking&nbsp;what a cool OS Windows Phone is…&nbsp;Sorry about the fact that Microsoft has not been able to maintain its position in the market. Why do good things have to go away? I’m sure Microsoft can still do something about this.</p>

  • 4964

    19 December, 2016 - 9:44 pm

    <p>I dropped my 950XL a couple of weeks ago, no stock at Microsoft NZ and the on-line store person (bot?) said no expected arrival date for any more.</p>
    <p>Busy trying to turn a Samsung S7 Edge into something near as good, has apps yes but the OS is a mile behind even when you get rid of the Samsung junk apps.</p>

    • 412

      Premium Member
      20 December, 2016 - 8:04 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#31201">In reply to </a><a href="../../users/robincapper">robincapper</a><a href="#31201">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>It for sure isn’t "live tiles" but give Arrow Launcher a shot. I like it quite a bit and has some decent (albeit not 100%) Microsoft Integration. And yeah, agreed…the Samsung bloat is annoying.&nbsp;</p>

  • 2175

    20 December, 2016 - 12:31 am

    <p>So Onedrive is mimicking the Dropbox UI. Lol, grab the pitchforks!</p>

  • 1377

    Premium Member
    20 December, 2016 - 1:40 am

    <p>The new OneDrive UI isn’t identical. As for the gear icon for settings, isn’t that universal by now?</p>

  • 5530

    20 December, 2016 - 1:51 am

    <p>lol, at this point Dropbox has been bitchslapped left and right i’m not sure what’s left of them, other than their ridiculous pricing. I hate to say this, but maybe online storage services are in fact a feature, not a product.</p>

  • 442

    20 December, 2016 - 7:15 am

    <p>"but I am so over Windows 7" YES!&nbsp; Except I’m still stuck there in way too many machines because of slow developers.&nbsp; Grrrrr.</p>
    <p>And, on the OneDrive thing, hey if it works why not?&nbsp; :)</p>
    <p>Belabor&nbsp;on Paul.</p>

  • 6244

    20 December, 2016 - 7:22 am

    <p>bought one in the black friday sale in the uk a few weeks back. couldn’t be happier. got a dock too for &pound;289. Cashback from Quidco brings it down by another &pound;16. Phone is an absolute joy after my 640. I know the ecosystem is dying but i can enjoy it now for another year or so :-)</p>

  • 239

    Premium Member
    20 December, 2016 - 7:55 am

    <p>The very 950XL&nbsp;I paid in excess of $700 for , with accessories, 1 year ago is now $299? Can I write the expense off of switching to an iPhone 7 plus to Microsoft?</p>

  • 5496

    20 December, 2016 - 9:17 am

    <p>Onedrive and dropbox looks different. It looks like dropbox just tells you the name of the file, and onedrive gives you more information about it.</p>
    <p>The only thing that looks alike, is the folder and gear icon. But the gear icon is used every where, in every OS, for anything that has a setting feature.</p>

  • 5593

    20 December, 2016 - 9:18 am

    <p>Meanwhile, as a consumer, I don’t really care if it mimics Dropbox. It’s the kind of information I WANT to see regarding OneDrive status.&nbsp; At this point, the UI design aspects of Windows 10 are so completely disgusting compared to the beauty of Windows 8, I don’t really give a flip that they are no longer consistent.&nbsp; It consistently sucks.</p>

    • 2235

      20 December, 2016 - 10:06 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#31249">In reply to </a><a href="../../users/Rob_Wade">Rob_Wade</a><a href="#31249">:</a>&nbsp;We may be in the few, the disgruntled unhappy few, that preferred&nbsp;Windows 8 to 10. I’m hoping the new Windows 10 update just turns&nbsp;it back to 8. It seemed like a far lighter&nbsp;and zippier OS.&nbsp;</em></blockquote>
      <p>&nbsp;</p>

  • 5496

    20 December, 2016 - 9:24 am

    <p>If I had $300, I would go and buy the 950XL.</p>

    • 5554

      20 December, 2016 - 2:26 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#31250">In reply to </a><a href="../../users/lordbaal1">lordbaal1</a><a href="#31250">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Or just set fire to that $300 and save time.</p>

      • 5496

        20 December, 2016 - 8:07 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#31349">In reply to </a><a href="../../users/PeteB">PeteB</a><a href="#31349">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>stfu. Get it through your think skull. There are people out there that likes and uses windows phone. </p>

  • 2235

    20 December, 2016 - 10:03 am

    <p>Just bring back placeholders in OneDrive already. The syncing is absurd for any ultrabooks (or surfaces) that don’t have 500gb hd. Typical MS logic of taking something better than its competitors and nerfing it to resemble a worse version of its competitors.&nbsp;</p>

  • 1043

    20 December, 2016 - 12:35 pm

    <p>Anyone having problems updating Windows 7 only needs to run the Microsoft System Update Readiness Tool. It can take an entire day before it starts to pull in updates but it has worked 100% of the time for me, including machines that were infected with viruses that try to block Windows Updates.</p>
    <p><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=20858">https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=20858</a></p&gt;

  • 7887

    20 December, 2016 - 12:53 pm

    <p>Microsoft already documented the proper procedure to fix Windows Update scan in Windows 7<br />https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3200747</p&gt;

  • 5234

    20 December, 2016 - 3:19 pm

    <p>"I am so over Windows 7 and its inability to find and download Windows Updates"</p>
    <p>Switch to Linux then.</p>

  • 10057

    16 January, 2017 - 8:01 pm

    <p>Finally a working solution to the Win 7 patch agony.</p>

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