England expects... you to patch your apps and not just Windows

Re: "Sponsor offers" partly to blame?

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Ninite yet - Handling app installs & patches. Of course Secunia have their own products to push...

Re: sudo apt-get update

Such things are great in the linux world (for arch it's pacman -Syyu), where distributions compile, test and package the applications for you and as long as maintainer can be found pretty much any software will be included (choice is a good thing), but do you really want Microsoft having that sort of control over the windows application ecosystem. I know that's what they want but it would make many people nervous at best.

Re: sudo apt-get update

apt-get dist-upgrade

Not here... I have grub-probe pinned by apt-listbugs since the latest bug can make the system unbootable... which means "apt-get dist-upgrade" thinks it's a good idea to just simply remove grub.

Uh. No. It's called "unstable" for a reason... thank $DEITY for "apt-mark hold"

"Most users just expect their PCs to work. They have no more wish to be IT specialist than they wish to get their hands dirty servicing their cars."

But, on the other hand, when they buy a car, that's it. They don't spend the next three years adding shonky modifications they found on the internet, and they don't expect it to do anything it didn't do straight out of the factory gates (those few people who DO mod their cars do so knowing that they're taking it outside the official specs and go into it eyes open).

People expect to be able to modify their PC on a daily basis to change what it can do for them. If people were willing to accept their PC as they accept their modern, reliable car (that is, as a fixed, sealed unit that, should they want it modified, will be taken back to the distributor to be done properly) and are willing to accept that they will not be changing its capabilities (i.e. the software on it when you get it is all there will ever be) then they could have their PC as reliable as their modern car.

cars arent computers (yet)

Most users just expect their PCs to work. They have no more wish to be IT specialist than they wish to get their hands dirty servicing their cars.

I am not sure that is a viable model.

When you buy a car, you get everything from the manufacturer that you are going to use for the lifetime of the car (and this is ignoring the recalls, services etc that cars need). You also have to pay for insurance, tax and, importantly, pass a test showing you have practical competence before you are allowed to use the device.

Can you imagine saying I want an MS PC which can only run the MS software available at the time the PC was released and can only visit MS websites to make sure no browserpwnage takes place?

Then finding out that every 6 - 12 months (depending on how often you use the computer) you need to take it back to an MS approved dealer to have it serviced and whatever the analogies for tyres / windscreen wipers / washerfluid etc are.

Added in to this, you have to pay £400 a year to insure your device incase something you stupidly do causes a problem for other internet users, you have to pay an annual tax to be allowed to surf the internet (not just ISP fees), and you can only buy it if you can prove you have learned enough to use it safely. In the event you do anything risky you get points on your computer licence and should you get hacked and it causes problems for other internet users you get fined or go to jail.

The reality is, people dont want to be IT specialists but want to put their computers through all kinds of unexpected activities. They attach disks they get off their mates, they plug in USB sticks, they visit sites, they click "accept" on pop ups and they (willingly or otherwise) install vast quantities of random software. They need to understand more about what they are doing or stick to living in the walled gardens of Apple devices.

You get the crappy UI updates in windows PC applications as well (something to do with the crappy win8 to 10 UI I suspect).

Although I don't use windows I have friends that do and know of several that have reverted to an older version of the application to get the better UI back.

Sounds like it's suffering from whatever Microsoft stuffed up in Windows Update last year. You could always try Autopatcher - it's not going to be fast on first use but it may be a better bet than trying to get WU to do its worst and if you save it once you are done, you can always reuse it should you ever need to do a reload.

Well with a year's plus of updates to catch up on, you were asking for problems...

Unfortunately, although MS have started releasing rollup packs they haven't made them as easily identifiable as the old SP's. Plus due to various cock-ups you are well advised to install certain updates out-of-release-sequence. If memory is correct there are articles on the web that list these key updates.

In clearing the update logjam I found it helpful to:

1. Only enable installation of important updates

2. Disable the Win10 update settings (used GWX Control Panel).

3. Disable participation in the Customer Experience Improvement Program, before starting WuP.

4. Disable any AV/security software.

These actions will remove many updates from consideration and avoid some conflicts arising from trying to install recommended updates at the same time as important updates. However, you are still well advised to be selective on which updates to install as I've found the third-party device driver updates to be the most problematic and so tend to install them individually.

Once up-to-date with important updates repeat with the optional updates - taking care to avoid some of the problematic ones, such as KB3192403 the October 2016 Preview of Monthly Quality Rollup...

Once complete, run Windows Disk Cleanup and clean up system files ticking the new option "Service Pack Backup files". Then take a full disk image, so that you can always recover our system to this point.

However, do plan on the whole process taking a few days...