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Actually, asking in forums like here is often better than asking at a Microsoft site... (Same with Apple too sometimes)... If you are asking, people here assume you are not an IT professional or code monkey, so the answers are more likely to be understandable, especially in how it effects DS... Ask at other (platform specific) sites and it's often like they read two key words and based the answer on those... Which is what happened a few times to me... Very frustrating when you get a "canned" response and see the same one for several other "similar" questions... Microsoft's site is particularly bad like that.
Never hate your tools.
@Peter Wade " Switch on Aircraft Mode (or it might be called Flight Mode"
Can't seem to find that setting on my desktop
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That sounds like another wifi only (presumably for laptops and tablets). There are a lot of solutions that don't work if you connect via a wire to the network.
Airplane mode is available when you click on that little notification icon in the lower right corner of the screen/desktop. Look in the options on the lower part of the "Action Center" that pops out--usually is in the second row of icons there.
Wow! from what I have been reading about you all that upgraded to win 10. It sounds like I should be very glad I stayed with my win7pro system. I love my win7 system I never have to fight it for control. it never nanny's me, or shuts down my daz projects. I am also glad when I had this machine built I bought the full install w7p disk & I have a few system shadow copies as back ups of my current set up. It really sounds like win ten can be disastrous to 3d projects that are works in progress.
A car and a computer are two different things. :D I keep my computers running 24-7 and have no problem with it. Think of it this way, 90% of the energy going into your computer is converted into heat. That heat is best to remain consistant and not hammered every day by heating up and cooling down. Kinda like dropping an ice cube into a cup of coffee, you will eventually get a crack in something.
I can honestly back this as I do have a few computers and servers here at the "Ranch", including one WinXp, that have only been turned off maybe a dozen times. I have also been working on computers sience the early '80s on IBM 770s and hold a PhD in computer science. ;)
Well... I'm not trying to be funny, but you can alway pull the Ethernet cable out temporarily when you are doing something critical... It's not a permanent solution, but I've done it a few times with my Macs.
I have no idea what the ramifications of doing that in Win 10 is... I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft has some stupid way of "discouraging" that sort of thing... But it does work with my Windows 7 Dell.
I think the actual issue is getting lost here. It's not that the machine is rebooting mid-render (though, I guess it could). This computer doesn't have a monitor attached. I connect via VNC which is like Remote Desktop, but not integrated with the OS. As such, I don't actually see the desktop except when I am setting up or saving a render. So, when I'm doing other things (like doing real work and doing stuff that doesn't involve rendering), VNC is minimized and it could be a day or two before I check back in. That is when the problem occurs with MS having rebooted while I was busy with other things and not paying attention to the computer. Several times, when I finally get back to check in, the computer is unresponsive because VNC server requires me to be logged in, and the reboot logs me out, requiring me to go through the hassle of physically logging in (and then finding my apps all gone).
I can't disengage the wired ethernet because that's how I access the machine, since it's not used via a regular keyboard/mouse/monitor. VNC over wifi is not fun.
I've downloaded a program that supposedly hacked the registry to turn off updates. We'll see if that worked (it's probably a year old, so I have no idea if it's changes are still effective). Then, using this program, I can turn them back on when it's convenient. If that doesn't work, I'll try blocking all of MS via the firewall. If all of that fails, it sounds like Windows 7 pro may be a decent option and just shut down updates and take my chances. I've blocked Edge and IE from ever connecting to the world, so I feel like it's safe from most exploits, since this is the sole windows computer on my local network and there are no ports directed to the machine at the router. We'll see how it goes.
It's kind of ironic that MS' heavy handed approach is actually driving me to be even more risky with my security setup than if they had just continued with the idea of a popup which nags that it needs to reboot whenever I have the chance.
Are you sure thats for Win 7 Pro? I have no problem selecting what updates I want. I think thats only for the vanila versions of window 7, which is why I bought the pro version to begin with. I've never had any problems picking and choosing my updates, nothing ever tries to upgrade me to win 8 or 10.
I intend to use my new computer offline, going online only when I need to, and as little as possible. But I'm going to need to connect it to the network to move files from the computer that will be online all the time. Seemed to me the easiest thing to do would be to use a switch to "remove" the network connection. I found a manual switch at Amazon for only $10: https://www.amazon.com/2-Port-Manual-Network-Switch-computer/dp/B004RB8CT4. I'm going to buy it, or something like it. The convenience is well worth the small cost to me.
In the meantime, I just unplug my (DSL) modem when I connect the two computers.
ETA: Just bought the switch.
Well I do, but mostly to avoid them being killed if a lightning should hit the power lines. Happened once while I was asleep. I have everything connected via one power plug so I can easily pull it all off the grid which I do when I'm asleep or away.
I don't think computers need a rest really, the old Commodore 64 was actually said to last longer if they were on all the time because the contraction and expansion caused by heating up and cooling down all the time shortened the life time of the chips. Hard disks have also been said to last longer if there were running 24/7/365 as the thing that would wear them most was spinning up and down. Don't know if that's the case anymore though as modern disks have fluid bearings (Seagate has said these would last almost forever) and advanced head parking systems.
Yeah...not so much needed any longer...especially with SSDs in the mix, too.
I came across an alternative Windows Update app the other day, have only played with it briefly but it should make it a lot easier to manage your updates:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/windows_update_minitool.html
Just deleted a load of rubbish but I apparently can't delete the post entirely.
I couldn't find Airplane Mode on my desktop in settings but after I made the original post I found it in that box that pops out from the right hand edge of the screen when you click the notifications icon.
My old laptop used to have a step beyond airplane mode - a physical switch on the outside that turned off the wifi.
As to windows 10 home, I've done the setting so the "in use" hours are actually those when it's not: the 12 hours I'm generally asleep. The other 12 I'm at the computer enough that I can click the "postpone" button every hour or so when it comes up.
I'm in the habit of turning my machines off almost every night except when I want them to catch up on updates. I tell my home PC repair customers to turn them completely off at least once a week. Back in the '80s & '90s I'd tell my corporate customers (secretaries, labratories, etc.) to leave the PC's on over night but reboot them on Monday morning or the moment they started acting wonky. However the corporate "big iron"* machines (Sun or HP UNIX) were left on 24/7/365 or until such time as repairs were needed. It was always a goal to rack up longer and longer "uptimes"
These big machines were left on because they were often servers or were monitoring real-time operations or experiments.
The logic behind leaving PCs on was to avoid electronic stress from transient voltage spikes during power up and down. Also some disks would continue working fine until you powered them off then when they cooled down the bearing lubricant would become sluggish and the motor wouldn't have enough torque to get them to start. Many's the time I've had to shake a PC to give a little torque to the disk platter.
Nowdays, the power supplies seem to be better designed as well as the disks but I still use the "torque the drive" technique as a first test when it doesn't want to run.
The logic behind shutting a PC off at least once a week was to let it rebuild its memory resident tables from scratch after a power on. The theory being that long term use increases the possibility that memory rot, gremlin poop or other corruption would creep into the tables over time. So, it was just easier to reboot once in a while just because it seems like the thing to do at the time.
But remember back in the early days of Microsoft the OS was really pretty crappy by comparison with real OS's so table rot or memory rot, or other such gremlin poop was actually pretty common.
* Yeah, yeah, I know, "big iron" used to mean IBM or Burroughs mainframes but after the '80s anything in racks or that could qualify as a boat anchor when unpowered, we considered "big iron".
Some disk manufacturers like Western Digital however made an odd stunt with some of their later disks by making them park the heads like every 8 seconds. There's been a lot of fuzz about this and I don't know if they do it anymore, at least my new Red NAS disks don't seem to do it. But in practice it would mean that the disks may exceed the maximum load/unload cycle count pretty fast, in many cases before the warranty runs out. Makes no sense from a business point of view, and I've never managed to find out why they actually do/did this. WD has a tool that can be used to alter the setting and I've used it on some of my drives, but some say it doesn't work on all the drives affected.
I do have a smartphone. I keep Google Now turned off (thanks Google). I don't play games or really use any apps. I use my phone for...phone calls. I am close to living in the real 1984 I guess ;). Having said all that, just because having a cell phone or because other people aren't smart enough to manage their own machines means I have to put up with a company I don't know and people who I've never met having control of MY computer. Last I checked, I lived in a free country (relatively....stay tuned). What I do with my own equipement is my business and no one elses. The fact that I have nothing to hide is totally beside the point. :) I really dislike arm twisting. I use a Linux machine to go online now.
Laurie
I had not heard about anything that would prevent you from refusing updates in Windows 7. Can you point me at an article/link on that? I was under the impression that each group updates would simply be bundled into one, but you could still refuse one bundle.
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/08/20/1826256/microsoft-announces-cumulative-updates-will-become-mandatory-for-windows-7-and-81
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2016/08/18/microsoft-windows-7-and-windows-8-given-windows-10-upgrades/#171478317c27
From a technical standpoint, it doesn't FORCE updates, but you're still forced in that it's either all or nothing. You take the updates, or you can never update after that. Not much of a choice and good thing there's no loaded gun to anyone's head ;).
Laurie
The last line of the slashdot article says: "According to Microsoft's blog post, they'll ALSO be releasing a monthly "security-only" update, but again, "individual patches will no longer be available".
So, they're not forcing anyone to take a windows 8 or10 update. All I care about are the security updates. Its not like WIn 7 needs any other updates at this point, Any hardware driver updates are better off downloaded direct from the manufacturer.
No no...I didn't mean they were forcing an update to a newer version of the OS....
What I meant was that they were essentially forcing people to apply the monthly rollup updates since each successive update depends on the presence of the last one. One does have a choice, but the choice is only apply the security updates (without being able to really know what they're doing or what they're sending back to Microsoft - and MS has already added more telemetry to Windows 7 and 8.1 thru updates), or don't update. At all. Not much of a choice if you only have one computer and it's Windows or you don't have a Mac or a Linux box to get online.
Laurie
If you can't uninstall the individual patches either it's a bad idea, for if the rollup breaks something so you have to uninstall it, you maybe uninstall 10 patches even if it's only one that is causing problems.
What do you use other than Windows?
If another OS is you main, then Sandbox Windows - disconnect it from the internet; it can't install updates, and you're as safe as you can be from various malware types.
For me, the other OS is OS X. Unfortunately, I connect via VNC which is like Remote Desktop, so I am unable to disconnect the windows computer if I want to use it. If Apple would just get their heads out of their butts and start making real computers again, this wouldn't be an issue...but, I think they have brought in contractors and are planning on moving in their permanently, right next door to ol' Steve Balmer in the land of the lost.
I've been using a manual switchbox successfully or about 15 years and highly recommendd it if you're Ethernet connected. I liked that if I felt I had hit a virus I could positively switch it off fasther than I could the computer access. Most of the time when I was in work mode the switch box and computer were disconnectedd from the internet. This is a simple version of the box; more complex versions handle more devices:
https://www.amazon.com/CablesOnline-Rotary-Manual-Switch-SB-034/dp/B00EBSR7CQ/ref=pd_sbs_147_2/151-3244000-8452660?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2A6X96G6QT11SC1R0Z5D
One thing I don't understand is why you're operating your other machine through VNC. Are they in the same room? Are you trying to save cost by not getting another monitor (used on ebay lots of good stuff) or space? or are they in different locations? We used to use a device that would toggle multiple computers by toggling both a switchboard and monitor between the two. We dropped that when we updated one machine and it had a monitor cabling connecctor that the box didn' have. It also helped that the person using one of the machines moved out.
I've been told that Windows 7 is MS' best operating system to date. Windows 8 might have had that title, but they messed up on the interface. Windows 10 assumes everyone is a social network junkie. The home version is the worst because, like Facebook, it has the arrogance to assume that good ol MS knows what's best for your family all the while tracking and monetizing what your family does. The professional version recognizes that companies doing business might be impacted if the system updates when it is not convenient and could cause loss of revenue.
Edit: shortend comment. Didn't realize I could write so much and say so little.
My desk is too small for having a bunch of monitors and keyboards and KVM switches are expensive and not terribly useful when VNC works fine. I actually did buy a really cheap one, but it was just a Y cable set and was way too clumsy to bother with. I could probably get a better one, but it would be yet another thing to clutter the desk.
If your router is compatible, install DD-WRT and you can selectively restrict machines from the internet while allowing them full access to the internal network. Windows boxes/VMs here are NEVER allowed onto the internet. Their ARP/MAC addresses and/or IP addresses are blocked at the router. Only Linux, *BSD, SysV, and MacOS boxen are allowed onto the internet.
Kendall