Windows sucks, forced updates

General
1

how do you all handle this in the production environment.
i ask as i just had a windows update self destruct. I am being forced to install things that i dont need or want. resource suckers.
we try to stay ahead if it. but this last round took us by surprise. oh and did i mention one of the servers went nuclear.

not allowing the computers to see the internet. is not a great option for me. as some of the content templates rely on there connection.

i have to build two more servers and i am looking at using Linux. but i don’t see a 2.3 build for that.
any advice. thanks

2

Since Windows 8 came out, I started treating the OS as an expendable layer for mission-critical PCs.
That’s blocking Windows Update altogether and making regular OS images for cold backups in case something go nuclear.
Internet isolation is not an option 99% of the time and the risks are not worth the troubles of keeping the OS happy when it pleases to do its things.
My advice is:

  1. Install the cleanest Windows install you can and test it.
  2. Update Windows once, then disable Windows Update or delete all Windows Update files.
  3. Keep all media and work files in a separate drive.
  4. Make an OS image of that and keep it either on a network drive, external hard drive or a thumb drive.
  5. Reduce peer access to a minimum on the local network and enable internet access.

Then if any malware or ransomware attack happens, you can restore the OS in a matter of minutes, actually faster than a Windows feature upgrade.

This saved me many headaches in the past. Microsoft is treating all of us as beta testers and that’s dangerous for the work we do.

3

Hi, depends how you need to use the CasparCG. The easiest option is to use apt repository version of CasparCG in Ubuntu 19.10 or newer or Debian 10 or newer. If you need CEF however, you will need to build it. Easiest building for linux is done with pre-made docker tools on Ubuntu 18.04. Unofficial instructions for building on Ubuntu 20.04 are here: Building & running server v2.3.0 LTS on Ubuntu 20.04 - #15 by dimitry_ishenko (They were working for me few months ago).

4

I’ve switched to Linux around 2007, when I had realized I would be spending more on Windows licenses than I would on hardware for an upcoming project at the time.

After struggling for a few months at first, I’ve never looked back.

And now, every time I hear someone complain about Windows, it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside that I’ve made the right choice. :blush:

@jyeomans and anyone else interested, you can find prebuilt Linux binaries here:

server 2.3

scanner

server 2.1.12_nrk

Share and enjoy.

D-mo

5

For me Linux was never an option as I do my client development in .NET. So when I moved to Windows 10 I looked for a way to prevent it to do updates and found StopUpdates 10. It is very easy and does the job for me.

6

We use Microsoft WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) to authorise security updates for distribution to our Windows estate once we are happy with them. Anything non-security we do not authorise. Individual machines are either scheduled in Group Policy (or Local Policy if off the domain) to update from the WSUS server at a time we know they are off air, or are configured to only download updates. We then log in at a convenient time to manually kick off the installation.

The WSUS console tells us the state of all the machines, and any not taking updates get highlighted. It’s very useful from a compliance point of view, where you can generate a report proving a certain patch has been applied estate-wide if your InfoSec team is worried about something.

You won’t solve your patching issues by switching to Linux, you’ll just replace them with a different set of problems. As someone who first installed Slackware distro back in in 1994, I’ve watched updates go just as badly wrong on Linux machines over the years as I have on Windows.

7

Rejoice @didikunz :laughing: the evil Microsoft now provides .NET for Linux:

If you can’t kill them, join them, right? :astonished:

8

You see, I am an old man and just want to have a few more years without learning too much new stuff, so I am happy with Windows for the moment… :laughing:

4 Likes
9

thank you all for your suggestions.