Pro tip: I finally stopped telling people to just 'run Windows Update' for every problem

For years, that was my go-to first step, but I saw a client in Austin last week who had a critical driver rollback fail because of a botched cumulative update. It bricked their machine for a full day while we sorted it. Now I check the update history and known issues on the Microsoft Tech Community site first. How do you guys handle the initial diagnostic step when a machine is acting up after an update?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_diana19d ago

Totally get that shift in thinking. Had a similar wake-up call with a Surface Pro that kept blue screening. The "fix" in the update history was the actual cause. Now my first move is checking the update KB number against the known issues list. It feels like a basic step we all skipped for too long.

lewis.finley19d ago

Right, the "fix" being the actual cause... that's the perfect summary of modern tech support. I've been there too, just like @reed.skyler said about the driver update. It's wild that the first step now is to search for why the solution will break your computer. We used to just trust updates to make things better, not turn a working machine into a fancy paperweight.

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reed.skyler19d ago

Feel your pain on that one. Saw a brand new laptop last month that wouldn't boot past the logo after a driver update pushed through Windows Update. Had to spend half a day pulling the drive to recover files. Now I always check the known issues page before I even touch the update button. It's saved me a few headaches already.