Machine will not Restart after Windows update Installation

[johnoo]

Have just downloaded/installed some Windows upgrades.

After installation was asked to "Restart"

Clicked on "Restart"

After 1 hour machine still not restarted.

Switched of at mains

Switched back on & machine configured windows & restarted.

But how do I correct the initial "Restart" problem?

PS Am running Win. 8.1 & have nobody to turn to for help!

 

[Boris]

17 minutes ago, johnoo said:

But how do I correct the initial "Restart" problem?

I recommend  regular prayer to the great god of Redmond :)

[Boris]

In other words - nothing you can do (except make sure all external usb devices are removed before you do it) - it is purely under the control of the gods of chance.

[johnoo]

Boris,

So, & you have a great deal more experience than myself, does this happen to a lot of people as a regular difficulty?

Seems to me to be a bit of a major problem which I thought was due to my Windows installation or my hardware, but you are indicating that this is not so, I'm amazed!

 

[AlanHo]

Upgrade to Windows 10 - that cured a lot of my Win 8.1 hassles

[Boris]

1 hour ago, johnoo said:

Boris,

So, & you have a great deal more experience than myself, does this happen to a lot of people as a regular difficulty?

Seems to me to be a bit of a major problem which I thought was due to my Windows installation or my hardware, but you are indicating that this is not so, I'm amazed!

I never bothered with the abomination that is Windows 8/8.1 , which IMHO is even worse than the much maligned Vista.  None of my rigs has it.

I have spent more time sorting out 8/8.1 problems for other people than you would believe.

[johnoo]

I am quite amazed, if it is Win 8.1 causing the problem, & I have no reason to doubt either of you, I would have thought that this would/should have been flagged as a major error & corrected by this time.

Regarding the potential solution of moving to Win. 10 is this now stable & does it require to be customised?

[Boris]

It's "stable" as much as any M$ offering is . 

By customise - exactly what do you mean ? 

You can put Classic Shell

http://www.classicshell.net/

 on it to make it more old-school.

[johnoo]

4 minutes ago, Boris said:

It's "stable" as much as any M$ offering is . 

By customise - exactly what do you mean ? 

You can put Classic Shell

http://www.classicshell.net/

 on it to make it more old-school.

Boris,

Thanks I will have a look at "Classicshell"

By customise I meant any changes that the experts felt to be desirable, as I've not looked at Win. 10 I don't know what the problems of using are.

Just looking for advise.

[AlanHo]

You should grab it while it is a free upgrade from Win 7 or 8.  You will have to upgrade sooner or later, so why not now.

I have less problems with Win 10 then with any previous version of Windows - and I have used them all since 1983 with Windows 1.0. I have less than fond memories of the nightmares called Windows ME and Windows Vista.

I use Stardock Start10 to cause Win 10 to replicate the start button and menu of Windows 7. It's a bargain at $5 and makes Windows so much more user friendly.

The only ongoing problem I have is that Internet Explorer on our 3 computers (my desktop, my laptop and my wife's laptop) has stared throwing up script errors on some web sites. I have changes just about every setting in IE available and have reset it without a solution. Microsoft are trying to get everyone to adopt their new EDGE Browser which appears to be Chrome on steroids and I suspect a recent Win 10 update has caused the problem.   The script errors don't occur on EDGE or Firefox so I have resorted to using Firefox most of the time.

I don't like the EDGE browser one bit - but I must confess it's very fast.  My main complaint is that the favourites are buried in an obscure folder on the C drive. With IE you can store the favourites in a folder on the D drive.

I have moved the documents, downloads, music, pictures, videos and favourites folders to a D drive hard disc in the desktop computer to keep them totally separate from the O.S and programmes

I use a backup programme called Second Copy which backs up all the files that have been changed since the previous backup on the D drive, to an external hard drive remote from my computer.  Hence with IE, like all other docs and data, my favourites are backed up each time the computer boots. With EDGE it is not so easy - I would have to run Second Copy twice to back up each drive separately.

I use Acronis to back Up the whole of the C drive weekly.

 

[johnoo]

Alan,

Thanks for your amazing thought out reply to help me.

I've copied/pasted into a document on my system & will review early in the New Year, too much on at the moment.

But three quick(ish) questions

1 Ref. Favourites, can you have the listing at the top of the screen like in IE 11?

Also is there a "Favourites Bar" for most used web sites?

2 For Backup I currently use "System Image Backup" within Win 8 Control Panel & a free version of Acronis.

Is this "Systems Image" method within Win 10?

As to Acronis, think I will have to pay for the full version!!

3 Does the "Edge" browser come with Win 10 download/install?

Again many thanks for your great reply.

 

[AlanHo]

I assume you are referring to the EDGE browser.

It does have a favourites bar but it lacks a menu bar like in IE where you can click on a tab called 'favourites". You can click on an icon at the top right of the browser to open a list of favourites but they appear to be listed in alphabetical order. I have some favourites grouped into folders such as "Financial", "Forums", "Travel" etc which in IE appear at the top of the favourites list. In EDGE they are mixed up with other singular favourites in alpha order. It's no big deal - but for me an irritation.

I should state that I have not triple checked all the EDGE settings - so I may be proved to be incorrect .

One good thing about EDGE is that you can hit a button in the header which then enables you to draw with a pen on the image - or add highlighting and/or capture a region onto the clipboard to paste into another document. Even better - unlike the snipping tool built into Windows - you can scroll the window with the capture tool and copy more of the page than is visible.

 

[Gandalph]

On 18 December 2015 at 0:54 PM, johnoo said:

Have just downloaded/installed some Windows upgrades.

After installation was asked to "Restart"

Clicked on "Restart"

After 1 hour machine still not restarted.

Switched of at mains

Switched back on & machine configured windows & restarted.

But how do I correct the initial "Restart" problem?

PS Am running Win. 8.1 & have nobody to turn to for help!

 

Ever thought about going Apple. Get an Apple ....No hassle. 

[AlanHo]

Apples cost many hundreds of pounds. Upgrades to Window 10 are free.  It's a no brainer.

[Boris]

29 minutes ago, AlanHo said:

Apples cost many hundreds of pounds.

WOW ! You can get 7 Braeburns for a quid 'ere dahn sawf.

I suppose the fruit costs more where you are because its in the frozen north

[johnoo]

17 hours ago, AlanHo said:

I assume you are referring to the EDGE browser.

It does have a favourites bar but it lacks a menu bar like in IE where you can click on a tab called 'favourites". You can click on an icon at the top right of the browser to open a list of favourites but they appear to be listed in alphabetical order. I have some favourites grouped into folders such as "Financial", "Forums", "Travel" etc which in IE appear at the top of the favourites list. In EDGE they are mixed up with other singular favourites in alpha order. It's no big deal - but for me an irritation.

I should state that I have not triple checked all the EDGE settings - so I may be proved to be incorrect .

One good thing about EDGE is that you can hit a button in the header which then enables you to draw with a pen on the image - or add highlighting and/or capture a region onto the clipboard to paste into another document. Even better - unlike the snipping tool built into Windows - you can scroll the window with the capture tool and copy more of the page than is visible.

 

Is this correct about how "Favourites" are stored? I keep all of mine in 8.1 within different folders, ie Maps/Parking/Finance/Insurance etc.

If it is designed as Alan indicates I think it would give me many operational problems.

Any comments?

[Boris]

Just use IE 11 rather than Edge

[johnoo]

11 minutes ago, Boris said:

Just use IE 11 rather than Edge

I've got a lot to learn.

I thought that when I installed Win. 10 it would uninstall Win. 8.1 & IE 11.

But from what Boris has said this is not correct, or do I misunderstand?

[AlanHo]

I think that it may dump 8.1 into a temporary folder to enable you to go back if for some reason 10 fails to impress you.

When I upgraded to 10 it didn't uninstall IE11. There is an option in the settings to chose, from a list of all the browsers installed on your computer, which one you wish to be the default browser for opening links etc.

However - as mentioned above IE11 is driving me potty with script errors on all 3 of our computers which I have failed to resolve - hence Firefox is my current default. I am however using EDGE occasionally to get used to it. The more I use it the less I hate it. I still don't like it though.

 

 

By the way - the date when getting free upgrades to Win 10 expire is July 29th 2016. After that you have put your hand into a deep pocket.

[johnoo]

2 hours ago, AlanHo said:

I think that it may dump 8.1 into a temporary folder to enable you to go back if for some reason 10 fails to impress you.

When I upgraded to 10 it didn't uninstall IE11. There is an option in the settings to chose, from a list of all the browsers installed on your computer, which one you wish to be the default browser for opening links etc.

However - as mentioned above IE11 is driving me potty with script errors on all 3 of our computers which I have failed to resolve - hence Firefox is my current default. I am however using EDGE occasionally to get used to it. The more I use it the less I hate it. I still don't like it though.

 

 

By the way - the date when getting free upgrades to Win 10 expire is July 29th 2016. After that you have put your hand into a deep pocket.

Thanks again Alan, I will make up my mind early in the New Year, too much going on currently.

But I note the expiry date for "free" upgrade.

In saying that Microsoft are pressing hard, even though I have hidden the Win 10 enabler KB3035583, Microsoft have again downloaded it as a "Recommended" installation.