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EWC88

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My girlfriends grandmother got a laptop in June. She had to recently send it back to HP because something malfunctioned on it so they fixed it and sent back. Now its a windows 8, I know nothing about windows 8 besides I hate it which is why I do not have it. Before she sent her laptop out he would constantly have updates for all her tiles/apps whatever you want to call it. Well like I said she just got it back and she once again has 28 updates and she is worried to update and have it keep telling her to update. Is this normal? Is there a way where the stuff will update automatically instead of her doing it?

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My girlfriends grandmother got a laptop in June. She had to recently send it back to HP because something malfunctioned on it so they fixed it and sent back. Now its a windows 8, I know nothing about windows 8 besides I hate it which is why I do not have it. Before she sent her laptop out he would constantly have updates for all her tiles/apps whatever you want to call it. Well like I said she just got it back and she once again has 28 updates and she is worried to update and have it keep telling her to update. Is this normal? Is there a way where the stuff will update automatically instead of her doing it?

 

You can change those settings via "Control Pannel --> Settings --> Security"

 

But the question is, do you really want it to do that?  Sometimes, depending on what other programs you have installed, doing "automatic updates" can cause more problems than it solves. Things that *were* working suddenly no longer do, and it becomes harder to figure out why. 

 

I usually select the "Notify me of updates but let me choose when to install them" option.  It takes a commitment to do that, and if your GF's grandmother doesn't want to bother, then I'd say go ahead with the fully automatic updates, but just beware of the consequences.

 

PM me if you'd like any futher assistance.

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My girlfriends grandmother got a laptop in June. She had to recently send it back to HP because something malfunctioned on it so they fixed it and sent back. Now its a windows 8, I know nothing about windows 8 besides I hate it which is why I do not have it. Before she sent her laptop out he would constantly have updates for all her tiles/apps whatever you want to call it. Well like I said she just got it back and she once again has 28 updates and she is worried to update and have it keep telling her to update. Is this normal? Is there a way where the stuff will update automatically instead of her doing it?

 

It sounds like automatic updates are off or she's shutting it off before they can execute and hence getting messages to update.

 

If you go into the control panel, (Mouse to upper right, click cog icon), then system and security then windows update. In there, you change settings to "update automatically", I don't have a W8 machine in front of me right now, but it's the right place.

 

Thereafter it should go on it's own.  That said, if she uses it for a time then shuts it off, the updates never run.

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As mentioned above let them run, it good to keep with with the windows updates. FYI Microsoft actually releases the updates on Tuesdays, so if you do them today you may get more next Tuesday. If MS discovers a very critical security issue they will then deploy the patch ASAP but most times look for them on Tuesdays

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As an addition to the updates issues, make sure you have MS Security Essentials [free from MS] installed and running on her PC.

Many seniors follow pop-ups and add links which may plant viruses into their PC.

 

Security essentials is already part of Windows 8 and cannot be added.

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It's kind of hard to say without seeing it. A lot of times the updates are not just windows updates but there could be proprietary "maintenance" apps (like for the sound card, video/display adapter, processor, etc) HP (or whatever manufacturer) has running and they can be turned off. Or it could be updates to apps like antivirus or web monitoring - those you want to leave on. And I usually have Windows updates notify me so I can pick and choose what I install.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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It's kind of hard to say without seeing it. A lot of times the updates are not just windows updates but there could be proprietary "maintenance" apps (like for the sound card, video/display adapter, processor, etc) HP (or whatever manufacturer) has running and they can be turned off. Or it could be updates to apps like antivirus or web monitoring - those you want to leave on. And I usually have Windows updates notify me so I can pick and choose what I install.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Precisely. Having everything update "automatically" might seem convenient, but it's not the best of ideas from a "problem resolution" perspective. Things that "worked" a few days ago, suddently "don't work" anymore, and no one knows how it happened.  I can't begin to decribe some of the problems I've had with Adobe Flash updates causing all kinds of sudden new problems with web "slowness," etc.. Yes, Microsoft Security Essentials is a good one for "Automatic updates."  But I don't do anything else that way. I always choose "Notify me but let me choose what/when to update."  This way, I can take backups before I update. 

 

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as far as the start menu in 8.1 and making it all more familiar to her.

 

Right click on the taskbar(bar no bottom of the screen)

Select Properties

Select the navigation tab

under the "start screen" category

Check when I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead of start.

&

Show my desktop background on start.

 

Whenever she clicks the start button it will go to her app drawer which is basically the exact same thing as the start menu.

 

 

Not a fan of most of the third party start menu options and frankly I don't see the need with 8.1 and some of the changes they have implemented.

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