Windows update fun
I sometimes need to work on Windows machines, much to my dismay. Today I found out that in the windows automatic updates, windows decided to install a helper application for removing malicious software.
Fortunately, we also have a proper solution to remove all malicious software from a PC 
That’s been my favorite solution for some time now :P
If it moves, compile it.
Wow. You only found this out now? Man, you don’t know half your luck!
“I sometimes need to work on Windows machines, much to my dismay.”
Why this attitude? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Microsoft Windows except maybe for the whole “freedom” nonsense.
Yes, ubuntu is your solution for *removing malicious software* but at what cost? At the cost of not being able to watch DVDs, not being to listen to streaming music online, at the cost of going to IRC channels and forums for every little thing to get help
Have you noticed how lately practically every Ubuntu *automatic update* is asking for a restart, whether or not there has been a modification to the running kernel?
Besides, have you *ever, ever* heard of a Windows user say “I sometimes need to work on Linux, much to my dismay”? No, you won’t, because Windows users are happy with something that works, unlike Linux users who have the pressing need to enforce their laws and their ideas on unsuspecting users who prefer getting work done rather than editing config files and reading documentation to get anywhere.
No, I am not trying to bash Linux here unnecessarily. I too am a regular user Linux user, and know just about as much as any “poweruser” out there. Just that I prefer having those operating systems that are good at what they do, instead of claiming that Ubuntu is the be all, end all of this planet.
Why that attitude? Because I hate working on windows and because it restricts my freedom very much.
“At the cost of not being able to watch DVDs, not being to listen to streaming music online”
Excluding Automatix, you mean? And I don’t even expect that to last. I don’t know if the whole graphics driver move is only the start of this or not, but it seems to me that more and more binary-only software will find its way into Ubuntu soon enough.
I haven’t experienced your update reboot problems. The last one did require a reboot, but the others before it did not. That said, I agree that the updates aren’t as perfect as they seem to be at first glance. What really separates Ubuntu and other distros from Windows, in my eyes, is that when you do need to reboot Windows for an update, it’s INCREDIBLY ******* ANNOYING about it and pops up a window every now and then that gets in your way. Ubuntu politely tells you in a balloon that appears ONLY ONCE that a reboot is required eventually, and lets you finish all of your work without further disruption. That’s one of the very few things that truly, deep-down irritates me about Windows : there’s either no “shut up, I know that!” setting or I’m missing it.
And I thought the whole point of Ubuntu was to have something that “just works”. I’m quite content with it, though that may be due to me mostly just web-surfing, chatting and typing reports with it. Yeah, I’m boring and gave up on linux gaming a long time ago.