I just bought a refurbished Dell Inspiron 15 that i was excited about.

I let it update, but then I started having problems.

The internet browser was slow beyond all belief.

On a command prompt, I was getting a ping of 736 ms.

When I ran a speed test, I got a download speed of 0.30 Mbps and an upload speed of 0.12 Mbps. (Disclaimer: I use a cheapie internet service, but it reliably gives me a speed of 1 Mbps and a 23 ms ping, which is good enough for me.)

I tried to access Dell support to report the problem, but the request timed out.

I was about to return the computer to Dell when I finally looked at Windows Update.

I found out that I had a zillion updates lined up in the queue! The updates were hogging the internet bandwidth without telling me. Ultimately, my new machine required 26 hours to update.

Then my internet speed came back, and my machine was rocking.

My rant is this: Why is MS running an update without telling me? In the old days, I would be notified that there were updates available, and I could choose when to download them. Back then, I would let MS Update do its thing while I walked away and did other stuff.

Now I find that the downloads are underway whenever MS likes, and I have no clue. My machine is practically useless until the downloads are done.

It would be great if there was a way to stop MS from downloading updates until it gets the OK from me. Then I could plan my work schedule appropriately.

 

Thanks.

David from San Antonio