Can Dell's Automatic Updates Get Any Worse?

I know that everyone complains about Microsoft, and I’ve certainly done my share of Redmond-bashing, but I have to say that their automatic updates do a pretty darn good job. They can get awfully annoying, and from time to time there is one that goes awry, but overall they offer a well-integrated experience that runs smoothly and I give them a thumbs-up.

Compare that to other companies like Dell and you might just see what I mean. You have to go to their site, download them individually, unpack them individually, try to find where they unpacked to (assuming you didn’t make a note of all of them), watch as they may or may not overwrite each other. It’s horrible.

And that is if you can actually get through the process (there are times that I don’t).

If you see the list, you have no idea what you’ve downloaded before. It’s just a list of what might be available – no idea what has been installed before or even what may apply to you. Only what applies to your model, regardless of what you have installed now. Some installation history and awareness of how it may affect you would be awesome.

So let’s say you actually get everything downloaded and know where it is, there are actually instances where it has asked for an installation floppy. A what? Do you know how long it has been since I’ve had a computer with a floppy on it? I don’t think I even have any floppy disks any longer (and I kept some for a while, even though I couldn’t use some). I rarely even use CDs and rarely use USB sticks. I mean come on Dell. This is lame.

It is almost enough to make me want to throw away my computer and buy something from Microsoft. I can’t believe I’m even writing that. I’ve spent the better part of my adult life trying to get away from Microsoft. But it is that bad.


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