S11E18 – Windows Cloud Rebuild and Busier Patch Tuesdays

Episode Summary

Mike and Howard spent most of this episode on Microsoft. They started with Microsoft’s plan to let Windows reinstall itself from the cloud, then moved to the news that security patches are about to arrive far more often, and finished the Microsoft thread with a long list of everyday Windows annoyances.

The middle of the show turned to hardware and people. Mike compared HP and Dell after a hot server room in Phoenix cooked a mix of both brands, then talked about what makes a good technician and why he prefers to teach clients rather than just fix things for them.

The last segment covered Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI over alleged corporate espionage, and Mike’s frustration with Gemini and with AI answers that say too much. The hosts also floated reviving an old useful-links site and building small scripts listeners could download. There were no callers this week.

Topics Covered

Windows cloud rebuild

Microsoft is adding a way to reinstall Windows from the cloud, even on a machine that will not boot. It is available to Insider and preview users but is not a full release yet. Mike said the stated goal is repair, and it may simply wipe the machine. He wished it offered an in-place upgrade, and called the delay in getting this feature laziness on Microsoft’s part.

Why Mike stays on Windows

Mike said he regularly wants to move to Linux, and that Linux like Mint or Ubuntu works for most people. What keeps him on Windows is Outlook and Office, and his high-end laptop, whose dual graphics and speaker setup did not work well on Linux. Howard’s holdout is gaming with his kids. They also complained about Edge opening links regardless of the default browser, and saves defaulting to OneDrive.

More frequent Patch Tuesdays

Mike said people using AI are finding Windows security holes faster than humans do, so Microsoft will release fixes more often and machines will update and reboot more. He said critical updates arrive any day, while non-critical ones come on the second Tuesday. His managed clients get a 10-day delay so Microsoft can pull a bad update, mainly because of HP driver updates that have broken keyboards.

HP versus Dell

In a Phoenix server room that reached about 110 degrees, Mike said the Dell servers kept running while the HP servers shut off and cleared their own settings. He said the owner finally bought a roughly $1,500 air conditioner to protect about $40,000 of servers. Mike also said he avoids recommending HP laptops, though he called the Elite line decent.

Teaching instead of just fixing

Mike described how technician-school graduates often knew part names but not how a system works together, and said passion is what he hires for. He said he lets clients click the buttons while he explains why, so they can solve the problem next time. The hosts want to revive the old useful-links site and offer downloadable scripts, such as one to stop File Explorer grouping downloads by date.

Apple, OpenAI and AI assistants

Howard described Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI, which alleges one former employee encouraged recruits to bring confidential Apple hardware or documents to interviews and another kept access to Apple storage after leaving and downloaded thousands of files. Mike said the second case is partly Apple’s fault for not locking down access when someone leaves. Mike also said Gemini on his phone failed to call a saved contact, and that AI assistants give long answers to some questions and none to simple ones.

Calls

There were no listener calls this episode.