This is the reason why IT admins usually disable the installation of automatic updates on the workplace (so THEY can decide which updates to install and which ones to skip).
Then one day Microsoft wanted to be an asshole and decided to lie and mark an anti piracy phone-home update as a SECURITY update, breaking thousands of systems in one single night. Admins were forced to block Microsoft's own IP addresses just to prevent company's assets from breaking unexpectedly.
Worst one I've had is a windows update somehow physically brick a notebook, no idea how it happened but even after replacing the harddrive it would still get stuck in a weird boot loop trying to start off a non existant drive. My best guess is the update somehow managed to damage/corrupt the BIOS.
Now they shove untested firmware updates onto windows update, launch them automatically, tell you that your computer is going to be updating for an indeterminate amount of time and that while that's evidently more urgent and important than whatever you were using it for they're generous enough to grant you three chances to postpone the update for 30 minutes, proceed with the update anyway when you tell them to postpone, warning you not to unplug the computer or else, and brick your machine even if you didn't unplug it (and no, warranty doesn't cover it, buy a new one, you filthy consumer).
We have several HP laptops at work, and they're an absolute nightmare.
One time i decided that a Windows update was taking too long and decided to turn off the computer. Fucked. Wouldn't boot anymore. Had to re-install windows.
Very long story short. The catalyst was ofc a windows update that went through over night.
Reinstalled entire windows. Twice. First time I made the mistake of reinstalling lenovo software that came with laptop (battery controll etc) that caused together with windows complete freeze when plugging AC adapter in. (Because it put laptop in high performance mode which froze everything)
Second time I said fuck that and made sure I download the required drivers manually from AMD and Nvidia. And avoid Lenovo software all together. So far so good.
But fuck that windows update that broke everything to begin with. Lost my entire harddrive on a laptop not even 6 months old.
Would be fun if David Revoy and pmjv had a crossover. Both artists use FOSS, are on the fediverse and have at least one story with a girl who's sword runs an OS. But one is on Mastodon and the other on Lemmy, will they ever meet?
