Patch Tuesday

[snailium]

has any one experienced explorer crash?

it crashes for me every time I launch a new metro app, and every time I bring charm out on desktop mode

 

[eimoaotl]

has any one experienced explorer crash?

it crashes for me every time I launch a new metro app, and every time I bring charm out on desktop mode

No problems here for me with this. Have you tried rebooting?

I echo what everyone else has said - great update, ie10 is much faster. I am very happy.

 

[dark.davy]

Can any one try pinging their machine after the patch? And if you had created network file shares, try and access them from a remote machine?

I was messing around and never getting any echos back.
It seems my icmp echo was switched off after the update in the firewall.

Also none of my Shares worked. Had to remake them all.

 

[snailium]

No problems here for me with this. Have you tried rebooting?

I echo what everyone else has said - great update, ie10 is much faster. I am very happy.

The first thing I tried is rebooting surface. But still crashes.

Anyway, I've 'send information to Microsoft', hope they can fix the problem soon

 

[blahdre]

anyone having issues downloading the update? i've been trying for the past hour and the bar hasn't moved past 0%

 

[Loz Blake]

Will this update ever complete?! It's taking ages!!

 

[xpsbrenden]

Will this update ever complete?! It's taking ages!!

The patch should take around 20 mins. My surface kept going into standby so it took a little longer.

 

[inteller]

20mins is a worthwhile investment for the performance gains you will see. It is like falling in love all over again with the Surface.

 

[berty6294]

Mine kept going into standby too. Took like 30 min for me

 

[inteller]

the first 2 updates take a bit to apply, the last 4 or so go by fast.

 

[austen0316]

My IE seems to be taking longer to load sites

 

[Mike20PR]

My main concern with buying a Surface is the performance issues reported (which would bug the heck out of me) Is this update enough for me to not worry about it and buy one now? Opinions?

Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 using Board Express

 

[Dewg]

I know how you feel - it's a decent amount of money. I can give you my thoughts, and hope it will help.

The Surface RT is a rev 1.0 product. It's not as fast as an iPad4, but my primary usage with the Surface is not a gaming machine. Many of my friends are using their iPads as Playstation Vitas.

My primary goals are:

Web Browsing - the Surface is hands-down the best tablet for browsing as you have the full IE10 browser w/Flash. The closest on iPad is Puffin. Many "apps" on iPad or Nexus are simply giving you an alternative to a website that doesn't run well in Safari or Chrome-mobile. With Surface, I just visit the full websites (Youtube, Engadget, CNN, Facebook, Amazon Cloud/Prime, etc.)

Web Browsing (tip) - Turn on tracking protection and add a few lists (Abine, EasyPrivacy, and ******). That dramatically speeds up IE10 on Surface (and Desktop Windows 8 too).

Streaming - The Surface apps for Netflix and Hulu are great and stream quite smoothly. The HD is amazing, and headphones are rich sounding (if you're trying not to disturb a sleeping mate).

News - The Surface News app is actually quite good. I was a Flipboard whore before, but I find the News app easier to navigate, giving me access to headlines quickly. I frequently switch sources (Reuters, ABC News, AP, etc.). I also use Bento for technology news - again an excellent way to navigate headlines.

Communications - I use Skype to keep in touch with distant friends - the video quality is not as good as an iPad, but works well as I don't really need to see HD video of my friend's messy kitchen in the background. I also use Lync for my corporate messaging and collaboration. The Surface Lync client is full featured, unlike the iPad or Android offerings.

Productivity - Nothing, and I mean nothing, compares to having full Word, Excel, and PowerPoint software. I routinely blow away my coworkers when I can open full Word documents, such as contracts, with complete red-line capabilities. My CFO drooled a little when he was able to open a complex Excel budget spreadsheet and work easily between tabs, inserting charts and pivot tables.

Productivity (tips) - You can map network drives on your AD servers, and add network printers (as long as there are built-in drivers - most HP LaserJets, Samsung, Lexmark, etc.).

Expandability - The ability to throw on a 1TB external drive, or a 64GB thumb drive, or the SD card from my Canon camera is a big bonus. I even connected a full mouse, because one of my coworkers hates trackpads.

Those categories aside, apps are software and they likely have bugs or need optimization. A few game apps I've tried lagged, but after updates they ran smoothly. I think the hardware can handle it, just the apps need to be optimized. Again, I'm not worried about lag in apps (mostly games) as I don't play too many games to get bent out of shape over.

So - to sum up... if you're looking for a gaming tablet, the Surface is a tough call. If you're looking for a productivity and/or streaming tablet for video and productive work, the Surface is an excellent choice. I personally think Surface (and more so Surface Pro) will supplant iPad as the dominant tablet in the corporate world.

 

[stephen_az]

My main concern with buying a Surface is the performance issues reported (which would bug the heck out of me) Is this update enough for me to not worry about it and buy one now? Opinions?

Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 using Board Express

Why would relying on subjective opinions about supposed performance improvements make you any more confident than relying on subjective opinions about supposed performance issues? There is absolutely no demonstration that there are any significant performance issues and, quite frankly, most of what I am hearing about sudden improvements seem more placebo effect than anything else. The most I have noted is a bit of improvement with redraws, but then I had no issues at all with performance beforehand.

If you want a Surface tablet, you are not serving yourself well by relying on subjective opinions regarding performance to make a decision, whether they are opinions from people here or a few BS reviews that have held the tablet to a different standard than any other tablet on the market. The only person who can decide if the performance will be sufficient for you is you. if there were any side by side performance comparisons out there, that might be more of an objective evaluations but those do not exist. It is much more convenient to say it seems X, appears y, or feels like z....

 

[derek533]

Got the update installed today. I haven't really noticed any big improvements to be honest.

Maybe when swiping left to go back a page was sped up slightly, but I've always found the browsing to be very fast as it was/is.

I will say however, that when I got the Surface on launch day, I was disappointied until I added the tracking lists. Then, it really was a complete turnaround and the Surface is very fast. Page load times even for sites like WPcentral are almost immediate even before the updates.

 

[stewpeanut]

haven't noticed particular performance gains, but didn't have many performance issues to begin with. i was bummed that they haven't fixed the random muting issue when the keyboard is attached.

 

[TheJoester09]

I've noticed a significant increase in battery life since the update! My normal usage per day consists of listening to music off-and-on at work (I work 7:15-4:15), and then I bring my Surface to class to take notes (which lasts an hour and a half), and then moderate usage while I'm at home until I go to bed. Out of the box this usage required me to charge it every night, but when I went to bed last night (two days after updating) I noticed that it was only at 49%, so I didn't charge it to see how it was hold up. I've been listening to music for most of the day today, and it still has 24% left!

I haven't really noticed a huge performance increase like the rest of you are reporting (though performance has never been an issue for me), but this increase in battery life is AMAZING!

 

[mutant 9]

The most important thing that this updated fixed for me was the ability to play music from the sd card with the screen off. that was my biggest problem with the Surface and now it is fantastic. I also have to say the sound output from the surface blows away that of the iPad (via headphones). since the update i have not had to drain my battery to listen to tunes on the 3 flights i have been on since tuesday...

Keep the progress comming Microsoft!!