How I spent a lot of my day....

This all began very early this morning, when I turned on the old PC to discover it was resuming an attempted upgrade from my Windows 8 Pro to Windows 8.1 Pro, and all went well until very near the end of that whole process, when it suddenly announced my computer had a problem (one it didn't begin the day with!) and my previous operating system (the one I began the day with) was being restored. "Wonderful!", I said....( or something like that...) and then, not being very bright-eyed nor bushy tailed at that early an hour, I rather stupidly (an understatement!) opted to "try, try again"  (Wrong move, ExLax!) And again, it got to the goal line, within kissing distance of a real touchdown, and then it barfed all the new stuff, and too graciously restored what it had already F-F-F-F-F-Messed Up.

Thinking I'd dodged the bullet that time, I checked my newly-restored Win-8 Pro, and it seemed OK. then just as I'm starting to feel relieved about that, I decided to check on my Old Faithful Windows 7 Home Premium.....And discovered a black screen with the ominous message that it was unable to start, because a file was missing or corrupt, and that file was \Windows\System32\winload.exe which I was advised to repair using
my installation disk. Damned good thing I hadn't lost, tossed, or given it away. 

So then, I had to do another couple of reboots, to reset the BIOS for booting from a disk instead of the main drive, and then run the Windows 7 installation CD, which promptly recognized my problem, and fixed it. And that's when I took this picture:-

Because it's not every day your Boot Screen is going to show '(recovered)' after the name of an operating system. I fervently hope!

And then, just to make very sure the Windows 8 Pro was OK, I ran DISM.exe .....

Fortunately, it had been correctly restored, and my Themes survived unscathed, and no harm was done by the 50 - count 'em - 50 adware items accumulated while the security was all turned off earlier, for those two aborted attempts at upgrading to the Windows 8.1 Pro.

I couldn't resist telling Microsoft all about this in a long "Feedback" in Windows Technical Preview, because, even though it isn't an issue with the system we're testing, that Feedback feature was too good an opportunity to pass up for letting them know how things went for me for about four hours early this morning. And I asked, "If online upgrades for Windows Technical Preview can come in so seamlessly and install themselves without problems, why is it that the online upgrade for Windows 8 is such a  complete disaster?" They, of course, do not reply, but at least they know now how one disgusted user feels about that. And they'd better get their act together for this new Windows, or there's going to be some Microsofters reading the 'Help Wanted' ads I betcha. --- And yes, thanks, I do feel better now after getting this off my chest.

I like this new Windows Technical Preview, assuming the bulk of its system survives the final cuts and patches, and I really do hope they end up with something we unwashed masses will, if not break doors to get to, at least buy in sufficient quantities to keep the folks in Redmond from having to go out and get real jobs for maybe the first time in their lives. And I hope they remember that for us, out here on the receiving end of all that innovation and technical wizardry, it's ease of use, convenience, and a lack of wasted steps in a procedure that we're interested in, not its creator's "make work projects". And they're lucky I don't let loose in that Feedback window, and really give 'em hell. I sometimes feel like it, as you can tell.....but we catch more flies with honey than we do with vinegar, so I'm desperately trying to "play nice".