Microsoft makes it so hard to like Windows. The company released an update on Tuesday that seems to have borked a number of Windows XP installations. There’s a number of message board threads wherein people are complaining that, since the update, their computers boot right to a blue screen of death. Sigh.

Microsoft has issued a band-aid, which consists of booting from your Windows installation disc—yeah, because the average person knows where that thing is—and running a number of commands from the console.

Needless to say, unless you’re computer savvy, you’re pretty much doomed. Then again, if you’re savvy enough to go on a Microsoft support forum and QQ (with justification, mind), then you can probably figure all that out.

This is a problem I have with Windows in general: all these damn updates. I installed Windows 7 right around Christmastime, and I feel like every week there’s new updates waiting to be installed. How do I know these updates aren’t to totally screw up my installation, the product of several hours of tinkering and tweaking? I eventually just turned the updates off altogether. I’d rather surf the Web (isn’t that even a phrase anymore, “surf the Web?”) at my own risk than have to deal with the constant “THERE ARE UPDATES READY TO BE INSTALLED!”

So yeah, let’s all move to Linux. Someone tell Scott.