BigFix for Win98

I just had to respond to this thread. An alternative right now to M$ update service is BigFix (www.bigfix.com).

I have to say that each time I've upgraded (from dos to win3.1 to 95 and finally win98se, I've lost some feature, function, hardware, or service that I had grown accostomed to using. It's not that I resist change, but the expense, time -learning curve requirements and 'surprises' of upgrading have become prohibitive for me. Upgrading means downtime for me and I'm tired of it.

With win2k and XP, my early experience on other's machines is that the OS is telling me what kind of computing experience I'm permitted to have... and I'm expected to pay for this?? - phoooeyyyy!
LB

 

Litebody,

Progress, the word is Progress. (Like it or not)

I remember my Dad telling me that someday automation will replace all workers. He was a Railroad Worker. (That was in the 40's).

I started Grade school in 1940, eventually graduated from High school, went on to college, then served 4yrs. in the Military (Schooled as a technician in Radar and Communications), was discharged and went to work for the F.A.A., & whenever new equipment came on line went to the F.A.A. Aeronautical school getting "Updated ", off & on until 1986. Had to be Certified on each peice of Equipment we worked on, to keep the Air Traffic System Safe in this country. I can honestly say when I retired in 1989 there were no deaths by any Major Air Carrier on my watch at my Facility.

So the gist of it is, man changes (Aging), technology changes (New Stuff), so here comes the "Updating" (both Internal and External). It's a never ending cycle and always will be. But it seems to me, we do adapt each in his/her own way.

 

Hey Litebody, or anyone else up to date on BigFix. I only found 2 hits on this BBS for BigFix, and this was one of them. I have been to the site, looks interesting, but does it work? I downloaded it to try out, but keep getting errors like "server is not available ", "action cancelled ", "page cannot be displayed ", and even from NIS that I was being attacked by BigFix. Just cannot get it to do anything.... Might be a case of firewall interference, but wondering what kind of experience anyone else has had with it....

 

Key,

I've been using Bigfix for almost three yrs (I think.. a while anyway) and have had only minimal probs and these seemed more connected to the M$ d/l site - not connecting or slow connection. I use Outpost firewall and get no interference, but I'm more than comfortable to go there nekkid.

My associate uses XP on her laptop and has d/l'd successfully as well - tho, no firewall on her machine.
LB

 

I've been using using Big Fix for five years with absolutely no problems. I agree with the previous contributor comments. If there is something better I have'nt found it and would choose it over Windows Update Service in a heartbeat.

 

Hey Keywester, I just DL'ed Big Fix and had no problems running it. The firewall (Kerio) alerted on the program trying to call home for getting fix sites. Otherwise no probs. Perhaps try again to see if it wasn't a web problem when you tried it before. This morning it is working fine.


Litebody, Thanks for the link. It looks good. It gave me one Windows update file and said I don't need any more right now.

 

HEy hey hey,

I just downloaded Big Fix and ran it. I figured when it said i had to sign up for a couple of sites. There was some kind of catch. Well, what is the catch anyway?

Rookie
- -

 

No catch...

There's no catch, Rookie... just a decent service.
Put your firewall on, your pop scanner, test the d/l with your spyware - I've found nothing impacted on my machine. The subscription is a suggestion that you sign up for OS specific updates, 9x, ME, NT or XP (although I've found that on XP machines the signup is done for you).
Read the 'About Bigfix' section in the subscribe section (the house on the menu) and see if the concept makes sense to you. Personally, I'm glad they are there.
LB

 

Big Fix

Of all the "great stuff" out there, BIg Fix rates high on my list. It tells me when my virus defs are out of date before Norton does, sometimes, and also when I need to update Windows, before MS tells me. This one works. Since I've downloaded it ( 3 years ago), I haven't had a single crash. (Knock formica...)

 

thanx for all the input

I had been immersed in getting a new monitor the last couple of days and had pretty much forgotten about BigFix, and when I powered up today, BigFix took off all on it's own, advised me of a patch, so I downloaded/installed it -- it all worked fine, without any changes (xcept for new monitor), firewall still on, no changes in authorizations. Must have been that the server/site actually was down, I guess those error messages sometimes mean what they say...

Anyway, now that BigFix is working, do I need any of the other online auto-update services running? Can I shut the other ones down and just use BigFix, or should I just leave everthing as is?

 

Outer updates

Key,

Bigfix doesn't update your other software, or your drivers, just the OS. You still have to go to the mfg/software sites for their specific updates. I have too often found that the M$ site is slow and often they don't give me enough info on the update, so I have shut down their update service. LB

 

Litebody, your information and link will come at an opportune time for many folks. You may or may not have noticed that within the last couple days the M$ Updater site has changed its modus operandi and now requires you to download a new program (V4) in order to keep using it. When you do that it will cause you to lose credit for several past updates that you have already installed. If you cave in to that and select to install them again, you will find that when you return to the M$ Updater site you are still not credited for the install. Tail chaser for sure. If M$ did that to deter people from relying on their site for updates, it worked on me.

I'm not impressed but not disappointed either since I never trusted their opinion as to what was "Critical" for me in the first place. YMMV.

Cheers.