in which the garage computer briefly returns to captivity

I finally got around to updating the red computer to Windows 8.1. It's been pestering me to do it for many months. I do have W8.1 occasionally running on the iMac, as a virtual service, so I know it can work.

The red computer doesn't get into captivity very often, because it's the one I use with the bike, as a kind of docking station for the ANT+ and similar. It's the inexpensive computer I bought with the grocery shopping some time ago and sits on the wifi in the garage. With the approaching chilly season, I predict the bike turbo will be back in regular use soon, so it make sense to update this dedicated PC that I use with the turbo.

Now I've just updated several Macs to Yosemite, which was a fairly quick and painless exercise, but I was kind of irrationally dreading the Windows update, in case it went wrong.

Actually, it just took a long time.

Several hours by the time it had downloaded around a Gigabyte of update and rebooted itself several times. Suspiciously long for a Gigabyte, if truth be told. The Macs all downloaded several Gigabytes in noticeably less time.

The red computer did provide a few messages, which someone had told the developers to make seem chatty. Along the lines of "We're setting up a few things for you" etc. It makes a change from "Please install the new XYZ device driver", I suppose.

I'm delighted to say that the machine still works. The bootup time is about 2 minutes, which lets me grab a coffee. It has redesigned all the wallpapers, in case I didn't like the ones I had before. Magically, the erstwhile uninstalled Norton pester screen has mysteriously returned, despite my previously removing it with the Norton Removal Tool.

Fortunately, the TACX turbo still works with its ANT+ connection and I can still dial up Trainerroads and Netflix, so when I'm using it with the bike turbo, it will still do the trick.

The slightly unfortunate news is that the actual TACX trainer software has stopped working. I can get the program started, but attempting to use it with any form of video playback has died. Maybe those device drivers do still need to be installed?

I've put it back into the wild in its partially functioning state. Maybe I'll try to fix it again on a particularly rainy day.