My Computer Updated Itself. Now It Doesn’t Work.
There are certain phrases that strike fear into the heart of anyone who has ever owned a computer.
“Your password has expired.”
“Printer offline.”
And, of course:
“Installing updates. Do not turn off your computer.”
You didn't ask for anything new. You weren't looking for adventure. You just wanted to check your email.
But your computer had other plans.
Here's the really fun part: You're supposed to install updates.
I tell people to install updates.
Updates fix security problems. They patch vulnerabilities. They fix bugs. They keep your computer compatible with other things that are also being updated whether you like it or not.
Ignoring updates indefinitely is generally a bad idea.
Unfortunately, occasionally installing them is also a bad idea.
Microsoft's September Windows updates, for example, caused problems on some PCs with USB audio devices. People suddenly had no sound. Volume controls stopped working. Windows could report that an audio device couldn't even start.
Another problem affected Windows File History, the feature designed to keep backup copies of your files. Some people couldn't create new backups or access previous versions.
Think about that one for a moment.
The thing you install partly because you're trying to keep your computer safe can break the thing that's supposed to keep your files safe.
Microsoft has since fixed the File History problem. It's still working on some of the audio problems.
And now there's another Windows audio bug affecting some older applications and games.
This is not an argument for turning off Windows Update.
It's an argument for understanding the ridiculous situation we're all in.
Modern computers aren't finished products anymore. They're works in progress.
The computer you bought isn't really the computer you own today. Microsoft changes Windows. Apple changes macOS. Google changes Chrome. Adobe changes its applications. Your printer manufacturer changes its drivers. Somebody changes something somewhere, and suddenly your perfectly functioning scanner from 2014 has become an archaeological artifact.
Most of the time, all these updates happen and everything keeps working.
Which is why you don't notice them.
Then one morning there's no sound.
Or your printer disappears.
Or an application you've used for seven years suddenly won't open.
Or Windows confidently informs you that the device sitting three feet away from you doesn't exist.
And that's when people start clicking things.
Please don't start clicking things.
If something that worked yesterday suddenly doesn't work today, particularly after your computer restarted, there's a decent chance you didn't do anything wrong and the hardware didn't suddenly die.
Something may have changed.
Before replacing the printer, reinstalling Windows, buying a new computer, sacrificing a goat or following the instructions of a 14-year-old on YouTube who tells you to paste something into PowerShell, find out what changed.
Sometimes the smartest troubleshooting step is simply knowing that thousands of other people woke up with exactly the same problem.
And sometimes the fix is to wait for the update that fixes the update.
Welcome to technology.
I'll be here when the update that fixes that update breaks something else.
Oh, and What the Heck Is an AI PC, Anyway?
Microsoft is expected to show off its latest vision of the AI PC today.
Which raises an obvious question:
What the heck is an AI PC?
Because if you've bought a computer in the last couple of years, you've probably already seen stickers and advertisements telling you that some computers are AI PCs.
You may even own one.
Have you noticed?
Probably not.
And that's the problem.
First, the simple explanation
An AI PC is basically a computer designed to do some artificial-intelligence work on the computer itself, rather than sending everything over the Internet to a giant data center somewhere.
Most computers have traditionally had two major kinds of processors.
The CPU does most of the general computing.
The GPU specializes in graphics and certain kinds of heavy mathematical work.
Newer PCs increasingly have another one called an NPU—a Neural Processing Unit.
Its job is to perform the kinds of calculations AI models do efficiently and without sucking down as much electricity as the other processors might.
Microsoft's original standard for its “Copilot+ PCs” required an NPU capable of at least 40 trillion operations per second, along with at least 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage.
Forty trillion operations per second sounds impressive.
And it is.
The more important question is:
Forty trillion operations doing what?
What will I actually notice?
Right now?
Maybe not much.
And that's one reason Microsoft has reportedly begun backing away from making such a big deal about the “Copilot+ PC” name.
There are things these computers can already do locally.
They can remove backgrounds and manipulate images. They can generate or alter pictures. They can provide live captions and translations. Windows can use AI to improve searches and help you find things you've previously seen on your computer.
Some applications can hand AI chores to the NPU instead of the CPU, which can mean better performance and battery life.
Fine.
None of those things makes most people run into Best Buy screaming, “Take my money!”
The much more interesting change comes when AI stops being something you visit and starts becoming part of the computer itself.
Think about how you use ChatGPT now
You ask me something.
Your question travels over the Internet to computers somewhere else.
Those computers do the heavy lifting.
I send the answer back.
That's cloud AI.
Local AI changes the equation.
More of that processing can happen right there on your computer.
That potentially makes it faster.
It can work without an Internet connection.
And perhaps most importantly, information that doesn't need to leave your computer doesn't have to leave your computer.
But even that isn't the really interesting part.
The big change is when AI starts doing things
Today you might ask an AI:
“How do I find all the pictures I took of my dog last year?”
It tells you how.
An AI-enabled computer could eventually understand:
“Find all the pictures I took of my dog last year.”
And find them.
Then:
“Pick the best 20.”
Then:
“Make them into an album.”
Then:
“Send the album to Penny.”
Notice what just happened.
We went from asking the computer how to do something to telling the computer what we want done.
That's a much bigger change than adding another processor.
And that's what I'm watching for in Microsoft's announcements today.
Microsoft and Nvidia are expected to talk about much more powerful local AI and computers capable of running AI agents directly on the PC.
An agent isn't just an AI that answers questions.
It's an AI that can potentially use applications, manipulate files and carry out a series of steps to accomplish something for you.
Which sounds fantastic.
It also means we're going to have to answer some uncomfortable questions.
How much access do you give it?
Can it read all your files?
Can it send your email?
Can it delete things?
Can it buy things?
What happens when it misunderstands you?
What happens when somebody tricks it?
And, most importantly:
Can it fix the printer?
Because that's when I'll believe we've actually invented artificial intelligence.
Until then, it's just a really smart computer.
