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GWX folders in ProgramData and AppData\Local can be deleted. Even if a task is scheduled, it can’t run if the file is gone. I’ll also start deleting the Task Scheduler GWX folder also.

Thanks for the tip!

GreatAndPowerfulTech

The same setting is in 1809. With the opacity Microsoft has shown in the past four years, I have no faith in them actually doing what they claim to do, or not do.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

Things with Windows are simply nuts when we have to jump through hoops, like the procedure described, to make sure our computers won’t get borked from an update.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

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Lars220

You first need a bootable Reflect disc. I use a USB with Windows Boot Menu for best compatibility, made with Reflect Home Edition. Once booted you search for and select the drive image you want to restore, and the destination drive. With Reflect 7.2 you can restore all earlier versions. Simply pay attention to the selections so you put the image where you want it to go. The free version is not password protected, so you can pretty much get it done quickly.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

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cesmart4125, rc primak, Great Lake Bunyip, jburk07

If only Microsoft stuff worked like it should, we wouldn’t have to jump through hoops. I think we forget how much trouble MS software is to activate. I’ve had issues also. I don’t see why they can’t make things just work. It’s almost like they keep changing things hoping that we don’t know that they’re not really getting better, just different.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

Just imagine what would happen if Microsoft extended this same cautious pace to version upgrades. We might actually see new versions of Win10 appear in semi-solidified form, with features that are worth the disruption of a complete Windows reinstall

Hits the nail on the head. Solidly. Microsoft might actually keep some tech people in their corner of the OS world if Windows went to solid releases, and updates stopped causing problems. They forgot that eliminating pain points is critical in keeping customers happy.

MVP Edit: Quotation fixed

GreatAndPowerfulTech

I count my lucky stars that my new 4K TV plays streaming video perfectly with a nice sharp image, using my four year old ThinkPad E450.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

Memo to Microsoft: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

GreatAndPowerfulTech

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lanceboil, Myst, GoneToPlaid, BobbyB

I’ve wonder, since Windows 10 has degraded over the past year, how much ancient code remains in W10. I suspect that there is more old zombie code than I first thought, reading about the XP pre-release message. Coders that have left MS have written elsewhere that it has always been MS’s corporate culture to add new features and UI changes to Windows, while leaving old code behind. This was done to save time and money. It would be great if MS someday releases a clean, fresh OS, not unlike Chrome OS, that runs light and fast, and does not contain any old code from Windows. Features yes, old code that breaks or acts like an anchor, no. It’s possible. I doubt they’ll do it since they don’t even have a full QA department anymore.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

It’s not weird, it’s Microsoft.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

People need to read the 1954 book “How to Lie with Statistics” to recognize that metrics can be selected to make just about anything look better than it actually is.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

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Elly, lurks about, woody, fk5353, SueW, Cybertooth, HiFlyer, samak

Same here on my personal laptop. Nice catch! I set our other Win 10 machines to 15 day deferrals, so as not to get caught having to restore images.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

Unfortunately when this happens, and it happens randomly, some users actually buy another license from Microsoft. One of my customers did so during a previous activation server failure. He has a legal Windows 10 OEM sticker on the side of his case. He purchased the PC from my company. I find it pathetic that Microsoft readily accepts payment for a new license when the existing one is valid, and the error is theirs. He thought that he did something wrong and had to pay. How many others have done the same thing?

GreatAndPowerfulTech

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walker, Elly, Noel Carboni

I instead encourage them to install Solid State Drives for a speed increase of at lease 300%.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

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lanceboil

I’m not so sure about that. I set Sumatra PDF as my default PDF reader, in Windows 10, three years ago. I’m on version 1809 now, and Sumatra still opens my PDF files when I select them, and has done so with each feature update. Windows 10 issues do often seem random, though.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

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Mr. Natural