Newsletter Archives

• Windows 10 1709 still isn’t ready for prime time — and the latest buggy cumulative update, KB 4074588, proves the point

  Posted on February 20, 2018 at 07:32 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I’m seeing a whole host of different problems with this month’s cumulative update for Win10 Fall Creators Update.

  Computerworld Woody on Windows.

  Windows Patches/Security Fall Creators Update, KB 4058258, KB 4074588, USB, Win10 1709

• The good and bad of Win10 Fall Creators Update

  Posted on October 26, 2017 at 16:24 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Nice interview from Ken Mingis with my long-time friend Preston Gralla.

  Computerworld.

  (Note Ken’s laptop.)

  Bonus points if you know when Preston and I first bumped into each other.

  Windows News Fall Creators Update

• In Win10 1709, Windows Defender continues to pull down definition updates even if Windows Update is stopped

  Posted on October 23, 2017 at 13:15 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  This from Noel Carboni:

  I’ve just verified that Windows Defender in Win 10 v1709 build still goes to the web on its own to retrieve definitions et. al. with the Windows Update service Stopped and Disabled.  The Sphinx firewall software I use spotted it working just now (see the attached screen grab).

  

  I don’t know what implications stopping the Windows Update service might have for other things, e.g., cloud-integrated App operations, because I don’t use them but at least the embedded antivirus solution is still not compromised by taking control of Windows Update.

  I still haven’t gotten the rest of the system quieted down fully yet.  While I’ve stopped a lot of the unsolicited communications attempts, the firewall is still catching a number of attempted comms with various Microsoft servers.  It would not be surprising to learn that they have increased the level of cloud integration with this release.

  Windows Patches/Security Fall Creators Update, Win10 1709, Windows Defender, Windows Update

• More problems with Win10 FCU – missing icons, no Start entries

  Posted on October 21, 2017 at 18:26 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I saw a screenshot of this, but didn’t believe my eyes.

  From a post by KevinWash1 on the MS Answers forum:

  I just upgraded to the Windows 10 Fall creators update after the update I now have missing icons for some of my store apps they are completely gone from the start screen and if I search through Cortana they do not come up some of the icons on the task bar are missing however if I click on the missing icon blank area I get a highlight under mouse and the app launches all of the missing apps on the start screen do show up in the apps list when I go into settings so they are on the computer if I go to the store and search for the missing apps I get the prompt saying they are installed and when I click launch they will launch properly from within the store, but that is the only way.

  Microsoft’s Jestoni Mac confirms in Missing apps after installing Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.

  After installing the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, some apps are missing from the Start Menu on some devices.  The missing apps are no longer pinned in the Start Menu, nor are they in the list of apps.  If I search for the app, Cortana is not able to find it and instead points me to the Store to install it.  But the Store says that the app is already installed.

  Later in that same thread,

  I also upgraded to FCU using Microsoft account. My user folder suddenly changed; In the Creators Update itself, my username and user folder name are truncated from say ‘Johndoe’ to ‘Johnd’ after upgrading from Anniversary Update. Now moving from CU to FCU, my username changed back to Microsoft account name ‘Johndoe’. I lost access to ‘Store’ app and many UWP apps and my files in library.

  There are some solutions proposed in both of those threads, but nothing seems to work.

  Windows Patches/Security Fall Creators Update, missing icons, no Start entries

• Do you want Win10 Fall Creators Update? Here are your options

  Posted on October 20, 2017 at 08:19 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Thorough article by Gregg Keizer at Computerworld.

  Of course, my old admonishment applies. Wait a while and let the unpaid beta testers shake out the problems.

  Windows News Fall Creators Update

• The Windows Fall Creators Update has been released, and a sea of bloatware and annoying “features” has returned

  Posted on October 19, 2017 at 12:39 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  What Powershell commands should I run to easily remove this garbage?

  Reddit strikes again….

  Thx @campuscodi

  Windows News Fall Creators Update

• Did EVERYBODY with Win10 update enabled get Fall Creators Update today?

  Posted on October 17, 2017 at 18:00 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Interesting question. I’m hearing from a lot of people who were upgraded automatically. Today.

  Scary, if it’s more than a handful.

  I may need to put together an article on “What to do if you were unexpectedly pushed into 1709″….

  Windows News Fall Creators Update, Win10 1709

• Win10 Fall Creators Update from A to Zzzzzzzz

  Posted on October 16, 2017 at 06:35 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Preston Gralla hits it out of the ballpark again. His review of the next version of Windows, known as the Fall-in-North-America Creators Update, version 1709, just arrived at Computerworld, and it’s absolutely right-on.

  Like the first Windows 10 Creators Update, the Fall Creators Update doesn’t dramatically change the way Windows 10 works or looks. Microsoft is continuing its stay-the-course approach to its twice-a-year updates. The Windows 10 you’ll see before the update is largely the Windows 10 you’ll see after the update.

  Still, there are some useful changes, notably OneDrive Files On-Demand, some nice Cortana improvements and better security. Edge, however, hasn’t been much improved, and the new feature linking Android and iOS phones to Windows 10 is largely a bust.

  Win10 FINACU. Nice ring to it.

  Windows News Fall Creators Update, Win10 1709

• Report: Windows 10 Fall Creators Update has hit RTM

  Posted on October 3, 2017 at 07:36 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  

  Yeah, it’s full of bugs. But according to a report from Zac Bowden at Windows Central (who has an uncanny reputation for getting this stuff right), the build of Win10 version 1709 that Microsoft released yesterday – 16299.15 – is “the” build that manufacturers will put on new PCs.

  In traditional parlance, it hit RTM.

  The version that’ll be released on October 17 – the official release date – will be quite different from 16299.15. As we’ve seen in the past, MS will issue one or two or three more cumulative updates for 16299.15 before the official release date. Thus, the version folks outside the beta program will see will be 16299.something, where something > 15.

  In the next few weeks, those of you beta testing (in the Windows Insider program) will given instructions for either jumping out of the beta cycle with version 1709, or continuing to the “Skip Ahead” (gawd, what a lousy name) beta builds of Redstone 4, version 1803.

  At least, it’ll be known as 1803, assuming Microsoft continues both its release pace and its naming scheme.

  Windows News Fall Creators Update, Win10 1709, Win10 1803

• No, MS Paint is NOT disappearing from Windows 10

  Posted on July 24, 2017 at 10:31 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Arrrrgh.

  I see so much BS floating around. The coverage on this has been atrocious. No, you aren’t going to lose MS Paint.

  Microsoft has released a list of features that are removed or deprecated in Win 10 1709, the (North American) Fall Creators Update due in September or October. It’s important to understand:

  • Removed = Doesn’t ship with 1709. In some cases, there may be ways (varying degrees of difficulty) to put the feature back in 1709.
  • Deprecated = It’s still in 1709, but Microsoft isn’t putting any effort into improving or fixing it.

  A good example of the former is 3D Builder. I never used it, I doubt that you ever used it, and it’s being replaced by Paint 3D (which I won’t use either). Big yawner.

  A good example of the latter is MS Paint. It’ll still be in 1709, but you shouldn’t expect any changes to it, or support for it. As if it has had any changes or support in the past decade or so anyway. I use it. I’ll continue to use it.

  Some of you may feel nostalgic for Outlook Express, which is in the “Removed” category, but Microsoft hasn’t supported or updated OE for a decade, as well.

  System Image Backup (the Win7-era “ghost” backup capability, built into Windows) is going on the Deprecated list, but MS hasn’t fixed or improved it in nigh on a decade, either.

  One important feature that’s getting the axe: EMET. As Kirsty mentioned early this morning, there are some significant repercussions.

  UPDATE: Just noticed that Paul Thurrott posted an accurate summary of the events yesterday.

  ANOTHER UPDATE: Microsoft saw the controversy and felt moved to issue a clarification. MS Paint, it seems, will be in the Store, available for free.

  Windows News Fall Creators Update, Win10 1709

• Fall Creators Update will remove some Windows features

  Posted on July 24, 2017 at 03:34 CDT by Kirsty • Comment in the Forums

  Microsoft have recently updated KB4034825 (Last Review: Jul 21, 2017 – Revision: 19), showing several items that will be either removed or deprecated in the Fall (Autumn) Creators Update.

  The following features and functionalities in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update are either removed from the product in the current release (“Removed”) or are not in active development and might be removed in future releases (“Deprecated”).

  This list is intended to help customers consider these removals and deprecations for their own planning. The list is subject to change and may not include every deprecated feature or functionality.

  The list includes EMET, Outlook Express & 3D Builder app being removed, and Paint, Powershell 2 & System Image Backup being deprecated. Some of the items slated for removal/deprecation are for security reasons, which makes perfect sense, but it would be hard to imagine system image backups not being missed by those that still use them.

  The full list is available here, and Martin Brinkmann has a good write-up on ghacks.net

  Windows News Fall Creators Update

• Windows file History to disappear in the Fall Creators Update?

  Posted on June 5, 2017 at 00:31 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  There’s a lot of speculation on the web about the future of the Windows File History feature.

  You may recall that Windows 8’s File History replaced Windows 7’s “Previous version” shadow copy capability. Both maintain backup copies of user files stored in common locations. It was one of the big selling points for Windows 8 — as I described in InfoWorld five years ago:

  (In Windows 8), Microsoft is finally catching up with Apple’s Time Machine by introducing a very straightforward file backup feature called File History, found in Control Panel.

  Ends up that the mistakenly-pushed build 16212 of Windows 10 doesn’t include File History. The peripatetic Walking Cat found a telltale character string in one of the build 16212 system files:

  “Making new backups with File History is no longer supported.”

  You can read that a lot of ways, and there’s always a chance that it won’t appear in the final version of the Fall Creators Update, expected in September of this year. But it would be characteristic of Microsoft’s push to get your data into their cloud.

  Paul Thurrott has an excellent outline on Thurrott.com of the arguments in favor of dumping File History, with one key argument: If you’re updating a file from two different computers, the “latest” version won’t synch correctly.

  Microsoft may use that as a reason to get you to use OneDrive. Then again, they may have a more complex — and compelling — argument by the time Fall Creators Update arrives. Or it may be a phantom harbinger of the next, next version of Windows 10.

  Personally, it won’t make much difference for me. I have all of my important files in Dropbox and use it religiously, with occasional manual backups in OneDrive. I’m still amazed at how easy it is to grab a laptop (or phone) and go on the road, with all of my files — going back many years — sitting there, waiting for me, no matter which OS I’m using on what computer.

  Windows News Fall Creators Update, File History