Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Windows 10 Fall Update Uninstalls Desktop Software Without Informing Users (ghacks.net)

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-see-that-you-have-some-software-installed dept.

ourlovecanlastforeve sends this report from Martin Brinkmann of gHacks: Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system may uninstall programs — desktop programs that is — from the computer after installation of the big Fall update that the company released earlier this month. I noticed the issue on one PC that I upgraded to Windows 10 Version 1511 but not on other machines. The affected PC had Speccy, a hardware information program, installed and Windows 10 notified me after the upgrade that the software had been removed from the system because of incompatibilities. There was no indication beforehand that something like this would happen, and what made this rather puzzling was the fact that a newly downloaded copy of Speccy would install and run fine on the upgraded system. An IT Director I know had this happen with ESET antivirus as well, on multiple computers. He says fixes have been rolled out for both TH2 and the antivirus software to prevent this from happening. Other reports mention CPU-Z, AMD's Catalyst Control Center, and CPUID as software that's being automatically uninstalled.

6 of 360 comments (clear)

  1. Intended? by Darinbob · · Score: 1, Funny

    How dare you question the infinite wisdom of Microsoft!

    New CEO, new Windows VP, and yet we're still treated like children who should not be allowed to make decisions on our own. They're not going to ask if we want the applications removed or not, because we're apparently not able to make such a complicated judgement call.

  2. No effect on me here by The+Cisco+Kid · · Score: 1, Funny

    "Windows 10" hasn't uninstalled anything on any of my workstations.

    Could be partly because nothing I own runs any version of any Microsoft OS.

    1. Re:No effect on me here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Edgy, bro. Don't forget your Fedora on your way out.

    2. Re:No effect on me here by Dog-Cow · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's much worse than you think. Not only did it uninstall every piece of Windows software you had, it deleted itself!

    3. Re:No effect on me here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yeah, and take your penguin with you too. Linux is used by Muslim terrorists.

  3. All your files are exactly where you left them by blbordelon66 · · Score: 3, Funny

    It doesn't 'uninstall' programs so much as it reinstalls Windows, then attempts to re-setup previously installed programs. Sometimes it's successful, too many times it's not, making it look like it uninstalled something that in fact it just wasn't able to set back up. Even if it's 100% successful though, it leaves you with the guilty-child-sounding message, "All your files are exactly where you left them", which is funny in and of itself.