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

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.

2 of 360 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Windows 7 by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Informative

    Having been with windows since win 3.11 (and the amiga os before that), I can honestly say this time is different.

    Partially it's the stronger drive to a subscription model but mostly it's the spyware aspects of the new O/S.

    A tablet or phone can probably do the same shit and get away with it but the PC is a PC. You are supposed to own it- it's not supposed to own you, spy on you, force installation of programs, block installation of programs and generally be owned by the company even tho you paid for it.

    I could see dividing between a "serious" PC based on linux (which I've noodled with for the last six years) with a generic software stack that runs on multiple O/S. (Blender, GIMP, Libreoffice, Minecraft, etc.) and then a game machine which I don't use seriously, don't use for financial stuff, etc. But, as I play more boom beach (etc.) my motivation to have a PC for gaming has been declining. I'm more likely to use an inexpensive console for gaming.

    8.0 was merely bad. Windows 10.0 is the devil.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  2. It didn't uninstall but screwed many settings by ciantic · · Score: 5, Informative

    For me it didn't uninstall anything, it however screwed many settings in registry, e.g. keyboard layout and user specific settings. It seems like it "upgrades" by installing the ISO on background when restarting the computer once it's downloaded it.

    I don't think Windows 10 in general is stable yet, for instance Start menu stops working sometimes, "Modern" apps stopped working (Calculator, Photo viewer etc.), Edge browser window does not appear anymore and Windows Update Settings does not open.

    I get some of the features back if I create new Windows account, but not everything. It looks like I have to do clean install sometime in near future, what a wonderful upgrade.