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Microsoft Pulls Windows 10 October Update (zdnet.com)
Amid reports of users facing a number of issues after updating their computers to Windows 10 October 2018 Update, Microsoft said Saturday it was pausing the rollout of the latest version of its Windows 10 desktop operating system. ZDNet: In a support document updated today, October 6, the Redmond-based OS maker said it took this decision after users complained that v1809 had deleted files after the update. We have paused the rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809) for all users as we investigate isolated reports of users missing some files after updating. Microsoft employs a gradual rollout scheme, and not all Windows 10 users have received its latest bi-annual OS update. The October 2018 Update is no longer available for download, and Microsoft urges users who manually downloaded a Windows 10 installation package to wait until new installation media is available. "We will provide an update when we resume rolling out the Windows 10 October 2018 Update to customers," Microsoft said.
shame that it took them so long.
As MS has now delegated almost all testing to the user, even catastrophic bugs like deleting user data come back. They are not getting better, they are getting worse. Typical effects of a near-monopoly.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Microsoft is so incompetent anymore its not a company you can trust to get it right. Especially twice a year upgrades, they should go back to two years at best. Or at least give everyone a off switch for upgrades. The other disturbing part of this, is that Insider's reported this problem through Feedback three months ago.
Used to be Development < > Internal tests > End users
Now it's Development < > End users
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
By the pro-Microsoft trolls that lurk around here.
It's unfortunate that they don't recognize that Microsoft has the largest footprint in the OS world and that their screw ups have a disproportionate effect on the population at large and will generate more anecdotes/anger than something like OS/X or Ubuntu.
I suspect that many of the people who are pro-Microsoft actually work at Microsoft because when you are flamed, it tends to be by ACs.
So, for all you pro-Microsoft people/employees/trolls instead of attacking people for pointing out Microsoft's foibles/missteps/fuckups why don't you put the pressure on Mr. Nadella to get things right in the first place?
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Hooray for Microsoft! Their system worked! The involuntary, unpaid bug testers - otherwise known as paying customers - tested the fixes and reported the problems. This saved Microsoft a ton of time and effort of doing so themselves. It's really great, this kind of innovation that makes cost centers pay for themselves. Hats off to the Microsoft executives!
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
This is true. However, why is the upgrade process even touching user files at all?
Even if the OS upgrade completely fucked up to hell and you end up with an unbootable system, there is NO REASON the process should have touched the user's files.
1. Relentlessly push average users to store all their valuable data in a few well-known default locations, and make it an on-going fight to store it elsewhere.
2. Take the same approach to updates. Every time Microsoft gets access to a Win 10 computer, they reset everything to default...which means automatic updates for people who don't know how to turn them off and keep them off.
3. Push out a defective update that wipes data in the default locations.
Do I have that about right?
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Remember when the new MS CEO announced they were cutting the QA department and everyone was like, "that's a bad idea" and then the software got worse? Congratulations, beta testers! More beta software is coming soon to your PC!
Don't thank MS, you've earned your data loss through your stubborn determination to stick with Windows no matter what! ;)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
forcing it onto a few million users. You simply cannot have any important data or work on a Windows 10 machine. It either gets erased, or hoovered up by Microsoft, U.S. intelligence agencies, or some petty hackers who have learnt of all the back doors inserted into the OS.
Windows machines are best used for just playing games which you can just click to download and reinstall.
I don't remember that many Win7 updates getting pulled. Especially for data loss. Is /. just covering them more?
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
They wanted it to come out with their new surface events instead of going through proper release candidate testing. Also businesses are getting quite fed up with the Windows 10 update train and are going back to Windows 7 now there is support until 2023.
Restore points are based on file extensions on the Monitored File Extensions list. If by some software problem the wrong files were in that list, documents could technically be affected by an upgrade (since I believe a restore point is always created before an upgrade). No idea if that's the case here, just saying it's possible. More info.
It left my laptop with no access to the settings menu and all that comes with it, and therefore no access to windows update. That's on top of the long standing issue of the screen never blanking and the machine never sleeping. If I select sleep from the menu, it just shuts down. It's not the laptop itself. A Windows 7 installation works just fine.
The same laptop is now installing Ubuntu. It's been about 12 years since I last ran a Linux install. If the Steam Linux client is as good as I'm hearing, then Windows has finally reached a point of no return.
You are paying for a product, and you put up with this nonsense?
How many times does bad software have to get out into the wild before Microsoft realizes that they have a significant QA problem? I thought all that telemetry that Microsoft was harvesting from out PCs was supposed to improve software quality?
No issues, no files deleted. (I have image backups of both machines anyway).
I make all my income from M$FAIL anyway, so I can't say this is bad news...
Which will of course stand for Windows Unreliable Work in Progress
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
You idiot, I told you to write the update so that it copies users' personal private files and sends them to our marketing department for analysis and sale, not delete them! You've ruined everything, do you realize how much money in lost data sales we've just lost?
I oversee a college PC lab with about 115 Win10 PCs. The Build 1809 update installed on all of them through Windows Update. No problems reported yet.
Since these are student PCs in an open lab, the last thing I want is students leaving files on the PCs! (We use these for exams in some classes.) While I haven't seen this bug yet, I would not mind having a "delete all user files since date x" option in Windows.
And the Clipboard history is a great move forward IMHO.
The SnippingTool.exe is moving to a new app, and this causes some heartburn for instructors who are, well, set in their ways. But the new snip with the print screen button actually seems simpler by comparison.
YMMV will certainly vary. Now if I could only roast marshmallows with the anticipated flames...
Windows 7 EOL is 2020, 8.1 is 2023.
I assume that's sarcasm. Go ahead and install it. Be sure to check whether your docs are gone. Hope you backed them up someplace where they can be reloaded.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
there is NO REASON
There are plenty of reasons an OS upgrade would touch user files. Changing of file system (has happened in the past) and changing of folder structures for user accounts (has also happened in the past) are some of the noteworthy ones. With the difference between nuking the entire system or upgrading the OS, or upgrading the OS while removing applications now essentially being nothing more than a variable set during the install/upgrade process it stands to reason that a bug like this could appear.
Also businesses are getting quite fed up with the Windows 10 update train and are going back to Windows 7
[Citation Required]
I swear this was a dupe. I mean it's not like a company like MS would not learn and be forced to pull an update twice
Oh I guess they didn't do it twice.
Thrice!
If PC makers pay Microsoft a substantial royalty for OEM Windows licenses, then what makes Linux laptops from System76 so much more expensive than entry-level laptops from bigger names? And why does the exact same laptop from Dell cost more with Ubuntu than with Windows?
Laptop PCs sold in Walmart and Best Buy stores come with Windows, not X11/Linux. The only thing like to change this is the release of more Chromebooks that support Crostini, the container for running X11 applications on verified Chrome OS.
Windows 10 is just a big beta test.
Wouldn't accidentally including user files in a restore point just accidentally make a backup of the file rather than deleting it?
Call MS things that it deserves to be called, but don't lie about the issue. Microsoft has in fact grown under Nadella. Semi-forcibly extracting additional value from users does in fact do wonders to company bottom line if users lack the meaningful alternative to company's products.
The trend continues. The bean counters would rather push something out, saving the r&d times & money on testing, and let the customers report the problems, and fix them with updates. Granted, no testing can 100% make software bug free, but THIS probably could have been caught with proper testing. I updated my home PC & laptop, no issues.
NO! Emphatically no. Thinking that this was the right thing to do is akin to thinking it's nice when a bank robber, who after taking hostages and shooting one, then graciously allowing a doctor that happens to be among the hostages to treat someone that he shot.
Microsoft has put into place a draconian mandatory update scheme that attempts to take away from every user the ability to vet updates and choose which ones to apply. Not only that, but with every "upgrade" Microsoft attempts to block ways of disabling automatic updates. To the extent that there are now two different protected services and a whole host of task scheduler entries who's sole purpose is to ensure that if the windows update service is disabled, that it is re-enabled. They haven't made the Windows Update service protected. They are ok with you thinking that you can disable that one. It's the other "police" services that are protected.
This is exactly the kind of fiasco that vetting one's updates prevents. Problems like this, like the terrible premature patches for Spectre & Meltdown that bricked some computers, and left others lobotomized. Not to mention the host of problems every upgrade with Windows just updating silently in the night and people who use pre-boot authentication encryption systems or preboot raid drivers finding their computer can no longer boot into Windows.
Windows Update Blocker (WUB) in concert with Windows Update Mini Tool are essential tools for every computer right now. I highly recommend any user to educate themselves on how to prevent automatic windows updates and deploy a solution. And also a good sector-level disk image backup weekly or monthly to give yourself a fallback in case you find a bad update makes it through.
Here in the USofA, April 15th is the "normal" deadline for tax filing, with October 15th for "deferred" filing.
How much of an idiot, or asshat, does one have to be to push Windows 10 "feature" updates, which, IME, ALWAYS leave the resulting system unstable (as do many "normal" updates) in April and October?
Interestingly, major updates to Ubuntu also drop at the same time. Though with Ubuntu, they aren't forced and even if you do upgrade it will likely be without drama.