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Latest Windows 10 Update Breaks Windows Media Player, Win32 Apps In General (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The important data loss bug that interrupted the rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, version 1809, may be fixed, but it turns out there are plenty of other weird problems with the release. As spotted by Paul Thurrott, the update also breaks the seek bar in Windows Media Player when playing "specific files." Microsoft does promise to fix the bug, but the timeframe is vaguely open-ended: it will be "in an upcoming release."
Also in the "how did that happen" category comes another bug: some Win32 programs can't be set as the default program for a given file type. So if you want certain files to always open in Notepad, for example, you're currently out of luck. A fix for this is promised by the end of the month. Setting default program associations is something that's been in Windows for 20-something years, so it's a little alarming that it should be broken. On top of this, there continue to be complaints that Windows 10 version 1809 doesn't work with iCloud, and machines with the iCloud client are currently blacklisted to prevent them from receiving the 1809 update. It's not immediately clear whose fault this one is -- it could be Microsoft's, but it's also possible that Apple is to blame.
Also in the "how did that happen" category comes another bug: some Win32 programs can't be set as the default program for a given file type. So if you want certain files to always open in Notepad, for example, you're currently out of luck. A fix for this is promised by the end of the month. Setting default program associations is something that's been in Windows for 20-something years, so it's a little alarming that it should be broken. On top of this, there continue to be complaints that Windows 10 version 1809 doesn't work with iCloud, and machines with the iCloud client are currently blacklisted to prevent them from receiving the 1809 update. It's not immediately clear whose fault this one is -- it could be Microsoft's, but it's also possible that Apple is to blame.
Windows just shouldn't be a service!
Leave it alone and give us big big upgrades every couple of years.... That's fine and acceptable and what we're used to.
This autoupdating crap means that any given morning, my box may be broken in very strange ways, with little if any perceivable benefit.
Slashdot Valentines Beta Massacre: iT WORKED! The boycotts killed Beta!!
File associations have been broken since Windows XP. Microsoft doesn't trust the user to set their own file associations, so it treats the user's customizations as second-class citizens compared to what Microsoft thinks it should be.
...installing spyware for gov would break things? How many users will through their hands up and just go with MS defaults?
That's what you get for "Getting Windows 10"
Seems like "getting Windows 10" is like "getting the clap."
Yay services! or basically otherwise known as "Someone elses problem, no longer the IT managers fault the computers stopped working"
Let this be a little eye opener for you all. Next up, subscription charges for windows, so you can get those bugs fixed.
Seriously though, even linux has it better than this, what the f*?k Microsoft? You can't even turn your bloody updates off properly anymore to prevent this kind of f*?kup from happening. OR to put it another way: Why's my computer rebooted halfway through processing something that takes 4 days to do. Oh a windows update, well thanks for that.
Linux. Update when *you* tell it to or never at all. Same with OS X. OpenBSD, even fucking RISC OS.
Use VLC!
less BS/ads and sometimes works with broken files.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
That's cool. I knew that eventually iCloud would be good for SOMETHING.
--Brandon / Split Infinity Music
first time in forever I pulled up an article without the usual APK bullshit or Trump bashing as first posts . . .
Windows 10 these days is a nightmare, not a service. Drivers are mine pet peeve when you install a more current driver that fixes a problem and then Windows update just installs a older driver.
"This is the hell that never ends."
Wait, that's me. I'm singing that.
Joke:
You are apparently thinking of Microsoft as a software company.
That's not correct. Microsoft is an ABUSE company. Software is just a method of delivering abuse.
Is that for all 10 of the people on the planet that use that POS?
Setting default program associations is something that's been in Windows for 20-something years
This, btw, was the single biggest wow factor for Macs for PC people -- how in god's name does the OS know which program to open for a given file?
Wow that was neat when it appeared on PCs! People forget, or more and more simply weren't born yet.
As for why it's broken, probably not enough testing on their virtualization of all you do into their cloud, scannable by them for advertising, and reporting to the government, because of obscure permissions you click tbrougb on page 127 of their licensing.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
but i just got handed a laptop that broke part way through 1809 update; can't login, none of the 'tricks' work, can't even use the utilman back door to make a new account, can't roll back, can't revert pending, reset is fucked as well, and oh, yea, there was no data files anywhere on the fucking drive either, and no shadow copies available.
the next windows 10 advert on tv: samual l jackson demands to know... "what's in your backups?"
as far as media player goes.. the "fix" will be to remove wmp (because it's 'old' and 'obsolete' relic from soon-to-be-unsupported windows 7) and force people to the groove and movies & tv 'apps' instead.
Jesus tapdancing christ it's nothing but problems. I'm sticking with win7 until support ends then win 8.1 until that support ends then after that probably ubuntu.
Here's hoping 2023 is the year of the linux desktop!
At this point if you told me Windows 10 was Microsoftâ(TM)s way at getting back at everyone who hated Windows 8 Iâ(TM)d probably believe you.
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
Maybe breaking Win32 is a feature? If the (cloud-free, private, and paid-for) apps are deprecated and "hidden" when opening files, then maybe Microsoft can push more 64-bit cloudware from their "store" onto hapless users. Only $9.99 per month! Step riiiiiiiight up! Apps, Maps, and Zaps! Stepppppp riiiiight up!
(Windows ME) "I will remain forever champion as the Worst Microsoft Operating System!"
(Windows 10) "Hold my beer."
The Year of the Linux Desktop; brought to you by Windows Update.
> It's not immediately clear whose fault this one is -- it could be Microsoft's, but it's also possible that Apple is to blame.
Nope. If an operating system breaks any userland program, it's always the operating system which should be blamed.
So there was a blame statement at the end of the blurb, so did M$ change something without telling Apple about it, like they did with WordPerfect??
The U.S. Association of Clap Germs, USACG, objects to that as an offensive, disrespectful comparison. Clap germs claim to be far nicer than Microsoft.
This was not the first time there has been that kind of objection. Multiple Sclerosis germs have objected to Microsoft sometimes being abbreviated as MS.
Windows [not 10] is the same. It's only 10 that has this weird fetish with forcing updates on you.
Honestly, just pull the rip the update service out and run it once a month to update, then nuke it again.
Man, that bad IT consultant must be taking care of more Windows 10 systems than I thought!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Bugs as a service
Microsoft has been getting clumsy and stupid with their 10 updates. Twice a year and they still manage to bung it up ...at a rate of about twice a year.
While I have various PCs/OSs for completing work, I was finally having thoughts of letting my two Dell Latitude Windows 10 laptops download updates today since I've been avoiding it for months because all of the notable Microsoft failures - looks like this article was published just in time to save me from heartache- maybe updating in another few months if I start seeing stories of a quality improvement - until then, I can't afford their nonsense
They keep releasing dogshit. They need some Q&A, and someone at the helm who has IT admin exp, not some rich asshole.
It is my opinion that Microsoft's mis-management and abuse is not reported sufficiently. Joking may help people adjust.
Microsoft is damaging customers and itself.
Some of the many, many stories:
Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. "Buried in the service agreement is permission to poke through everything on your PC." (Aug. 4, 2015)
Microsoft's Intolerable Windows 10 Aggression (May 27, 2016)
Microsoft is infesting Windows 10 with annoying ads (March 17, 2017)
Microsoft, stop sabotaging Windows 10. (March 21, 2017)
I'd understand if the quality of Windows had lowered because of all the new features and improvements that they had to code. But these days every new version of Windows sees working features removed with no equivalent replacement, and feels even more unpolished and unfinished than the previous one. What are they busy coding, at Microsoft? Cortana? 3D paintbrush? To me it looks like the underlying OS is somewhat improving, while the development of the built-in applications and of the user interface is spiraling out of control.
When I first became a Windows Insider, I very much appreciated the ability to test and report on issues with both Windows Mobile and Windows Desktop. Of course, these versions did NOT land on my 1600 or so machines at work. (I manage the service desk and handle a mix of Linux, Unix, MacOS, as well as Windows 7, 8.1, and 10. It is bad enough having to ensure all the AV is updated, but needing to deal with rolling updates based on the schedule of a company far away is not feasible.
My personal laptop is now dual-boot with Windows 10 and Linux Mint. Though I gave up on Linux in 2013, I've been rediscovering it as Windows has severely tested my patience
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
> Setting default program associations is something that's
> been in Windows for 20-something years
This is... ok, not exactly outright wrong, but at least misleading.
I mean, yes, twenty-some years ago, Windows had the ability to set program associations. But that implementation is not in any way related to the current one, except in the most general "there's a way to set program associations" sense that applies just as well to other operating systems.
Microsoft's first implementation of this in Windows was in winfile.exe, which was deeply deprecated in Windows '95 and does not exist at all in any recent version of Windows. The second iteration, in the first version of Windows Explorer, involved the Windows registry and was somewhat more complicated in its implementation but still conceptually similar to the first version: for any given filename extension, you could specify one program that would be used to open it; and that was it. This got redone when Windows Explorer went through its little identity crisis ("Of course it's integrated with the web browser..." "What? Web browser? No, no, no."), leaving a legacy of associations based on things other than the filename extension (in addition to the ones that are based on extension), and at some point gained the ability for programs to register themselves at install time as _capable_ of handling a given file format, so the "Open With..." context menu could offer multiple options. Then the "set program access/defaults" wizard was added to let people specify which of the options should get the double-click action for certain important formats and tasks. That implementation, or a descendant of it, still exists in Windows 7 (I think; unless it was redone another time that I didn't notice) but was never ported over to Eight/Ten, which have their _own_ implementations of file associations, which have gone through changes repeatedly because, frankly, they're unnecessarily complex and thus buggy.
But yeah, sure, just say this is a feature that's been there for twenty years and just suddenly broke unexpectedly. Reality is overrated.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
I'm constantly astounded by how much abuse by Microsoft, people (and corporations) will put up with. That abuse being endless "updates" that break systems, and the spyware aspects of the turd_in_the_punchbowl that is Windows 10. I spent 20 years dealing with the insanity that is Microsoft as a sysadmin, but when I retired in 2010, I decided I was done with anything Microsoft. Watching these endless stories about YET another broken "update" from Microsoft makes me endlessly glad I escaped from the MS ecosystem for my personal systems...
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
I noticed a general M$ pattern since roughly a decade ago. M$ tends to not outright remove old tools/features over time, but rather makes them incrementally harder to use or install. This is both server-side and desktop.
For example, if you upgrade to a newer version of Windows, some prior features don't work out of the box. After Googling around, you can usually find a fix, but it takes time, such as installing old drivers and adding something into the Registry.
Thus, M$ can technically say they support their older tools, but in practice they make you dance and sing to keep using them.
Table-ized A.I.
I give you props because you taught me the word shitweasel.
Well, that's one way to force everyone over to UWP.
I quit - no longer providing support to friends and family
Xbox Two is a MONSTER. 24GB+ of super fast GDDR RAM. 8+ Zen2 cores. An AMD GPU as fast as the Nvidia 1080TI. All thanks to AMD engineers, 7nm at Taiwan's TSMC, and a head to head with Sony's PS5.
And Microsoft intends to sell this console as a home PC as well. Microsoft has already added mouse and keyboard support to the current console in anticipation.
BUT this uber gaming, uber home PC- which will run any program from MS's app store, does NOT support third party win32 programs. All Windows OS machines have to run Win32 internally- that's just how they work. But EXTERNALLY, the user can only install and run 'new apps'.
MS's plan to kill win32 began more than a decade back with the horrific .NET and C#. They tried again with the crippled version that ran on ARM. And the final straw is MS selling an unbeatable hardware spec (less than 500 dollars) with unbeatable online support.
For devs currently selling key win32 applications, MS has given them the (temp) option to embed them in a 'new app' .net wrapper.
So what Windows 10 does 'accidently' update after ipdate is GROOMING. When the Xbox two arrives later next year, non-console PC gaming will no longer make financial sense. The specs of the Xbox Two will be too great, its cost too low, and its desktop support too good to ignore.
Hardcore big tin PC users will be stuck trying to prolong the life of Windows 7, or use the SERVER version of Windows (shades of the early days of NT). All the governments of the world have stated the FREEDOM offered by general PCs is EVIL, and the walled garden of Apple and Microsoft stores, and the pre-emptive censorship of Apple, Google, Facebook et al must be the only model going forward available to the plebs.
Uncensored distribution of code/programs will be banned as 'dangerous irresponsible publishing'. You wanna distribute something you code- it must pass thru the censorship system of a governmentally approved corporate entity.
Before the Internet, distributing a book outside of the big publishers was almost impossible and almost always entirely ineffective at reaching an audience. And the government relationships with the big publishers was 'perfect'. Same applied to journalism and newspapers.
The internet changed all that, and Team Tony Blair is determined to change it back. Blair's children now run the UK, USA, France, Germany, Russia, China, etc etc. The orwellian model Blair perfected in the UK has been exported to all major nations of the Earth.
So Win32 is a freedom in the same cross hairs as all our other freedoms. And it won't be long before weaponised SJWs start attacking Win32 as a bastion of "alt-right white male privilege". Blair perfected the old tactic of labelling and then demonising. The demonic magnification of the old idea of playground name-calling and then tribal bullying. Like the description in 'Lord of the Flies'.
I know normal everyday users can't do this, but my Windows machine (which is in a virtual machine) was last updated about six months ago. It has no internet access. I use it for a small number of programs. As I don't go online with it, it really doesn't need updating as long as everything works.
Now, reading all this, I'm kind of glad I can enjoy Windows when I need it without fear of crazy shit happening.
It's Media Player. The SEEK bar is missing on "specific files" - Or, rather, specific files triggered this "feature"
Now Media player is like F(*^(& YouTube, where you can't do anything but Pause and Play as your rights as a consumer are eroded. The ONLY reason to have flags in the media player so you can't seek through it is to ensure that you have to watch the full video, which is something that content creators want over us.
I never thought they'd push this crap all the way to our desktop though.
GrpA
Enjoy science fiction? "Turing Evolved" - AI, Mecha, Androids and rail-gun battles. What more could you want?
File Explorer hasn't been able to handle long file paths properly for decades.
Do Microsoft fix that glaring bug ?
Do they use the long file path flag THEY ADDED ?
In their OWN app ?
Naah.
But we got 3D paint, so that's fine.
Windows 10 Enterprise allows you to disable automatic updating. There is also an LTSB versions which won't force you to upgrade to 1809. There are people still on 1703 LTSB still receiving security updates but no new features.
All the people complaining about this are either ignorant or just home users. I'm sorry, at home you should be getting updated as often as possible as that is where the majority of porn browsing is. Most of the people taking stupid risks are doing so at home. Most botnets are powered by home PCs.
I do wish they would QA better. More and more customers I'm having to block windows update at the firewall level. I use my RMM to do patching anyway which actually tests the patches before rolling them out. They are still not perfect but far less volatile.
I do wish I could stay in my Linux desktop all day but there are just too many apps in everyday management that I use that are Windows only. That's what VMs are for. Take a snapshot before update, if it goes wonky then revert.
As in they have managed to make it complex enough and have sacked or driven away enough good engineers that they really cannot make work well anymore. Sure, windows never worked very well, but this is a new quality of bad.
Now, what do you do when you stupidly have let one OS maker get a quasi-monopoly and that maker loses it?
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Maybe it's time to port Wine to Windows, so WIndows 10 users can run Win32 applications...
So literally, "fuck home users", which is a number measured in billions in total, yes with a B. Well done.
Luckily at this point in time, most home users get it and try to avoid win10, which is being forced on them as a matter of routine by MS. How long this resistance can last with lack of availability of win7 in retail is anyone's guess, but it's holding remarkably well considering almost total lack of availability of the said product to an average home user.
I remember the old QA ways:
"It's compiling."
"Ship it!"
cap: reform
and looking forward to Wine 4.0.0 soon.
Note : Lubuntu comes with Gnome 3 software, Mate with Mate software, so if needed (if I want even less RAM used) I'll run LXDE on Ubuntu Mate.
for enjoying the new computer games.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
I may well be a happy Linux user, and every time I see reports like this, I am glad that I switched 2 years or something ago. That said. WTF is MS doing? This is so unacceptable for those that rely heavy on Windows for actual work. I don't care how much you game, as these issues are of no concern. Yet... If you make a living, using Windows?? WTF Micro-Snot !!
I have a hard time believing that this is accidental. Their semi-annual Win 10 releases would reset your major programs associations back to the default (i.e. to Microsoft apps). I guess enough people complained about that because the last update left the associations alone. But the first time I tried to open up a file associated with a non-Microsoft program, I got a pop-up asking "are you sure you really don't want to try the Microsoft app to open up this type of file instead?"
A friend of mine uses Office 2003 because she paid for it, and it does everything she needs. She called me up last month saying Word and Excel kept saying they were expiring. When I investigated, a Windows 10 semi-annual update had installed the Office 365 trial, and changed the Office file associations from her permanently licensed Office 2003 to the subscription-based trial.
Clue to Microsoft: The OS is supposed to be a productivity tool for me, not an advertising platform for you.
So iCloud does come with an iSilverLining.
THEY DON'T CARE.
they're grabbing for money, money, and more money. they're jealous as fuck whenever they look over and see apple and how they generate money and insane profits out of thin air and far fewer products to develop and sell.
they don't give a shit about what we, the users, think, or want.. or need.
newsflash: it won't work that way with fucking pc.
ibm needs to bring back os/2.. native applications and a linux compatibility layer or something (for the '2' part: native + linux instead of the old one's native + windows). with no tracking, no surveillance, no 'app store', security and privacy first and foremost, and user control over the hardware and software.
The gift that keeps on taking. Abort this abomination already. Let's reset to Windows 7 and call it a day shall we.
Write your Congress Critter and get them all up in Microsoft's business again. Windows 10 is entirely unfair. Microsoft should get a hard time since they're giving all of us a hard time.
--- We need more Ron Paul!
Really? I have never seen Windows 10 "update itself" or "reboot itself" without permission, nor have I ever seen it display any advertizing. Ever. I dunno what version of Winders y'all are running, but it must be the sooper discount version or something, or y'all are just incompetent nincompoops who ought not be having a computer at all.
I sometimes wonder how much of that 2014 QA axing funding has been used to find the PR efforts.
"So if you want certain files to always open in Notepad, for example, you're currently out of luck"
So suspect the OP has no idea what they are talking abou,t
>> rely heavy on Windows for actual work
That is so wrong on so many levels.
Don't do that.
aaaaaaa
I think I would take the risky updates over having anything iTunes/icloud on a machine voluntarily.
They simply KILLED my Windows tablet. Devices with small storage get their drive overfilled with the download, and trying to apply it means they get stuck. got a nice brick at hand.
They COULD have designed it so it downloads to extra storage (SD card) and upgrade from there.. but MS doesn't test anything, and only design for Ultimate machines, apparently.
Only a DUMMY would buy tablets with Windows! ( I was one.)
For me, I first noticed it when the Calculator (yes, the Basic function of a computer) wouldn't open, and I had to download an older version from XP so I could have that functionality again.
Next, the Calendar, Notepad, the "Alarms and Clock" and now anything Media-related (editor, player, etc)...
Sheesh, M$! Get your Stuff together here! You want to change Windows OS to a "Service" and This happens? If you ever wonder why people Don't want to go that way, just review your product feedback on these issues, and you just might be able to figure this out for yourselves!
Begin the transition now so that you will have enough time to be made aware of any snags and find potential solutions. If you wait until the last minute you may end up frustrated and feel forced to either have a rough transition and be frustrated, or to upgrade and deal with the hassles you wish to avoid.
Try running Windows 7 and something else side by side, and see how well you get along in your alternative, booting to Windows 7 when you feel forced to and taking note of the circumstances to try and find a potential solution and path forward.
Twinstiq, game news
causing them to develop poorly in other areas. It takes a lot of work to becoming untrustworthy and hated by committing forced data theft.
After every Windows update, my only hope is that nothing has changed.
Might makes right irrelevant.
Mikrosopht found a way to make the most money possible, licensing, security lockdowns, etc..
But yet cant get their crap straight?
Why can ms test and publish their own findings regarding their own updates?
Crap they make enough money right??
on a different note, why no take the opportunity to stick it to them.
How as a society, can we live like this?
How can business run correctly, with this crap out there.
If its buggy dont release it..
Simple concept..
Perhaps this is the inflection point. MS doesnt care about the community, to which is clearly identified by this current snafu..
Moving deeper, what mechanisms are broken that we cant see @ the surface?
How does this Bode for my security?
How can I keep my company safe in the wake of Ms botched update process?
Can we tell if the mechanism is broken, insecure, or flat-out flawed and open to the public?
With these little things surfacing, I want to know WHY??
Wha twas changed in the media player to break it and why?
I think it's only right for MS to follow up on propper disclosure..
Communiyt what do you think?
When will it come to a point when Windows will become: unstable, unuseable, unmanageable ( from an enterprise perspective) By it's own "out of control" hands?
When will some company cashin creating a management framework to manage or replace the MS Botched Patching program?
Skrew it,, Thanks MS for making MAC OS more attractive as the days go on??
I guess you like shooting your selves inThe foot. To big to fail???
Just use a hacked version of LTSC - sorted.