More Windows 11 Bad News From Microsoft

[Boogs]

Points taken. It isn't just Microsoft. Right now it seems like damn near every big name in high tech. Particularly Adobe, who is presently being sued by the US Dept. of Justice. And then there's Intel who is just beginning to acknowledge long term issues with their 13th and 14th generation cpus. And Asus with all their motherboard and unfair RMA related issues. I'm sure others could add to this list. Not a good time for high tech consumers in general.

I think it extends across the board frankly.
e.g. The food industry is not only behaving like the tobacco industry in covering up the harms of ultra processed foodstuffs, but they are actually employing ex-big tobacco exec's to plan and execute those policies. Just the fact they'd risk bad publicity due to public memory of what big tobacco did to supress info on the health risks, suggests they didn't employ these exec's by accident. (And I won't mention about how the food industry profiteered during high inflation, actually pushing it up further simply for extra profits - oops! silly me, I just have mentioned it! )

To my mind, when such a product (tobacco) has no benefits at all (alcohol can claim a few small benefits at least) and has knowingly and cold bloodedly been pushed to as many people as possible, ruining the lives of countless numbers of people, killing over 8 million a year (WHO figures) and collectively costing the rest of us massive healthcare costs and knock on impacts, all as a means of profiteering for big tobacco, how can this not be a crime against humanity of the highest order?

But there does seem to be a gradual growing awareness generally, with some governments looking to push back on these companies and conglomerates that have been allowed to monopolise the market so much they can price fix to the point of significantly damaging society, not to mention anti-unionism and degrading treatment of workers, etc.
Look to Brazil again for a focus on the billionaires behind much of this - taxing them properly, as well as standing up to Musk recently. It seem that many countries do recognise how serious the whole thing has become, but have to tread warily and quietly because these commercial entities and people have so much power, so I suspect any fight back will be in steady, cautious and well thought out measures, maybe using people like Musk as his high profile gets the message out all over, while diminishing X is easy to implement - just block it on the internet.

Oh dear, I do apologise, I really am ranting too much!

 

[Outdated]

Look to Brazil again for a focus on the billionaires behind much of this - taxing them properly, as well as standing up to Musk recently. It seem that many countries do recognise how serious the whole thing has become,

A fairly hot topic here recently too, we're not all that far behind Brazil in being fed up with them:

'Big, massive deterrent': Social media companies could face fines for allowing kids under 14 on their platforms

And back to the original topic of Windows updates - the cartoon below is more than 20 years old. The more the world changes the more she stays the same.

 

[Judge]

Gilles Letourneau makes the formal 24H2 upgrade of Windows 11 seem like one big letdown.

A "neutered" version of 24H2 ? Might be for the better until Microsoft fixes it all.

 

[Forest Cat]

I have a Windows 11 question, I mentioned a while ago in another thread that I have a weird Windows 10 problem. Lately my computer has been possessed by a Windows demon, this just came out of nowhere. I turn my computer on and instead of just starting up normally like it has always done, it says "Preparing Windows" on the screen and when the desktop appears a while later, it looks like Windows reset itself. My background picture is deleted and replaced with a Windows logo. Everything I had stored on the desktop is gone and my browsers have been deleted and reinstalled it looks like, so all my bookmarks are gone. Simply put, I randomly lose everything on my computer now and then.

It happened again this morning and I have not been able to find a solution to this problem. The last resort is to buy a new computer, I can't have a computer that does this every week. But I noticed that it says "your computer is ready for Windows 11" on the update-page. So I'm thinking maybe I should try to update to that? Maybe the demon will then be banished and sent back to the depths of hell and the problem is fixed. But I have heard terrible things about Windows 11.

My question is, would I just go from one problem to another if I update to Windows 11? I only use this computer for basic things, things like reading news, youtube, banking and visiting this forum. Can Windows 11 be ok for someone who only use it for basic things like that? Or is it just terrible overall and there's no point in upgrading to it?

 

[Outdated]

Lately my computer has been possessed by a Windows demon, this just came out of nowhere. I turn my computer on and instead of just starting up normally like it has always done, it says "Preparing Windows" on the screen and when the desktop appears a while later, it looks like Windows reset itself. My background picture is deleted and replaced with a Windows logo. Everything I had stored on the desktop is gone and my browsers have been deleted and reinstalled it looks like, so all my bookmarks are gone. Simply put, I randomly lose everything on my computer now and then.

I remember people with Win8 having similar problems but it was a while back now and the memory's a little dodgy these days.

The problem was Windows was creating duplicate user profiles, dozens of them. I never narrowed down what was actually causing it but I strongly suspected Microsoft Themes - people that had their desktop background periodically changing, etc.

The fix to the problem was to delete all the user profile files manually, then reboot. Then Windows will go through it's configuring nonsense one more time but after that it's happy, only one profile for the user.

It's been so long since I played with Windows though, can't remember where the user profiles are stored. Maybe someone else can add to this and clarify.

 

[Forest Cat]

I remember people with Win8 having similar problems but it was a while back now and the memory's a little dodgy these days.

The problem was Windows was creating duplicate user profiles, dozens of them. I never narrowed down what was actually causing it but I strongly suspected Microsoft Themes - people that had their desktop background periodically changing, etc.

The fix to the problem was to delete all the user profile files manually, then reboot. Then Windows will go through it's configuring nonsense one more time but after that it's happy, only one profile for the user.

It's been so long since I played with Windows though, can't remember where the user profiles are stored. Maybe someone else can add to this and clarify.

That's interesting I should look into the user profiles. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Boogs]

What you experience in Windows 10 is definitely not expected behaviour, and your problem does not stem from the version of Windows you're using. I'd be inclined to say you're as likely to avoid that problem if you bought a new Win10 machine or a Win11 machine.

The problem will most likely have one of two sources, hardware or software. Usually if hardware is flaking out, you expect to see spontaneous crashes, restarts, bsod's etc. depending on what is failing.
The 'Preparing Windows' only occurs on the first run of a newly installed or re-installed (e.g. factory refresh) where it's personalising configuration (all the various questions it asks before first hitting the desktop).

This sounds like a factory refresh is being invoked for some reason.
* Does the reset laptop still contain any of your data, or is it wiped clean as if it was brand new off the shelf?
* Have you changed any setting in the BIOS?

Before junking your laptop and buying new, I'd be tempted to first back up any important data you may have on there. Then, if there was data left after last reset then it was not a full factory restore (data wiped etc) and it's well worth manually triggering a full restore first to see if problem disappears after that.
If not ...
Then download a suitable vanilla Windows 10 install to put on a USB stick. Then boot from that stick (you may need to change boot settings in BIOS to do this) and let it do a full clean install (disk fully wiped etc).

There is a risk in doing this, depending on how the manufacturer has set the machine up - you may no longer be able to access the built-in Windows 10 install that the company provided on the laptops hard disk. If that was the case then you rely on the vanilla Windows options, and your USB stick with the install files, to perform any future factory resets you may require.

Any customised software for that make and model will be either missing, or you'd have to download and install from manufacturers website afterwards. Frankly much of this stuff is rubbish bloatware, and better avoided, but occasionally it drives some unusual piece of hardware or software function.

So this is the sort of thing best left until you're at the point of junking the machine for a replacement, by then you've little to lose if it goes wrong.

 

[DrBadStrings]

It's been so long since I played with Windows though, can't remember where the user profiles are stored. Maybe someone else can add to this and clarify.

For most that didn't change their hard drive letters it's just C:/Users

 

[Forest Cat]

This sounds like a factory refresh is being invoked for some reason.
* Does the reset laptop still contain any of your data, or is it wiped clean as if it was brand new off the shelf?
* Have you changed any setting in the BIOS?

Yes, it does look like a factory refresh. But some of my stuff is deleted and other stuff is put into a folder and stored in a place that was difficult to find. It seems unusual. I haven't changed anything in the BIOS.

But this computer is getting on in years, so maybe I should just save myself a lot of time and trouble and buy a new one. I'm not especially computer-savvy, so things like this could end up taking way too much time if I try to fix it.

Thank you for the reply, that was interesting info.

 

[Judge]

That's interesting I should look into the user profiles. Thanks for the tip.

Sounds like a good start. Possibly involving a corrupted user profile. You may indeed need to recreate a new user profile with administrative privileges per the suggestion below. Just makes sure to use your file manager to verify that your own files are still on your drive.

Redirecting

 

[Forest Cat]

Sounds like a good start. Possibly involving a corrupted user profile. You may indeed need to recreate a new user profile with administrative privileges per the suggestion below. Just makes sure to use your file manager to verify that your own files are still on your drive.

Redirecting

I like the first solution on the list:

"Before you do anything or move any files around, restart (not shut down) your PC 4 times, each time let your PC get to the Desktop before the next restart, this will fix this issue a lot of the time."

That's my kind of solution, a simple one. Seems a little random and weird in a way. Not three times, not five times, but four times. That is the magic number. Probably doesn't work, it seems too easy, but I'll try that first.

 

[Boogs]

Thank you for the reply, that was interesting info.

The pleasure is all mine, as a nerd supreme I can assure you!

If I had to guess, being unable to run any diagnostics on it, I'd suspect it's not the profile that's the problem if you ended up with a fresh new Desktop after one of these 'resets' happened, because that would mean a new profile is being created based on standard template profile (called 'Default' but has 'hidden' attribute set so you don't normally see it in the C:\Users folder in Explorer) that's copied to use as the basis off your new profile. If the template was corrupted then I'd expect it to be replaced from the install files when one of these resets occurs (but a few if's and maybe's in there! so a pinch of salt here).

Q. Did this laptop come with Win10, or was it upgraded from 7 or 8 (or whatever)?

Caveat: I've not done proper desktop support for a good while now, so I'm a bit on the rusty side, but I'm usually not far from the right track (but there's little real machine info to work with here)...

It has the smell of a registry change to me, or something along those lines, whereby an entry is made that tells Windows to do a factory refresh of some sort when it next starts up. Whatever is happening I'd suspect the manufacturers additional software is the most likely culprit rather than some native element of Windows, which is why I suggested the vanilla install if you're run out of options/patience (if you did this you'd be wise to make sure you have drivers (manufacturers website should have them) for your model, especially for the network (so you can connect to internet to download other stuff)).

Another option you could consider would be to turn that laptop into a Linux machine instead, which will make the most of the hardware compared to Windows, with the biggest issue mainly being able to find the software you'd want to use (if it's something rare/unusual) but Linux will do a great deal out of the box and lots of free software available (Office suites etc). You can try this out with many versions of Linux available to boot from a USB stick without having to wipe Windows (i.e. you can just remove the stick and reboot and you're back as you were) which is a great way to try it out without burning any bridges.

 

[Forest Cat]

The pleasure is all mine, as a nerd supreme I can assure you!

If I had to guess, being unable to run any diagnostics on it, I'd suspect it's not the profile that's the problem if you ended up with a fresh new Desktop after one of these 'resets' happened, because that would mean a new profile is being created based on standard template profile (called 'Default' but has 'hidden' attribute set so you don't normally see it in the C:\Users folder in Explorer) that's copied to use as the basis off your new profile. If the template was corrupted then I'd expect it to be replaced from the install files when one of these resets occurs (but a few if's and maybe's in there! so a pinch of salt here).

Q. Did this laptop come with Win10, or was it upgraded from 7 or 8 (or whatever)?

Caveat: I've not done proper desktop support for a good while now, so I'm a bit on the rusty side, but I'm usually not far from the right track (but there's little real machine info to work with here)...

It has the smell of a registry change to me, or something along those lines, whereby an entry is made that tells Windows to do a factory refresh of some sort when it next starts up. Whatever is happening I'd suspect the manufacturers additional software is the most likely culprit rather than some native element of Windows, which is why I suggested the vanilla install if you're run out of options/patience (if you did this you'd be wise to make sure you have drivers (manufacturers website should have them) for your model, especially for the network (so you can connect to internet to download other stuff)).

Another option you could consider would be to turn that laptop into a Linux machine instead, which will make the most of the hardware compared to Windows, with the biggest issue mainly being able to find the software you'd want to use (if it's something rare/unusual) but Linux will do a great deal out of the box and lots of free software available (Office suites etc). You can try this out with many versions of Linux available to boot from a USB stick without having to wipe Windows (i.e. you can just remove the stick and reboot and you're back as you were) which is a great way to try it out without burning any bridges.

I forgot to mention that it is a desktop computer, not a laptop. But yes, it came with Win10 when I bought it. Thank you for the information.

 

[Boogs]

Another possible route would be if you can get hold of a cheap hard disk suitable to fit the laptop, replace your current disk with that disk and do a vanilla install from a Windows 10 download from Microsoft. This would allow you to try that but still give the option of putting the original disk back to return it to it's current state.

You'd need to make sure you have your license key, which used to either come as a key on a Windows 10 sticker on the laptop (usually on the underside) or it comes embedded in the hardware and the installation should be able to pick that up automatically. Note that you must make sure you are installing exactly the same version (e.g. if you have Win10 Pro, then your license will only work with a Win10 Pro install).

And the downside of course being you may end up with a spare hard disk you don't need, but a quick search immediately brought up a Kingston ssd 240Gig 2.5" sata drive for only £22uk, and if you currently use a magnetic platter type of disk, you'll see a significant performance improvement switching to ssd.

 

[Boogs]

I forgot to mention that it is a desktop computer, not a laptop. But yes, it came with Win10 when I bought it. Thank you for the information.

Ok, thanks for clarifying, though it actually makes things like the above suggestion regards popping a new drive in and performing a vanilla windows install easier to do. Out of interest, can you say what make/model of PC it is?

 

[Forest Cat]

Ok, thanks for clarifying, though it actually makes things like the above suggestion regards popping a new drive in and performing a vanilla windows install easier to do. Out of interest, can you say what make/model of PC it is?

It's an Acer desktop, I tried to make some changes on it, I just have to wait until I turn it on tomorrow and see if it does it again, the refresh-thing. Thank you for all the tips and info.

 

[Boogs]

When you're next using it after it's done a reset, it may be interesting to check the Windows Event logs to see if they show any clues as to what's happened. If unfamiliar with them I can show where to find them.

Thank you for all the tips and info.

You won't be saying that when you get my bill!

 

[Forest Cat]

Sounds like a good start. Possibly involving a corrupted user profile. You may indeed need to recreate a new user profile with administrative privileges per the suggestion below. Just makes sure to use your file manager to verify that your own files are still on your drive.

Redirecting

I mentioned that I tried the first solution on that list, the easiest one, restart computer four times. And so far everything is working fine. Something did change when I restarted it four times, it powers up faster now, gets to the desktop faster. Maybe it will 'refresh' itself again tomorrow and delete everything again, but so far everything is ok at least.

There is one thing I'm wondering about, I read that Windows will stop all support for Windows 10 next year. So I guess I have to move on to 11 eventually. My computer is telling me again and again that it is ready for Windows 11, it wants me to install it. Should I do it?

I'll bet Windows will make me pay to upgrade to 11 later if I wait. I can do it for free now it looks like. But I don't know, does anyone have any suggestions about this? Any experience with Windows 11?

 

[Judge]

I mentioned that I tried the first solution on that list, the easiest one, restart computer four times. And so far everything is working fine. Something did change when I restarted it four times, it powers up faster now, gets to the desktop faster. Maybe it will 'refresh' itself again tomorrow and delete everything again, but so far everything is ok at least.

There is one thing I'm wondering about, I read that Windows will stop all support for Windows 10 next year. So I guess I have to move on to 11 eventually. My computer is telling me again and again that it is ready for Windows 11, it wants me to install it. Should I do it?

I'll bet Windows will make me pay to upgrade to 11 later if I wait. I can do it for free now it looks like. But I don't know, does anyone have any suggestions about this? Any experience with Windows 11?

I just saw a YouTube video yesterday from Gilles Letourneau who wasn't happy in how Microsoft is being a little coy about offering post-expiration of Windows 10 next year. That while they have already announced extended services at cost for enterprise users, they have yet to announce (if at all) a charge for rank-and-file Windows 10 users, and what it may imply.

In the meantime it's no secret they want everyone to rush out and buy a new computer that meets the requirements of the ill-fated Windows 11. I'm beginning to wonder if Microsoft doesn't intend to provide extended service for non-enterprise Windows 10 users.

 

[Judge]

No surprise here. However it may be best if possible to hold off on updating Windows 11 24H2: