Windows 10’s broken fall update removes user-installed applications without asking first
Ever since Microsoft declared
that Windows 10 would automatically install updates and upgrades by
default, the company’s response to user concerns and fears about
hardware compatibility and software issues has essentially been “trust
us.” The company still allows Windows 10 Professional and Enterprise
users to defer and delay certain upgrades, and there are software tools
that anyone can download to block certain driver updates, but these have
been exceptions to the new general rule.
Unfortunately for
Microsoft’s users, this policy isn’t working very well. Earlier this
week, Microsoft yanked the Media Creation Tool installer for its latest Windows 10 build
(version 1511), but not before a litany of complaints poured in. Now,
users are reporting that the latest version of Windows 10 isn’t just
buggy — in some cases, it uninstalls user software without the user’s
permission.
The complaints aren’t universal and it’s not clear if
new installs of Version 1511 or upgrades are more likely to encounter
problems. What multiple users have reported is that upon installing the
latest version, they reboot and find various applications have been
removed from their systems. Reddit user ShotgunPanda reports that:I
booted up my PC today and found message from Win10 saying that CPU-Z is
no longer compatible with this version of Windows and decides on its
own to remove the program from user space along with other programs that
Microsoft doesn’t like and starts replacing them with their own Windows
apps. Its even removed AMD Catalyst Control Centre and installed its
own Win10 drivers.
Shotgunpanda isn’t alone, a post nine days ago from Reddit user sprutkakka identified a similar problem with CPUID.
Reinstalling the application “fixed” the issue, at least temporarily,
but the larger question is why Microsoft is removing software in the
first place.
About two months ago, torrents and piracy sites were banning Windows 10
over fears that it could be used to snoop on and disable software,
thanks to clauses in Microsoft’s licensing agreement that included the
following:We may automatically check your version of the
software and download software updates or configuration changes,
including those that prevent you from accessing the Services, playing
counterfeit games, or using unauthorized hardware peripheral devices.
This is clearly a case of
misidentification; Windows 10 is disabling software that doesn’t cause
problems and that users are legally entitled to install. The problem, of
course, is that Windows 10 apparently makes arbitrary decisions about
which applications will and will not be allowed to run, then takes
unilateral action without user input.
There are a number of
problems with what Microsoft is doing here. First and foremost, it
overrides user choice. The end-user may be aware that an application has
problems but locked into using it for whatever reason. He or she may be
required to use specific applications for work, or need access to
specific program functions. Warning the end user that a given
application is causing system instability is useful; disabling and
removingthat application without warning is not. Disabling or removing an application by mistake is even worse.
Second,
Microsoft’s “solution” may well make the problem worse. AMD’s graphics
cards depend on the Catalyst Control Center (or the brand-new Radeon Crimson software stack)
to function properly. Remove those applications and you can still load a
basic video driver, but you’ve locked the end-user out of all of AMD’s
advanced options for controlling monitor settings, 3D applications, or
video color and stability controls. Some applications have multiple
executables for multiple products in a program family — remove one or
two of them in the name of increasing system stability, and you break
the product suite. Removing an application like the Catalyst Control
Center can break uninstaller functionality if it isn’t removed properly,
and video drivers have a reputation for being finicky as it is. There’s
a reason why people still recommend the use of third-party uninstallers
like DDU in 2015 for AMD, Intel, and Nvidia hardware.
It’s also
not clear how this feature functions in corporate environments, but it’s
easy to imagine it wreaking havoc on system deployments if the computer
automatically removes software on systems where users are either
restricted from installing new programs or simply lack easy access to
the right application installers. This leaves the IT department playing
the ultimate game of whack-a-mole, trying to isolate why some users
continue having problems and others don’t.
I’m dubious of whether
Microsoft can ever make this system work properly, simply because of the
sheer variety of hardware, software, and applications that run on
Windows. Android and iOS may dwarf Windows’ install base, but neither
hold a candle to Microsoft in terms of backwards compatibility. Windows
10 will run on PC hardware that’s a full 12 years old (albeit not
particularly well). But trying to vet precisely which applications
should and shouldn’t be allowed to run on the OS and make those
decisions automatically? That’s never going to work perfectly.
But
most importantly — it’s the user’s choice which applications to install
and run. Microsoft may have viewed this as the natural extension of
SmartScreen, but this is a bridge too far.
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