For a taste of what is being offered, here is a list of “Improvements and Fixes” on today’s menu at the Microsoft Support Site. On that page you can also check out updates/patches for other Windows versions as well. MS Office has a slew of patches in the works, too.
Cumulative Update KB KB4074588 (OS Build 16299.248) – Improvements And Fixes
This update includes quality improvements. No new operating system features are being introduced in this update. Key changes include:
- Addresses issue where child accounts are able to access InPrivate mode on ARM devices even though their browsing and search history is sent to their parents. This occurs only on Microsoft accounts belonging to children that are managed using the Microsoft Family service and for which parents have enabled activity reporting. This applies to Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer.
- Addresses issue with docking and undocking Internet Explorer windows.
- Addresses issue in Internet Explorer where pressing the delete key inserted a new line in input boxes in an application.
- Addresses issue in Internet Explorer where selected elements wouldn’t update under certain circumstances.
- Addresses issue where some users may have experienced issues logging into some websites when using third-party account credentials in Microsoft Edge.
- Updates time zone information.
- Addresses issue with browser Compatibility View settings that occurs during updates.
- Addresses issue where, in certain hardware configurations, the frame rates of DirectX Games were unintentionally limited to a factor of the display’s vertical synchronization.
- Addresses issue that causes delays when switching keyboard languages using Alt+Shift.
- Addresses issue where surround sound audio endpoints reverted to stereo after restarting.
- Improves and reduces conditions where certain Bluetooth keyboards drop keys during reconnection scenarios.
- Corrects mouse delays for devices that incorrectly report the battery level status.
- Addresses issue where MMC application snap-ins—such as Services, Local Policy Admin, and Printer Management—fail to run when Windows Defender Application Control (Device Guard) is turned on. The error is “Object doesn’t support this property or method”.
- Prevents use of the Pre-production Onesettings endpoint for Windows Setup when test signing is enabled.
- Addresses issue where installations of Windows Server, version 1709 are not automatically activated using the Automated Virtual Machine Activation (AVMA) feature on Hyper-V hosts that have been activated.
- Addresses issue with the Auto-register Inbox templates feature for UEV where the Scheduled Task didn’t have the proper trigger.
- Addresses issue where the App-V client didn’t read the policy for SyncOnBatteriesEnabled when the policy was set using a Group Policy Object (GPO).
- Addresses issue where the Supported On field for the Enable App-V Client policy is blank in the Group Policy editor.
- Addresses issue where the user’s hive data in the registry is not maintained correctly when some App-V packages belong to the connection group.
- Provides additional logging for administrators to take action, such as picking a proper configuration for their App-V package, when there are multiple configuration files for a single package.
- Addresses issue with App-V packages that aren’t compatible with registry virtualization using kernel containers. To address the issue, we changed the registry virtualization to use the earlier (non-container) method by default. Customers who would like to use the new (kernel container) method for registry virtualization can still switch to it by setting the following registry value to 1:
- Path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\AppV\Client\Compatibility
- Setting: ContainerRegistryEnabled
- DataType: DWORD
- Security updates to Microsoft Scripting Engine, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Windows Search component, Windows Kernel, Windows Authentication, Device Guard, Common Log File System driver, and the Windows storage and file systems.
Thoughts
In the above list is one problem I have experienced with the audio, which is how the settings revert to stereo after a reboot. Audio?! Again?! Still?! Since Windows 10’s beginnings, I have suffered with audio problems in one form or another. Arghhh! They range from keeping my computer from going to sleep (read Windows 10 Won’t Sleep – Solved!) to the most recent, which is a five-second lag between when a video begins and the sound begins. Double Arghhh!
Unless you specifically need a particular patch, I would suggest you hold off for at least a few days until the expected bugs have been exterminated. Don’t be one of those unwitting, unpaid, Microsoft beta testers.
Considering Microsoft’s poor record where “improvements”,”fixes”, and “patches” are concerned, I think this is only common-sense advice. I would rather have a bug that can be lived with, than a computer that doesn’t work anymore because it was “improved”.
Richard
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Windows Update just put this W10 version on my PC. I do not know what it fixed but Microsoft thought I needed the update????
Microsoft always thinks you need an update.
Like You said, Microsoft thinks it’s an IMPROVEMENT!!!!
I know you don’t appreciate my comments on W10 and the lack of problems I have, but your latest rave about Windows which states:…”Given the horror show in January of this year,” is ridiculous and juvenile.
You sound like “News Com Au” with it’s gutter press headlines.
What the hell do people do with their computers to get to such a state of despair?
It’s a simple question which no one here has ever answered.
Well, “Hi there”, Colin,
You’re wrong– I do appreciate your comments about Windows 10 as long as they are kept at a civil tone. Name-calling is what I would type as “juvenile”, and I stand by my assessment of the catastrophe called, “January 2018 Updates”.
Microsoft “borked” many computers last month. They distributed, then recalled, then re-distributed patches to fix patches. That strikes me as being less than professional, and we should be able to expect better from a company that has been around for as long as they have.
With Microsoft sending out improperly vetted patches every month, people don’t have to do anything “to get to such a state of despair”. Redmond seems to be handling that part just fine. Hopefully, there is your answer to that “simple question”.
Incidentally, if you think I produce “gutter press” material, then may I suggest you don’t read it? You and I will both be relieved.
Consider yourself lucky to have been one of those who was not disadvantaged by last month’s updates, fixes, and improvements,
Richard
Lack of problems with Windows 10? Seriously? I just lost my main computer that I use daily in my home due to the Windows 10 fiasco. Two of my sons who are extremely computer savvy (one has a degree in computer technology) couldn’t get it working again. I’m now using the backup computer in my den. I use Norton and Malwarebytes daily for security and have checked for updates and downloaded weekly when available in the several years I’ve owned this computer. All this started last month from what up until then had been relatively trouble free computer. So Colin, don’t tell me this is all a bunch of hype because I’m a victim of it! Hopefully I’ll be able to recover most of my files from the backup service provider I have.
Thank you Richard,
It is pleasing to read straight-forward, to the point information and advice on
a regular basis relating to the Windows 10 updates.
When people have put their trust in a new computer system which fails to perform
in a satisfactory manner due to no fault of their own, many get an intense
feeling of fear, shock, or disgust (= horror) that they may have unknowingly caused the
problem.
Thank you, JohnD, for your kind comments.
Feb 13 update broke windows update on my PC. Last year I watched a Britec video and made notes. This is the 3rd time it’s come in handy. I do wish Microsoft would take more care, but here is what I do to clear WU:
====================================
From Britec: http://bit.ly/1xtjo63
====================================
Open up command prompt as administrator.
net stop wuauserv
net stop bits
Go to C: drive and open the Windows Folder
Select SoftwareDistribution folder and open
Select WindowsUpdate.log and open in notepad.
This allows you to view errors.
Open the download folder in the SoftwareDistribution folder
Delete all files in the download folder
Return to the SoftwareDistribution folder
Select and open the DataStore folder
Select and delete DataStore.edb
Open the Logs file and delete all the contents.
Return to the SoftwareDistribution Folder
Open the PostRebootEventCache folder
Delete all items in this folder
Open up command prompt as administrator
net start wuauserv
net start bits
Restart the computer
Thank you, Gary.
This is most helpful,
Richard
Thanks to Gary, and to DCT and Richard for posting and advising by email.
DCT first for ‘down-to-earth’ techie information, another site which I gave up on
frequently became a DIY home hardware advisory site.
JohnD
UUUUUuuuugggghhhhh. This update was a DOOZY for me. My PC wouldn’t update! It reported incompatible software that I needed to uninstall (name irrelevant as you will see soon). I spent a few hours over each of a few days researching and trying things. Uninstalled some things in case they might somehow be related (they weren’t), installed some crap and removed again trying to resolve, edited registry (carefully and frightfully), and nothing helped! There was not even a vestige of the software on my PC! I was SUPER confused. Finally, I found a post by some other poor schmuck like me. He had the same problem. Someone suggested he disconnect any extra media from his PC. He had old backups from another PC on a USB drive. He unplugged, and it worked!
Long story short, Windows 10 Update couldn’t proceed because Compatibility Checker examines EVERY file connected to the PC, not just what’s actually installed. To compound matters, it then falsely presents the findings as installed software.
My hint should have been in the articles I was turning up for the software I needed to “uninstall manually.” Most were from the ’09 era… so was my old laptop. HMMMM. Old data disconnected from PC and BINGO! a long, 4 hour install (REALLY!? 4 hours!?) and then I was back. I hated this process. My computer was SUPER slow beforehand because of Windows Update constantly checking for resolutions and verifying crap. I had a terrible time. All better now. GRRRR
After the last update, the 1709 16299.192 build when the PC decided to update itself during the night I don’t knw what I lost, there were so many docs, notes tabs open. I googled, obviously, for help. And in one forum there was a post on how to turn off the auto updates in Group Policy (don’t have the link handy) in Win 10 Pro edition. I forgot what I had until I checked. Voila! Win 10 Pro.
I promptly followed the directions and while I still update regularly, in my own time, I can rest easy now. What a difference.
However, thank you, Richard. I’ll hold off the new build (unless the .192) already had some of the “fixes” you wrote about. I’ll wait for a couple of weeks before I update.