Surprise! People Are Having Problems With an Optional Windows 10 Update

By Nathaniel Mott
published

Who'da thunk it?

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Microsoft released an optional Windows 10 update, KB4535996, in February to address problems affecting Windows Search. But yesterday Windows Latest reported that the update has introduced a few technical issues of its own.

Windows 10 users have reportedly complained of various problems with the KB4535996 update in Microsoft's forums, Feedback Hub and Windows Latest's comment section. It's not clear how widespread any of these problems are.

Windows Latest said that some of the problems are the standard Blue Screen of Death, random freezes and other performance issues that often accompany operating system updates. (Especially, it seems, those made to Windows 10.)

But the KB4535996 update was also said to have failed to install for some people, and it's also causing issues with sound adapters, according to the report. Uninstalling the update appears to have worked for most people affected by these issues.

Luckily optional updates like KB4535996 aren't pushed on Windows 10 users--people have to find them by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and manually searching for updates to the operating system available for installation. 

Microsoft said in the Known Issues section of the KB4535996 update's support article that it's "not currently aware of any issues with this update." That isn't uncommon, though, and the company might be working to address these problems anyway.

Nathaniel Mott
Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer

Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.

24 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jimmysmitty
    The way this is written, and most of these are written, I almost feel like the author disdains Windows 10.

    I swear people act as if 10 is the only one with issues ever. I guess people forget how bad XP was pre-SP2 or the patches that caused 7 many issues as well.

    Its almost as if software will have issues, sometimes wide spread other times not.

    Who'da thunk it?
    Reply
  • bit_user
    jimmysmitty said:
    I swear people act as if 10 is the only one with issues ever. I guess people forget how bad XP was pre-SP2 or the patches that caused 7 many issues as well.
    The difference is that SP2 came out only a couple years after XP's release, but we're already on like year 5 of Windows 10.

    I'm a late adopter and didn't even install XP until after SP2. I waited until a fair bit after SP1 to hit Win7.

    Most people just want stability from their OS, but MS is falling short.
    Reply
  • Christopher1
    bit_user, no, they are not. Remember: You are getting basically a new refreshed OS every single year from MIcrosoft now. So Windows 10 today is more like Windows XP Service Pack 12!
    Time to admit that there are going to be issues found and corrected, with most issues coming from... what now? Crappy drivers from the device manufacturers. Just like was the case 20 years ago.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Christopher1 said:
    bit_user, no, they are not. Remember: You are getting basically a new refreshed OS every single year from MIcrosoft now. So Windows 10 today is more like Windows XP Service Pack 12!
    No, it's not. It's like getting Windows 15. I don't want Windows 15. I want Windows 10 SP5. I don't care about whatever new features and functionality they want to cram down my throat (mostly to enable this or that cloud service they'd also like to sell me) - I was fine with Win7, except I understand they can't support it forever.

    Christopher1 said:
    Time to admit that there are going to be issues found and corrected,
    Time to admit that Microsoft has taken control out of users hands. They don't let us pay for a version without their spyware (unless we pay mega-$$$ for Enterprise edition) and they don't give us a mature and stable baseline for those of us who don't want anything fancy from our OS and mainly value stability.
    Reply
  • Mandark
    So go use Linux or some other OS. I’m tired of all the complaining personally.

    I’ve been using windows 10 since it came out and it’s been the best operating system ever. It’s all we use at work and nobody’s having issues on hundreds of machines. The complaining is pure bollocks

    Most people here having issues are either too stupid to make it work properly or they’re doing something to it to screw it up.
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    bit_user said:
    The difference is that SP2 came out only a couple years after XP's release, but we're already on like year 5 of Windows 10.

    I'm a late adopter and didn't even install XP until after SP2. I waited until a fair bit after SP1 to hit Win7.

    Most people just want stability from their OS, but MS is falling short.

    7 Had patches that came out after SP1 that caused issues for some people, not all. Just like this.

    There is no such thing as a perfectly stable OS and unless people are OK with never getting a patch to fix and exploit or other issue there never will be.

    People are free to keep using 7. The problem is they will then complain that the OS has holes and exploits and be fending off massive amounts of attacks and viruses that would be patched in a current OS.

    bit_user said:
    No, it's not. It's like getting Windows 15. I don't want Windows 15. I want Windows 10 SP5. I don't care about whatever new features and functionality they want to cram down my throat (mostly to enable this or that cloud service they'd also like to sell me) - I was fine with Win7, except I understand they can't support it forever.


    Time to admit that Microsoft has taken control out of users hands. They don't let us pay for a version without their spyware (unless we pay mega-$$$ for Enterprise edition) and they don't give us a mature and stable baseline for those of us who don't want anything fancy from our OS and mainly value stability.

    The user has never had that much control on Windows to begin with. It has always been a middle ground OS between a custom Linux/Unix OS (full) and Mac OS (near none). They have some control over basic things but never on major things, at least since Windows NT.

    My only point to it is there will be patches and sometimes issues will happen for some people but the way the author writes this piece its as if this issue affects every single person. I have near 400 10 machines on my network and have yet to have any of these issues written about in articles.
    Reply
  • Asbjørn
    admin said:
    Windows 10 users have reportedly encountered various issues after installing the optional KB4535996 up.

    Surprise! People Are Having Problems With an Optional Windows 10 Up : Read more
    Okay, new to this forum and how to post a new topic..see how this works

    My concern is about M$ latest update. Long time user within M$ operating systems and history goes back to XP age. This is about legacy naming and nothing else and migration into Win10

    What I discovered during latest update. This folder c:\inet\wwwroot on my Win10 (I introduced it my self for legacy support) suddenly disappeared. A whole lot of applications I have depends on this folder and migration. It was there prior to the update but when I woke up this morning everything was gone as well as the folder itself. Wonder why .. okay nothing in it with respect to MIIS and XP but a whole lot of personal photo albums went away.

    How dare M$ delete a whole folder ? Anyone having the same observations ?

    How I suddenly came to hate M$
    Reply
  • Mandark
    how dare MS remove it's own directory for IIS!! how ridiculous you sound. why are you keeping persona stuff in the webroot folder?

    ONCE AGAIN, THIS IS USER ERROR AND USERS DOING SILLY THINGS, then getting mad if ms does something to folders it has control over.

    do you think it;s a good idea to store your personal photos (without verified backups) in an IIS webroot folder? if you hate them so much, then you can use Linux or ChromeOS
    Reply
  • aldan
    jimmysmitty said:
    7 Had patches that came out after SP1 that caused issues for some people, not all. Just like this.

    There is no such thing as a perfectly stable OS and unless people are OK with never getting a patch to fix and exploit or other issue there never will be.

    People are free to keep using 7. The problem is they will then complain that the OS has holes and exploits and be fending off massive amounts of attacks and viruses that would be patched in a current OS.



    The user has never had that much control on Windows to begin with. It has always been a middle ground OS between a custom Linux/Unix OS (full) and Mac OS (near none). They have some control over basic things but never on major things, at least since Windows NT.

    My only point to it is there will be patches and sometimes issues will happen for some people but the way the author writes this piece its as if this issue affects every single person. I have near 400 10 machines on my network and have yet to have any of these issues written about in articles.
    well put.i upgraded to windows 10 on the day it became available and not once has an update caused me any grief.it is,in my opinion,the best windows os yet.every time ms came out with a new os we hear the complaining,its just been longer with win 10.lol.also,in all the time i have had it on my computer i have not even contemplated a fresh install.
    Reply
  • Asbjørn
    Mandark said:
    how dare MS remove it's own directory for IIS!! how ridiculous you sound. why are you keeping persona stuff in the webroot folder?

    ONCE AGAIN, THIS IS USER ERROR AND USERS DOING SILLY THINGS, then getting mad if ms does something to folders it has control over.

    do you think it;s a good idea to store your personal photos (without verified backups) in an IIS webroot folder? if you hate them so much, then you can use Linux or ChromeOS
    You played this differently ! I am not a simple user, I played this card with photos in this folder and you seem to fall in this pitfall !

    What I am addressing, how dare M$ delete an entire folder? I have my backups

    Address the severity in this respect
    Reply