Microsoft can't seem to make the latest version of Windows 10 play nice with your files. The Windows 10 October 2018 Update had a critical flaw at launch that deleted user documents, and even after the company addressed that bug, it restricted the update to Windows Insider Program members just to be safe. That caution has paid off--users have discovered another flaw that could make it all-too-easy to overwrite files.
Here's the problem: File Explorer no longer asks for confirmation when someone drags a document from a compressed folder to an uncompressed folder containing a file of the same name. When that happens, the utility is supposed to ask if the user wants to overwrite the existing document. No confirmation dialog appears in the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, though, and the progress window appears instead.
So far the bug has proven inconsistent. Complaints on Reddit about the issue originally said the new document (the one taken from the compressed folder) isn't actually saved. A week later, however, other users said File Explorer was saving the new file over the existing one. There are some consistencies, like the lack of a confirmation dialog and the appearance of a progress window, but the bug's effects have varied drastically.
The first problem of not saving the new file could lead someone to delete the updated document because they believed it was already saved. The second could lead to the permanent loss of an important document with no warning. Either way, the flaw means that people using the Windows 10 October 2018 Update still can't trust it with their data, whether it's because of one of these flaws or because another is just waiting to be found.
A thread on Feedback Hub has been established for people to discuss this flaw. So far it has 25 upvotes and Microsoft has confirmed that it received the feedback. Several of the comments are less than helpful--one pokes fun at the flaw debuting with the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, another uses hashtags to bemoan everything from Satya Nadella and the Windows Insider Program to Agile--but one could prove useful:
Pedro S said: "This problem does not happen when using third party zip program, like 7-Zip. But if using Windows Explorer to extract the file, it overwrites the file without warning." That could mean that people who are using the Windows 10 October 2018 Update can use third-party tools to handle their compressed folders without having to worry about this flaw affecting them; but is it worth taking the risk to find out?
People expect Windows 10, along with every operating system they could possibly encounter, to reliably handle their files. It doesn't matter how many whiz-bang features are introduced with the Windows 10 October 2018 Update if it continues to erode trust in Microsoft's ability to protect those documents. At least the company has restricted the update's release to Windows Insider Program members to limit the flaw's impact.
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