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

Tom's Hardware | March 2, 2020, 4:22 a.m. | Original
(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.

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jimmysmitty 02 March 2020 17:58
    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 03 March 2020 06:33
    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 03 March 2020 06:50
    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 03 March 2020 06:55
    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
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