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Windows 10 Bugs, Issues, Problems

One of the things about today's current state of technology is that everything seems to be a work-in-progress. As demonstrated before, Windows 10 is not an exception -- no matter how polished it seems to be.

While many people have upgraded without any issues, there are some who did not have the seamless experience Windows intended for its users. Here are some of the most common issues and bugs with Win10; together with their solutions (at least until an official Windows update patches them).

Battery Life

Whenever there is a new OS release for mobile devices, there is always an issue about the battery. The new Win10 Mobile is not an exception. While this is not an overwhelming issue with the release, many people will be experiencing faster battery draining. Based on user tests, a lot of the regular background updates downloaded and installed have a detrimental effect to your battery.

While this can only be properly resolved by an OS patch, it may help to check with the manufacturer for any features that can be turned off when not needed. They may also have a driver or firmware fix that can help. Most of the features enumerated in preceding chapters may also consume battery (such as those relating to connectivity), and some of them may be turned off.

Default App

Windows 10 comes with a number of default application -- depending on the edition, you basically get a Windows app to open all the common defaults. However, many users might not prefer to open videos with the built-in player and may opt for something more powerful, like VLC. This is where the pain of changing default apps shows. Worse, this continues even if you have told an upgrade installer to stay away from default apps.

For a quick fix, follow these steps:

  1. Launch the Settings app from your taskbar.
  2. Click System, and then go to Default apps. Here, you will get an option to change which extensions open with applications.
  3. If you only want that specific instance of the file to open in a new program, simply right-click it on File Explorer and choose Open with. Click on Choose another app. You will also find a tickbox for Always use this app.

Broken or Buggy Software

One of the reasons that there aren't as many bugs in Win10 as in many similar software releases is the fact that it has been subjected to community testing for a very long time. That does not mean that the software works flawlessly, however -- this becomes particularly notable when you try to use older software.

Like in battery issues, the best option will be to install all the latest updates (this time specific to the program) until the needed fix rolls out. You can also check the forums for the specific app, or contact the manufacturer. Barring that, your quickest fix is to go for the compatibility mode:

  1. Right click on the executable file, and choose Properties from the resulting menu.
  2. Open the Compatibility tab. Select a previous Windows version, so you can emulate the program running in a different environment. While this is not a perfect guarantee, most software-specific bugs can be resolved this way.

Broken Touchpad

Touchpads are delicately calibrated, so there are lots of times when a new software update can throw them off. The only permanent fix here is to get your laptop manufacturer to issue a patch to get the instrument to work correctly.

Outside of that, the only possible fix lies in uninstalling then reinstalling the device. Go to the Control Panel and access the Device Manager. From there, access your touchpad and uninstall it (right-click to access the contextual menu). You can also reinstall it from that screen.

Rebot Loop

Due to one of the recent Microsoft updates, a number of users got stuck in a looping reboot. This can admittedly happen at any time in the future, so unless MS engineers can absolutely perfect the patching and update process, you need to know how to solve it on your end.

Unfortunately, the only other recourse is hacking the Windows 10 registry. Take note that this is extremely dangerous (as in "can-brick-your-device-in-an-instant" kind of dangerous), and you should only attempt this if you know exactly what you are doing.

  1. Access your computer's registry. It is highly recommended that you back it up first.
  2. Go to the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
  3. Remove the SID for users that are no longer existent in the registry. (You can check the non-existent users by looking into computer management/local users and groups/users.) To tell which SID belongs to which user, click on the SID itself and to the right, you will find the "profileimagepath" showing the path to the user account's user directory.
  4. Re-run the update -- it should now work fine.

If the fix does not work for you, it might help to download the cumulative update directly through the links. You will find .msu files that you will have to run to get the update.

Mandatory Updates Break Everything

The previous issue brings to mind a problem that a very, very few users are experiencing -- some updates seem to break more than they fix. While this is usually only superficial and can be fixed by someone with reasonable experience, it is also possible that this someone may also want to disable updates temporarily while he delves into the system.

We had mentioned earlier that updates are almost fully mandatory, and cannot be deferred completely -- lest you run the risk of completely losing Windows support. However, there is a very technical path you can follow to actually stop these updates. While this can be done at any point for any reason, keep in mind that this is also extremely dangerous and should not be done unless the life of your machine is at stake.

The hack is to use a Windows troubleshooter package, which is like a tiny diagnostic app for your OS. It can be downloaded directly from (but tucked away near the bottom of) the Microsoft support page. Run it, and then click through the initial menu. You will then land on a screen that asks you whether to show or hide updates.

Clicking on "Hide Updates" will let you disable pending updates. "Show hidden updates". On the other hand, is for updates that have been hidden and you now want to install. That said, click on the first option and you will be shown a checkbox containing the updates currently pending installation. You can simply check which updates to hide (check all, why not?) and you're good to go. Admittedly, the process is weird and buggy, but it might just save your system if needed.