Day two – and Windows 10 October 2018 Update trips over Intel audio Barely a day into release and Microsoft has admitted there is a problem with its shiny new OS and chips from Intel. Using Intel Display Audio? No Windows for you! As well as the usual complaints from overenthusiastic users reporting freezes during setup and mysteriously vanishing files or apps, a low rumble of dissatisfaction …
Running Windows 7 Ult and my audio died with the October update. While recording devices can be installed successfully and stream audio, all audio output devices failed and were marked with an exclamation mark in device manager following a reboot. no combination of uninstall, reboot, reinstall, download latest known good, rinse and repeat has worked.
Devices have the following explanation as to why the installation fails:
'Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source. (Code 52)'
Thanks Microsoft.
Article: driver problems that "end up sending CPU usage skyrocketing and battery life plummeting."
I've seen SIMILAR problems within UWP [CR]apps in general, including some of the built-ins. I reported this problem during the insider program.
There's an internal architectural problem within UWP itself. Applications tend to "CPU spin" on conditions they are waiting for. It could be one of the 'WaitForXXXObject[Ex]' functions, it could be the use of 'Sleep' with a 0 value (for some reason quoting the function call tripped a security blockage) or even 'yield' doing it.
This problem also exists in POSIX systems when you return immediately from things like 'poll' and loop without using delays. In the POSIX world, though, your polling loop can use 'usleep()' which is in microseconds [no guarantee it'll be "that long", it's somewhat 'advisory'].
NOW - if _THIS_ is at the core of the problem, then it's a MAJOR ARCHITECTURAL SNAFU and Micro-shaft basically has NOT listened to *ME* on this. I know I'm right because it's measurable and I even posted the measurements, got hammered and discredited and ONE particular fanboi was even getting PERSONAL over it all. [This is how they react when faced with 'OBVIOUSLY WRONG'].
Hey Microshaft: SEE! I! TOLD! YOU! SO!!!
And so FINALLY someone wrote a driver with the SAME! KINDS! of assumptions as the main loops in UWP [CR]apps. Yeah, maybe it only showed up IN A VM when I was testing it, but it REALLY means they aren't TESTING AT ALL.
So yeah - 'rushed' aka "being cheap" and your QUALITY GOES DOWN.
icon because: to the REST of us (aka 'not Micro-shaft'), it's OBVIOUS.
"Funny, they do the same thing (capitalization and punctuation for emphasis) over at El Reg. I've seen it on occasion."
So does the Daily Express, and I only know this because it keeps rearing its ugly head in my Google News aggregate feed, strangely their Planet Nibiru articles keep appearing in the science section. Apparently science means something different now...
Obligatory Bill Hicks Quote:
Apparently the security settings in Edge (do not track, block third party cookies etc.) are the least effective of the main browsers. I read this in an article browser comparison (sorry don't have a link to the site). It stated in Edge, many of them simply don't work, especially 'block third party cookies'.
"thats not quite as much spyware by design"
It might not have as much spyware by design (dunno, I've not really looked into it) but I can say having installed it on a VM yesterday, it's on a par with Google for shoving advertising down your throat.
Congratulations - you've installed the upgrade successfully - by the way, here's MSN spam spam.
You're kidding. I sideloaded Firefox from a USB stick.
I use Invoke-WebRequest from Powershell .... used to use ftp.exe before that ... I sometimes have Edge start, though, when silly me forgets that Outlook does not honor Windows settings and uses Edge to open links .... then again, I do not click many links in emails ... and it never gets time to load the page in question, so I am safe ... I think ...
There are people using Outlook that can use it year in, year out, without problem. It's when the user happens to trigger one of the design flaws of Outlook is when the troubles begin. Going "oversize" was the most obvious of those triggers, but MS have now raised that bar, making it statistically less likely.
MS use the "foie gras" technique of storing messages in the repository. Only after the message has been stored is the user made aware that the message store has gone over size and special tools need to be applied to it in order for it to resume working - tools (provided by MS in lieu of a means to prevent the problem happening in the first instance) which can result in loss of data. Other mail clients check boundary conditions *before* inserting messages into the message repository.
Well-meaning malware-checkers can also interfere with Outlook's mode of operation. To ensure Outlook doesn't do anything naughty malware checkers monitor Outlook so tightly that loss of messages and freezing are common-place.
Though this isn't Outlook's fault per se, it is because of such things as the capability Outlook has of being able to be "driven" by third-party apps that cause malware checkers deep distrust of Outlook.
So by all means use Outlook, but complacency is bad: take regular backups of your PST's, and keep the PST size small.
What's "Outlook"?
Microsoft Outlook, also known as Microsoft Outrage. E-mail client that borks itself and its profile at random times, in really exotic ways.
Typically, after receiving a "feature upgrade".
Does anyone remember NT4 service pack 6? Followed by service pack 6a. Followed by a string of hotfixes...
One way of getting round the problem with edge not working would be to install chrome or Firefox. Isn’t that the first thing you do with Edge, aka the chrome downloader?
Don't even need Edge for that. Just install Chocolatey, then from an elevated command prompt, type "choco install -y waterfox".
Navigating via UNC paths has been broken in Windows 10 for at least a year.
If the share needs a username or password, Windows 10 Explorer will never ask. It just dies.
Luckily you can fix it temporarily via the command line.
It's good that Windows users are all totally happy on the command line, right?
The problem with mapped network drives not reconnecting automatically is there in Windows 10, like forever.
And, oddly, whenever my Win10 machine reboots (at least weekly, thanks to Microsoft's limitless store of incompetence and malice), it tells me it couldn't reconnect to mapped drives even though there aren't any. I always set my mappings to non-persistent, typically by doing a "net use /persistent:no" before I ever map any.
But Win10 is such a pile of garbage that I can't be bothered to investigate. There are far more obnoxious issues to worry about, such as the machine's failure to get its updates from our corporate SCCM servers (instead it continues to insist on pulling them directly from Microsoft), and its failure to keep my default application choices across reboots. That latter problem has been documented by hundreds of people in various MS forums and such, and so far Microsoft's response has been "ha ha, fuck you guys".
But Win10 is such a pile of garbage that I can't be bothered to investigate. There are far more obnoxious issues to worry about, such as the machine's failure to get its updates from our corporate SCCM servers (instead it continues to insist on pulling them directly from Microsoft), and its failure to keep my default application choices across reboots.
Indeed, we blocked and DNS poisoned the Windows Update site, pull our updates from SCCM and fix SCCM client weekly...
"The problem with mapped network drives not reconnecting automatically is there in Windows 10, like forever. I believe I saw it occurring even before upgrade to Win10 when I had Win8. So that's hardly a new thing."
Not only do I want to me those developers who continue to mess this up I want to beat those developers/
It's a work machine, and must be joined to the corporate domain. I can do what I want in VMs running on it (and I do, to some extent, but both VMware and VirtualBox occasionally give me problems with network bridging), but the host OS has to be Windows.
They seem to think that software developers will tolerate it from Visual Studio as well. That's also on a rapid release cycle and is become rank. Nothing serious, mind, just:
* Sometimes can't reopen a source file after it's been closed.
* Builds stalling because of a file saving/locking race condition (possibly fixed in a forthcoming release).
* Debugger sometimes just gives up and will go no further.
* Sometimes just freezes and takes Task Manager with it often along with Explorer.
So it's becoming an IDE that doesn't always allow files to be edited, doesn't always build projects, can only debug for a while and sometimes leaves you no option other than force rebooting the computer.
Way to go Microsoft :(
This is all about "Agile development", an excuse to push out software and updates with a minimum of testing but it is a success because it was quick. Just fix anything major like the logo being in the wrong place, and hope the users find the rest. Then fix all that in a few releases time whilst in the process break another load of functionality. It has been brewing for a few years now and now that it is in the mainstream, all the shortcomings are floating to the top.
If this sort of rubbish was deployed even 10 years ago people would be up in arms but because this is all on-trend and funky, we are just forced to accept it. Unfortunately there is very little anyone can do about it. At some point another equally special "technique" will be invented by some management consultants and so the cycle continues.
They seem to think that software developers will tolerate it from Visual Studio as well. That's also on a rapid release cycle and is become rank.
Oh, yes. Venomous Studio 2017 is remarkably terrible. Painfully slow when it runs at all, and less stable than an elephant on a pogo stick.
I try to use VS only for debugging .NET code. I have bash+gvim+msbuild (or whatever build engine a particular project uses) for an "IDE".1 I have windbg for debugging native code on Windows; it's a lot clunkier than, say, gdb, but it has decent features and generally works correctly. I don't need Intellisense because I am capable of reading documentation. I don't need a bunch of "designers" at all, thank goodness.
But even in my very limited use of VS 2017, it hangs or crashes at least half the time. I frequently resort to instrumenting my code because it's faster than getting the VS debugger working. Earlier VS versions were annoying, but they were far more reliable.
1My Integrated Development Environment is the entire OS. Why would I want something less than that?
Shame it doesn't actually work most of the time.
An autocomplete that saves me having to type the whole text out, a thing that shows the documentation in-line and can quickly show where a thing is declared, defined and used would be extremely useful. If it worked.
My personal bugbear with Visual Studio is that plugins/extensions regularly freeze the whole thing up. The Perforce plugin is particularly heinous.
Yet all the other IDEs I use somehow managed to prevent plugins from being able to do that.
Although Arduino's constant utilisation of an entire CPU core is odd. UWP version is worse...
actually, I think Micro-shaft stopped CARING what users and businesses want a LONG time ago... (around the time Windows 'Ape' released).
7 was the last version that was made with users and businesses in mind. Everything else SINCE then has been "what Micro-shaft wants to cram up our asses". 7 deliberately became the version that addressed our concerns [not theirs]. Not all things that ended up in 7 were better than XP. But mostly, it was an evolutionary change, and better than Vista. For the most part, the users were 'sated'.
I've heard that the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath is that a psychopath does not know what he is doing is wrong.
I think Micro-shaft knows DAMN WELL what they're doing, and they continue to do it, deliberately.
Embrace. Extend. Extinguish. EX-TER-MIN-ATE!
Their goal: When there is only ONE choice available, it will be Win-10-nic! And, _YOU_ will be the commodity!
('predatory practices' indeed...)
"been trying to persuade her to switch to Linux Mint for a couple of years now."
Tell her that you will no longer provide tech support for Windows. Then she'll either switch or take her computer problems elsewhere. That's what I did with my friends and family years ago, and it worked out great for me!
I think GWX is finally gone; however I'll keep a lookout anyway. Who knows it might be resurrected...
In windows 7 I can STILL say "pack sand, 'windows update'" and only manually install things I actually want to install.
that's why they shut that ability OFF in Win-10-nic - no more choice except THEIR choice.
...are you really sure you want to integrate Microsoft's code with your vehicles?
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/10/01/volkswagen_microsoft_azure
Theres always edge cases!!
Sitting here typing this on my 12 year old gaming rig (yeah try playing a game now) which got the update this morning and everything is coolio. Its not like any other OS publisher ever encounters update snafus.
I do find the Intel driver ones particularly embarrassing for both Intel and MS however.
"Its not like any other OS publisher ever encounters update snafus"
True, but Microsoft is the only one that forces you to encounter update snafus. These problems would be a lot more forgivable if Microsoft both engaged in robust testing prior to release and didn't force everyone to take the updates.
...the best way to get infected. Not the most secure as they keep claiming. I uploaded a YouTube vid of a link I knew was bad of a fake Office 365 login page. Chrome and Firefox actively blocked on Windows 10. Both IE and Edge allowed access to the site and allowed you to fill in your credentials.
Shocking.
Will they ever go back to the new way of releasing Windows 10 updates? It clearly isn't working and is creating more issues than fixing it seems. And will we ever get back the option to ignore updates or will we continue to be forced to update. Microsoft aren't what they used to be.
I know the day comes when we have to deploy Win10, when I think about it, I get short on breath, and a funny feeling in my left arm when I think about it more. Maybe the last "windows only" app we rely on to get paid will deliver on the "WebClient" we've been promised to have 2 years ago and this nightmare will be over ;-|
What a dream...
checked in on the network of 100+ locked down windows 8.1 machines all on ssd cards purring along nicely on their WSUS updates. lovely. not been a word of complaint out of them in 5 years. Windows 8.1 that way people are forced from the start screen into sharepoint or outlook, and not in using the backdrop as a dumping ground for their out of business activities.
I cant think why i havent upgraded to Windows 10... oh yeah reliability,slurp,forced advertising, and more besides.
I almost forgot the site license for 100 machines upgrading to windows 10 is bound to be prohibitive.
Still who knows maybe someone can suggest why i might like the entire network down for 3 hours thrashing itself on windows 10 updates during the business day, whilst paying that many staff wages to do nothing.
I think it's because HDMI also carries sound as well as display.
For example, I bought a load of laptops recently which were HMDI only (no VGA port). Needed HDMI to VGA converters to connect to our ancient projectors. These converters also came with an audio port.
Plugging these converters into the machines would mean the audio no longer went through the usual audio port on the machine, but out of the sound port on the HDMI to VGA connector instead. (You can disable this, but having an extra (replaceable) sound output is actually really useful when people don't look after their equipment.)
Apologies for rambling!
Pretty soon Windows 10 is going to get to the point where it's so much trouble to "maintain" it that MS will announce a New and Improved" OS ... it's about time isn't it? Windows 19 perhaps ... I don't think that they are ever going to go to 11, Nigel Tufnel would probably win(sic) that lawsuit.
I notice the reminder you get after installing the service pack are heavily biased towards trying to get you to turn on datamining features.
I installed the pack on my main machine and was prompted about various things (if I want to send full/basic diagnostics data) and clicked through all the options for 'no' and 'basic' once again so that my settings remained what they were, and while it was annoying to have to do so I thought 'well at least this gives a chance for people who accidentally enabled full diagnostics etc. will get a chance to review that when they install the service pack.
Installed the service pack on my other machine, which I remembered I hadn't actually set to 'basic' etc. thinking the reminders would be a good opportunity to do so after installing the pack. Did Microsoft bother to nag me about these settings after installing on that machine, where they were already all set to 'yes' and 'full' Of course they didn't. They only remind you if they think there is a chance you might accidentally enable them.
I notice the reminder you get after installing the service pack are heavily biased towards trying to get you to turn on datamining features.
The other nagging is when you do a clean install, and try to create a "local" account. First you have to make sure to click on the right link. Then for each-and-every screen for creating a user account, it will say "...or you could use an Online account...". Yeah, if I said I wanted a local account, that means I didn't want an online one. So just STFU, Microsoft.
I had settled down to listen to Alfie Moore's 'It's a Fair Cop' and had to abandon the programme as the sound was bloody awful.
I thought, 'Oh it'll sort itself out when I boot up tomorrow ' and I find it's another cock-up.
It's not a new 'experience', Microsoft, it's (sniff, sniff) a return to the good old days of ---Upgrade, reboot while holding Rosary beads.
Last weekend I updated my ubuntu laptop to 1604 (I am lazy) and there was a slight bug in a driver, something to do with dell. Bug reporter popped up and logged it for me, then *Shazam* update manager loaded up again and downloaded some kind of fix and it hasn't happened since.
I also updated my main machine, linux mint. From 17 to 19. Took a while copying off data and then upgraded, copied it all back. Was a moment when the fan ran quite fast and wouldn't calm down. But I hadn't ticked the box to use *Nvidia* driver which calmed the GPU Fan right down again.
I also upgraded my gaming rig (intel, nvidia, corsair - big names) to 1804 (not completely stupid as to go for the latest). Some of the security settings had to be put back to avoid data mining. I can still crash my computer now by turning off one of the monitors mid game because it boots up the new hardware wizard. After 30 minutes nearly all games crash to desktop as another process suddenly jumps to 100% CPU, the screen flickers every few minutes because it can't handle 144 refresh rate, load up times of games have gone from about 6 seconds to sometimes 30+ (boot up times as well) and my "updates" to the AV don't download for some reason.
I just don't under Microsoft anymore.
I agree that Windows is getting worse and worse in many respects and that Windows 10 is simply a study in alienation for tech-savvy people.
But, as a near-beginner, I keep having problems working with Linux.
Every time I try to install Linux (other than in a VM), I cannot get the wifi to work. It works fine with wired internet, but nothing I do, whether by intuition, common sense or following posts on the Internet, solves the issue. It also tends to freeze half the time when recovering from sleep mode, and I have to reboot the machine. And also there seems to be no way to get some applications (Firefox, etc.) to have bigger text in their menus - the content is fine. The main application UI is all microscopic squiggles. Other than that, I would gladly work in Linux only and dunk Windows. Especially for programming purposes...
I've been the same with Linux for years, trying it and finding one thing that i couldn't resolve, and gone back to Windows. Win10 was finally my breaking point, and now every device I have is running some flavour of penguin. The biggest hurdle was the chinese no-name cherry-trail tablet, but I got there in the end.
For me, switching up to 4.17.x kernel solved a lot of my wifi & sleep issues on cherry-trail. As for the scaling issues, there are scaling options in some distros, in the display options. Failing that xrandr command could help. On my 1366x768 tablet - "xrandr --output eDP-1 --scale 1.25x1.25 --panning 1708x958" gives me a much more 'roomy' desktop with smaller icons, menus, fonts etc. The exact opposite of your problem.
Keep trying.... it's worth it to be free, but it can be an uphill struggle.
My dad's computer tried upgrading to 1809. It failed. It then tried again, but refused to do any of the work on reboot. So it's sat on 1803, but with a message saying reboot pending. It absolutely won't install the new OS version. I've tried deleting the software distribution folder, all sorts of stuff to no avail.
Come on Microsoft! At least it hasn't hosed the machine I suppose, small mercies.
So reading the comments I have something to comment about the fanboys and the war on who runs what and what is better.
Listen, if schools and work force you to use one product, why not change their "culture" and "perspective" on technology instead of being forced to use it. Embrace BYOD (Bring your own device), embrace technology, explain and be the champion for it, that is what we did at a corporation I work for, they have changed their views on opensource, alternative tools, lowering costs, support all those aspects and it has worked. We now receive invitations to use alternative tools and plug those tools into our own to collaborate to achieve a single goal.
C'mon people, stop fighting over what is better than the other, I'm sick of this Linux vs Windows vs Mac war, it does not matter what tool you use, what matters is the tool can do the intended job.
I only discovered this recently! The more of these annoying updates MS keep pushing, the closer I get to installing it everywhere.
Was it a guaranteed period of 10 years of no crappy content updates and security updates only?
Well worth it if Mint isn't an option I think.
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