Tech News: Microsoft's latest Windows update was apparently deleting files

Microsoft has had to issue a major warning to all Windows 10 users.

The last update was deleting files.

With update KB4532693 a serious issue was detected with a small group of Windows 10 users, but it's serious involving the loss of some user data such as the desktop and personal files. First off, it’s important to understand that this is simply based on a small but a growing number of user reports.

When it was released on Microsofts "Patch Tuesday", the Windows 10 KB4532693 security update was found to revert certain system settings to their defaults and also removes files from the desktop. 

Restoring some files
For many users, Windows 10 has renamed main user profile folder and files can be restored from C:\Users profile folder ending in .000 or .bak name, with new reports of user data being deleted. 

The update has now been pulled from Microsofts update page and is no longer available.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4524244/security-update-for-windows-10-february-11-2020

Windows update 1903 (May Release)

In May Microsoft released it's Windows 10 1903 update. Nothing to get too excited about as it was just a few security updates and Windows "Light Theme" to go along with the now cool "Dark Theme". 

I prefer the "dark side" myself :-)

New Light Theme:

One of the most visual new features you will find is a new “Light Theme” that gives Windows a clean and, well, light look and feel.

Windows Sandbox:

Windows Sandbox is a way to run untrusted applications within an isolated environment independent of your operating system. If the program/application you're running should run afoul, your system is safe. 

It's essentially a virtual machine running the Windows image, however it's extremely lightweight at only 100mb. Finish and close the application and everything is deleted within the Sandbox environment and whalla!....you're back in Windows. 

One caveat: It's only available to Windows Pro and Enterprise Windows systems. Users running Windows Home would need to upgrade to Windows Pro.

Cortana and Search are separate:

In previous builds of Windows, if you press the "Type Here To Search", Cortana would appear and your searches would include web pages. With the latest update 1903, Cortana and Search are no longer linked. Search and Cortana separated on the Windows 10 taskbar.
Users who just want to search interact with the search field, and those who use Cortana can do so with activation of the Cortana button.
Windows 10 users who don't use Cortana may right-click on the icon and select "Show Cortana button" to remove the Cortana button from the operating system's taskbar. Note that doing so won't disable Cortana on the device, it just hides the icon.

• Pause Updates for Windows 10 Home:

Microsoft has previous pushed updates without the users consent unless settings have been changed otherwise with the update. Now you have the ability to postpone and pause/delay updates for a certain amount of days.

There are other new features like Reserved Storage (Which will be covered in another article), automatic active hours, Mail app improvements, and the usual under-the-hood upgrades for security and stability.

You'll find many new improvements as you continue to use the new build. But the features listed above are some of the ones you will want to check out first.