Windows 10: Microsoft Keeps Adding Windows Features, But Trust Keeps Eroding

Windows 11 is not a bad operating system. In fact, by most technical measures, it is faster, more secure, and more consistent than its predecessor. The platform has benefited from years of under-the-hood work, and for many users, it runs just fine day to day.

And yet, frustration around Windows has rarely felt higher.

Spend a few minutes in any Windows-focused forum, subreddit, or comment section and the pattern is clear. Complaints aren’t centered on performance or stability. They’re about surprise changes, forced decisions, broken updates, and a growing sense that Microsoft is no longer building Windows with its users.

That disconnect is the real issue Microsoft needs to confront.

Windows doesn’t have a feature problem


Microsoft ships new Windows features at a steady pace. Copilot integrations, UI refreshes, AI-powered tools, and ongoing app updates arrive regularly. On paper, this should be a good thing.

Instead, many of these additions land poorly. Not because they are useless, but because they arrive without clear consent, explanation, or an easy way to opt out. Features appear in the taskbar. Ads show up in places users consider core system UI. Defaults change after updates. Privacy and telemetry settings feel fragmented and hard to reason about.

Each decision on its own might be defensible. Together, they create fatigue.

Users increasingly feel like Windows is something that happens to them after Patch Tuesday, not something they actively control.

Patch Tuesday keeps making things worse


Recent Patch Tuesday incidents have amplified this sentiment. Emergency out-of-band updates, broken shutdown behavior, cloud app failures, and encryption key controversies all feed the same narrative: Microsoft is moving fast, but not carefully enough.

When updates introduce new problems — or fix one issue while breaking another — trust erodes quickly. Even users who understand the complexity of Windows development grow wary when reliability feels inconsistent.

At that point, even positive changes are viewed with suspicion.

Control matters more than novelty


Most Windows users are not anti-change. They are anti-surprise.

They want to know what is changing, why it is changing, and how it affects their setup. They want system-level features to be optional, not mandatory. They want ads out of the operating system they paid for. They want privacy controls that are centralized, understandable, and respected.

Above all, they want agency.

When users feel that Microsoft’s priorities — AI promotion, service integration, data collection — consistently override user choice, confidence fades. Once trust is gone, no amount of polish can compensate.

The missing piece is a clearer contract with users


Microsoft does not need to redesign the Start menu again. It does not need more experimental UI changes. What it needs is a clearer, more consistent relationship with its users.

That starts with predictable behavior:

• No ads in core system interfaces
• No forced features without clear opt-in
• Transparent communication about updates and roadmaps
• Centralized, meaningful privacy controls
• Feedback programs that visibly influence decisions

None of this is radical. It is basic respect for the people who rely on Windows every day.

Windows itself is not in crisis. But the relationship between Microsoft and its users is strained, and strained relationships do not improve through surprise updates or silent policy shifts.

They improve through clarity, consistency, and trust — rebuilt one decision at a time.

Where do you think Windows is heading?

Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post Microsoft Keeps Adding Windows Features, But Trust Keeps Eroding appeared first on gHacks Technology News.

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Microsoft is developing a built-in ad blocker for its Edge browser

"One of the first browser add-ons many people install to improve their online experience is Adblock Plus or something similar. Until recently, Microsoft Edge's lack of support for add-ons put off a lot of would-be users, but reports from Build 2016 suggest that native ad blocking is on its way to the Internet Explorer successor.

Adblock Plus is coming to Edge, but built-in ad blocking would negate the need for such an add-on. A slide shown off and snapped at a Build presentation shows that the next version of Edge, in response to user feedback, will feature ad blocking capabilities. There's no word on delivery timescale, but the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update would seem a likely candidate.

ZDNet's Ed Bott photographed the slide which shows Microsoft's development roadmap built around feedback from testers. Right at the top of the list is reference to plans to create a plugin and extension store for Edge, but it's entry number four that's more intriguing.

"Build ad blocking features into the browser" is listed as a Feature Request from users. But the good news is that it is not only listed as being "Deliverable 4682811", but as "Targeted for the next version".

This will no doubt come as good news for those who have fallen in love with Edge, but it's not something that will be welcomed by the likes of Adblock Plus. It does seem that, particularly in the mobile arena, there is a move to baking ad blocking into the browser so it makes sense that Microsoft is following the trend. But it is the fact that Edge straddles Windows 10 on the desktop and Windows 10 Mobile that makes this a particularly interesting move.

Keep an eye out for Insider builds in the coming weeks as the feature may be just around the corner."

http://betanews.com/2016/03/31/microsoft-edge-ad-blocking/

 

I'M TRYING TO OPEN A FILE BUT KEEP GETTING A NOT ON TRUST LIST?

I KEEP GETTING A THE POP UP TELLING ME THAT THE FILE IS NOT ON CERTIFICATE TRUST LIST

 

[Solved] Windows 10 keeps reinstalling KB3119142

I noticed quite some time ago that KB3119142 (Update for Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Update 4 Redistributable Package) kept reinstalling itself for some reason. At least once daily. Sometimes up to several times a day. I just ignored it. It didn't seem to be doing any harm. And I figured they'd eventually fix it. Well...days turned into weeks, weeks into months, with no end to the problem in sight. It dragged on unsolved for at least the last few months. Literally reinstalling itself hundreds of(at least a hundred, felt like more) times in that period of time.

So I finally googled it a couple days ago. And just got around to fixing it today. Which appears to have worked. And it couldn't have been easier to do. I feel so stupid to have let it intimidate me for so long.*Oops!

Below are links to the thread that I got the fix idea from, and the official MS support info page for KB3119142(from which I quoted the above).
http://www.tenforums.com/windows-up...-windows-10-keeps-reinstalling-kb3119142.html
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3119142