Windows 10: Update to version 1511 build 10586 changed lots of settings...

'Location' was on before the upgrade. After, it was off.

Apparently it's required to be on for 'Find My Device' to work (according to an MS answer tech).
But Settings allowed 'Find My Device' to be enabled with Location off.... oops?

(Still waiting for my laptop to be 'found' according to
Sign in to your Microsoft account
where it's shown as 'Off').

 

I just the update today, and most of my (clean) 10 install was returned to default, including all of the privacy settings, Windows font sizes, and all the apps I uninstalled. I also found that while my more recent Word documents (2010 and 2013, saved as .docx) were left alone, my older Word files (97-2003, as .doc) were re-associated with a program I'd never heard of, which prompted for a plug-in I had even less knowledge of, if that's possible. It also deleted my printers. It looks like the only thing left alone was Chrome as my default browser.

I'd love to know why the update is making so many different changes to so many different computers, but I'm sure we'll never know.

 

One of the most recent updates in the last couple of days (I've noted 3 updates in that period) is supposed to reset associations back to how they were before the 10586 TH2 November upgrade.

You're lucky to not have had Chrome replaced...

As to the replacement of uninstalled universal apps, that's part of the mechanism employed- basically a Windows reinstallation- I suppose MS then regards the universal apps as 'part of Windows' - an argument they once used about IE. Anyway, that's the package you get.

 

I suspect you're correct about those apps, but I think that argument would be harder to make legally since, unlike IE, those apps aren't rooted so deeply that Windows can't work without them. Similarly, I don't see how restoring default privacy settings does the customer any good.

Yeah, I know how that sounds, but this is a new paradigm that deserves serious customer feedback. Such resetting was never done with the service packs of previous versions, and the free upgrade doesn't make up for it since the upgrade benefits MS as much as users, if not moreso. I know these things can be re-reset, but that shouldn't be necessary. Some of the resets I encountered don't benefit anyone or even make sense, like restoring default font settings and re-assigning old Word files to some obscure software. This makes me wonder (cynically, perhaps) whether MS is using the updates to mine data, given how much flak they're getting for the nosey-ware they're building into Windows, and the numerous web pages that tell us how to shut it off.

The varied examples of alterations posted in this thread give me the impression that it might only be a matter of MS working out the kinks in this major update process. We shall see. Free is nice, but if two to four major default resets per year is the price, I'd sooner have paid for the upgrade.

 

I'm not suggesting there's a legal argument as arose over IE and the EU, but it appears clear that MS may not respect user's preferences as they have in the past.

Removing the universal apps is arcane, inasmuch as there's no straightforward uninstall option, so I could understand MS simply taking advantage of this new upgrade model to refresh what's provided as Win 10. Some view that as an advantage.

Clearly as you say there's a learning curve here for MS, and with
- programs being removed
- associations reset to default
- some experiencing new symptoms such as slow logins
- some driver issues
- changes for some with system restore settings, location
etc

after the upgrade perhaps we will see an improvement next time. We can hope...*chuckle

 

I apologize if I gave the wrong impression. I didn't think you were making a legal argument, I was just referring to the lawsuit(s) about IE in the EU. However, it wouldn't surprise me if disrespect for user preferences is at least a happy byproduct for MS.

Not to be argumentative, but I don't see how that's an advantage since apps don't uninstall themselves. Some of those apps may be useful on a tablet, but on a desktop I find them pointless.

We can, indeed!

 

i'm still using 10240...

every one of their apps wants your internet connection....
even the photo app and the videos and the xbox
and the bing stuff and the ads and all their friends...
and the store wants everything...

if you use classic shell you can uninstall every one except for four...
it'll put all their shortcuts into an apps folder
and you can delete it or hide it...

i'm setting it up the way i want it
and keeping what i have...