Windows 10: Windows 20H2 wiped out 90% of my 3rd party programs

During the windows update in the last two weeks, the update process removed a large portion of my 3rd party software programs. In working with Microsoft customer support they have run me through re-registering my apps via powershell only works for apps in the app store, rolling back to a previous build version via recovery process, and finally upgrading in place to the current 20H2 build. NONE of their solutions have worked. I'm talking simple programs like Adobe Acrobat Pro X, Blustacks android emulator, Corel Paintshop Pro X8, Norton 350 since reinstalled, MS OFFICE 365 even, and countless others. The odd thing is that all of those programs are still listed in my Program Files list now called Apps and Features but none of them appear in the Start Menu, nor are any of the associated files located on the system at all. I've checked the 'Windows.old' folder and they're not there either.


A file recovery program also found zero trace of the main support and executable files for the missing programs, so the sectors with the program data have likely been overwritten already. File recovery did find various bits and pieces of the programs in 'Users\name\AppData\...' name being the account name and subfolders. Which is expected for those user settings and .dll's to be somewhat more preserved.



All of this poses several questions for me.


1. What caused these programs to be completely obliterated from existence?


2. Are any of these programs recoverable without having to spend hours and hours trying to locate installation files, purchase new software for lost licenses, or otherwise give up trying to recover my data from the lose of these programs?


3. What can I do to prevent future occurrences of this nature? without breaking the bank on backup drives and software


4. Where can I send a bill to Microsoft for the time I have spent trying to fix their 'inconvenience' for the losses I have experienced at the hands of their software developers incompetence? half serious / half sarcasm


Frankly, this entire situation is beyond utterly frustrating to me and I'm certain that I'm not the first, nor will I be the last customer that this will happen to.


What is Microsoft doing to ensure that customers don't keep losing their data, time, and effort to repair what the developer breaks? When are they going to step up their end user quality when it comes to failed updates and program errors that cause a customer to have to try and repair their systems costing them time, money, and maybe a few hairs on their head that get ripped out?

:)

 

3rd party AV program

The message you are describing may be observed if another antivirus program is still installed or there are remnants of a third party antivirus program still installed.

Turn Windows Security on or off
Note the statement "If you want to use Windows Defender Antivirus, uninstall all of your other antivirus programs and Windows Defender Antivirus will automatically turn on. You may be asked to restart your device."

Go to Security and Maintenance, look in 'Security' and see what program is listed under Virus Protection. Windows Defender will not be enabled and functioning properly if there is a program other than Windows Defender listed.

For further information see the reply of quietman7 in Windows Defender

You may want to try the steps recommended in Problems
starting Windows Defender in Windows 8/8.1/10 to include running SFC, scanning for malware with Malwarebytes and running the software removal tools for any security software (Avast,
AVG, McAfee, Norton, whatever) that may have previously been on the computer followed by a reboot? List of
anti-malware product removal tools

And see Configure Windows Defender in Windows
8, 8.1 and 10

If you can't resolve this issue suggest you post back in this thread and provide additional information.

Regards…

Top 10 Ways PUPs Sneak Onto Your Computer. And How To Avoid Them. | Emsisoft | Security Blog

 

3rd party AV program

I'm trying to turn-on Windows Defender and I receive a message to uninstall 3rd party AV program. How do I identify the 3rd party AV program
installed?

 

How To Open Last Window/Program (Maybe 3rd Party Program?)

If you simply launch Notepad, rt click on the taskbar icon, you should see a jump list.