Windows update deleting certain programs

Mpegger · Mar 2, 2016

And so it begins.. http://lifehacker.com/windows-10-updates-are-deleting-some-apps-without-notif-1762347989

As tech site the How-To Geek points out, critical Windows 10 updates (like the big November update) sometimes remove apps from users computers. On my own machine, I found that system information tool Speccy was no longer on my computer. Other users are reporting that apps including CCleaner, HWMonitor, and CPU-Z are also missing after an update.

Yes, you can simply reinstall them afterwards, but the fact that programs are being removed without consent or even notification is a huge problem.

EarthDog · Mar 2, 2016

Cpuz never went away for me, nor HW monitor... :shrug:

Zuzzz · Mar 2, 2016

I did not run into this issue either. In fact CPU-Z, CoreTemp, and HWMonitor are all still on this system. I installed Windows 10 fresh in July after the update process and I haven't had any programs removed. I noticed some of the so called 'apps' may have gone away but as far as third party programs like CPU-Z etc not a single issue here.

Z

wingman99 · Mar 2, 2016

I updated 2 PC's to windows 10, have not had any programs deleted automaticity.

RollingThunder · Mar 2, 2016

I installed W10 on a clean install first then added all those programs after that.
None of any subsequent W10 updates removed any of them.

Mpegger · Mar 2, 2016

Um, was the 3 paragraph blurb I linked to TL: DR? It gave a (albeit short) summary of what was happening, though I admit, not a complete explanation. For more details (and a much longer read), you can try http://www.howtogeek.com/243581/win...grams-without-asking/?utm_content=buffer61c07.

c627627 · Mar 2, 2016

You only need one pink zebra to prove there are pink zebras in the world.

The article authors said that "we didn't actually run into this issue with the... update ourselves, but we've seen many reports of it and know people who have."
And yes there are multiple reports out there, so there is a notion that Windows 10 can and *did* remove diagnostic and history erasing programs from people's computers.

There is no consistency, or rule but it's definitely a new day where they're obviously testing the waters with this, can you imagine if this was consistent, they wouldn't dare remove stuff from everyone's computers but this appears to be real and limited to a certain small percentage of Windows 10 users for now.

OC-NightHawk · Mar 2, 2016

Mpegger said:
And so it begins.. http://lifehacker.com/windows-10-updates-are-deleting-some-apps-without-notif-1762347989

Yes, you can simply reinstall them afterwards, but the fact that programs are being removed without consent or even notification is a huge problem.

It did that to me on CPU-Z and Hardware Monitor. The whole update process has me considering rolling back to Windows 8.1 Pro. I really don't like the approach Microsoft is taking with the updates. The operating system is otherwise awesome but this is a potential deal killer.

This was back around September 2015. I sent Microsoft feedback indicating that I would roll back if it happened again. It hasn't happened since. I don't know what the intentions where or how many other people complained to Microsoft about it but I don't like it and the forced updates.

Last night my machine updated on it's own and rebooted. Which cut off my encoding half way through and killed an upload. Overall very aggravating.

Automata · Mar 2, 2016

How do we know this was even intentional?

c627627 · Mar 2, 2016

What, to uninstall a number of specific programs?

OC-NightHawk said:
It did that to me on CPU-Z and Hardware Monitor.

Are you running a retail/oem Windows 10 installation or is this a Microsoft Insider machine?

Automata · Mar 2, 2016

c627627 said:
What, to uninstall a number of specific programs?

Yes? Do you realize how complicated operating systems are? A file or key might have been reset which removed the hooks those programs used, along with a billion other explanations. The fact that they are all related programs makes sense.

Jumping to tinhoil hat answers is not going to help figure this out.

OC-NightHawk · Mar 2, 2016

thideras said:
How do we know this was even intentional?

Because of the message received saying that they uninstalled the programs because they where incompatible with the update.

c627627 said:
What, to uninstall a number of specific programs?

Are you running a retail/oem Windows 10 installation or is this a Microsoft Insider machine?

It uninstalled CPU-Z and HW Monitor.

It's a MSDN Windows 10 Pro Retail license.

EarthDog · Mar 2, 2016

Do you happen to know what versions of the applications you had that were removed? Was the OS an upgrade and those applications were there from your previous OS or a fresh install of both the OS and the apps?

OC-NightHawk · Mar 2, 2016

EarthDog said:
Do you happen to know what versions of the applications you had that were removed? Was the OS an upgrade and those applications were there from your previous OS or a fresh install of both the OS and the apps?

Going back and looking at the setup files I believe it was 1.72 of CPU-Z and 1.27 of HW Monitor.

The install was a clean install on a blank drive.

mackerel · Mar 3, 2016

I've had CPU-Z disappear after the major updates, with the message afterwards telling me it has done so. Usually I find the installer still in my download folder and re-use that and it was like it never happened. I also use ccleaner and that has never been removed for me. I can't say my CPU-Z was latest version but it is not more than 2 behind current at most. ccleaner I've disabled updates totally so it will be out of date by some unknown amount.

EarthDog · Mar 3, 2016

I wonder how old the application(s) have to be in order to think it is in compatible? I am usually never more than one version behind.

c627627 · Mar 3, 2016

Haha. Papers please. :salute:

Your program is older than X, we are deleting it.

It's obviously not like that, they targeted specific programs and did so on purpose and only did so on (percentage-wise) small number of machines.
They were specifically asked why they are doing this and they refused to comment, but did acknowledge in writing that they are doing this.

It doesn't really matter that the actual explanation is that the programs in question "interfere" with Windows 10 code as it is today...
The entire point is that a precedent has been established.
They are going around deleting people's programs on Windows 10 but your programs are "safe" on Windows 7/8.

Automata · Mar 3, 2016

c627627 said:
It's obviously not like that, they targeted specific programs and did so on purpose and only did so on (percentage-wise) small number of machines.
They were specifically asked why they are doing this and they refused to comment, but did acknowledge in writing that they are doing this.

It doesn't really matter that the actual explanation is that the programs in question "interfere" with Windows 10 code as it is today...
The entire point is that a precedent has been established.
They are going around deleting people's programs on Windows 10 but your programs are "safe" on Windows 7/8.

People are concerned about Microsoft gathering data, even if it is for system stability statistics and future patches. This is just an example, but what if they found running older versions of CPU-z (1.72 was out of date when the updates happened) were causing system instability and removed it? I get the whole argument of "its my pc blah blah blah" and isn't related to the argument at hand.

The majority of users don't know anything about computers and if Microsoft identified a program causing system crashes, removing it seems logical because the good greatly (increased stability) outweighs the bad (reinstall a program). The people who want a specific version of a program have the knowledge to simply reinstall it. Otherwise, Microsoft gets the blame for "not fixing their operating system". Damned if you do, damned if you don't. One makes them look better.

OC-NightHawk · Mar 3, 2016

thideras said:
People are concerned about Microsoft gathering data, even if it is for system stability statistics and future patches. This is just an example, but what if they found running older versions of CPU-z (1.72 was out of date when the updates happened) were causing system instability and removed it? I get the whole argument of "its my pc blah blah blah" and isn't related to the argument at hand.

The majority of users don't know anything about computers and if Microsoft identified a program causing system crashes, removing it seems logical because the good greatly (increased stability) outweighs the bad (reinstall a program). The people who want a specific version of a program have the knowledge to simply reinstall it. Otherwise, Microsoft gets the blame for "not fixing their operating system". Damned if you do, damned if you don't. One makes them look better.

I really doubt that CPU-Z and HW Monitor where causing crashes on my machine. I don't like someone else mucking around with my machine.

Automata · Mar 3, 2016

OC-NightHawk said:
I really doubt that CPU-Z and HW Monitor where causing crashes on my machine. I don't like someone else mucking around with my machine.

Anecdote is not data and this is a hypothetical anyway, so it doesn't matter.

Windows update deleting certain programs

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