update issues

Winsage
January 16, 2026
Jen Easterly has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of the RSA Conference. She is a cybersecurity expert and former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Palo Alto Networks has released security updates for a vulnerability (CVE-2026-0227) with a CVSS score of 7.7 affecting its GlobalProtect Gateway and Portal, which can cause a denial-of-service condition in PAN-OS software. The January 2026 security update from Microsoft has caused connection and authentication failures in Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365, affecting users across various Windows versions. Microsoft is working on a resolution. The chief constable of West Midlands Police acknowledged an error by Microsoft’s Copilot AI in generating a fictional intelligence report. Microsoft has not confirmed Copilot's involvement. Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has collaborated with Five Eyes partners to provide guidance on securing industrial operational technology, highlighting risks associated with remotely monitored systems. Kyowon, a South Korean conglomerate, confirmed a ransomware attack on January 10 that may have compromised customer information, affecting approximately 5.5 million members. Researchers at Varonis have identified a new attack technique called "Reprompt" that allows data exfiltration from Microsoft Copilot via a malicious link, exploiting a Parameter 2 Prompt (P2P) injection technique. Central Maine Healthcare is notifying over 145,000 patients about a data breach that compromised personal, treatment, and health insurance information, discovered on June 1.
Winsage
January 9, 2026
Many users are frustrated with Microsoft's management of Windows updates, which can disrupt workflows during critical tasks. While completely disabling updates poses security risks, users can modify the Windows Registry to regain control. To prevent automatic downloading and installation of updates, users can create a key in the Registry at HKEYLOCALMACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows, naming it WindowsUpdate, and then create another key named AU. A DWORD value named AUOptions can be set to 2 to prompt for permission before updates. To stop automatic restarts during logged-in sessions, users can navigate to HKEYLOCALMACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsWindowsUpdateAU and create a DWORD value named NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers, setting its value to 1. To lock Windows to a specific version and avoid feature upgrades, users can access HKEYLOCALMACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsWindowsUpdate and create a DWORD value named TargetReleaseVersion set to 1, along with two String values: ProductVersion for the current version and TargetReleaseVersionInfo for the desired version. To prevent automatic driver updates, users can go to HKEYLOCALMACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsWindowsUpdate and create a DWORD value named ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate, setting its value to 1. To extend the pause limit for updates beyond five weeks, users can access HKEYLOCALMACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsUpdateUXSettings and create a DWORD value named FlightSettingsMaxPauseDays, setting its value to 365 or any preferred duration. These modifications allow for greater control over Windows updates, although emergency updates may still occur.
Winsage
December 2, 2025
Microsoft has acknowledged a glitch with the KB5070311 preview update that causes bright white flashes when launching File Explorer in dark mode on Windows 11. The issue occurs not only when opening File Explorer but also during actions like navigating to Home or Gallery, creating new tabs, toggling the Details pane, and selecting 'More details' while copying files. As a temporary solution, Microsoft recommends disabling dark mode. The KB5070311 update also resolved a bug that caused the explorer.exe process and taskbar to become unresponsive after certain notifications and addressed search failures in File Explorer on some SMB shares. Additionally, Microsoft had previously confirmed a critical bug affecting File Explorer and the Start Menu on Windows 11 24H2 devices with cumulative updates since July 2025.
Winsage
November 22, 2025
Windows 11 has encountered significant issues, including failures in the Windows Recovery Environment and complications during the migration from Windows 10 to 11. The recent Windows 11 24H2 update has led to critical failures for users, affecting core shell components such as explorer.exe, shelhost.exe, StartMenuExperienceHost, and ImmersiveShell. Symptoms include application crashes when initializing XAML views, explorer running without a taskbar, failure of the Start menu to launch, silent failures of System Settings, and crashes of ShellHost.exe. Microsoft attributes these problems to applications dependent on XAML packages not registering in time after the update. Reports indicate a shift in user preference, with a Linux distribution for former Windows users achieving 780,000 downloads within a month, reflecting growing dissatisfaction with Windows.
Winsage
October 31, 2025
The optional October 2025 update for Windows 11, known as KB5067036, introduces a bug that causes multiple instances of Task Manager to run simultaneously when users try to close it using the “X” button. This results in the application remaining active and leads to an accumulation of Task Manager instances, which can strain system resources. The change log for the update does not mention this issue, and Microsoft has not acknowledged it. A temporary workaround involves using the “End task” option within the app or executing the command taskkill /im taskmgr.exe /f in the Command Prompt to close all instances.
Winsage
October 19, 2025
Microsoft's latest mandatory security update for Windows 11, KB5066835, has caused significant disruptions, including inoperable localhost connections and multiple installation failures. Users are experiencing issues with locally hosted applications, and the update has also affected certain Logitech peripherals and mouse and keyboard functionality in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). Microsoft has acknowledged these problems and plans to release an emergency fix within 48 hours. A regression in the kernel-mode HTTP server (HTTP.sys) is responsible for the localhost connectivity issues, particularly impacting Internet Information Services (IIS). Users are advised against seeking online troubleshooting solutions, as they have proven ineffective, and some have found risky temporary workarounds.
Winsage
October 9, 2025
Microsoft’s August 2025 update (version KB5063878) caused significant issues for Phison-branded drives, leading to data loss, drive disappearance, and permanent corruption, attributed to a pre-release firmware issue. The 2018 Windows 10 update (version 1809) also resulted in users losing large amounts of files. Smaller problems, such as performance issues with gaming due to a new security feature in Windows 11, are common after updates. Compatibility issues, like the TPM 2.0 requirement, can force users to upgrade hardware. Updates can lead to performance problems, including slow application launches and crashes. Rolling back updates is often a solution, and users are advised to back up important files and create a System Restore snapshot before doing so.
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