Regular readers will know that we are strong proponents of keeping software up-to-date to reduce security risks. While updates typically add new features, they also address any bugs that have been found, and overcome any software vulnerabilities. Over the years, this has stopped all-manner of hackers from causing harm. In fact, our ‘Kinetics KARE’ service is all about maintaining covered machines at the latest versions.
[header2 text=”So imagine our horror when a major update started eating files!” align=”left” color=”#336A40″ margintop=””]
Microsoft push out major updates to Windows 10 every six months or so. The Windows 10 today is significantly more advanced than the first iteration. The versions are now at AABB where AA is the year and BB is the month – so 1803 is the version from March this year.
It’s the latest 1809 that’s the problem. Unfortunately it’s reported to have deleted data files (admittedly its rare, but even so, its a disaster if it effects you!!). That’s why [wow_colorme]Microsoft have paused the rollout while they fix the problem.[/wow_colorme]
Lesson: Always backup your files! Always always always!
And – keep your files on your server/cloud service. Your own disk should just be for working copies.
As background, version 1809 has a fantastic feature to save disk space. It looks for stale files on your harddisk that are also in the cloud (in Onedrive or SharePoint) and that haven’t been used for a bit, and removes them – on the basis that the cloud holds them and they need not clutter your disk. This is a great feature for busy people that need help with their online file housekeeping.
UPDATE : The Windows 1809 update has now been re-released. We’re reading that the problem stemmed from ‘known folder’ and ‘known folder redirection’. This is the feature that redirects your ‘documents’ and ‘music’ etc folders away from C:\users\____\documents etc to somewhere else like the D: drive or OneNote