Hundreds of PC users regret downloading the latest Windows 10 KB4535996 optional update because of the myriads of problems associated with it. Unfortunately, some people are not able to delete or uninstall the update, while a few did. The internet is abuzz with complaints of freezing computers and excessive CPU usage to Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) and blank screen among others; yet, Microsoft says they are not aware of any problems with the recent update.
Released towards the end of February, the KB4535996 optional update for Windows 10 was targeted at extending PC battery life, improving Windows Search, and optimizing printer settings among others. But users complain that the problems are so extreme that many are considering ditching their personal computers.
“Newest update KB4535996 is crashing machines,” a user on Microsoft Community forum complains. “Makes the machines lock up and blue screen at login screens. Not able to get into any safe mode and uninstall this update. Forcing rebuild and GPO’s to block this particular update.”
Another user complained on Reddit that his computer crashes several times per day and that he gets different error messages with each crash. A particular complainant said about 200 computer systems in his organization get greeted with BSOD, while others said their frame rate in games dipped significantly with CPU usage reading 100%. Frustratingly, many users are not able to even restart their systems and they are forced to watch it malfunction repeatedly without any known recourse.
“Seeing this issue with about 200 machines,” the complainant wrote. “Uninstalling the update doesn’t come off cleanly and still gets lockups on initial boot.”
A PC user said he bought his machine five days to install the update, and now his system is useless because he cannot use it in any way for anything.
“I just had this update on my PC and now it will not boot,” the user wrote. “Fails the BIOS POST test with a series of beeps, completely blank screen. I bought it only 5 days ago, have tried re-seating the RAM and GPU. Hard to decipher the beeps as the screen is blank and I don’t know what MB makes it is. (8 regular slow beeps. Then a repeat of two slow low tone beeps, two fast high tone beeps – if that means anything to anyone!) I did have some important work to do, but I guess not, thanks to Microsoft 🙁 I presume there is no way to fix this and the PC is now dead, as it won’t ever boot up again now, to receive a Windows update fix … to fix this ‘update fix’?”
A number of users also said they lost their audio function in Windows 10 after installing the KB4535996 update.
“Thanks to the recent update I no longer have any sound on my computer, I’ve tried everything and nothing will fix it besides rolling the update back, the point is I shouldn’t have to,” they wrote. “Microsoft needs to get their **** together. The latest Microsoft update has caused my audio to stop working. I updated on the 1st March I have nothing but troubles now intermittent shutting down sound issues video issues I cannot uninstall this even after a reset.”
Considering that this download is optional at this time, the best advice is for users to uninstall the update if they are able to do so; and for people who have not updated their computers to skip it altogether until Microsoft acknowledges there is a problem and addresses it effectively.
Source: Forbes.com
