Editors' Note: Microsoft supposedly found a fix for the file deletion bug, the director of program management for Windows servicing and delivery, John Cable, wrote in a blog post. Cable claims that only a small percentage of users who installed the Windows 10 (version 1809) update were affected by the critical issue. The update is now being re-released through the Microsoft Insider community. Microsoft Support will attempt to restore lost files for users who were affected by the botched release.
The Windows 10 October Update (version 1809) Microsoft launched earlier this week during its Surface event is causing all sorts of problems.
Multiple reports from PC users claim the Task Manager isn't accurately reporting CPU usage after installing the latest update. The issue was first discovered by a Reddit user whose Task Manager tool was showing 100 percent usage despite their Chrome browser taking up only 3 to 4 percent.
Microsoft is aware of the issue, and even acknowledged it last month when it released a Windows Insider preview build. The company is expected to release an update on Tuesday, Oct 9 that will supposedly fix the Task Manager issue, Bleeping Computer reports.
But that relatively harmless bug isn't the only matter Windows users are dealing with. Even more concerning are reports that documents, photos and music are vanishing after the update is installed. One user reported losing 220GB of data. To make matters worse, rolling back to an older OS version doesn't seem to bring back the files.
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"I have just updated my windows using the October update (10, version 1809) it deleted all my files of 23 years in amount of 220gb. This is unbelievable, I have been using Microsoft products since 1995 and nothing like that ever happened to me," a Microsoft forum member wrote.
According to MSPoweruser, the strange behavior stems from OneDrive, although it's not clear why the files are disappearing. This raises some serious concerns for anyone harboring critical documents on their computer's hard drive.
We strongly recommend backing up files before moving forward with the October update. At least one affected user suggests migrating all personal documents that don't have a OneDrive symbol, and aren't already stored in the cloud.
Microsoft has had its hands full in the short time since making the October update widely available. In a separate incident, the software giant intentionally blocked the update to some system because a compatibility issue with Intel Display Audio device drivers was causing unexpected problems, like battery drainage. Intel already pushed out a fix, but users who haven't updated their drivers won't be able to download the latest update.
Given these alarming reports, you might consider holding off on the October update altogether until the bugs are fixed. Microsoft would have avoided a lot of headache if it had done the same.
We have reached out to Microsoft about these issues and will update this article if we hear back.
