Windows 10 Anniversary Update is playing havoc with some PCs

Windows 10

More issues with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update have popped up, and the latest complaints are far more serious than the troubles we reported on last week.

Apparently some folks who've upgraded to the new version of Windows 10 have found that while it might install fine, their PC is subsequently out in the cold – quite literally affected by various 'freezing' issues.

As in either the whole system freezing and locking up after a bit, or the taskbar or task manager freezing up, or more minor issues like scrolling in the web browser being jerky.

Whatever's going on, there's clearly a nasty underlying problem somewhere. The advice on the Reddit thread covering this (spotted by the Register) has offered various suggestions of workarounds, a few of which appear to have provided a solution for some, but not for others.

Possible workarounds

They include using the Media Creation Tool to reinstall Windows, which is what Microsoft is advising, but that certainly isn't working for everyone. Other suggestions include disabling Secure Boot and then doing a clean install, and also changing the 'app install location' (in Settings, then click System, Storage, then look under Save locations) back to the system drive.

As the Reddit thread states, those who aren't having any joy trying said workarounds only have one real option – to roll their system back to a previous functional version of Windows, and wait until Redmond squashes whatever bugbear is rattling around inside the Anniversary Update.

Last week's upgrade woes included problems getting the Anniversary Update to install in the first place, and also having Cortana disappear once the update is installed (although there were a few people who saw the latter as a positive 'feature', predictably enough).

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

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