Posted on 08/20/2016 11:07:16 AM PDT by Swordmaker
The Windows 10 Anniversary Update for PCs started rolling out more than two weeks ago. While many have been happy with the new features and improvements it brings, thousands of others are reportedly experiencing critical issues, that are rendering their machines unresponsive.
The news of the OS causing system freezes broke out a couple of days after the rollout of the Anniversary Update began, and now a new report suggests that the update has caused another frustrating issue for users around the globe.
Brad Sams on Thurrott.com reports that the Windows 10 Anniversary Update broke millions of webcams. He states that:
Microsoft made a significant change with the release of Windows 10 and support for webcams that is causing serious problems for not only consumers but also the enterprise. The problem is that after installing the update, Windows no longer allows USB webcams to use MJPEG or H264 encoded streams and is only allowing YUY2 encoding.
Apparently, Microsoft made the aforementioned change because with the Anniversary Update, there are new methods for applications to access webcams, and the MJPEG and H264 encoding could have caused poor performance in systems. Hence, the company limited users to specific input methods to avoid the issue.
However, a problem which supposedly passed unseen through the company's internal testing procedures and Windows Insider Program feedback, is that when a webcam tries to use MJPEG or H264, the device freezes. The issue impacts not only consumers but enterprise users as well, and affects a variety of webcams, including those manufactured by Logitech.
Microsoft has addressed the inconvenience in a support thread, where an engineer from the company has stated that:
The team has been reading through all your replies over the weekend. I can understand your and your customers’ frustration, and the team can very much relate. Some of the points raised in this thread cannot be argued with, and we appreciate you bringing those to our attention in this discussion.
Right now we’re investigating the best way to address the behavior that is causing these problems. Once we have that, MJPEG and H.264 will no longer be filtered out, so your applications should continue to work as before without any changes. At the moment we have a prototype of the MJPEG update being tested, and once we validate it works well, we’ll look to publishing it out to customers who have already updated to the Anniversary Update, through our servicing channels.
[...] The decoded formats will continue to be offered, and as time passes, we hope that application developers will adopt these where possible, since we still believe they bring benefits in the new camera landscape. That being said, we’ve learned a lot from this launch and will be making improvements based on these learnings for the future, and we again would like to apologize for the confusion this may have created.
The good news is that a fix for the issue is hopefully coming in September; however, Rafael Rivera, technical contributor at Thurrott.com, has apparently discovered an unofficial solution to the problem already. You can view it on Twitter here, but do keep in mind that it involves tweaking with the registry, which can render your device unusable, if done incorrectly. Editing the registry is not recommended for inexperienced users.
Source: Microsoft via Thurrott.com | Image via Wikimedia
They are rushing to fix this b/c their nsa buddies like to have the cam working while spying on you through w10.
This whole w10 deal proves that they do not wnt users to have an o/s they like using.
Many had xp that was working fine. No good for msquish b/c they cant make money off it if you stick with it.
Any os you like and works for you people wont change voluntarily. Msquish forced updates behind users backs. More and more aggressively as months went on.
I will never pay them a cent again.
Linux Mint “Cinnamon” is the answer to the problems Microsoft was causing me..
Once I get installed it, I found these programs eased my life:
xfburn - burns CD, DVD and Blu-Ray
DOSBox Emulator - to run your MS-DOS applications
XSane - image scanning program
MakeMKV - DVD and Blu-Ray ripper
HandBrake - Video conversion tool
VLC Media Player
Wine - for running Windows programs. Also get Wine-mono for the.NET applications.
VMWare Player - If you have something MeSsy Wine can’t handle.
I enjoy a post like yours.
I have no CLUE what it all means.
Very humbling. :-)
.
Yeah, it’s too bad MS didn’t come up with an affordable, newer, lighter OS option similar to XP and W7 for those who didn’t want the new bloated clunky OS they offer now or didn’t have latest greatest hardware to run their bloatware.
I think that would have been a big hit for them. Now, Linux OS’s is filling some of that void and they are free. For basic computing and web browsing, Linux does a great job for me. I have far fewer hassles maintaining this OS than I did with Windows OS’s. I was a big XP fan as well and really don’t mind Windows 7.
As far as the arrogance for Microsoft, I believe it is only going to get worse. If I read some recent news correctly, Intel’s newer processors are only going to be able to run the latest Microsoft operating systems so users will have no choice. I doubt I give MS any more $$$ as well.
CGato
It means, once you ditch Windows for Linux Mint (I prefer the Cinnamon desktop), you will have applications that can do just about anything Windows can do.
Linux software comes in “packages” that often have odd sounding names. There is a ton of useful software that installs by default when you install inux.
For all the software that is installed by default, I have found the (above) short list of free applications to be really nice to have.
One thing I left out is “ttf-mscorefonts-installer”. This package allows for easy installation of the Microsoft True Type Core Fonts
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doesnt affect cheap webcams that operate at 720p and below.
If your resolution is at 720p, 800x600, 640x480, 320x240 have no fear it will still work.
but if your resolution offers 1080p then you will have problems. With Skype and other applications it will connect at a lower resolution then adjust higher within a minute to 1080p and then crap out.
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66 posts of new-Luddite FUD. Seriously, whenever Microsoft comes up here, FR turns into DU-lite — panic, disorder, U*IX worship.
Since it’s all anecdotal around here:
- I have 3 machines running W10 here, all home-built;
- Two are used a significant portion of the time in gaming where the machine is somewhat taxed
- Wife hated Win8 and asked me to roll back to W7, but hasn’t with W10; and
- None of our machines have received the anniversary update, but I’m looking forward to trying it soon.
My own machine has the characteristics cite in the freezing issue (main drive SSD, data drive HDD) so I haven’t permitted it to update. The other two run HDD as boot drives.
Obviously the webcam thing is pretty ‘series’ if you use one; I don’t. However, it’s not like only MS ears; android/iOS/MacOS/Linux and other OS updates have and do pooch things regularly (like the recent ‘oops, all your android devices are hackable’ ARM bug.). MS just makes news because it’s the majority OS.
what is FUD and DU?
He’s calling us Democrat Underground lite if we don’t like the latest garbage from Microsoft like he does. It’s very disingenuous to say for something that many of us don’t like.
Computers are my hobby but I’ve helped quite a few family and friends and there are very many that didn’t like Windows 10 and had to help them get their previous OS back. He’s entitled to his opinion but calling this place Democrat Underground lite, just because he doesn’t like our responses, is really uncalled for.
CGato
I wouldn't be surprised that there will be an Windows Update code coming in the next week or so that corrects this problem.
In addition, about a week ago the Microsoft docking station for my Microsoft Surface would no longer work. Fortunately, my experience with my other box led me to immediately conclude that it was caused by the update. Sure enough, I rolled it back and all was well. Imagine MS pushing out an update that broke its own branded computer's docking station!
Do you know how many gigs of storage the Anniversary update requires? I’ve been having trouble with a laptop/tablet that has 32 gigs and the update will not load because of apparently inadequate storage. Thanks for your answer.
Have you been able to load the Anniversary Update to your tablet & how many gigs of storage do you have on its hard drive?
Yes.
As far as the disc size it comes with 64GB + the 32GB SD expansion card (HP Stream 8).
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doesnt affect cheap webcams that operate at 720p and below.
If your resolution is at 720p, 800x600, 640x480, 320x240 have no fear it will still work.
but if your resolution offers 1080p then you will have problems. With Skype and other applications it will connect at a lower resolution then adjust higher within a minute to 1080p and then crap out.
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I have 6 machines running Windows 10. (and very well, thank you...) two are running the original release, two have the Anniversary Update applied, and one is running the fast-lane Windows Insider Technical Preview, which is about 3 builds advanced over the Annivesary Update.
Two of the machines are between 2 and 3 years old. Three of them were born before 2010. The oldest one - the one that’s running the Tech Preview - is somewhere around 10 years old.
The best part, for me? I had music software and a multichannel sound card for which the last drivers were for Windows 7. It would not run on my machine under 7. On a lark, I installed the card and the software under 10, and it runs just fine.
Your mileage may vary...
Much as I would like to blame microsoft for eveyhimg wrong in the universe, if the hard drive actuall did fail, it was going to fail anyway. Personally, I’d try to reformat the drive and load a fresh OS on it and see if it works.
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