Microsoft has finally re-released its now well overdue Windows 10 October 2018 Update, more than a month after it pulled the release following numerous bugs which at their worst deleted users' personal files without warning.

Originally announced back in September as the second feature update of 2018, adhering to Microsoft's revised release schedule of security updates each month and two feature updates a year, the Windows 10 October 2018 Update has not been a smooth experience for the company nor its users: Released to the public on October 3rd after, controversially, skipping the final round of beta testing under the Windows Insider programme, the release was found to delete the contents of users' personal folders on installation if they had at any time used Known Folder Redirection (KNR) but continued to save files in default locations.

Embarrassingly, the flaw had been reported to Microsoft via its Windows Insider beta testers more than three months prior to the update's release but never fixed. With users losing data and a string of other bugs, including another data-loss flaw associated with the handling of archive extraction in Windows Explorer, Microsoft pulled the update and by October 10th claimed to have resolved the issue. Since then, and following the discovery of even more bugs, the company has been testing the update thoroughly before re-releasing it to the public, and now - more than a month after its original release and well outside the eponymous month of October - the company is confident that it can be installed without issue.

'We take any case of data loss seriously, so we proactively removed all related media from our channels as we started investigation of the reports,' explains Microsoft's Vinicius Apolinario, 'and have now fixed all known related issues. In addition to extensive internal validation, we have taken time to closely monitor feedback and diagnostic data from our Windows Insiders and from millions of devices on the Windows 10 October 2018 Update. There is no further evidence of data loss. Based on this data, today we are beginning the re-release of Windows Server 2019, Windows Server, version 1809, and the related versions of Windows 10.'

Users with Windows Update active will be automatically prompted to upgrade to Windows 10 Version 1809 as it rolls out, but Microsoft advises that those looking for it 'wait until the feature update is offered to your device automatically' rather than forcing a manual upgrade.


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