Windows 11 Update Gets Poor Response

The latest Windows 11 update has led to complaints of all manner of problems. That's particularly troubling as it's a mandatory security update.

The update in question has the codename KB5030219. It's a cumulative update, meaning it brings together several updates which were previously optional, though will have been downloaded automatically for most people with Windows 11 on the default settings.

It's not unusual to get reports of glitches, but both tech site readers and message board users have reported a particularly wide range of significant problems. The most serious include users reporting either the dreaded Blue Screen of Death, or computers failing to boot up at all. (Source: windowslatest.com)

Others have reported problems including losing Internet access and being unable to use the Start menu. Reports also include slowdowns for basic Windows functions and disappearing tabs in File Explorer.

Gamers Get Angry

Arguably the most vocal complaints have come from players of the recently released and hugely popular online game Starfield. Users have reported both crashes and increased lag. That's the delay between clicking a button or pressing a key and the resulting action happening in a game. A big disparity in lag between players can make online gaming effectively unplayable.

In this specific case, it appears unclear whether the problem is down to the Windows 11 update, a recent update to drivers for Nvidia graphics card, or an unfortunate interaction between the two.

No Problems Acknowledged

All these problems make it somewhat surprising that, at the time of writing, Microsoft's listing for the update read "Microsoft is not currently aware of any issues with this update." (Source: microsoft.com)

To be fair to Microsoft, it's almost inevitable that some users will experience some problems with any update. That's partly the sheer numbers game of tens of millions of users, each with a different combination of components, applications and drivers on their system. There'll also always be cases where a problem caused by something else just happens to arise at the same time as a Windows update.

However, both the number of reports of problems and the wide range of issues reported suggests it's likely something has indeed gone particularly wrong with this latest update.

What's Your Opinion?

Have you had any problems with the latest update? Does Microsoft do a good enough job of making sure updates don't bring in new problems? Is it really viable to avoid such problems with a system where third-party hardware and applications are so widely used?