I have been covering the information security beat for three decades and Contributing Editor at PC Pro Magazine since the first issue way back in 1994. I contribute to the Times and Sunday Times via Raconteur Special Reports, SC Magazine UK, Infosecurity Magazine and Digital Health Intelligence. The only three-time winner of the BT Security Journalist of the Year award (2006, 2008, 2010) I was also fortunate enough to be named BT Technology Journalist of the Year in 1996 for a forward-looking feature in PC Pro called 'Threats to the Internet.' In 2011 I was honoured with the Enigma Award for a lifetime contribution to IT security journalism.

• Computer Running Slow After Windows 10 Update
• Computer Slow After Last Windows 10 Update
• Windows 10 Automatic Updates Slowing Down Computer

Please contact me in confidence at davey@happygeek.com or happygeek via Signal if you have a cybersecurity story to reveal or some interesting new research to share.The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Last month I reported how the April Windows 10 “Patch Tuesday” itself and preventing others from rebooting afterwards. Now it appears that the latest operating system updates are once again preventing Windows 10 computers from rebooting properly. Although Windows 10 users are not troubled by the “wormable” fixed in the latest update, these patches also fix numerous other security issues each month and so their importance is not to be underestimated. Which makes the ongoing problems of the patching process even harder to swallow for long-suffering Windows 10 users.What’s happening?The previous issue only involved users running certain antivirus solutions, but this time it’s anyone. Or at least anyone who wants to restore their computer back to a point before the latest Windows 10 update was installed. Which is, let’s face it, a pretty common scenario considering the.was first to spot that Microsoft had updated a support document regarding system restore reboot problems. As long as you have system protection turned on in Windows 10 and have created a system restore point before applying the latest update, then you are at risk of being frozen out of your computer.

Microsoft that under those circumstances the computer may experience “a Stop error (0xc000021a)” and when you restart the device “the system cannot return to the Windows desktop.” In other words, your computer is borked in a failed reboot scenario caused by the Windows 10 update that is meant to protect your system from potential harm.What’s gone wrong?Microsoft readily admits that this is “a known issue” in Windows 10. Which really doesn’t make me feel any better, what about you? The support document I mentioned earlier states that the problem is down to the system restore process staging the restoration of those files that are in use. This information is stored in the system registry and upon reboot the staged operation is completed. Or at least that’s what should happen. In the scenario of restoring to a pre-update restore point, Windows stages the driver.sys files but then loads the existing drivers first and the later versions are loaded later. “Because the driver versions do not match the versions of the restored catalog files,” Microsoft explains, “the restart process stops.”How do you fix it?Restart the computer and enter the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) which should happen automatically after two consecutive failed attempts to start Windows 10.

From the WinRE screen, select “Troubleshoot Advanced options More recovery options Startup settings” and then the “Restart now” option. A number of startup settings will be available and you need to ensure you have selected “Disable driver signature enforcement.” Microsoft advises that the F7 key may need to be employed in order to select this setting. The startup process will now proceed and system restore should resume and complete as intended.How can you avoid the system restore failure?The glib answer is switch to Linux and this has, indeed, been a familiar comment from readers of my articles about Windows 10 update problems. However, that really isn’t an option for most people and for so many reasons. So let’s stick to Windows 10 measures shall we? Instead of using the settings dialog to start the system restore wizard, use WinRE instead. You can do this from your Windows desktop by selecting “Start Settings Update & Security Recovery” and then selecting the “Restart now” option from “Advanced options.” Once within the Windows Recovery Environment, select “Troubleshoot Advanced options System restore” and follow the instructions in the wizard.Please follow me on or connect with me on, you can find more of my stories at.

Hello,I have noticed some serious slowdowns on my computer since I updated to creators update. Before the update, my PC was flying lighting fast.

I often kept it on power saving mode and it still did not show any sings of slowing down. I always keep my laptop up to date with everything.So when creators update was released, I read that it was possible to get it few days faster, before it rolls out to everyone. I downloaded the manual updater from official Microsoft webpage. It began downloading the update and in less than an hour I had working creators update. While everything seemed great initially, I noticed that it is much slower than it was before the update. Picture thumbnails load extremity slowly, the downloads folder,which has less than 100 files, becomes completely unresponsive when I sort it and so on.

And just now for the first time ever, few minutes ago my entire computer crashed. It had blue screen with face on it. I did not catch what the error was.Is there any way I can fix the issues I have?

Perhaps I have some-kind of insiders build installed on my laptop now? How do I check properly?Another thing, I have never joined the insiders program, but I received email thanking me for testing creators update few weeks ago.Current version:OS NameMicrosoft Windows 10 HomeVersion10.0.15063 Build 15063Laptop is Acer Switch Alpha 12SW. 4Gb Ram and I3-6200. Hey!I've just created the account to post question about this exact same issue!You are definitely not alone.

I am a 3D artist so I have quite large texture library of image files on my PC. Before Creators Update, everything was blazing fast, now, after update, any folders that have even just moderate amount of pictures in them take several seconds to load and lag heavily when scrolling.At first I assumed it would be the case of Creators Update flushing thumbnail cache, and thumbnail cache needing to be re-generated, but even after initial thumbnail cache generation, repeated opening of same folder lags every single time!

The more images the folder contains, the longer it takes to open, sometimes up to 10 seconds. And scrolling though the folder is super laggy.Hardware is definitely not an issue here, as I have desktop with i7 5930k, 32GB of DDR4, GTX970 with latest nVidia drivers, and folder is on high speed nvme SSD drive.Very disappointing update indeed. Computer Type: PC/DesktopSystem Manufacturer/Model Number: Custom Self-buildOS: 64bit Win 10 Pro ver 1903 Build 18362.145 and W10 Insider Build 18362 and 18898CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHzMotherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LXMemory: 8GBGraphics Card: On-board Intel HD Graphics 4000Sound Card: On-board Realtek HD AudioMonitor(s) Displays: Samsung 226BWScreen Resolution: 1680 x 1050Keyboard: Microsoft wired Keyboard 600Mouse: Microsoft wired Basic OpticalPSU: Corsair TX550Case: Gigabyte IF233Hard Drives: 1TB HDDBrowser: MS EdgeAntivirus: Windows Defender. Computer Type: PC/DesktopSystem Manufacturer/Model Number: Custom Self-buildOS: 64bit Win 10 Pro ver 1903 Build 18362.145 and W10 Insider Build 18362 and 18898CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHzMotherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LXMemory: 8GBGraphics Card: On-board Intel HD Graphics 4000Sound Card: On-board Realtek HD AudioMonitor(s) Displays: Samsung 226BWScreen Resolution: 1680 x 1050Keyboard: Microsoft wired Keyboard 600Mouse: Microsoft wired Basic OpticalPSU: Corsair TX550Case: Gigabyte IF233Hard Drives: 1TB HDDBrowser: MS EdgeAntivirus: Windows Defender.

No, no problems like you have described, all I notice is that my disk activity runs at 100% for a bit longer immediately after start up but general responsiveness is just as before, if not a little better.Go to your windows directory, and in the top right search box of the explorer window, search for.png. That should give you over 2000 image files in one explorer window. Then try to scroll through them, and tell me if scrolling is responsive and fast for you. Before Creators Update, it was:)EDIT: Just make sure your explorer display mode is set to some size that actually shows the thumbnail images, so no detail or list mode. Hey!I've just created the account to post question about this exact same issue!You are definitely not alone. I am a 3D artist so I have quite large texture library of image files on my PC.

Before Creators Update, everything was blazing fast, now, after update, any folders that have even just moderate amount of pictures in them take several seconds to load and lag heavily when scrolling.At first I assumed it would be the case of Creators Update flushing thumbnail cache, and thumbnail cache needing to be re-generated, but even after initial thumbnail cache generation, repeated opening of same folder lags every single time! The more images the folder contains, the longer it takes to open, sometimes up to 10 seconds.

And scrolling though the folder is super laggy.Hardware is definitely not an issue here, as I have desktop with i7 5930k, 32GB of DDR4, GTX970 with latest nVidia drivers, and folder is on high speed nvme SSD drive.Very disappointing update indeed.Not having any problem here, also do 3d modelling and have loads of image files.CU Build 15063.250 Both Home and Pro.Thinking MS maybe slipped in a driver update on those who haven't got them blocked? Computer Type: PC/DesktopSystem Manufacturer/Model Number: Self BuildOS: Windows 10 ProCPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600Motherboard: Asus PRIME B350-PLUSMemory: 16GB Kingston Hyper-X FURY DDR4 @ 2133MHzGraphics Card: ZOTAC GTX 980 Ti AMP! EditionSound Card: builtinMonitor(s) Displays: ACER KA241Screen Resolution: 1920x 1080 @60HzKeyboard: LogitecMouse: LogitecPSU: 750 Watt CorsairCase: Cooler Master CM 590 IIICooling: AMD Wraith CPU Cooler, 4 case fans, Corsair AF120.Hard Drives: 120GB OCZ Agility3 SATA 3500GB 7200 RPM WD Blue SATA 3500GB 7200 RPM WD Blue SATA 31TB 5400 RPM WD Green SATA22TB 7200 RPM Seagate SATA32TB 7200 RPM Seagate SATA3Internet Speed: 4G - 30 MbpsBrowser: Firefox Quantum / WaterfoxAntivirus: Windows DefenderOther Info: Trying out a Ryzen build.

Go to your windows directory, and in the top right search box of the explorer window, search for.png. That should give you over 2000 image files in one explorer window.

Computer Running Slow After Windows 10 Update

Then try to scroll through them, and tell me if scrolling is responsive and fast for you. Before Creators Update, it was:)EDIT: Just make sure your explorer display mode is set to some size that actually shows the thumbnail images, so no detail or list mode.This test is actually a test of the searching ability in File Explorer and will depend on the indexing that you have set up and also whether or not you have previously indexed the image files.In my test the Windows directory found 4275 items in about 10 seconds.

Computer Slow After Last Windows 10 Update

When scrolling all the icons show up with only a very short 1sec lag. Computer Type: PC/DesktopSystem Manufacturer/Model Number: Custom Self-buildOS: 64bit Win 10 Pro ver 1903 Build 18362.145 and W10 Insider Build 18362 and 18898CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHzMotherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LXMemory: 8GBGraphics Card: On-board Intel HD Graphics 4000Sound Card: On-board Realtek HD AudioMonitor(s) Displays: Samsung 226BWScreen Resolution: 1680 x 1050Keyboard: Microsoft wired Keyboard 600Mouse: Microsoft wired Basic OpticalPSU: Corsair TX550Case: Gigabyte IF233Hard Drives: 1TB HDDBrowser: MS EdgeAntivirus: Windows Defender. Hey, so after what clam1952 suggested, I remember one crucial thing.With every large windows update, my Color Management profiles get reset. I always have them set up to sRGB IEC61966-2.1, but after milestone windows updates, they get reset back to the shitty monitor manufacturer profiles.

Windows 10 Automatic Updates Slowing Down Computer

I remember this causing me huge problems with performance in the past, and sure enough, when I went to color management screen, my Color profiles got reset to the manufacturer ones again. So I changed them back to sRGB for both user and system wide profile settings, restarted the PC hoping that is the problem, but still no luck. Performance is still terrible.I have one more idea though.