27. Managing Your Software
Configuring and Managing Windows Update
Microsoft is constantly working to improve Windows 10 with bug fixes, security patches, new program versions, and device driver updates. All these new and improved components are available online, so you should check for updates and patches often.
You might think you would have to search the web to get these updates, but that’s not the case. Windows 10 comes with an automatic updating feature that can download and install updates automatically.
Configuring Automatic Updates
If you prefer to know what’s happening with your computer, it’s possible to control the automatic updating. However, as you’ll see, the Windows 10 Settings app offers only a limited set of choices, so for maximum control, you’ll need to turn to your PC’s local group policies.
First, let’s see what the Settings app has to offer:
1. Click Start and then click Settings. The Settings app appears.
2. Click Update & Security. This opens the Update & Security settings with the Windows Update tab selected.
Note
To view the updates installed on your computer, click the View Your Update History link.
4. In the Choose How Updates Are Installed list, select one of the following options to determine how Windows 10 performs the updating:
Automatic (recommended)—This option tells Windows 10 to download and install updates automatically. Windows 10 checks for new updates during the automatic maintenance window (see “Setting the Automatic Maintenance Schedule,” next).
Notify to Schedule Restart—If you select this option, Windows 10 checks for new updates and then automatically downloads any that are available. Windows 10 then displays a notification to let you know that the updates are ready to install. Click the notification to see the list of updates. (If you miss the notification, you can also see the list of pending updates by following steps 1 and 2.) You can then either click Restart Now to install the updates right away or use the controls to schedule the restart for a specified day and time.
5. If you want the setting from step 4 to apply to updates from other Microsoft software, click to activate the Give Me Updates For Other Microsoft Products When I Update Windows check box.
6. If you find that your system’s features are changing too often because of frequent Windows 10 updates, check Defer Upgrades. This tells Windows 10 to install new features only every few months or so (although you still receive security updates and bug fixes).
7. By default, Windows 10 tries to get updates (and apps) faster by using a new peer-to-peer system to download them from multiple remote sources, including PCs on your local network and—somewhat alarmingly—PCs on the Internet. To change this setting, click Choose How Updates Are Delivered to see the window shown in Figure 27.1. If you want to get downloads only locally, select the PCs On My Local Network option. If the whole idea of getting updates from PCs that aren’t part of Microsoft feels wrong to you, you can turn it off by sliding the Download Windows Updates and Apps... switch to Off. Note that you’ll still get updates, but you might get them a bit slower because they’ll only come directly from Microsoft.
Figure 27.1 Use this screen to control Windows 10’s new peer-to-peer downloading of apps and updates.
Tip
Unlike in previous versions, Windows 10 offers no built-in mechanism for bypassing individual updates, which means it will sometimes install buggy or unneeded drivers or other updates. To avoid this, download and install a Microsoft troubleshooting tool called Show or Hide Updates. When you run this tool, click Hide Updates and then choose the individual updates that you don’t want installed. For details and a download link, see the Microsoft Support page at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3073930.
If you’re looking for more fine-grained control over your PC’s updating, open the Local Group Policy Editor (press Windows Logo+R, type gpedit.msc, and then click OK) and open the Computer ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesWindows ComponentsWindows Update branch. Double-click the Configure Automatic Updates policy, click Enabled, and then select one of the following policy options in the Configure Automatic Updating list:
To learn how more about group policies and the Local Group Policy Editor, see “Policing Windows 10 with Group Policies,” p. 504.
Notify for Download and Notify for Install—If you select this option, Windows 10 checks for new updates and then, if any are available, displays a notification to let you know that the updates are ready to download. Click the notification to see the list of updates. Click Download to initiate the download. When the download is complete, Windows 10 displays another notification to let you know that the updates are ready to install. Click the notification, and then click Install to install the updates.
Auto Download and Notify for Install—If you select this option, Windows 10 checks for new updates and then, if any are available, automatically downloads them. When the download is complete, Windows 10 displays a notification to let you know that the updates are ready to install. Click the notification, and then click Install to install the updates.
Auto Download and Schedule the Install—If you select this option, Windows 10 checks for new updates and then automatically downloads any that are available. Windows 10 then schedules the install based on the settings you provide. If you activate the Install During Automatic Maintenance check box, Windows 10 schedules the install to occur during the automatic maintenance window (see “Setting the Automatic Maintenance Schedule,” next). Otherwise, you can set a day of the week (or Every Day) and a time of day.
Allow Local Admin to Choose Setting—If you select this option, Windows 10 enables the Change Settings button in the Windows Update section of Control Panel’s Security and Maintenance window. Clicking this button lets you select either Install Updates Automatically or Let Me Choose. If you click the latter, Windows 10 displays the Windows Update section of the Settings app. Because this is no different than choosing no policy at all, we fail to see the advantage of this option!
Setting the Automatic Maintenance Schedule
If you chose the Automatic option (or the Install During Automatic Maintenance Window check box in the Configure Automatic Updates policy), Windows 10 automatically installs updates during the maintenance window, which is defined by default as follows:
Maintenance is performed each day at 2:00 a.m.
If you are using your computer, maintenance is postponed until you are no longer using it.
If your computer is in sleep mode, maintenance is postponed until the computer is awake.
If the maintenance server is running late, maintenance is postponed until the server is ready, as long as your computer is not being used and is awake.
Windows 10 uses the maintenance window not only to check for updates, but also to run Windows Defender security scans and to perform system diagnostics. If the default 2:00 a.m. window is inconvenient for you, you can configure the maintenance window as follows:
1. Display the Automatic Maintenance window (see Figure 27.2):
Figure 27.2 Use the Automatic Maintenance window to set the automatic maintenance window for your PC.
Open Control Panel’s Security and Maintenance window, click Maintenance, and then click Change Maintenance Settings.
In the taskbar’s Search box, type change auto, and then click Change Automatic Maintenance Settings.
2. Use the Run Maintenance Tasks Daily At list to choose the time you want Windows 10 to attempt to perform its maintenance chores.
3. If you want Windows 10 to wake your sleeping computer (as along as it’s plugged in) to perform the maintenance, leave the Allow Scheduled Maintenance to Wake Up My Computer at the Scheduled Time check box activated.
4. Click OK to put the new settings into effect.
Checking for Updates
Previous versions of Windows offered a Never Check for Updates option that meant you had to manually check for updates. However, we live in an age when cybercriminals control massive networks of compromised PCs, and the vast majority of those PCs got compromised because they didn’t have the latest updates installed. So, sensibly, Windows 10 doesn’t allow PCs to never check for updates. However, you might still want to do a manual check if you’re waiting for an important security patch or some other crucial update that you would prefer to install now rather than waiting for the automatic maintenance window.
Whatever your reason, follow these steps to perform a manual check for updates:
1. Click Start, and then click Settings. The Settings app appears.
2. Click Update & Security. This opens the Update & Security settings with the Windows Update tab selected.
3. Click Check For Updates. Windows Update connects to the update server and checks for updates.
If Windows Update determines that one or more updates are available, it goes ahead and installs them. If Windows needs to restart, the Windows Update tab adds the A Restart Has Been Scheduled heading, as shown in Figure 27.3. You can either leave the default restart time as is, or you can take matters into your own hands:
To schedule your own restart time, check the Select a Restart Time option, then use the Time and Day controls to tell Windows 10 when to restart.
To restart your PC right away, save your work and click Restart Now.
Figure 27.3 If an update requires a system restart, you can use the Windows Update tab to set a custom restart time or to restart right away.
Working with Third-Party Software
Outside of hardware woes and user errors (what IT personnel call a PEBCAK—Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard), most computer problems are caused by improperly installing a desktop program or installing a desktop program that doesn’t mesh correctly with the system. (We’re specifically referencing desktop programs here because Modern apps use a standard install routine that is completely controlled by Windows 10 to ensure that each app is installed and configured correctly.) It could be that the installation makes unfortunate changes to the configuration files or that the program replaces a crucial system file with an older version or that the program just wasn’t meant to operate on (or wasn’t tested with) a machine with this configuration. Whatever the reason, you can minimize these kinds of problems by understanding the desktop installation process as it relates to user accounts and by following a few precautions before installing a new desktop software package.
Running Through a Preinstallation Checklist
The anticipation of a new program often loses its luster when, after a willy-nilly installation, your system starts to behave erratically. The reason is usually that the application’s setup program has made adjustments to one or more important configuration files and given your system a case of indigestion in the process. That’s the hard way to learn the hazards of a haphazard installation.
Note
To avoid confusion, we’ll reiterate that the discussion in this section applies only to desktop programs, not Windows 10 apps, which give you no control over the installation and always mesh properly with your system. We discuss installing Windows 10 apps in Chapter 5, “Windows Apps and the Windows Store.”
To avoid such a fate, you should always look before you leap. That is, you should follow a few simple safety measures before double-clicking that setup.exe file. The next few sections take you through a list of things to check before you install any program.
To learn how to install Windows 10 apps, see “Installing Apps from the Windows Store,” p. 149.
Check for Windows 10 Compatibility
Check to see whether the program is compatible with Windows 10. The easiest and safest setups occur with programs certified to work with Windows 10. In a pinch, if the program says that it’s compatible with Windows 7, 8, or 8.1, you should still be okay.
You can also configure older programs to operate under Windows 10 using Compatibility Mode; see “Understanding Compatibility Mode,” p. 640.
Set a Restore Point
The quickest way to recover from a bad installation is to restore your system to the way it was before you ran the setup program. The only way to do that is to set a system restore point just before you run the program, as we explain in Chapter 32, “Protecting Your Data from Loss and Theft.”
To learn how to create your own restore points, see “Setting System Restore Points,” p. 746.
Read Readme.txt and Other Documentation
Although it’s the easiest thing in the world to skip, you really should peruse whatever setup-related documentation the program provides. This includes the appropriate installation material in the manual, Readme text files found on the disc or in the download archive, and whatever else looks promising. By spending a few minutes looking over these resources, you can glean the following information:
Any advance preparation you need to perform on your system
What to expect during the installation
Information you need to have on hand to complete the setup (such as a product’s serial number)
Changes the install program will make to your system or to your data files (if you’re upgrading)
Changes to the program and/or the documentation that were put into effect after the manual was printed
Virus-Check Downloaded Files
If you downloaded the application you’re installing from the Internet, or if a friend or colleague sent you the installation file as an email attachment, you should scan the file using a good (and up-to-date) virus checker.
Sometimes it pays to be paranoid. You should check for viruses before installing under the following circumstances:
You ordered the program directly from an unknown developer.
The package was already open when you purchased it from a dealer (buying opened software packages is never a good idea).
A friend or colleague gave you the program on a USB flash drive or recordable optical disc or sent it to you over email.
Understand the Effect on Your Data Files
Few software developers want to alienate their installed user base, so they usually emphasize upward compatibility in their upgrades. That is, the new version of the software will almost always be able to read and work with documents created with an older version. However, in the interest of progress, you often find that the data file format used by the latest incarnation of a program is different from its predecessors, and this new format is rarely downward compatible. That is, an older version of the software might gag on a data file that was created by the new version. So, you’re faced with two choices:
Continue to work with your existing documents in the old format, thus possibly forgoing any benefits that come with the new format
Update your files and thus risk making them incompatible with the old version of the program, should you decide to uninstall the upgrade
One possible solution to this dilemma is to make backup copies of all your data files before installing the upgrade. That way, you can always restore the good copies of your documents if the upgrade causes problems or destroys some of your data. If you’ve already used the upgrade to make changes to some documents, but you want to uninstall the upgrade, most programs have a Save As command that enables you to save the documents in their old format.
Take Control of the Installation
Some setup programs give new meaning to the term brain-dead. You slip in the source disc, run Setup.exe (or whatever), and the program proceeds to impose itself on your hard disk without so much as a how-do-you-do. Thankfully, most installation programs are a bit more thoughtful than that. They usually give you some advance warning about what’s to come, and they prompt you for information as they go along. You can use this newfound thoughtfulness to assume a certain level of control over the installation.
In particular, the best programs offer you a choice of installation options. Whenever possible, choose the Custom option, if one is available. It gives you maximum control over the components that are installed, including where and how they’re installed.
Installing Software
After you’ve run through this checklist, you’re ready to install the program. Here’s a summary of the various methods you can use to install a program in Windows 10:
AutoPlay install—If the program comes on a disc or drive that supports AutoPlay, you’ll see a notification like the one shown in Figure 27.4. Click the notification to see a list of tasks you can run (see Figure 27.5) and then click Run SETUP.EXE (or whatever Windows has determined is the name of the install executable files).
Figure 27.4 When you insert an install drive or disc, Windows 10 usually displays a notification such as the one shown here.
Figure 27.5 After you click the notification, click the option that runs the application’s installation program.
Run setup.exe—For most applications, the installed program is named setup.exe (sometimes it’s install.exe). Use File Explorer to find the install program, and then double-click it. Alternatively, press Windows Logo+R to open the Run dialog box, enter the path to the setup.exe file (such as e:setup), and click OK.
Decompress downloaded files—If you downloaded an application from the Internet, the file you receive will be either an .exe file or a .zip file. Either way, you should always store the file in an empty folder just in case it needs to extract files. You then do one of the following:
If it’s an .exe file, double-click it; in most cases, the install program will launch. In other cases, the program will extract its files and you then launch setup.exe (or whatever).
If it’s a .zip file, double-click it and Windows 10 will open a new compressed folder that shows the contents of the .zip file. If you see an installation program, double-click it. It’s more likely, however, that you won’t see an install program. Instead, the application is ready to go, and all you have to do is extract the files to a folder and run the application from there.
Install from an .inf file—Some (rare) applications install via an information (.inf) file. To install these programs, right-click the file and then click Install in the shortcut menu that appears.
Opening the Programs and Features Window
In the taskbar’s Search box, type programs, and then click Programs and Features in the search results. This opens the Programs and Features window, shown in Figure 27.6. This operates as a kind of one-stop shop for your installed desktop applications.
Figure 27.6 You use the Programs and Features window to change, repair, and uninstall desktop programs.
Items that can be changed or uninstalled via Programs and Features have corresponding Registry entries that come from the following Registry key:
HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstall
Each installed application (as well as many installed Windows components) have a subkey in the Uninstall key. This subkey provides the data you see in the Installed Programs window, including Name (from the DisplayName setting), Publisher (the Publisher setting), Installed On (the InstallDate setting), Size (the EstimatedSize setting), Help Link (from the Help Link at the bottom of screen), and Version (the DisplayVersion setting). Note that not all programs display all this information.
Changing a Software Installation
If you ran a custom version of a program’s installation procedure, you might later decide that you’d now like to use some uninstalled components or that you no longer need some installed components. Most applications that allow you to run a custom install also allow you to make changes to the installation after the fact. In the Programs and Features window, click the application you want to work with, and then look for a Change command in the taskbar (refer to Figure 27.6 for an example). In some cases, the corresponding command is Uninstall/Change.
When you click Change (or Uninstall/Change), Windows 10 launches the application’s install program (almost always a version that now resides on your hard drive). From there, you follow the instructions to modify the installation.
Repairing a Software Installation
If you find that an application is crashing or behaving erratically, one common cause is that one or more of the application’s internal files have become corrupted. You can often resolve such problems by uninstalling and then reinstalling the application. However, some applications come with a repair feature that examines the program’s files and replaces any that are corrupted or missing.
In the Programs and Features window, click the application you want to fix, and then look for a Repair command in the taskbar. When you click Repair, one of two things happens:
Windows 10 launches the application’s repair program immediately.
Windows 10 launches the application’s install program, and you then select the repair option.
Uninstalling Software
Applications, like the people we meet, fall into three categories: friends for life, acquaintances we deal with occasionally, and those we hope never to speak to again. Avoiding people we dislike is usually just a matter of avoiding contact with them—they’ll get the hint after a while. Unlikable applications, however, just don’t seem to get it. They keep hanging around like party guests who won’t leave. If you have an application that has worn out its welcome, you need to uninstall it so that it’s out of your life forever.
In the Programs and Features window, click the application you want to remove and then look for an Uninstall command in the taskbar (refer to Figure 27.6 for an example). In some cases, the corresponding command is Uninstall/Change.
When you click Uninstall (or Uninstall/Change), Windows 10 launches the application’s install program and you follow the instructions to uninstall the program.
After you uninstall a program, you might find that it still appears in the Programs and Features list. To fix this, open the Registry Editor (press Windows Logo+R, type regedit, and then click OK. Click Yes in the User Account Control Box), display the Uninstall key mentioned earlier (see “Opening the Programs and Features Window”), and look for the subkey that represents the program. (If you’re not sure, click a subkey and examine the DisplayName setting.) Delete that subkey, and the uninstalled program will disappear from the Programs and Features window.
Understanding Compatibility Mode
Most new software programs are certified as “Windows 10 compatible,” meaning they can be installed and run without mishap on any Windows 10 system. But what about older programs that were coded before Windows 10 was released? They can be a bit more problematic. Although Microsoft takes great pains to accommodate older software, it’s inevitable that some of those legacy programs will either be unstable while running under Windows 10 or won’t run at all.
Caution
Although application compatibility can work wonders to give aging programs new life under Windows 10, this doesn’t mean that every legacy program will benefit. If history is any guide, some programs simply will not run under Windows 10, no matter which compatibility rabbits you pull out of Windows 10’s hat. In some of these cases, you might be able to get a program to run by installing a patch from the manufacturer, so check the program’s website to see if updates are available that make the program “Windows 10 friendly.”
Why do such incompatibilities arise? One common reason is that the programmers of a legacy application hardwired certain data into the program’s code. For example, installation programs often poll the operating system for its version number. If an application is designed for, say, Windows XP, the programmers might have set things up so that the application installs if and only if the operating system returns the Windows XP version number. The program might run perfectly well under any later version of Windows, but this simplistic brain-dead version check prevents it from even installing on anything but Windows XP.
Another reason incompatibilities arise is that calls to Application Programming Interface (API) functions return unexpected results. For example, the programmers of a very old application might have assumed that the file allocation table (FAT) file system would always be the standard, so when checking for free disk space before installing the program, they’d expect to receive a number that is 2GB or less (the maximum size of a FAT partition). However, FAT32 and NT File System (NTFS) partitions can be considerably larger than 2GB, so a call to the API function that returns the amount of free space on a partition could return a number that blows out a memory buffer and crashes the installation program.
These types of problems might make it seem as though getting older programs to run under Windows 10 would be a nightmare. Fortunately, that’s not usually the case because the Windows 10 programmers did something very smart: Because many of these application incompatibilities are predictable, the programmers gave Windows 10 the capability to make allowances for them. Therefore, many older programs can run under Windows 10 without modification. In Windows 10, application compatibility refers to a set of concepts and technologies that enables the operating system to adjust its settings or behavior to compensate for the shortcomings of legacy programs. This section shows you how to work with Windows 10’s application compatibility tools.
Determining Whether a Program Is Compatible with Windows 10
One way to determine whether an application is compatible with Windows 10 is to go ahead and install it. If the program is not compatible with Windows 10, you might see a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 27.7.
Figure 27.7 You might see a dialog box such as this if you try to install a program that isn’t compatible with Windows 10.
A better approach is to find out in advance whether the program is compatible with Windows 10. The most obvious way to do this is to look for the Designed for Windows 10 logo on the box or on the product’s website. You also can check the manufacturer’s website to see whether the company has made an upgrade available. Alternatively, Microsoft has a web page that enables you to search on the name of a program or manufacturer to find out compatibility information: www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/CompatCenter/Home.
Running a Program in Compatibility Mode
To help you run programs under Windows 10, especially those programs that worked properly in a previous version of Windows, Windows 10 offers a way to run applications using compatibility layers. This means that Windows 10 runs the program by doing one or more of the following:
Running the program in a compatibility mode—This involves emulating the behavior of a previous version of Windows. Windows 10 can emulate the behavior of Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows XP (with Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3), Windows Vista (with Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2), Windows 7, or Windows 8.
Temporarily changing the system’s visual display so that it’s compatible with the program—There are four possibilities here: setting the color depth to 8-bit (256 colors), setting the color depth to 16-bit (65,536 colors), changing the screen resolution to 640×480, and disabling the display of scaling on high-DPI settings.
Running the program as an administrator—In some cases, compatibility problems are just permission problems, particularly because Windows 10 locks down certain folders on the system drive to which an older program (particularly an older installation program) might need to write files. By running the program as an administrator, you override these permission problems and the program should run normally.
Note
Windows 10 and Microsoft often use the terms compatibility layer and compatibility mode interchangeably, depending on which compatibility tool you’re using. In some cases, the emulations of previous Windows versions are called operating system modes.
To set up a compatibility layer, you right-click the program’s executable file or a shortcut to the file, click Properties, and then display the Compatibility tab in the property sheet that appears. To set the compatibility mode, activate the Run This Program in Compatibility Mode For check box (see Figure 27.8) and then use the list to choose the Windows version the program requires. You can also use the check boxes in the Settings group to adjust the system settings that Windows 10 will switch to when you use the program, including the color mode, the screen resolution, display scaling, and administrator mode.
Figure 27.8 In the property sheet for an executable file, use the Compatibility tab to set the compatibility layer for the program.
If you don’t feel like fiddling with these settings, you can see whether Windows 10 will do the work for you. In File Explorer, click the program’s executable file, click the Manage tab on the ribbon, and then click Troubleshoot Compatibility. This launches the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter, shown in Figure 27.9. The easiest route here is to click Try Recommended Settings to see whether your program runs. If not, click Troubleshoot Program to run through a series of questions that the troubleshooter uses to narrow down the problems you’re having and from that suggest one or more compatibility fixes. Note, too, that the Manage tab also offers a Run As Administrator command that you can use to easily run the program’s executable with administrator permissions.
Figure 27.9 The Program Compatibility Troubleshooter might be able to get a recalcitrant legacy program running under Windows 10.