Windows 10 update broke my computer?

Update on my Windows 10 dilemma. After playing around with Linux Mint for a month, which worked fined for everyday tasks, but I had the worst luck getting things like my bluray player to work, and some other compatibility issues like the office suites, which are substandard, I decided to research a little more & see if I could reinstall Windows 10. I was at the point where I was willing to eat the money involved with putting a new Windows 10 & MS Office suite on my Acer Aspire. What I found out was if you wipe your computer, you can reinstall windows, and when it asks you for a key, click "I don't have a key" and it somehow Microsoft remembers that your computer had Windows 10 on it previously. I was also able to find the email from 2 years ago when I purchased Office16 Pro and that key still worked! End result, I have spent $0, and have only about 4 days of working on the computer diagnosing, and installing programs, and 2 1/2 months without a properly functioning computer. Now my laptop is mostly back to normal, how it was prior to this whole debacle. I have a lot less stuff on there now, & everything I do, I am always sure to put on my external HD.

**NOTE** If you do wipe your computer, whether to install another OS, or reinstall Windows, prior to doing so, be absolutely sure to remove your HD, and back up all of your info. I believe most cases are like mine, and it was simply a matter of the OS that crashed, and no data was actually lost.

Hope this helps others who may be affected.

It's time for a new player in the personal computer/business computer field... Microsoft can no longer be trusted (as if they ever were 'trusted') to maintain a stable platform because they're always chasing after the Apple (which no one ever wanted, if we wanted an iMac we'd buy one, thanks). 

Cortana, have you ever met one person who uses it? no... stop it.

Edge? Why? just why?

PS if you're an office 365 admin you might notice you CANNOT use Edge to admin Office365 - better get Firefox or Chrome or even Opera but don't use IE or Edge, it won't work (outside of downloading archives). 

Now Chrome and Firefox are freezing after the 1803 nightmare (another pointless "feature" update with absolutely no value whatsoever). 

Windows 8 was worse than Vista. Just when they fixed Windows 8 with 8.1 they came out with 10... which was fine (I guess) until they changed the update schedule - now any given day will be the day where everyone calls with their computer broken after another feature update no one ever asked for. 

if it aint broke, don't fix it - Windows XP was not broke... It's time for a mass exodus from Microsoft, we just need a player in the game. 

Our computers are more vulnerable to hackers than ever before but now we're getting it from both sides - a computer down because windows update broke it and a hacker broke it is still a computer down... 9 down computes out of 10 are now due to Windows updates? You're NOT doing yourselves any favors. 

kickstarter or gofundme needed to "create replacement for Windows"

You're absolutely correct. 

Just when I think my laptop has finally settled itself and I've done various virus scans to eliminate that path, it crashes, or doesn't start, or restarts at random, then won't restart, then crashes....And so the story goes on. And this was after a MS geek installed 1803 remotely. I really thought when I bought my laptop late last year with Win 10 (I had Vista, never had 8 or 8.1) it was a revelation. Quick start up, reasonably easy to navigate, easy to customise... Then the update and now I don't know from one minute to the next if it will crash. And MS say nothing officially. Zero... Although the manager I spoke to in India expressed his frustration at the developers leaving the agents to hold this particular lipsticked pig.

Hi Roan,

As a student, I understand the importance of using your computer. When an update is available, it’s automatically downloaded and installed, keeping your device up to date with the latest features. Windows updates includes quality improvements. For your reference, you may want to check the latest improvements and fixes in Windows 10.

Furthermore, we’ve got a few handy recovery options for you to try. Don't fret, you can reset your PC to reinstall Windows 10. You'll get an option to remove apps and drivers you installed and changes you made to settings, but lets you choose to keep or remove your personal files.

Please post back with the status of the issue. We will be glad to assist you further.

Real handy recovery options for these improvements & fixes?!? My PC was doing just fine until I tried to do a restart after the "latest" Security Update & NOW I HAVE A PAPERWEIGHT THE SIZE OF A 22 INCH ALL IN ONE SYSTEM FROM ACER BECAUSE AFTER IT REACHED A BLACK SCREEN WITH 56% INSTALLED THAT SAT FOR 14 HOURS UNCHANGED I GOT NO RESET OPTIONS NOR ANY SORT OF RECOVERY!!! ACER LOGO, WINDOWS LOGO THEN WELCOME FOLLOWED IMMEDIATELY BY RESTARTING WHICH AT THE LONGEST I COULD TAKE THIS WEEKEND WAS 72 STRAIGHT HOUR'S OF THESE SAME LOGO'S & MESSAGES!!!

MY RECOVERY DVD & USB BOTH FAILED TO MAKE ANY CHANGES SO NOW I HAVE NOTHING!!! NO SECOND COMPUTER I CAN USE NOR ANYONE IN MY LIFE THAT HAS A DESKTOP!! 

THESE RECOVERY OPTIONS INCLUDE MAILBOX DELIVERY OF A CD/DVD TO ATTEMPT NOT ONLY REACHING THE REPAIR SECTION BUT SAVE MY FILE'S & DATA?!? 

AFTER THE 1803 FIASCO I USED A 3RD PARTY PROGRAM TO KEEP DRIVER'S "MY" WAY & ANY MORE UPDATES FROM AUTOMATICALLY DOWNLOADING.

AFTER THE 2ND VISIT TO MICROSOFT STORE IN LESS THAN 2 WEEK'S BECAUSE OF AN UPDATE THEN DRIVER'S & ANOTHER ATTEMPT OF 1803 DID the EXACT SAME THING...I WANT TO KEEP WHAT LITTLE DATA RECOVERED THIS TIME!! ESPECIALLY SINCE GETTING MYSELF TO THAT ONLY STORE & HOME INVOLVES 5 HOUR'S OF PUBLIC TRANSIT ROUND TRIP THAT I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO MAKE IN THE 1ST PLACE!!! 

MY FIX WAS DOING JUST FINE UNTIL THIS CROCK POT OF HELL BOILED OVER TO REPLAY MY MONTH OF MARCH/APRIL AGAIN AFTER MY DRIVER'S WERE ALTERED BY AN UNNECESSARY UPDATE WHICH ACTUALLY REQUIRED UNINSTALLING PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING NOT TO DO WITH A BASIC DISPLAY, THEN AFTER REINSTALL NEEDING TO RESTART TO FINALIZE THE CHANGE'S!! 

BAD ENOUGH I HAVE SOME NONSENSE DOWNLOADED INTO MY SYSTEM THAT MAY ALTER SOME SECURITY SETTINGS OR BE JUST A SIMPLE BUG FIX IF YOU KNOW HOW TO DECIPHER KB####! NOW DRIVER'S I HAD JUST UPDATED THE NIGHT BEFORE GET ALTERED OR TOTALLY REPLACED BY JUNK THAT IS INCOMPATIBLE ON MY SYSTEM!! 

MY ACER AZ1620-EW30P HAS 1 TB SATA HD WITH 4 GB DDR3 RAM WITH ONLY MOUSE & KEYBOARD CONNECTED AWAITING SOME ISO OR OTHER FIX TO SHOW UP THAT ACTUALLY WILL WORK!! 

I MEANT IT WHEN I SAID NOTHING HAS WORKED SO FAR!! ACER HAS TRIED. EVERY BUTTON COMBINATION ONLINE HAS BEEN TRIED. WITHOUT ACCESS TO AN ISO FILE NOW CAN'T EVEN FORMAT THEN INPUT WINDOWS PERIOD

Lorne, believe me I understand your anger and frustration with the response, but in fairness to him/her, they're only trotting out the MS script. I spoke (Posts passim) to a manager and he was quite candid in his opinion to the developers who trotted out 1803. Suffice to say, he wasn't happy and more so because at the time MS had no idea how to solve the problem, so he and the rest of the agents were fielding calls from such as you and I and couldn't do anything to help. It's a situation that is deeply embarrassing to MS but damaging to Win 10 users. It's all the more frustrating when we see ads promoting the latest add ons and updates that Ms are promising.

MS, FIX existing problems before adding any more, what aren't you understanding?