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Thanks Jay again! :) I’ll have a look after the France vs Sweden game later on
 
MattW said:
Thanks Jay again! :) I’ll have a look after the France vs Sweden game later on
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I looked and see a driver/software update that was released on 6/29/2026 through the Adrenalin software that I will also do after the clone is done and I test the Windows preview update. Given the current release date it seems more likely to be an AMD issue, not MS if a problem arises.

If you are getting GPU driver updates via Windows Updates I suggest that you stop and get via AMD Adrenalin or directly from their site to assure that you are getting the newest stable drivers.
 
So I ended up reinstalling a much older version of AMD Adrenalin, and it seems to have worked (including drivers). I ended up on an early 2025 build, as most 2026 builds seem to have problems. I also did a look around Reddit and found the majority of users having issues where ones who had a 7900 XTX card like me. You would think a previous top-of-the-range GPU wouldn't have these issues.. It seems the 90 and 6000 series were much less affected as well. Maybe going back to Team Green in the future isn't a bad idea if these types of things keep happening.
 
MattW said:
So I ended up reinstalling a much older version of AMD Adrenalin, and it seems to have worked (including drivers). I ended up on an early 2025 build, as most 2026 builds seem to have problems. I also did a look around Reddit and found the majority of users having issues where ones who had a 7900 XTX card like me. You would think a previous top-of-the-range GPU wouldn't have these issues.. It seems the 90 and 6000 series were much less affected as well. Maybe going back to Team Green in the future isn't a bad idea if these types of things keep happening.
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nvidia is similar if you have a sufficiently old card - i have an old 1070 from 2016 or so in my linux box and i have to lock the driver at one that is several years old because newer drives no longer support it correctly.
-
One way to encourage you to upgrade though now with memory so expensive i would expect more people to hit the used market.
 
Hey, perfect timing! :) All done with about a minute to go for the first pitch in my baseball game. :)

OK, all updates done with no apparent ill effects. I installed the Windows Updates preview update and rebooted and saw no issue. Then I updated AMD Adrenalin software/drivers from version 25.11.1 to version 26.6.4 with no apparent issue. Also installed an AMD chip-set driver update also without issue. Both were done through the AMD Adrenalin software's update manager.

I just saw that you posted while I was typing the above. Glad things now seem OK! :) Some questions if you don't mind...
  • Were you able to install the older drivers/software directly of did you follow my instructions as to killing the newer installed drivers? I ask as, often, older drivers will refuse to install with newer drivers present.
  • Do you use AMD Adrenalin? If not, you probably should especially when it concerns updates. Before updating it seems that Adrenalin checks the system config for potential issues. Also AMD Adrenalin offers some perks such as recording game play and setting game specific options. Oops, just read again and see that you use AMD Adrenalin
  • Don't you do system images or clones so you could have just restored? Especially if your data is on your system drive such backups are essential.
You could probably use newer drivers than early 2025. Before I just updated I was running version version 25.11.1 which was released, I think, 11/25/2025.
 
I just went to previous versions, downloaded the older driver, and it worked. I assume there must have been a 'repair' of drivers. I do use it to update my drivers and used to use it for screen recording before Steam brought in its own version :). I haven't done a clone in a very long time. Probably 2019-20 was the last time. I don't have much valuable data saved apart from one or two folders which have been copied onto a USB drive. I definitely could update to a newer driver, but I just want my PC to work for the moment :lol: ; hopefully the next release fixes all the issues!
 
As to clones or even system images, you should use. Even if your data is backed up what about all your installed software? If your system drive goes down and there is no backup how long would it take you to reinstall Windows and all your installed software? For me, with a clone, it is like 30 seconds to change my boot order to the clone. I can then just replace the blown drive and and clone from the working clone to the new drive. All done and fixed in half an hour. And, yes, I do have the same drive as I use for system as a backup drive to use if system drive goes down.

Sorry to seem to lecture but I am a huge advocate of system backups.

I would assume that your system drive is an M.2 SSD. Even if you don't have an open M.2 slot spend $15.00-$20.00 for an M.2 USB external M.2 enclosure and clone to that as long as your UEFI Bios allows for booting from USB, most do. Booting from USB will take longer but you are still up and running.
 
Got a surprise email from Microsoft today. The Extended Updates for Windows 10 has been extended another year til 12OCT27. If you are on Extended Updates there is nothing you need to do.
 
jaylach said:
Haven't seen any indication of this but my monitors are actually TVs so may be different. Also, my LG TV is a few years old so may be before this was being done.
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Don't be silly; the only way an old device could trigger this download is if it receives a firmware update. The bigger problem is once again MS either hasn't learned from their previous bullshit with activeX or they deliberately allow this behavior but the hardware is able to tell the pc to download AND install software without you being able to object AND they make it very difficult to disable. Of course really bad vendor could download and install virus just as easy as adware.

It is will known that usb, thunderbird and various other connections allow data communication between the pc and hardware (a keyboard installed with virus like firmware can do all sort of nasty things for example) and MS helps enable these bad behavior. Naturally if you run linux (i do) there is less of a concern with download windows virus via your naughty hardware though of course any usb device can to a limited degree do nauthy things (though i believe linux security layers make this less of an issue than windows).

Anyway we can see MS is once again allowing auto-install of 'bad' software and deliberately making it next to impossible for the average user to prevent just as they did with active-x years ago.


Btw because of the issue i described with USB in general; when our company (not a security company but a tech company) had employee travel to china they took dispossible hardware (laptops for example) and those devices were destroyed upon their return.
 
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anewbie said:
Don't be silly; the only way an old device could trigger this download is if it receives a firmware update. The bigger problem is once again MS either hasn't learned from their previous bullshit with activeX or they deliberately allow this behavior but the hardware is able to tell the pc to download AND install software without you being able to object AND they make it very difficult to disable. Of course really bad vendor could download and install virus just as easy as adware.

It is will known that usb, thunderbird and various other connections allow data communication between the pc and hardware (a keyboard installed with virus like firmware can do all sort of nasty things for example) and MS helps enable these bad behavior. Naturally if you run linux (i do) there is less of a concern with download windows virus via your naughty hardware though of course any usb device can to a limited degree do nauthy things (though i believe linux security layers make this less of an issue than windows).

Anyway we can see MS is once again allowing auto-install of 'bad' software and deliberately making it next to impossible for the average user to prevent just as they did with active-x years ago.


Btw because of the issue i described with USB in general; when our company (not a security company but a tech company) had employee travel to china they took dispossible hardware (laptops for example) and those devices were destroyed upon their return.
Click to expand...
I protect as well as I can as to my smart tvs but, of course, they are more prone to attack than a PC with proper security. On both sets auto updates are disabled. If I get a notice for one I check with the maker to be sure there really is an update. Once confirmed there is an update I look at what it addresses. If it doesn't affect what I do I dismiss the update.

I also have my Belkin router set to reboot once a week. Most bad stuff coming in through a smart device will attack the network. My weekly purge of my router kills a lot of this. Also my smart TVs (only smart stuff I have) are set to give a notice on the display if there is any change or download pending.

If I didn't trust my security I would not be on-line. Can my system be hacked? Of course it can but my security makes it harder to do than most hackers are going to put in the effort as there are much easier targets.

So, what is my security. Actually basic but good. I use Windows Defender as the first level followed by Malware Bytes full coverage including VPN. Before that even is seen my Belkin router's hardware firewall kills most, if not all, bad stuff trying to come in.

So, most of what is left is drive-by infections from a malicious site. Malware Bytes pretty well handles this as it parses the site code before loading in the browser. If questionable code is detected it will block the page without loading.
 
Do any of you tech gurus have an opinion on using WPS office loaded onto an older Mac Mini from 2013 which is not used for anything else except WPS office. I read that it is highly compatible with MS Offfice programs. I have read that it downloads without any malware. WPS office is made by a Chinese company. It is estimated that it has been used by 500 million to 1 billion users.
 
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Fishmanic said:
Do any of you tech gurus have an opinion on using WPS office loaded onto an older Mac Mini from 2013. I read that it is highly compatible with MS Offfice programs. I have read that it downloads without any malware. WPS office is made by a Chinese company. It is estimated that it has been used by 500 million to 1 billion users.
Click to expand...
If aviable on your Mac I would reommend Libre Office..

Download — LibreOffice

Download LibreOffice, the free and open source office suite.
www.libreoffice.org www.libreoffice.org
 
Yes libre office would be a possibility but I read I would have to use an archived download version frorm 2023 as newer updates wont work on Mojave on Apple OS. WPS office works without issue on an older Mac Mini.
WPS gives you like 1 GB of cloud backups but would definitely avoid doing that. Local storage only for me.
Do you have an experience with Apple Pages?
 
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