Windows 10 October 2018 Update gets a host of nifty fixes

Microsoft has released a fresh update for those running the October 2018 Update for Windows 10, and it brings some useful tweaks, but the firm has blocked a previous update for the April 2018 Update for Surface Book 2 owners after it caused havoc with the hybrids.

So let’s start with the cumulative update for the latest version of Windows 10 that’s currently still rolling out, which brings the October 2018 Update up to build number 17763.168.

It contains a raft of various tweaks and fixes, including some important bits of troubleshooting, such as resolving an issue whereby Bluetooth headsets would cut out after a couple of minutes of use.

Another annoying niggle whereby the brightness slider would reset to 50% every time a device was restarted has also been fixed. Furthermore, there was a bugbear which caused display settings to stop working after changing a multi-monitor configuration, and that’s now been solved.

Various problems with Microsoft’s Edge browser – which is now on borrowed time, by all accounts – were also cured, including live TV Hulu content causing a black screen to appear, along with failures to upload some files or folders when they were dragged-and-dropped in the browser to a cloud service’s website (such as OneDrive).

For the full exhaustive list of fixes, check here.

Scratch the Surface

Moving on to the second cumulative update we mentioned at the outset, KB4467682 – which is actually an optional update – was released last week and aimed at PCs running the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, but it has now been blocked for Surface Book 2 owners.

This follows reports of Surface Book 2 devices suffering from the dreaded Blue Screen of Death after installing the update.

Microsoft notes: “After installing this optional update some users may get a blue or black screen with error code, ‘System thread exception not handled.’”

For those who have already been hit by this problem, there are troubleshooting instructions here.

Microsoft states that the issue will be resolved in its December security updates which should be available next week, and presumably the block will then be lifted, and Surface Book 2 owners will have KB4467682 delivered. It consists of mostly minor fixes including errors with third-party antivirus software and bugs with displaying presentation files exported from G Suite.

Via Neowin [1, 2]

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).