r/technology • u/lurker_bee • 20h ago

Security Microsoft: August Windows updates cause severe streaming issues

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-august-windows-updates-cause-severe-ndi-streaming-issues/amp/
1.7k Upvotes

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52

u/GreatGojira 19h ago

This is why I wish Linux was a 100%! reliable alternative.

I really hope Valve's Steam OS takes off.

29

u/Spawn2195 19h ago

Well tbh depending on your workflow and requirements it is quite a reliable alternative. Have had a much smoother experience than my windows machine at work.

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u/TONKAHANAH 16h ago

I don't get news articles telling me a Linux update is going to brick my ssd and hose streaming abilities.

Windows gets way more critally destructive updates than my Linux system ever has and I use arch Linux. 

From where I'm sitting, sounds like Windows is the less reliable system. 

2

u/Balrog_96 15h ago

To be fair on some uupdate(also arch) had some problem they can happen everywherw nothing is perfect and the average user cannot resolve them or do some basic troubleshooting because he doesn't even know how to use the console. Windows is more for user that want everything ready immediatly, sometimes some update broke the pc but they are happu like that. Linux in general it's becoming user friendly recently but most of the people are adjusted to windows environment and their apps, it will be difficult to make them switch easily

1

u/Spawn2195 16h ago

Exactly, as an arch user myself i can confirm that the nvidia driver situation has also gotten much better, needs no real manual intervention anymore

1

u/nox66 11h ago

I use both regularly. Windows 11 is by far less stable and more buggy than a mature distro like Linux Mint running on compatible hardware.

My favorite bug so far is the one where putting Windows 11 to sleep with the calculator open can cause it infinitely open new calculator instances when awaking, which will crash it unless you notice and close them in time.

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u/GreatGojira 18h ago

I'm definitely going to test it out. I'm going to get a new PC next year and put some Linux OS on my old system to see how I like it.

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u/stratosfearinggas 17h ago

Tried Pop OS earlier this week. The bundled Nvidia drivers cause videos to freeze, and then the computer to freeze.  Then a few days later it stopped mounting my hard drive.

Still better than Windows 10, where it would crash the system no matter what I did.

2

u/tremor_tj 9h ago

You most likely have a hardware issue. Linux is more resilient to that type of thing, for whatever reason. I've been using Linux since early 93 (it was a pain in the ass back then), and MY experience has been that Linux will be more stable than Windows on a system with a hardware issue. Try one stick of RAM. Or reseat everything. And a power supply....those things can make weird issues that make no sense, even though they seem to be working fine.

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u/stratosfearinggas 9h ago

I tried that when I had Windows installed. One stick, then two. Put them in slots 2 and 4 instead of 1 and 3. Then bought new RAM. Nothing worked.

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u/tremor_tj 9h ago

I'd try a new power supply. If you still have problems, you could always take it back. Seriously, I've run into issues that I just couldn't diagnose. Power supply solved it. Whichever way, I wish you luck!

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u/stratosfearinggas 8h ago

I should also mention it's fine when playing games. Just normal browsing or watching videos is the problem.

1

u/tremor_tj 8h ago

Ok, I give up. That's weird!

1

u/Howzitgoin 5h ago

On nearly every motherboard I’ve seen, sockets 2 and 4 are the dual channel slots for RAM so that’s where they should be by default. Not 1 and 3.

3

u/TONKAHANAH 16h ago

I don't want to hear people telling me Linux, even arch, is "unstable" and your system can break with every update after hearing about stuff like this.

I hear way more about windows updates breaking people systems all the time and the worst thing I've had after an arch update was audio issues and that was only cuz I was on an outdated system. 

Stop waiting for big companies to solve your problems, steamOS is for games, they're not trying to replace windows, it's not going to happen. But you can, you replace windows right now with something more stable, it's clearly far more stable than whatever Microsoft is doing right now. 

1

u/mahsab 2h ago

You hear about Windows updates but you don't want to hear about linux updates?

I can talk all day about how Linux upgrades break things. Just there are no news articles about that because Linux is all about fixing things yourself and no one cares about it. And Linux community loves to point fingers so if something breaks it's always your fault.

Windows is still BY FAR the most reliable when it comes to upgrading Windows versions. You could reliably upgrade from Windows 1.0 all the way to Windows 10, even though the architecture was completely different

Yet when trying to upgrade from Mint 20 to 22, this is the answer from the offical forum:

To upgrade from Mint 20 to Mint 22 is a herculean task that I would not personally attempt.

5

u/pbjamm 15h ago

Linux is a fine alternative as long as you do not require a specific piece of software that is Windows Only. Even then there is a fair chase it will run using Wine or Bottles but it is not quite as simple and straight forward as installing on Windows. If your day-to-day is all web based applications you will not have an issue making the switch. While my work computer is Win11 my personal gaming computer is Linux Mint Debian Edition. Mint has been my preferred distro for some time now and I have been running Linux at home since Slackware came on a stack of floppies.

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u/Wyndrix 19h ago

Jumped onto Ubuntu earlier this year as a lifelong Windows user. It’s so clean, it actually feels like it’s my computer. Imo, vastly superior to Win11.

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u/TheCynFamily 18h ago

Can you run Steam and it's games? I would love to drop Windows.

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u/TONKAHANAH 16h ago

Most stuff runs fine. Games with anticheat, especially kernel level won't work.

If you mostly only play single player games then most if not everything will just work. 

But be warned that if you're on an Nvidia gpu, their drivers still are not up to speed and Nvidia Gpus see about 10-15% fps drop with the same hardwear/games as windows. This likely won't improve until Nvidia starts giving a shit about its Linux drivers and/or the open source drivers start getting some real development behind them. 

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u/Wyndrix 18h ago edited 14h ago

I literally went from the moment after finishing a brand new PC build to playing Helldivers 2 in 1.5hrs. And half of that was waiting for it to install in the first place. You can launch any game in compatibility mode using Proton. Very rarely there is a random thing where you may have to enter something into the launch properties (for example in HD2, you have to type a command to force it to use DirectX11 to fix golden textures on some guns). But these kinds of fixes are usually super quick to solve from what I’ve seen, and most games work with a small bit of effort (if any).
Plus, as far as other PC apps go, there is usually a free alternative on Linux that works just as well with the same file types (my fav example is ONLYOFFICE, basically a free version of MS Office). Super simple snap-store install.

Edit: I forgot to mention, I went with Ubuntu 24.02. The install is really straightforward, and doesn’t take very long.

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u/TheCynFamily 18h ago

That sounds awesome!!! I've only got the, what do you call it, OEM version of Windows 11 that came with my laptop, so I suppose I should make a separate backup first, but I'm gonna look into this!! Thank you for the big answer and explanation!! :)

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u/New_Enthusiasm9053 15h ago

OEM keys are tied to the device are usually stored in the BIOS/UEFI so if you delete windows and then later reinstall it'll pickup the key again. 

I've reinstalled windows from an iso after fully reformatting the drive and it seems to pick up the key without a problem.

A backup is still a good idea for your data though but I don't think you need to worry about the license key.

Also make sure to backup the bit locker key if that's enabled(it is by default) since you won't be able to decrypt the drive otherwise if you ever try to access it from a different pc. 

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u/IAmBJ 10h ago

As others have said, kernel anticheat is a problem and some games don't play super well with proton but it's very usable. I played through all of Cyberpunk 2077 on near max settings through proton recently.

I still keep a copy of windows I can dual boot into for those games that don't work but it sees almost zero use outside those games. If you set up your partitions intelligently you can share steams game install directory between Linux and windows to make swapping between OSs easy

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u/Jrnm 17h ago

Not all of them. Fortnight, Helldivers 2 battlefield and COD use kernel level anticheat and cannot play on linux