Microsoft has suggested a temporary solution to the problem of a recent Windows 11 update refusing to install.
It acknowledged on its ‘Release health’ pages that the update KB5034765, released to all users on 13 February, might fail to get past 96 per cent when installing (see www.snipca.com/49518).
This failure produces the error message: ‘Something didn’t go as planned. No need to worry – undoing changes. Please keep your computer on.’
However, it took Microsoft until 26 February – nearly two weeks after the update – to confirm the problem.
Microsoft added that the error, which doesn’t affect Windows 10, might be shown as 0x800F0922 in Windows Event Viewer. You can find and open this by typing event in Windows search.
It said that uninstalling the hidden folder C:\$WinREAgent, then restarting your computer should fix the problem by forcing the update to install.
Folders that start with the dollar sign are usually hidden by Microsoft because they contain functions that are vital to Windows working properly.
But deleting C:\$WinREAgentis safe in this case. Created by Windows during an update, it contains temporary files that let you recover the operating system if the update causes trouble.
To find it, you’ll need to tell File Explorer to show hidden items. Open File Explorer (Windows key+E), then click View, followed by Show. Now click ‘Hidden items’ at the bottom of the menu so the tick appears (see screenshot 1 ).
Next, click This PC on the left, then Local Disk and look for C:\$WinREAgent. Rightclick it, then click the Delete (bin) icon 2 .
Even if the update KB5034765 does install, users say it’s causing other problems, such as the taskbar disappearing and File Explorer crashing.
Microsoft hasn’t acknowledged these complaints, but says it’s working on an update to permanently fix the installation fault.
Avast to pay $16.5m fine after selling users’ data
US regulators have fined Avast $16.5m for selling data that revealed which websites users had visited – despite claiming to block the very cookies that make this possible.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleges the security company, based in the Czech Republic, gathered information through its browser extensions and antivirus software.
It claims that between 2014 and 2020 the amount of data collected came to eight petabytes’ worth – around 8,000TB.
Avast’s subsidiary
