KB3135173 Resets Default Apps in Windows 10 for Some

Shortly after Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday this month, I received a couple community reports saying that after installing the latest cumulative update (KB3115173) for Windows 10, some app defaults had been reset to the Windows 10 originals.

I held off reporting on this for a couple days as the issue seemed to reach only a very small subset of patchers. Since then, the reports have grown. Additional information is now available, and even though it still seems to affect a small percentage, it’s worth reporting on if for nothing more than to give Microsoft new incentive to figure out how to get this right in the future. Windows 10, after all, is developed with the release it now, fix it later methodology these days.

The first reports I received were about Adobe Reader. The cumulative update would reset the default app to Microsoft Edge, which is the default reader for PDF files. But, since those reports, other apps have been reported to being bumped out of pole position by Windows 10’s built-in apps.

It’s a curious situation, with some suggesting that Microsoft is doing this on purpose – forcing its own apps on an unassuming public in lieu of customer choice. I truly doubt that’s the case. With each new Windows 10 update Microsoft has a habit of introducing new bugs – that’s just the world we live in. Let’s hope the company can work to minimize the pains in the future. Windows 10, in many ways, represents a new direction in how Microsoft develops and delivers its OS, so we have to expect it to be wrought with problems that need to be ironed out over time.