I have a couple of suggestions on where to report Windows 10 issues.
One may lead you to find that not only are you not the first to experience an issue, but there may already be solutions.
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You’re not the first
I hate to break it to you, but you’re probably not the first to experience whatever issue you’re seeing. I don’t even have to know the specific issue to make that statement. There are just so many people running Windows that the chances of you being the first to find and report any specific issue are minuscule.
I don’t want you to get your hopes up, or think Microsoft doesn’t already know. They probably do.
That being said, the number of people experiencing an issue is also useful information to them, so if you’re of a mind to report the issue, by all means do so.
But I want you to do it a little differently than you might expect.
Search for answers
You’ve probably already searched the internet for answers to the problem you’re experiencing. That’s not quite what I’m talking about.
What I want you to do is visit the “Microsoft Community” at answers.microsoft.com.
I have three reasons for sending you here first.
- As I said, you’re extremely unlikely to be the first to experience an issue. Others with the same or similar issues may also have come to Microsoft’s community support site and posted about their issue. They may even have found a fix or a work-around you can use.
- Posting about the issue, or seeing that the issue has already been posted, is one way to “report” the issue to Microsoft, as well as help others who are in similar situations. Microsoft staff does monitor what happens here, and while they don’t always reply directly, the forums are one place they gather data about Windows and other Microsoft applications.
- You can get email notifications for issues you post about or indicate an interest in. If a problem is resolved or a work-around discovered in the future, you may well hear about it this way.
The quality of the discussion or solutions you find here is inconsistent, to put it politely. However, it is, by definition, the official forum for Microsoft, one they should pay attention to.
The feedback app
In the Cortana/System search box, type “feedback”. One of the entries will be the Feedback Hub (new in Windows 10). Click on that.
You will need a Microsoft account to run the app, but you do not have to change your computer to use a Microsoft account login; just select “sign in to this app only” when prompted (not pictured).
This app is a way to give any and all feedback you have on Windows 10 directly to Microsoft.
Enter up to 150 characters1 of feedback and press Enter to submit. Based on what you’ve entered, the Feedback Hub will give a short list of what may be similar feedback, along with a button to add your feedback to the collection.
If you believe your feedback is new, or adds value, click on the Add new feedback button, and you’ll be taken to another page where you can add details, categorize your issue, and even attach a screen shot.
After submitting your feedback, you’ll get an acknowledgement.
This is a fine way to report Windows 10 issues, but don’t expect a personal response. Microsoft gets much too much feedback to be able to take the time to respond to every submission.
But you’ll have accomplished your goal: the issue is now in Microsoft’s hands.
Do this
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I'll see you there!
At the Microsoft Community, they don’t even have Edge as one of the categories. Instead they continue to show Internet Explorer which does not exactly demonstrate a concern if they can’t even keep this page up-to-date.
The feedback hub is filled with literally thousands (if not tens of thousands) of complaints about the Edge browser hanging, freezing, causing pages to time out and so forth. I’ve submitted several “issues” and had my comments up-voted but never have I seen a response from MS. I’m of the opinion that the feedback hub is little more than a placebo. I’m so disappointed that I upgraded to Windows 10 since W7 was working flawlessly. As for the Edge browser, I’ve reverted to Chrome.
“I’m so disappointed that I upgraded to Windows 10 since W7 was working flawlessly. As for the Edge browser, I’ve reverted to Chrome.” – I switched to Edge from Chrome and really like it. As for Windows 10 as a whole, it’s a very mixed bag for sure. In some ways, it’s the best OS out there and delivers a better experience than OS X, Chrome OS or any of the Linux variants. Or, at least, it would deliver a better experience if it worked as it should and didn’t keep breaking things. On my machine, Windows 10 and/or its updates have caused driver problems, caused BSODs when connecting a Kindle via USB, caused HomeGroup problems, broken Roku streaming, broken PowerShell, broken Cortana, broken my webcam, as well as several other minor issues.
I’m by no means anti-Microsoft and Windows has always been my OS of choice, but the ongoing problems are causing me to seriously consider switching to something else. Additionally, Microsoft’s failure to produce a viable mobile device – Windows Phone is shockingly bad – only increases the incentive to switch as a Mac would provide better cross-device compatibility with my iPhone.
At this point in time, I really can’t see a good reason to stick with Microsoft/Windows.
I’m slowly figuring out the things I need to do in Windows 10 to get my work done, but it can be a slow , confusing process. I still can’t run two monitors because Win 10 keeps reinstalling their idea of an updated video driver in spite of me replacing it each time. This prevents me from scaling both monitors properly no matter what I try. Forced updates ? Sure , for security issues only, leave my computer add ins alone, you just mess things up.
I am able to do two monitors on two different computers that I upgraded to Windows 10. So keep plugging away at getting it set up. It’s definitely possible.
I looked at it when I did have it and it would seem to me that the best way to do it would be to just set them as some generic monitor.
If it’s definitely possible, it’s also far beyond what many people wanted to learn.
The biggest problem of Windows 10, other than it was written by coders from outer space, is that they expect people who were led down the path of ‘Plug and Play’ for 20 years to suddenly sleep in the wilderness without a tent. Now, I know a computer is not an appliance like a stove or a lamp, it’s a computer, but the world still needs PCs, you have to rig keyboards and peripherals to large tablets to make flippy-floppy laptops of them (a Modern-Day Philco Predicta) and if you want a laptop, get a laptop, don’t mess with Mr. Inbetween.
The beer connection is applicable…if you have to add a bunch of fruit or chocolate etc. to make beer better than it isn’t good beer.
It should have been carved in stone as the 11th commandment.
You should try Display Fusion pro. There is also a free version.
Pair it with WinSplit Revolution. It allows the transfer of a window that isn’t maximized to the other monitor simply by holding down Ctrl + Alt and then pressing the right or left arrow. Useful for checking the second monitor for a program when that monitor is turned off.
@Gary T. “Win 10 keeps reinstalling their idea of an updated video driver in spite of me replacing it each time.” – I had same problem when I first upgrade to win10 and the solution i found was to use Microsoft’s tool wushowhide.diagcab. You can get info about the tool and download from https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/kb/3073930.
After using the tool to hide the windows graphics driver update i was able to install the manufacturer’s graphics card.
fwiw, there are additional problems using two monitors in “extended desktop” mode.
One major change in win10 is how windows font size settings are handled, and a major problem in that win10 regularly resets these to win10 defaults without warning.
In addition on a small screen/high resolution laptop where setting larger fonts is essential, when using with both a monitor connected and not, not only do the settings revert to defaults after connect/disconnect, some things such as icon sizes go bezerk… with the result that desktop layouts get completely altered… a real pita.
Re: Using two monitors with Win 10. It should be more than “possible.” It should be easy. The more I read about Win 10 problems, the more inclined I am to stick with Win 7.
I upgraded my two monitor system and kept right on going without problems. I swap between several computers, both running Windows 10. One has Pro and the other home. But older graphics cards do make a problem sometimes. My daughters laptop has built in AMD Raedeon graphics and that doesn’t work right. I keep uninstalling the AMD graphics and running it on the Intel graphics, which work fine. But every time that Windows update runs it reinstalls the AMD graphics. I’ve been working on that. So far I haven’t been successful in hiding the update that is responsible for that. If you are running a desktop and can afford it, I’d buy a new video card. That will solve your problems for two monitors. Unfortunately, it isn’t that easy for a laptop.
That’s one problem that often happens with a new OS. Older device drivers don’t always work on the new OS and the device manufacturers don’t want to go to the expense of creating a new drive. They prefer you to buy a new device. Sometimes a generic driver can be found which works. It would take some googling to find out if that’s possible.
That just it…all the rebuilt conventional semi-trucks on the road, vintage stereos and my local railroad that used old early 50s diesel-electric yard goats for switching and now prefers 1-3 locomotives providing tractive stopping power and reverse pulling instead of the simple little box that replaced the caboose — al of those tell me new equipment is not a high requirement for many right now.
Tailfins all over again.
When dealing with computers it’s always helpful to isolate problems to the actual cause. Unfortunately that can be very difficult to do. The monitor problem might not be an actual “Windows 10” problem. It could be a hardware or driver upgrade problems. It could be some sort of Win 7 software error that didn’t upgrade properly. It could be a corrupt section of a disk, or a file, or any number of things. Simply blaming Windows 10 does not help in finding the solution to the problem.
I look at it this way.
Windows 95 wasn’t that good until the second version came out (before they started calling it a ‘service pack’)
Windows Me wasn’t bad, Vista was a misfire, I found IE9 was probably a worse clinker. My bank used 2000 Professional until last year and I know they aren’t using 10. I think they have their own system now, the bank only serves 2/3 of the nation.
But, I strongly disagree with you. They’ve stopped calling them service packs but Anniversary Edition would be SP3 or even SP4, or perhaps Windows 13 by now, it has been seemingly rewritten completely in the year it’s been in the wild, and it was born prematurely then all of us had to nurse it through intensive care.
All of this I gather to save face for being late after a release of the increasingly insignificant Mac OS? We need PC software for PC users, not stuff that purports to set your Microsoft washer and dryer!
I’m finding a strange drive on my desktop calling itself: SYSTEM (Z:) What should I do?
This your article, as always, Informative for sure…..I have found {scam website removed} which appears to be Genuine/Official MS assistance on several occasions recently at NO CHARGE
for your review, and Please any comments
Scam. That is NOT a Microsoft number.
The bad guys are hard at work right now to guy their hacker kids Christmas presents.
Mini Me Jr. needs a new bike. We have plenty of coal left, send it.
That’s a good lesson. Not all websites which appear to be genuine really are. One quick way to find out if a phone number is legit: Google it!. If is shows up as being a scam or if it is listed as the support number for more than one company, you know it’s a scam.
https://askleo.com/risk-searching-support-phone-number/
Should you still get stuck – and not necessarily only in Windows 10 – and even Leo and his team cannot resolve your situation, another useful forum is:
https://www.windowsbbs.com/
I’ve been asking them for help since 2009 and while very useful, I do not wish to denigrate ‘AskLeo’ at all – he has been an ever-present help in times of trouble and I salute his efforts for us all. I’m just citing an alternative.
Tom
There are a lot of good sites to help you out there. Google is not just for finding rude movies.
The “Answers” forum is mostly supported by unpaid volunteers. There are very few MS Staff that participate on it, and relatively few who monitor it. If you have a question about a problem, Answers is a good place to ask. But if you are just reporting a problem, aka bug, (without looking for help) or making a “feature request” then you should use the “Feedback” applet for Windows 10.
On the other hand, if you are making bug reports and feature / change requests for MS products other than Win 10, the place to go is the UserVoice forum. MS staff are actively monitoring the various MS UserVoice subsites, and there have been a couple of documented cases where suggestions really have been acted on. This blog has a picture to show MS really is looking at UserVoice sites:
http://blog.indezine.com/2016/02/powerpoint-feedback-and-uservoice-does.html
This next link has a collection of MS UserVoice.com sites I have found:
http://ANSWERS.MICROSOFT.COM/EN-US/WINDOWS/WIKI/WINDOWS_10-DESKTOP/MS-SUGGESTION-BOX-SITES-AT-USERVOICECOM/7397119C-6D48-49E6-8D94-7BD0A50D214F
Dual monitors have turned out to be tricky for some people. I am running a 42″ 4K monitor from my 13″ 1080P laptop, generally successfully. At first I constantly had 4 different video driver errors, and a video BSOD. But they seem to have finally fixed my problems (for the most part). But other people have reported having scaling issues with Office applications, particularly PowerPoint. Some of the applications do not display all of the graphical elements properly, like the ribbon is shown oversized. Some people have had luck hacking the “manifest” file to fix that problem. Sorry, no ideas how to solve the problem of video drivers being constantly replaced.
For me the biggest remaining issue is icons on the desktop. There is no sense trying to organize them. If I forget to turn on the external monitor before Windows needs it at start up time the desktop icons get rearranged to fit the small screen. Then when the big screen is turned on and becomes the #1 screen, the disorganized icons are simply transferred to the big screen. Even trying to impose order using prefixes added to the shortcut names doesn’t work. Windoze comes up with some kind of bizarre filename sort order that I have not been able to decipher (it is really illogical, it appears to use 3 different categories that are all sorted separately!). There is a fix this problem that works, a tool called “Fences” from Stardock. It is great. You can recreate resizable “folders” on the desktop and drop icons into them. Fences controls the sort order inside of each “fence”. There was a free version you could use in Windows 8, but that free version causes problems in Windows 10. But no matter, the tool is relatively cheap, especially for the aggravation it eliminates.
I have trouble starting up certain games after reinstalling windows 10.
My laptop worked fine and was able to run programs and games very normally. After my Hard-drive died, I replaced it with a new Toshiba 1T one and used a disk to get Windows 10 on that drive.
However when Installed the game Heartstone I realized that after I installed it and started it up the first time; after closing it and starting it up it would never work a second time. I thought this was an issue with this game specifically at first but when trying to play other games like VRChat or Fortnite the same universal pattern happened; The game works right after installing it but after closing it once it would never start up again. Games like Age of Empires still seem to work normally, but a whole range of games follow the same pattern of crashing after being fully able to play it after installment. (It is not a steam related issue as AoE2 from steam works and VRChat from steam doesn’t and as both Heartstone and Fortnite are non steam games)
I tried to fix this by restoring factory settings and it worked! I was able to reinstall every game and play it once! Then it would crash every time after, for every game separately.
Simply uninstalling the game and reinstall it doesn’t allow me to play the “1 time before never starting up again”. Also, creating a new windows account and starting up the game on that account also allows me to play the game 1 time before it forever crashes on that particular account.
The best current way for me to start up these games is by creating a new account, playing the game once > then removing the account > creating a new account again, and so the cycle continues.
Does anyone understands this issue and knows how to solve it?
What I have heard is that Windows will sometimes revert the video driver, which I could certainly understand as being important to games. Next time this happens I would first try to independently get the latest video driver from the manufacturer and see if that helps.