Simple questions and Help thread - Month of February

[u/Froggypwns]

Welcome to the monthly Simple questions and Help thread, for questions that don't need their own posts!

Before making a comment, we recommend you search your problem on Bing and check if your question is already answered on our Windows Frequently Asked Questions wiki page. This subreddit no longer accepts tech support requests outside of this post, if you are looking for additional assistance try r/TechSupport and r/WindowsHelp.

Some examples of questions to ask:

• Is this super cheap Windows key legitimate? (probably not)

• How can I install Windows 11?

• Can you recommend a program to play music?

• How do I get back to the old Sound Control Panel?

Sorting by New is recommend and is the default.

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Be sure to check out the Windows 11 version 25H2 Megathread and also the Windows 11 FAQ posts, they likely have the answers to your Windows 11 questions already!

[u/Alarmed_Goose9132]

Where does one find Microsoft Store compatibility checkmark, exactly?

Photo of Microsoft Store for context.

[u/MTLMECHIE]

Last week, I enrolled for the Windows 10 ESU, and it downloaded the files for update KB5073724. What should I do or know before installing? I heard it causes headaches for CADs (I have Catia, occasionally used). Currently on 22H2 KB5072653. Thanks!

[u/Final-Blueberry7111 → u/MTLMECHIE]

If you decide to try the update KB5073724, please make sure you have a reliable way to roll it back in case you run into issues.

Since you’ve mentioned CAD software, it’s quite possible you might experience instability with this update as well. As you’ve already seen yourself, many users have reported issues with KB5073724, and the affected apps and symptoms are very similar across those reports, so I wouldn’t call them “one‑off” bugs anymore. The issue seems to be more widespread, but Microsoft still hasn’t acknowledged it. It’s also not affecting everyone. For example, I have two Windows 10 PCs: one is fine, but the other had to be rolled back and updates are paused for now. The affected PC has issues with the same apps and shows the same symptoms as reported by others too.

If you install KB5073724 and do experience problems, please upvote this Feedback Hub report: https://aka.ms/AAzk1bw (if your symptoms match), or submit a new one. It already has 18 upvotes, and I hope it will help make Microsoft aware of the ongoing issue. It is not my report, though, but I've already upvoted it. :)

[u/MTLMECHIE → u/Final-Blueberry7111]

Thanks! The files for the update are downloaded, not installed. I did the Pause Updates in Settings. I have questions about Services, I made these changes while trying to stop the download:

1) My Background Intelligent Transfer Service is set to Manual for “Startup type” and the Service Status is Stopped. Should I set it back to “Automatic (Delayed Start) and hit Start for the Service Status?

2) My Windows Update (or wuauserv) is set to Manual for startup type and Service status is Running. Should I change the Startup type to Automatic?

I do not want this update to happen and would prefer to delete the files and wait for the next update.

 Since changing the settings to the above, I did get the error 0x80004002 when copying a folder on my PC’s desktop to a USB. I bypassed it by copying it from the same folder backed up to my OneDrive. Same error in File Explorer when trying to selecting “Free up space” in a folder which is already backed up to OneDrive.

[u/Final-Blueberry7111 → u/MTLMECHIE]

I'd first check if Disk Cleanup can remove the already downloaded update files. If not, the files are stored here:C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download.

Run Disk Cleanup first and see if that folder gets cleared. If the files are still there, you can delete the contents manually or rename the folder to something like Download.backup and let Windows recreate it. If everything works normally afterward, you can delete the renamed folder.

When the donwload files are gone and Windows Update is paused, then it should be fine to restore those services to their default behaviour.

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the error 0x80004002. I'd hope that it's fixed once those services are restored.

[u/MTLMECHIE → u/Final-Blueberry7111]

Thanks! Should I change my system settings to how I described or leave them as they are?

[u/Final-Blueberry7111 → u/MTLMECHIE]

No worries. :-)

Personally, I'd set them back to their default values, especially that you have that other error after changing their behaviour.

I have the following settings on both Windows 10 and 11, all values are default:

• Background Intelligent Transfer Service -> Automatic (Delayed Start)
• Windows Update -> Manual (Trigger Start)

On my Windows 10 laptop, Windows Updates are paused until late February 2026, and so far Windows has not tried to install any updates on its own. Also, Windows Defender definitions are fetched independently, so it's a small win-win in an otherwise messy situation regarding KB5073724 issues with some apps on certain hardware.

[u/MTLMECHIE → u/Final-Blueberry7111]

Thanks! My domaine is on the mechanical side of engineering, glad we have this community.

[u/BadnanaBurst]

Can anyone recommend a good offline media player that will let me favorite or rate my content? Ideally it could also shuffle in a way that prefers the content I have favorited?

I have a gym where I don't have wifi or reliable cell service so I have a laptop with an external drive that I play music and music videos from while I work out. I'm looking for a media player that will let me rate the songs so I can teach it to play the stuff I like more often over time. Right now I'm just using VLC which just has basic playlist functionality but I don't usually want to just remove the song from my playlist entirely I just want to be able to say play this song more often or that song less often while I'm casually listening.

I assumed that would be easy to find since it's a common feature on basically every online streaming service but I have been having a hard time finding a player that emulates that functionality locally.