Kindle Can Crash Your PC After You Install the Windows 10 Anniversary Update

The Windows 10 Anniversary Update roll-out has proceeded slowly so far, and probably for good reason: As more and more users install the update, we’re starting to see more problems. And the latest involves Amazon’s Kindle e-book readers.

As I wrote yesterday in Latest Windows Device Usage Stats Examine Windows 10 Uptake on Mobile and PCs, only 16 percent of Windows 10 PCs worldwide have been upgraded to version 1607 with the Anniversary Update. And sure enough, I’ve received many complaints from those who want the update but haven’t received it yet. If you’re technical enough, you can of course get the Anniversary Update immediately. But there’s a reason Microsoft moves slowly with this kind of major OS upgrade: Things can break.

So far, we’ve seen Webcamgate emerge as the keystone Anniversary Update issue. and as I discussed on What the Tech and Windows Weekly this past week, I’m embarrassed to say that I suffered from the webcam issues for months and never tied them to the Anniversary Update. (I blamed, in turn, Intel “Silverlake” CPUs and then Skype, instead.) But then neither did Microsoft, if we’re looking to point a finger.

Now users with certain Kindle e-book readers are reporting a new issue: After installing the Anniversary Update, their PCs are bluescreening—i.e. crashing hard enough to reboot the computer—when they attach the device to the PC via USB.

According to these reports, the issue impacts Kindle Paperwhite and Voyager devices, and only occurs on those Windows 10 PCs that have been upgraded with the Anniversary Update.

And sure enough, I was able to easy replicate this issue: My wife’s Kindle Paperwhite brought my NUC to its digital knees.

So there you go. I’ll just repeat what I’ve been saying all along: If Microsoft wants us to accept automatic updates without question, it needs to ship high-quality updates that do not break things. And so far, it is not living up to its end of this contract. You can complain all you want about Android or iPhone, but this is the type of thing that will really kill Windows. And the lack of trust that these kinds of mistakes engenders is irreversible.