Running Windows 10 On Older Hardware? Sorry About Those App Updates

Core 2 Duo and Quad, Plus Some Elderly Ryzen Are Having Troubles

Microsoft frequently updates the apps on your machine, with no official KB or indication on Windows Update and while generally it is invisible to us users.  Unfortunately some recent updates for apps like Calculator, Photos and even the Calendar have proven quite problematic for those running older hardware.  The effected CPUs are not officially supported on Windows 10 but until now they have served their owners well.  With the new updates, that is no longer the case.

To add insult to injury the update also broke the Microsoft Feedback Hub, so the less technically inclined had little recourse to get help after realizing that opening a picture was no longer possible.  Those more technically literate have been trying to determine the cause and the general consensus is that Microsoft updated the apps to use instruction sets which older CPUs simply do not understand, such as SSE 4.2.  There is unlikely to be a solution for these users, as the hardware is technically unsupported and avoiding the updates will be difficult as well; new hardware is likely to be the only way forward.

As The Register points out, this is foreshadowing of the future of unsupported hardware running on Windows 11.  Perhaps Microsoft has a nice deal on a Surface they’d like you to consider?