Windows 10: This change stops you accidentally deleting files you want to keep, says Microsoft
Microsoft's latest preview of Windows 10 contains a minor change to improve the behavior of the Storage Sense disk cleanup feature in Settings.
Microsoft has released the second preview of Windows 10 to the Fast Ring since rolling out Windows 10 2004 to the general public last week.
Windows 10
"Based on feedback, if your Downloads folder is synced to a cloud provider, we are disabling the option to have Storage Sense automatically clear out your Downloads folder on a cycle," Microsoft said in release notes for Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19640for the Fast ring.
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It's the latest refinement to the behavior of the Disk Cleanup utility and its sibling, Storage Sense, which is built into Windows 10 Settings and automatically frees up disk space by targeting locally stored, unused files.
In Windows 10 version 1809, Microsoft gave users a new option of checking a box for Disk Cleanup to clear disk space from the Downloads folder. Downloads was one of several locations to delete files from along with the Recycle Bin and Temporary files.
But some users who didn't know about the addition of Downloads to Disk Cleanup were checking all the boxes without realizing Downloads was there, accidentally deleting files they actually wanted to keep.
Last year, in previews for Windows 10 20H1, aka Windows 10 2004, Microsoft removed the Downloads folder from Disk Cleanup options, as Ghacks reported at the time.
The latest change for Storage Sense, as Microsoft notes, is different in that there won't be an option to automatically clear out the Downloads folder if that folder is already synced to a cloud provider.
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Microsoft doesn't offer an explanation beyond "user feedback". But, as Bleeping Computer notes, the measure is likely to prevent cloud servers that are synced to the Downloads folder from deleting the synced files.
Microsoft has also updated its login logic to handle accidentally keyed spaces. "If your PC is set up so you need to type in your username when logging in, accidentally starting your username with a space will no longer result in an error," Microsoft said.
It's also investigating four known issues:
- An issue where some devices booting from eMMC storage bugchecked when resuming from hibernate.
- Reports of the update process hanging for extended periods when attempting to install a new build.
- An issue where in Settings > Privacy, the Documents and Downloads sections show a broken icon next to their page name.
- Reports that taskbar preview thumbnails aren't rendering consistently, instead showing a blank area.