Microsoft’s August 2025 security updates are breaking recovery tools on Windows 10 and Windows 11 PCs
Windows 11 August 2025 security update is causing unintended UAC prompts to appear for non-admin users
KB5071959 fixes the two aforementioned issues. If you have not been able to enroll in ESU, this Windows update is paramount to getting the enrollment process working again. However, since this is an out-of-band update, this update is not required if you already have ESU enabled on your Windows 10 device, or if you are able to enroll for ESU without errors showing up.
If you are still on Windows 10 and either refuse to upgrade to Windows 11 , or have a system that does not officially support Windows 11 . Extended Security Updates (or ESU) is the last wave of support Microsoft is implementing for the 10-year-old operating system. These updates will provide critical security updates to keep Windows 10 secure from threats for the next one to three years. Using Windows 10 without ESU will make your device vulnerable to online attacks. The only caveat is that you'll need to either pay money or enroll through Windows Backup to get into the ESU program (if you don't have 1000 Microsoft reward points, that is). On top of this, ESU also requires you to be signed into a Microsoft account to gain access to it.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News , or add us as a preferred source , to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/microsoft-patches-windows-10-issue-that-accidentally-blocked-extended-security-updates-from-installing-latest-update-should-finally-fix-all-the-issues-for-esu-eligible-devices#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
- NVIDIA AI Physics Transforms Aerospace and Automotive Design, Accelerating Engineering by 500x
- Top Microsoft exec's boast about Windows 'evolving into an agentic OS' provokes furious backlash over AI — users fed up with forced AI and cloud features
- AMD's gaming-optimized Ryzen 5 7500X3D with 96 MB of 3D V-Cache shows up in UK stores — here's where to buy AMD's latest budget X3D chip
- Grab this £59.99 1TB Samsung 990 Evo Plus SSD while you can — fast PCIe 4.0 speeds and a 29% saving make this a must-have storage upgrade
- Intel software fixes stamp down privilege escalation vulnerabilities, while microcode updates clean up CPU messes — chipmaker has its own Patch Tuesday as it st
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.