Big bang theory
Windows10 slipped in a new malware feature.
I discovered I couldn’t save documents or any output from my applications to my desktop. I was trying to do “save as…” within the application to put say… an Aspire G-Code file on my desktop. The “save as” would “act” like a “search command” and report to me that the document name couldn’t be found.
A totally ambiguous response.
Six months ago, Windows10 added a new “protection” to save users from “Ransomeware.” It blocks “save” access to all what it considers “critical” Windows directories including the desktop, where some evil-doer may place a Ransomeware file. Evil-doers includes the logged in user, me.
I have been getting phony Ransomeware emails saying my email and my computer were hacked and they were spying on all my personal activities. I remember checking that all firewalls and Windows security was on. That’s when I must have enabled the new “Anti-Ransomware” feature without realizing how it would block my normal activities.
I certainly turned the protection on, as I don’t think it is auto enabled. My world would have exploded by now… It happened on “Ironsides” but not my NUC or my SURFACE Win10 computers.
I didn’t know or certainly understand the consequences.
I was going almost nuts trying to figure out why my applications were suddenly “broke”. I have an app called Artisteer I use to create website templates. Suddenly I couldn’t save templates to the desktop.
Then I noticed the same problem with other apps like Vectric Aspire
I reloaded several apps because I thought they were “broken” when I couldn’t save to the desktop.
I don’t use my Ironsides computer for everyday activities, so it took me a while to discover what was happening.
Eventually, I figured it had to be my good buddy WIN10, as auto updates occur with great regularity. A “symptoms search” on the internet immediately returned the root cause. I am not the only person “inflicted” with sudden anti-save behavior.
Gee, thanks WIN10 for protecting me yet again from myself. But the protection created a self-inflicted wound…