Ammon News - Some Windows 11 users are reporting unexpected problems after installing Microsoft’s latest security update. The complaints started appearing only a day or two after the patch rolled out, with several people describing system crashes, freezes, and other stability issues.

The update in question is KB5079473, the March 2026 cumulative update released on March 10 for Windows 11 versions 24H2 and 25H2. It moves systems to builds 26100.8037 and 26200.8037. On paper, the update mainly focuses on security fixes, along with a handful of smaller improvements. Microsoft says it includes updates to Secure Boot certificate handling, improvements to File Explorer search reliability, and changes related to WDAC COM allowlisting.

But shortly after the update began rolling out, reports started appearing in Microsoft Q&A threads. Some users claim their systems became unstable after installing the patch.

One person wrote that their computer crashed completely three times after the update, forcing them to perform hard reboots and losing unsaved work in the process. Others describe the screen freezing entirely, leaving a restart as the only option. A few users even say their PCs began restarting every 10 to 20 minutes.

“ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_READONLY_MEMORY (0xBE).” Beyond that, some users mention apps refusing to launch — including Office and Outlook — while tools like Command Prompt or the Print Screen shortcut stopped responding altogether. One error code mentioned in these reports is 0x800704b3.

In a few cases, users claim their drives became inaccessible on certain Samsung Galaxy Book laptops, while others point to graphical glitches or GPU-accelerated apps crashing on Dell Precision systems. These examples are anecdotal for now, but they do suggest the update may be triggering compatibility issues on some hardware.

For users running into trouble, the usual advice applies: pause updates for the moment, or uninstall the patch through Windows Update settings if possible. Submitting a report through the Feedback Hub can also help Microsoft track down the cause if a wider problem is developing.

Gizmochina