Looking at all the articles about this issue, this seems to be more about a bug in the Windows cleanup tool that lets the user delete old update files. Maybe the tool isn't working properly, or it's flagging update files as deletable and they're not supposed to be. Admin users can still delete whatever they want manually, unless the system or something else is currently accessing the file. The OS sometimes protects its system files by having them be owned by the SYSTEM user, but the admin can take ownership of them to delete them. This hasn't changed and I can't see it changing.

`Administrator` isn't the most powerful user on Windows, `SYSTEM` is[1].

Those lingering files are likely created/owned by SYSTEM

[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/identity-...

This makes more sense when you realise that you're not the user of your computer, but a resource to be exploited.

You probably can with the usual two-step process: First change the permissions (which an admin is allowed to), then delete.

Could always mount the NTFS on a live Linux USB. Physical access > admin login.

its not your Computer