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  1. Member DB83's Avatar
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    This is practically a new installation (some may remember last weeks issues)

    I finally moved over to Win7 on Monday having fixed the previous problems and ensuring the system was stable. When I had installed Win7/64 Sp1 it had reported a few updates and installed them with no issue.

    At close-down on Monday, it reported 136 updates (seems a lot for a few days) and took almost an hour to 'install' them. On Tuesday morning, prior to loading the desktop I had a message that Windows was 'configuring' these updates. It stalled on 0% and maybe 10 minutes later reported that configuration had failed and it loaded the desktop.

    Last night, at close-down, there were 142 updates so, again, I left the PC on for well over an hour whilst these were 'installed' (I guess these are the same updates ++)

    Turning the PC on this morning I was again greeted with the 'configuring' message and, again, it failed. I immediately powered down and again the system wanted to install updates but now there were only 129 of them. The count was still at 0 and despite the instruction not to turn off the PC I did just that.

    When I powered-up, I had the typical 'Windows did not close down properly(or words to that effect)' and I had the option screen. Chose normal start-up and now I had no 'configuring' message and the desk-top appeared. Powered-down again but now there were no updates to install and the PC closed down very quickly. Booted back up and the desk-top appeared with no delay and no 'configuring' message.

    Anyone had such issues or indeed know just what is going on ?
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  2. Member DB83's Avatar
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    After posting this message, the system, again, wants to install 129 updates.

    Crazy is too long a word for this behaviour.
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  3. Member DB83's Avatar
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    I found the 'update history' information and it now shows 131 update and lists the failures. Some of these relate to Net Framework. I had some issues with this from XP.

    I just wonder if Win7 has coughed when I transferred my documents and system settings from XP. Certainly some items have appeared on the desk-top that I have not installed including one which has a dependency on Net Framework yet the main program is NOT installed.

    Edit:

    The point is, unless Net Framework 3.51 is an integral part of Win7, it is NOT installed although Win7 is trying to install updates for it.

    Net Framework 4 is inst5alled - that appears in my list of programs although I did not directly install it - and the updates for that have been successfully installed.

    So my first port-o-call will be to remove the 3.51 updates and try again.

    Failing that, I will probably bite the bullet and re-install Win7 but NOT transfer the documents/settings.
    Last edited by DB83; 5th Feb 2014 at 07:59.
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  4. Member DB83's Avatar
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    Right. I removed the 3.51 updates from the mix. Installing went smoothly and so did configuration.

    Windows tried to reinstate the removed updates but I have now 'hidden' them
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  5. Member DB83's Avatar
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    What I can not get my head around is why Windows Update should even attempt to install an update for something that is NOT installed.

    I hid those updates for 3.51. When I checked back a few minutes later, it wanted to install even earlier updates.

    Now I have reset my update configuration to the lowest (that is one above no updates) where it should tell me what can be downloaded prior to install.

    Totally unsatisfactory in my humble opinion.
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  6. I'm a Super Moderator johns0's Avatar
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    What i do when windows wants to install a lot of updates is i install about 10 at a time,windows always seems to bog down when trying to install too many updates at once.
    I think,therefore i am a hamster.
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  7. The moral of the story is never enable Windows automatic updates.

    Dot net version 3.5 does come with Windows 7, which is probably why it doesn't appear to be "installed".
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework#History
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  8. Member DB83's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by hello_hello View Post
    The moral of the story is never enable Windows automatic updates.

    Dot net version 3.5 does come with Windows 7, which is probably why it doesn't appear to be "installed".
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework#History
    Thanks for that.

    So it seems that these are bad updates - well one certainly was.

    As I said earlier I had an issues installing a DotNet update on XP (that just screwed up the program that depended on it). Maybe that was a bad update all round.

    When I set about 'hiding' the 3.51 updates there must have been a dozen of them. Maybe the 2nd one fixed the bad first. Unless I really have to I am not about to check that out.
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    D883
    Consider disabling all aspects of automatic updates. Do it manually from Start Menu. Do not install right away, wait a couple of weeks if possible to find out from the net if any update breaks something. As johns0 said, keep the number to a dull roar. If it is not a security update think about the old saying --- if it aint broke don't fix it.

    May the fungus be your guide
    Last edited by gonca; 5th Feb 2014 at 19:26.
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  10. Member DB83's Avatar
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    Fungus !!! What Fungus ? I always wash my hands after.......

    There was an old fella from Wales
    Who installed Win7 during the gales
    The updates went bad
    Just like a disk that Gamainico had
    And now he's gone off the rails
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    You are the poet aren't you, ye of the funged up updates.
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  12. I was at a friend's house a few months ago, using her laptop for a bit. For whatever reason I had to restart it a couple of times, when I think it nagged me about waiting for updates to finish downloading and/or I had to wait for it to install them when it rebooted. I've had automatic updates disabled for so long I'd forgotten how annoying it can be.

    I run Windows update manually when it's convenient for me.... once or twice a year. I haven't run it since I last installed XP, but back then (last June) there were well over 100 updates and patches to install. At the time, they installed without any issue.... as long as I ignore the fact one of them broke SpeedFan's ability to control my MB's fan speeds, but working out which update did that through a process of elimination seemed like too much work at the time.
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  13. Member Seeker47's Avatar
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    https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/359683-Can-Win-Update-Items-Trash-Your-Computer-(-)...27#post2284227

    I also recall a situation with a Lenovo laptop running XP -- at this point, not sure if it was one of mine, or someone elses that I was trying to help out with -- that had repeated failures to process certain updates. Sometimes they showed up as 'failed', sometimes not at all. I don't think we ever got to the bottom of that.
    When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form.
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    I second the NEVER let windows do automatic updates. You may find something installed that is not needed or wanted or worse yet screws up your machine. Anyone who uses auto-updates (IMHO) for any program is asking for trouble. W/o controlling the updates and checking on what is being done, when the system goes AWOL you have no idea what caused the problem.

    You can set most software to advise you when an update is available and then make the decision, or just do it manually on your own schedule.

    Some people may disagree (I'm not wishing to start a bunch of arguing), but that's the way I handle them.

    It has now gotten better in later versions of Windows. In the newer OS's the interface to system files is more strictly controlled. In the "good ole days" various software would install their own version of a critical .dll and quite often that caused a lot of trouble when different software needed a different version of that .dll.

    The current day issues with codecs is an example where things can go awry. Some newer software (video players) actually install their own set of codecs and run them out of their own programs folders. This may take up more space on HDs, but the trade off in things working as expected is more than worth the extra disk space, not to mention (in my case) lack of blue smoke and not so polite language (and my wife shutting her TV room door).

    rcubed
    Last edited by rcubed; 6th Feb 2014 at 00:56. Reason: grammar
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  15. Member DB83's Avatar
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    Wise words here. I never had automatic updates running when I was on XP. I left them on for this Win7 installation thinking that the OS was even more stable and that the installed version of Win7 already came with SP1.

    What really threw me was that there was well over 100 updates in just a week. Hardly the sign of a stable OS is it ?
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    I'm going to add myself to the shut off auto updates list. For security reasons. I know too many people who have had their system borked by malware posing as an update.

    If you don't totally shut it off (ie. just show notifications) it'll still want to do updates sometimes. I know of people who left their computer for while without saving and lost their work because windows updated and rebooted.

    Actually I think windows updates hideously slowly at the best of times.
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  17. I'm a Super Moderator johns0's Avatar
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    Hundred updates just means you just installed windows 7.
    I think,therefore i am a hamster.
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  18. Originally Posted by DB83 View Post
    Wise words here. I never had automatic updates running when I was on XP. I left them on for this Win7 installation thinking that the OS was even more stable and that the installed version of Win7 already came with SP1.

    What really threw me was that there was well over 100 updates in just a week. Hardly the sign of a stable OS is it ?
    Not defending MS, but most of those 100 updates would probably be found on a Windows 8/8.1 system as well - there is a lot of code in common between Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 and, let's be honest, 8.1 is still at the 'toddler' stage.
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  19. Member DB83's Avatar
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    Adding to this topic....

    I have turned off Windows Update completely = lowest possible setting but.....

    Windows Update is still in my processes list and is using 50% of my cpu until I manually remove it from the list. I thought these issues were only for XP so can anyone throw some light on this.
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    you can completely disable windows update and stop the service from the services panel.
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  21. Member DB83's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by deadrats View Post
    you can completely disable windows update and stop the service from the services panel.
    I thought about that but it still begs the question why the process is hogging the cpu.
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    Originally Posted by DB83 View Post
    Originally Posted by deadrats View Post
    you can completely disable windows update and stop the service from the services panel.
    I thought about that but it still begs the question why the process is hogging the cpu.
    It shouldn't be hogging the CPU, even with an older dual core. My HTPC has an Athlon II x2 250 Regor and I don't see CPU usage like that running Windows update. Have you tried scanning for malware?
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  23. Member DB83's Avatar
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    No malware scans as of yet.

    All the 'googling' came back to XP and mentioned rouge updates to IE. Before I put Update to its lowest level, I installed a 'Cumulative Update to IE11 for Win7'. That reported 'success' but the update was still in the list but no longer 'ticked'. There were some 25+ other updates to Win7 which failed to install and not for the first time.
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    After the report of a major security problem with IE 11 back in April, I turned IE off. As I have not needed to use IE since then, I never turned it back on. If you want to try that to see if anything chnages, use Control Panel->Programs->Programs and Features->Turn Windows features on or off, and uncheck Internet Explorer.
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  25. Member DB83's Avatar
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    Hmmn.

    I read about that but thought that it was for IE8 ?
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  26. I had the same issue, Windows 7 64b. It turned out to be Zone Alarm, it would detect suspicious behavior and stop the instillation of the up-dates. Mainly because I was not there to say ok to the warning prompt's that Zone Alarm was giving.
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    Originally Posted by DB83 View Post
    Hmmn.

    I read about that but thought that it was for IE8 ?
    For IE6 thru IE11,

    https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/ms14-021
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    Originally Posted by DB83 View Post
    Hmmn.

    I read about that but thought that it was for IE8 ?
    IE versions from 6-9 and 11 were affected. See https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/ms14-018 and http://blog.malwarebytes.org/exploits-2/2014/04/microsoft-warns-against-new-internet-e...orer-zero-day/

    A patch was issued on April 8.http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2929437

    You won't be able to receive security updates for IE 11 anymore unless the above patch is installed.
    http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9249125/Microsoft_strips_some_Windows_7_users_o...tch_privileges

    Another serious IE exploit was found shortly thereafter, as referenced in El Heggunte's post.
    Last edited by usually_quiet; 19th Jun 2014 at 19:13.
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  29. Member DB83's Avatar
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    Which could go a long way to explain the present issues. No patch installed >> no updates allowed >> update crapping out.

    It is rather late in the day right now and I am staring at an empty bottle of the red grape . But tomorrow - make that later today - I will look closer at this.

    Thanks to all for the input.
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