Windows Update overload

This is a For Next Time query as the laptop owner has taken the machine back to Greece, where she lives (I'd swap UK for Greece at this time of year).

I ran a clean install on her laptop which put her at Windows 7 (64 bit) Service Pack 1. Activation didn't work (does it ever) but was done via the Microsoft helpline. I then attempted to apply Windows updates. Update told me there were 177 'important' or 'critical' updates so I clicked on the button to install them all. It downloaded and installed them, giving a message the update was successful. It then rebooted to apply them. A progress screen appeared after a while saying something like 'Stage 1 of 5, 15% completed'. At this point I went to bed, leaving the laptop running.

Next day all I could get was a blank (black) screen. Windows would not boot at all, even in safe mode. I used the Windows disk to restore to SP1 and left it at that, setting Update to Do Not Download or Apply, as the owner's departure was imminent.

In this case it was a reasonably acceptable solution as the owner was not using the laptop for purchases or internet banking, but I would like to do the job properly next time. I am guessing that the laptop was overwhelmed by the sheer number of updates. Is that likely, and if so, would it be possible to apply them a few at a time?

shadow2201 said:

I have never had the issue of having the computer "overloaded" with updates, have done the same thing many times. I can't say though that I might just be lucky and having that many at the same time just works for me for no reason. You can definitely do them little by little, just have to select 10 or however many you want to do, install, restart, and repeat. You could try that, and that might even help to decide which one might have caused the computer to not start up again.

This was a budget Asus laptop, several years old. I wonder if that was anything to do with it.