Solved Beware of 2019-06 Security Monthly Quality Rollup KB4503292

[ZakGordon7]

Just had a nasty system behavior after applying the update. It might be due to some other specific things that took place around the same time (I will detail that later), but for the time being i think people need to be careful when using this update.

Here are a few threads on the first page from a couple of other users that also had issues after this update:

Windows 7 x64 - kb4503292 - Error Code 80073701

Windows 7 x64 Not Bootable After KB4503292 Monthly Rollup 2019-06

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There might be others down the thread also.

So my specific problem was to suddenly see many spikes in my CPU usage (90-100% range of these spikes), and i also noticed my main SSD getting dangerously hot (in the high 70 degree C range before i shut things down as i did not want to see how much higher it would get).

Using the Windows Update section to uninstall KB4503292 did not resolve the two main issues above. I had to run System Restore to the point before that update was installed to remove the two main problems. So for now KB4503292 will remain off my systems while i look into the possibility to getting specific parts of the Rollup (for security) from other legit sources etc.

Hardware/OS is: Windows 7 Pro 64bit (retail license) and the SSD is a Crucial CT240BX500SSD1 which is where Windows 7 is installed.

The SSD is new (a few months old) and is reported healthy and ok in CrystalDiskInfo software. Having said that compared to the old 128GB Samsung Pro it replaced it has always ran a bit hotter (mid 40's to high 40's vs mid 30's to low 40's of the Samsung Pro). Still the temps i was seeing after the Windows Update (in the high 70's!) was not suddenly a hardware failure as it has returned to normal temps after the system restore.

There might be a few mitigating issues around all this. I was (and had been for a few months) running a 'High Performance' energy profile (rather than the default 'Balanced') to help improve the fps on one particular game.

I also had updated Macrium Reflect at the same time as the Windows Update.

I'm pretty sure these two things do not explain the behavior after the KB4503292 update, but just wanted to mention them just in case.

Since running System Restore i have been monitoring my system and have not seen a repeat of the two main issues. One thing i had noticed before bailing on the update was a new process kept popping up in Windows Task Manager. Sadly i did not write the name down (something like wmger.exe?? but i am not really sure) but it did have a description that indicated it was a Windows system process. After the System Restore that file no longer appears in the running processes list. So that could be something to look out for if anyone else has noticed the same behavior on their systems after this update.

That is all the info i have for now and maybe other more experienced Windows users can chime in with more info on this. After suffering the last few years (really since Windows 10 came out) as a legal and paid up Windows 7 user (with time to go on their current license) I 'should' have known better than to apply a new Windows 7 update from the default rollup option. So this might be the last time i use the official default Windows Update, as it seems we (Windows 7 users) can not trust MS anymore to care about this out going version of Windows (that just happens to be the best they have ever made).

Good luck folks and be careful. I'm preparing a new dual-boot Windows 7 and Linux Mint system using wkellers Integrate7 script (for the Windows 7 part) here:

Integrate7 script – automatically download and slipstream all updates!

MS have totally ensured i never want to use Windows 10 in the way they have treated legit Windows 7 users for years now.

 

[ZakGordon7]

Update info:

After the reboot (after installing the update) i simply had some monitoring software running (Speccy64 to see temps) and MSI afterburner hardware monitor to note the CPU usage, and Task Manager to see the processes being used. The system was not connected to the internet (it mostly is off line as default) either, so no way malware was running and sending info online etc (multiple malware scans came back negative).

I just wanted to mention these aspects as i had forgotten to in the first post. As far as the system was concerned it really was just because of that KB4503292 update.

EDIT: Further thinking on the issue is that it might also be related to the fact i was extremely diligent in avoiding MS attempt to 'rollup' many of the so called spyware/data mining aspects of Windows 10 that they later started to put on Windows 7 and 8 updates. I used a thread in this forum to compile a list of about 30 odd updates that i avoided installing (and some of those are now on my ignore update list).

Maybe this latest update relied on some of those and the CPU thrashing was due to software trying to find missing components? Not sure why my SSD temps rocketed, but probably related to lots of disk access searches?

Anyway if you have not avoided those spyware updates on Windows 7, then maybe you won't see the same issue i had.

 

[file3456]

Nice QC M$ has.

Why I don't bother with updates. Well, at least one reason why I don't use them. I have maybe four and those are due for the motherboard drivers and Sandboxie. I don't even use an anti-virus program. Though I scan, and scan, and scan my computer with all kinds of stuff, some of which most people never even heard of before or don't use like Sanity Check, Stream Armor or Free Fixer (doesn't do what one would think) and nothing ever found.

I use Sandboxie for my browser and I scan ALL downloads at Virus Total. Then I clone my computer's every once in a while so if there is a catastrophe I can clone back like nothing ever happened.

Updates? More like downgrades, and I've seen my fair share of user posts all across the Internet with update issues. I did have a running list of all the posts, but now I can't find that list anymore. Most were from Anandtech.

 

[ZakGordon7]

Little update: I decided to try the Security Only Quality Update (KB4503269) from the MS update catalog download option:

Microsoft Update Catalog

That is just the security aspects of the Monthly Quality Rollup i had issues with as above.

Anyway i saw a repeat of the exact same problems! So it is a part of the security patches that triggers the CPU spikes and SSD thrashing. This time i took the time to note down the process at fault at it was wermgr.exe (Windows error reporting).

So it seems something on this security update does not agree with my system sans a number of updates from the last years when MS tried to turn all our W7 OS into W10. Again simply uninstalling the update did not stop the CPU and SSD thrashing, i had to once again use System Restore to get the PC back to normal operations. Seeing as no one else is reporting this issue it must be super rare.

 

[Snick]

ZakGordon7,
Why don't you try Dism++ x86/x64/ARM64 for Win Updates, Security or otherwise, it tells you what the update is and if it has been a problem. No need to reboot until what you chose is installed, providing that you have enough RAM to store the downloaded updates, same as WU does.

And so windows error reporting is running because it is reporting errors, no? Yes!
A look see at a log or two would help, no? Yes!
Event Viewer for starters, no? Yes!

 

[ZakGordon7]

ZakGordon7,
Why don't you try Dism++ x86/x64/ARM64 for Win Updates, Security or otherwise, it tells you what the update is and if it has been a problem. No need to reboot until what you chose is installed, providing that you have enough RAM to store the downloaded updates, same as WU does.

I did not know about, so thanks for the info

And so windows error reporting is running because it is reporting errors, no? Yes!
A look see at a log or two would help, no? Yes!
Event Viewer for starters, no? Yes!

Yes to all would be great, but 'new' (for me) forums often have new rules on how things are posted and i'm often too lazy to learn all that

1. Yes it looked like the CPU spikes (between 80%-100% producing classic zig-zag (up/down) graphs over extended periods, where it would normally be flat with just an odd spike here and there usually with much lower percentile of CPU usage) were directly related to when wermgr.exe was running (in terms of CPU use under running processes in Task Manager). I could simply watch when wermgr.exe would use CPU and see the spike in the graph etc.

Now sure error reporting happens, but i did not know it used so much of the CPU % and did not know it would heat up an SSD as quickly (and as high) as it did. Concerns over that heat is one of the reasons i did not want to experiment much (collect logs, more data etc).

2. Event Viewer shows this that looks related to the issue:

EventID 3 Kernel-EventTracing with 4 over the last 24 hours (when i did that last Security Only update) and 27 over the last 7 days (from the Rollup update).

EventID 7026 Service Control Manager with 2 over the last 24 hours and 24 over the last 7 days.

Everything else looks kinda normal (Microsoft Antimalware has 132 over the last 7 days, i guess due to not being online and updated all the time).

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My hunch is that now that MS has (ideologically) moved into the Rollup mentality for WU, and just seeing how it wants it's OS to work in W10 (and trying to get both Windows 7 and 8 to work in the same kind of way) it probably has changed the way WU patches are built and rolled out in it's own test beds etc.

As i specifically avoided many updates (around 40 at last count) during the period when MS were secretly (they did not warn anyone) adding the 'spyware' functionality that exists in W10 to the previous OS, and/or simply transforming your OS into W10 (my mother was one that happened to), it seems likely that now WU looks for much of that data that simply is not on my Windows 7 OS? So this is now triggering the Windows Error Reporting exe into overdrive.

For me i guess it means the end of the road in terms of WU, and as i use W7 offline 99% of the time that is not a big deal.

I mostly wanted to report what i was seeing as i felt it dangerous (to the hardware) enough that it might be handy for others that see the behaviour.

Fixing the problem on my system (by not installing those June security updates) is good enough a result from my end.

 

[Snick]

Your system Specs don't help.

Wermgr.exe runs the error reporting software.

Wermgr.exe is also Trojan malware if you are infected.

What Anti-Virus. Anti-Exploit, Anti-Ransomware, & Firewall, are you running?

Here's an excellent scanner we recommend & I use routinely
Malwarebytes free real-time trial for 30 days then it's offline/manual.

Would you please run Malwarebytes and post logs please.
Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in SevenForums

 

[Snick]

We're here to try to help others with their computer issues voluntarily. Most of the time, collectively, we can effectuate a resolve to Original-Poster's (OP's) dilemma.

 

[ZakGordon7]

Thanks for the interest Snick. All AV/Malware scans report clean (this is a PC that 99% of it's time is offline), the tools i use to check were updated along with when i tried the Windows update that caused the problems i reported.

Those tools include Malwarebytes and Avira plus the MS stuff (plus a few others recommended at bleeping computers website). The issues started directly after installing the updates i mentioned and stopped directly after removing them with System Restore (all as mentioned above in my posts).

After that i ran a battery of tests for malware, just in case.

I have no other really useful info to give, it was just a warning for others that might see the same pattern of problems (in particular that dangerous overheating of the SSD), they would likely need to have avoided the specific WU's i have over the last few years to not get the W10 spyware stuff on Windows 7 (or 8) that MS have been pushing out. That seems likely to be the main reason for the issues i was seeing (as the system is clean).

I will mark the topic solved as for me it has been (by not installing those July 2019 updates).