Windows 7 Updates Causing Problems

[Tomkunzo]

I have read complaints from incensed Windows 7 users about user profiles becoming corrupted and unusable and it seems that Windows' updates are one of the culprits.
Is that true?
I am now very chary of allowing any updates from Microsoft and have stopped all updates.
I think that for security issues, my antirus program could take care of them!
In fact, I have changed from Windows XP to Windows 7 just about a year ago and I have had my user profile corrupted three times within this period!
I was using Windows XP for many years and I have never encountered any corrupted profile problems - not a single time!
This makes me regret ever changing to Windows 7!
Each time my profile is corrupted, I have to rebuild my new user account from scratch.
The Fixit that is supposed to remedy the corrupted profile problem just didn't work because I have tried it from another user account that I have opened prior to the corruption of the account.
The whole action of the Fixit started and ended within the new user account and there is no way it can fix the corrupted account in this way.
Please let me know how I can just save ONLY MY USER PROFILE so that I can reinstate it and only IT in case of future corruption of the account.
This will save me a load of work rebuilding everything from scratch.

 

[NoelDP]

Windows updates are VERY rarely the cause of problems - despite what many people like to say.
The problems with updates usually fall into three or four categories...
1) Pre-existing system corruption - such as failing hardware - causing problems which are exacerbated when an update fails.
2) Malware attempting to either prevent updates, or corrupt files.
3) User error -such as switching the power off when the system appears to have frozen during a long update, or at shutdown.

Your user profile is contained partly in the registry and partly in the filesystem - your best option always is a full backup, but System Restore will also save the details required.

Since this problem appears to have happened a number of times, it's important to try and find the cause, rather than patch the effects.
Windows 7 is a very different beast to XP - and cannot be treated in the same cavalier way that people got used to treating XP. This is by design, as one of the problems with XP was that it was originally designed in an inherently insecure fashion (as was evident when SP2 was released with a huge number of fundamental security changes).
I rather suspect that your problem is going to be caused by using methodologies in Win7 that you used to use in XP - and which are no longer either effective or appropriate.

 

[Tomkunzo]

Windows updates are VERY rarely the cause of problems - despite what many people like to say.
The problems with updates usually fall into three or four categories...
1) Pre-existing system corruption - such as failing hardware - causing problems which are exacerbated when an update fails.
2) Malware attempting to either prevent updates, or corrupt files.
3) User error -such as switching the power off when the system appears to have frozen during a long update, or at shutdown.

Your user profile is contained partly in the registry and partly in the filesystem - your best option always is a full backup, but System Restore will also save the details required.

Since this problem appears to have happened a number of times, it's important to try and find the cause, rather than patch the effects.
Windows 7 is a very different beast to XP - and cannot be treated in the same cavalier way that people got used to treating XP. This is by design, as one of the problems with XP was that it was originally designed in an inherently insecure fashion (as was evident when SP2 was released with a huge number of fundamental security changes).
I rather suspect that your problem is going to be caused by using methodologies in Win7 that you used to use in XP - and which are no longer either effective or appropriate.

Restore points may sound like the best solution under the circumstances but it is a chicken and egg situation.
Picture this scenario: I have two user accounts - A and B.
I am using A for some time now and it may have restore points stored in it.
Now, A has a corrupted profile and cannot be accessed anymore.
So, I use the B account.
But user B's account is a new account and may not have any restore points.
Also, it cannot access any of the stored restore points in user A's account.
So, how do I go about using restore points to restore A's account even if I am prudent enough to have created user account B?
Thank you.
Regards,

 

[NoelDP]

System Restore is just that - SYSTEM restore - and will revert all profiles, not merely the active one.

 

[Tomkunzo]

NoelDP, let me say that what every Windows Operating System wants is a robust system that don't go kaput every now and then.
And Microsoft, as the provider of such a system must ensure that their OS is hassle free.
Thank you.
Regards,