Windows Updates - huge downloads

[Phil Bee]

Windows Updates - huge downloads

Running Win 7.1 on a four year old I5-2500K CPU desktop with 8 gig Ram

My ISP allows me 50 gig of download bandwidth per calendar month. Normally I use around 20 - 30gB, but this month (and today is the last day of month) I have almost used my entire allocation. My ISP's records show that I was downloading up to about 5 Gig/day most days, particularly earlier in the month.

I disabled Windows Updates a couple of weeks ago when I spotted the problem. That temporarily fixed the high bandwidth problem and today, being the last day of the calendar month, I re-enabled updates and the heavy download rate resumed. Already this morning it has downloaded over 2 Gb and once again I have had to stop updates before I run out of my months' allocation.

My Control Panel/Windows Updates page shows I have 1 important update - Windows 10 (2.7 Gig) and 2 optional updates - Silverlight (125Mb) (never use silverlight!) and a Graphics WDDM1.1 adaptor (60Mb) - which I think is problematical - it has been trying to update it for months.

I do not want to install Windows 10 on this PC yet. It is my main PC and I do not want to 'mess it up'. In fact I installed Win 10 on my laptop and it caused serious CPU overheating problems (like running the CPU at 90'C instead of the usual 40-50'C) so I restored (upgraded!) it back to Win 8.1.

Does anyone have any suggestions please?

Many thanks in anticipation

Phil B

 

[paul1149]

Have you looked under Update History to see if there are any recurring failures? You could also set it to "Check for updates but do not install," and then install selectively, or even manually via standalone installers.

 

[Wandering one]

My internet is always through WIFI and therefore sometimes very limited traffic. I have always had windows update set to NEVER. This stops MS from preloading all updates to my computer. No problem to go to 'all programs menu' and select "updates / check for updates' once in a while. This allows me to select what I want to download and install, and leave / hide the rest. This does not block updates for MSE protection.
Also keep a 'notepad' file on the desktop with a list of the problem updates associated with W10. These I do not want, but as a senior it helps to have notes .
Art.