Trouble with Windows Update Agent 7.6.7600.320

All right, now I have begun to add updates. Time for a few questions, so I understand what's happening.


First, my last steps :

• Executed Barefoot Kid's extended cleanup command.
• All items checked, except Download Program Files, Service Pack Backup Files and Windows Upgrade Log Files.
• No second dialog box in sight with Clean System Files option.
• Executed ordinary Disk Cleanup through Windows GUI, just in case.
• Nothing more to clean.
• Clean System Files button only brings up Service Pack Backup Files (920 Mo), left unchecked as instructed.
• Reboot.
• No Configuring Updates to be seen.
• Check for Updates.
• Same old list of 143 Important + 60 Optional comes up.

What is this KB 3083324 you told me to install manually, and why is it important ? It is flagged by several people, including here, as "telemetry, snooping, Windows 10-related, do not install".

Is it the same thing as Windows Update Agent 7.6.7600.320 ? Is 7.6.7600.320 good ? Bad ? Is it still installed on my PC ? It shows on Install History, but not in Installed Updates.

Windows wants me to install a long list of Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1 Security Updates (Important). Thanks to UsernameIssues, I now understand that .NET Framework 3.5.1 is part of Windows and already installed on my machine.

However, I'm also being offered Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2 (Optional), which is "an update to the .NET Framework 4. 4 and 4.5.1", which (I think) I don't have. I'm supposed to be able to "write Windows Store apps" with it, but I don't care for that.

Is it better to install .NET Framework 4.5.2 ? And if I do, won't it superseed .NET Framework 3.5.1 ? And if it does, don't all these Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1 Security Updates become redundant, and are better not installed ?

I'd rather have as few updates installed as possible. It seems each of them makes Windows a bit slower and clunkier.

Thanks for your continued support !

My post #2 was meant to convey that you could start over (as in: install W7 again). After installing SP1, you should be asked to install an update to the Windows Update Agent before you can get a list of updates. I was suggesting that you skip that update and manually install its replacement: the September update to the Windows Update Client. [Microsoft changed the name from agent to client.]

At the time that I made that post, I had no idea that you were concerned about updates that might provide MS with telemetry. I have no such concerns and as such, I have installed all updates.

The .NET updates for 3.5.1 are needed.
You don't need .NET 4.5.2 unless you install some app that needs it.
.NET 3.5.1 and .NET 4.5.2 are separate apps.
.NET 4.5.2 does not supersede .NET 3.5.1.

UsernameIssues said:

My post #2 was meant to convey that you could start over (as in: install W7 again)..

Aaaaaall right. Did not get that. My point was precisely to avoid reinstalling from scratch, which I did maybe ten or twenty times in the last few days. Only to bump into Microsoft's "enhancements" to Windows, which look increasingly like malware to me. So no, I didn't reinstall from scratch this time.

Now I have both Windows Update Agent 7.6.7600.256 and 7.6.7600.320, at least if my Update History is correct (doesn't show in Installed Updates). Is that bad ? Is there a known history of conflicts between both, hence your suggestion to skip the first and install the second ?

UsernameIssues said:

The .NET updates for 3.5.1 are needed.
You don't need .NET 4.5.2 unless you install some app that needs it.
.NET 3.5.1 and .NET 4.5.2 are separate apps.
.NET 4.5.2 does not supersede .NET 3.5.1.

Good. So I'll make a note to install 3.5.1 security updates, and forget 4.5.2.

Now I'm back to where we started. My aim is to build a clean zero-day Windows image to fall back on in the future. Should I go on installing whatever Windows Updates is prodding me for ? Apply Callender #2 post ? Start all over again and do something differently ?

I have an intermediate image I can start back from, with Windows, all my drivers, customizations but no Windows Updates.

Clairvaux said:

~~~
Now I have both Windows Update Agent 7.6.7600.256 and 7.6.7600.320, at least if my Update History is correct (doesn't show in Installed Updates). Is that bad ? Is there a known history of conflicts between both, hence your suggestion to skip the first and install the second ?
~~~

Update history is just that: a history of what was installed.

Installed Updates should show neither of those old "Agent" updates. They should have already been replaced by one of your other updates. That is why I suggested skipping the installation of those... I don't know which version of the Windows Update Client is considered "telemetry free". I'm not attempting to follow the various threads on that topic.

Many thanks to you both.

Just out of curiosity, Callender : did you spot anything abnormal in my CBS folder in my original post ? Was that long list of instructions in your #3 based on this, or on your personal experience in similar situations ?

Waited a few days. Now everything seems more or less back to normal, regarding Windows Updates.

One hidden update has mysteriously disappeared (not hidden anymore, not installed and not available to install either), others which I blocked several weeks ago are nowhere to be seen, but at least I'm getting proposed updates (a bunch of security KBs have arrived yesterday that I have to review), and Windows 10 nag-malware has never raised its ugly head (with a little extra help from GWX Control Panel 1.5, just in case).

Thanks to all.

Moving on to other issues...