I've had it with Windows Update!

I am not one of those people who like to knock Windows just because it's 'cool' to do so. They gave me one of my life passions after all (MS Flight Simulator), plus an O/S which I like, Windows 7, so it'd be churlish to be ungrateful! Even so...

For now, I am giving up with Windows Update. I made a clean installation of Windows 7 last week and found that the Update would not run - after two hours it was still 'searching for updates'. I followed various threads here and elsewhere, stopping the automatic updates and update service, installing KB3020369 & KB3172605.. but although this solved the endless search problem, the updates did not install properly (Update Failed). This was on a clean Win7 x64 installation, as I say. So I finally downloaded the Update Rollup for Win7 SP1 (KB3125574) and installed that instead. Then I tried to update further from there: back to never-ending 'searching for updates'! Incredible!!

Today I find that the installed updates have ruined my Adobe Photoshop installation. The two 'guilty' KB updates are listed on an Adobe forum, but since all my updates were installed by the rollup, I can't remove them. Not the first time of course updating has caused problems to installed applications. (One even killed Microsoft's own Flight Simulator, which I did fix, luckily - but only after some time Googling the issue).

Plus of course the ongoing issue of the Update Service continually hogging at least 70% of my CPU.. which again I must have spent hours Googling and applying 'fixes' which never worked for long.

I appreciate that it must be virtually impossible for Microsoft to prepare these fixes and be sure that they will not interfere with other programmes, especially third-party ones, and that we only see the negative results of the updates, not the positive ones, but frankly enough is enough. I have uninstalled all the KB3125574 update (and now Photoshop seems Ok again) and have turned off the Update Service, perhaps for good. I know some are going to say that this is very unwise, but I have in the past had PCs running for two years with no updates (one running XP), with no issues at all as far as I am aware at least. My PC problems always seem to come after I install updates, not after ignoring them.

I just needed to get this off my chest, I guess! How many hours and hours have I wasted trying to get to the bottom of applications suddenly going awry? Enough is enough..

Martin :)

See this post:

How do I reset Windows Update components?

CURRENT PROCEDURE:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Download https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020369 and https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3172605 in advance.
Disconnect the computer from the Internet so Windows Update cannot automatically update itself to 7.6.7600.320.
Perform a fresh reload from Recovery Media or Windows 7/64 with SP1 RTM.
When the installation prompts for updates, choose "Ask Me Later".
Apply KB3020369 and then KB3172605 in that order.
Restore the Internet connection, configure update settings to your preference and launch Windows Update as normal.

Anyway you are not alone. I got an update notification that Internet Explorer 10 was available as an important update even though IE 11 was already installed.

Problem is caused by a faulty / corrupt update in softwaredistribution > download folder.

Resetting WU components to include deleting the folder clears the offending update(s)



Windows Update - Reset - see Option Three

Have you tried this? Search for Windows Updates takes forever? - A possible solution

townsbg said:

Have you tried this? Search for Windows Updates takes forever? - A possible solution

I've seen that 3rd-party tutorial recommended at other communities, and it seems to work.

However, we already have several similar tutorials, especially this one by @ThrashZone:

Post #2 here:
Windows Update will not update and I've tried multiple fixes

If you search the forum, you'll find several others, all of which solve the problem by manually installing from the MS Update Catalog the offline installers for KB3125574 (for fresh Win7 installs), as well as KB3020369 and KB3172605.
The key is to first temporarily set WU to manual from services.msc and to set WU update to "never check for updates". Then, one must REBOOT (important!). That will allow the 2 (or 3) patches to install manually. That will get WU client working again.
On a fresh Win7 install, it may also help to have IE11 (from the offline installer, if needed) and .NET Framework 4.6.1

Hope this helps,
MM


Cheers,
MM

Hi,
You might try installing in the correct order :)
KB3020369
KB3125574 probably has April's update client which is just as broken as many other months releases
KB3172605 best update client in it and should be installed last if using the above second update.

But yes many have had issue installing a lot of updates using only the 2 updates
I suppose the error message should state do not apply instead of failed.... since a lot are superseded.

I have found that '360 Total Tecurity' did/does an excellent job of updating W-7 (XP also). Just leave it alone & let it do its thing, , ,

-c-