New
#1
'Counterfeit Software' Error - now runs slow - updates deleted
Have been running Windows 7 fine for months but recently it started acting strange. Randomly, I would get the 'not genuine version of Window' text on the bottom right of desktop screen. Then I noticed my Microsoft Security Essentials getting turned off sometimes and then the PC just started running terribly slow. I got a popup message about 'you may have been a victim of counterfeit software - click to download further Microsoft software' - I didn't download anything but clicked the link which took me to the legit MS site. I also got the message that because of this, I could not download any further updates.
Today, I clicked 'Windows update' and it gives me 70 updates totalling 1.2gb to download. I checked some of these and they were released in 2012 - so it looks like MS has wiped all my updates - have now reinstalled most of them. Prior to this, because MS stopped allowing updates for my Ryzen processor, I used the following workaround to continue receiving updates - this worked fine but maybe now MS is targeting people who used this?
Unofficial Patch Unblocks Windows 7 and 8.1 Updates for Kaby Lake, Ryzen - ExtremeTech
Have run multiple anti-virus scans and although they run around 20x slower than usual they find nothing wrong so I'm guessing it a Microsoft backdoor process which is causing the problems.
I legally bought Windows 7 from MS and my key was verified in the past. It is possible that the Windows disk used to install the current version of Windows was not the legit disk but I can't remember.
Any ideas how to get my system running properly again or what is causing the issues?
Thanks