Can't Get Windows Updater to Work

I'm concerned by the Spectre and Meltdown news. I realized I've not seen any Windows Updater messages for a while.

I ran a Belarc Advisor profile yesterday and it tells me that I'm missing some Security Updates. I also updated my 'free' version of Avast since MS warns that AV software must be up-to-date for their patch to install and work. Here's what Belarc reported re Security:

Hotfix Id Severity Description (click to see security bulletin)
EOL-Adobe End of Life Adobe Acrobat 8.1.0.137 is vulnerable and no security updates are provided by the vendor
Q4052978 Critical Microsoft security update (KB4052978)
Q4054521 Important Microsoft security update (KB4054521)

I tried running Windows Update and it reported that I might have to reboot. Here is the verbatim 'error message.'

"Windows Update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running. You may need to restart your computer."

I rebooted and got the same behavior.

I checked and I had this option chosen:

"Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them."

After this fresh reboot with nothing else running I found could change it to

"Download updates but let me choose whether to install them."

but when I clicked on "OK" nothing seemed to happen.

I am not seeing any Windows Update Error Messages with Names/Numbers. The program just seems 'broken.'

Should I still install and run SURT?

As an alternative can I safely remove Windows Updater in Add/Remove Programs?

How difficult will it be for me to reinstall it?

The Win7 X64 I am running has a legitimate, purchased license but it was installed from a downloaded ISO file, so I do not have 'disks from the vendor' on which to find programs to reinstall.

My System Specs are available.

thanks
baumgrenze

Please try below programs one at time.

Download and run the Windows Update Troubleshooter.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...troubleshooter


Automatically reset Windows Update components
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971058

Automatically reset Windows Update components
Fix Windows Update by Ramesh Kumar and save to your Desktop.
(Click on the hard drive icon with a downward arrow).


You can also use my batch script to repair most common Windows Update errors.



Restart your device and check for updates.

Hi baumgrenze,,,

Your problem started about a moth ago, MS issued a duff certificate.
Follow the instructions in this thread, >>post#9<<, follow it EXACTLY

Windows Update service not running - Windows 7 Help Forums

As for the Belarc report
Security only updates are NOT cumulative, install the missing ones
As for Acrobat as its no longer supported it is classified as a potential security risk, uninstall it -

Notes
if your using IE11 or Edge some of the Meltdown fix's are included in the latest Cumulative update, so it needs to be installed.
OEM's should be providing Bios updates shortly, i have seem some of thier post in this regard, but i dont know how far back they will go - im not expecting to see one for my comp built 2009.
Intel have also issued a system checker
Intel-SA-00086 Detection Tool
furter info about it here
Windows Client Guidance against speculative execution vulnerabilities - Windows 7 Help Forums


Roy



Roy

Thank you Roy for the straightforward solution of resetting the clock so that Windows Update would run. In my searching for a solution I did not see that Microsoft admitted their mistake and offered your solution. The troubleshooter features of Win7/Pro x64 did not suggest this either.

It did find 37 "Video hardware errors" where each instance included sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml

andthen a series of files (sorted in Excel) which look similar



WD-20160204-1520.dmp
WD-20160407-1657.dmp
WD-20160429-1047.dmp
WD-20160605-1606.dmp
WD-20160617-0926.dmp
WD-20160628-1044.dmp
WD-20160704-2041.dmp
WD-20160721-1627.dmp
WD-20160805-1816.dmp
WD-20160819-2037.dmp
WD-20160828-1509.dmp
WD-20160829-1807.dmp
WD-20160901-1741.dmp
WD-20160903-1356.dmp
WD-20160911-2000.dmp
WD-20160913-1858.dmp
WD-20160916-1430.dmp
WD-20160925-2008.dmp
WD-20161015-2117.dmp
WD-20161020-2117.dmp
WD-20161020-2117-01.dmp
WD-20161025-1948.dmp
WD-20161026-1820.dmp
WD-20161029-1858.dmp
WD-20161127-1127.dmp
WD-20161203-2025.dmp
WD-20161227-0855.dmp
WD-20170418-0848.dmp
WD-20170523-0838.dmp
WD-20170701-1258.dmp
WD-20170705-0922.dmp
WD-20170807-0828.dmp
WD-20171009-0915.dmp
WD-20171014-1330.dmp
WD-20171015-0918.dmp

I do not appear to be having any video related problems. Does this look familiar?


Thanks again,
baumgrenze