Windows update stops showing optional updates

Greetings. Excuse my English is not my native language, I hope to make my question as good as possible.

Well, as the title of the post says, windows update stopped showing the optional updates that I did not install on my PC. I have the service configured to check for updates automatically but let me decide when to install them.

I realized this after the February updates, if I do a manual search if it shows me the optional updates available, but the automatic search made by the system indicates that there are no more updates for my computer. Even reinstall windows 7 thinking of some corruption but after the new installation the same thing happened, after the third day without installing the optional updates these are no longer displayed in the automatic search for updates.

I do not know if it is a new way of operating the service, which stops showing the updates that apparently do not interest or that is failing, The event viewer does not show any error with windows update.

I appreciate any clarification in advance.

These days Microsoft in general provides two "rollup" updates each month: one is the all-in-one rollup, which has every update ever provided for Windows 7; the other is the once-a-month security-only rollup. There are also a few others, such as the "preview" update, Microsoft Office updates, .NET updates, and a few others.

I suggest that you install only the all-in-one update (not the preview), plus other updates which are "security" updates. I suggest that, unless you have a specific need for an optional update, that you do not install any optional updates.

As far as the Microsoft Office updates, I suggest that you install only the "security" updates, unless you have a specific need for an optional one.

Thank you very much for your answers, I regret the delay in responding. I found the culprit It was the last update KB2952664 that somehow annoyed the usual behavior of windows update, uninstalled and everything went back to normal.

billm5 said:

(Longing for the days of early UNIX when we didn't have holier- (or holey-er) than thou software vendors to deal with.)

Ever thought about Linux? Linux Mint is my primary OS, and I am very well pleased with it. But for those occasional times when I need to run Windows because I can't do something in Linux, I have a Windows 8.1 VM with Classic Shell, just a click away.

Thought about Linux of course (since I grew-up on UNIX), but Outlook (2010) is still my most-used application... and not ready to plunk down cash for yet another machine or pseudo-Office functionality. (Webmail is abysmal.)

No need to ditch Outlook in this scenario. You could run MS Office (including Outlook) in a Windows 8.1 (or Windows 7) VM, all running inside of Linux.

Yes, but would need to buy a machine for Linux... current hardware (Celeron 900, 3-4GB) is unlikely to handle both platforms.