Lastnet IT Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Which shop was that? That's terrrible advice! Many Windows Updates are critical security updates that patch identified (and exploited) software vulnerabilities. You can probably get by not installing some driver updates and the occasional recommended update (although, given the choice you probably should install them), but critical updates are called "critical" for a reason! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chumpy Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 Mikes10, sorry about not getting back to you sooner. My windows updates are probably not happening. I say probably because since there are nearly 100 of them outstanding, according to Belarc, it is taking forever to download them. I find it irritating that despite the green "progress" bar lighting up when I try to get updates there is no indication of which updates it has dealt with and after leaving the PC running, this time for 18 hours I closed it down on the assumption that Updates wasn't working. I have used all the fixes you have given so Updates might be working. I don't really know. And instead of just leaving the situation unresolved I asked the tech guy in the shop where I bought the PC if he could fix it. He said that he'd never run Updates on his PC and that he's had no trouble with it for three years since it was new. So he therefore suggested I forget about getting Updates and also because I have adequate protection against malware from Chrome and AVG free. That contradicts what you said and I'd rather believe you than him but how long will it take to get all the backlog of updates? I don't like to drop your effort on my behalf unfinished on the strength of what the shop tells me but how long could the 100 updates take? Because there is no indication of how they are progressing I may leave the PC running for (how long. A week?) only to find that Updating isn't taking place. What should I do? ---------- Post added 06-01-2017 at 20:40 ---------- Chumpy thanks for your reply. I would try it but How do I download specific updates when I can't download updates? Please explain. the direct download links for all the updates required are included in the text of the link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastnet IT Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 Try running this script: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Reset-Windows-Update-Agent-d824badc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IT-Smith Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 I have known it take 36 hours+ for windows updates to start installing on a Windows 7 PC. How long it takes may depend to the CPU/memory. A faster CPU seems to help. What CPU/memory has your PC got? Check Task Manager and see if svchost.exe is maxing out a CPU core, if so it is thinking about it! Sometimes you just have to wait, but you must get it up to date as a device without the latest updates is far more open to hacking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolyhead Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 (edited) Hi lastnet II. I couldn't find your e mail address. Sorry but I live now in Cambridge. I can guess what you were going to offer but unfortunately it's a long way. Thanks very much anyway. ---------- Post added 08-01-2017 at 14:44 ---------- Chumpy and Lastnet IT and IT-Smith thank you all for your help. I can see what you said about getting individual updates Chumpy. IT-smith what a useful thing for me to do is to see if the process is working. MY CPU is 50% loaded so I assume it is getting ready to install updates. Is this correct? I'm still working on other suggestions made in this forum but I will post as soon as I get the right result. My CPU is an AMD 1.8 gigahertz Phenom 9150e quad core and I have 4 GB of RAM and 607 GB of disc memory.. Edited January 8, 2017 by woolyhead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skink Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 mentioned this in another thread but there are a couple of updates that are supposed to help with this issue KB3172605 sorted it for me, if that gives errors then KB3020369 can be used first apparently This also fixed an issue I had on laptop where svchost was running 100% and causing the CPU to throttle down due to thermal overload when it hit 95C! . . . that old laptop is usable again, awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wysiwyg Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 I had a similar problem to the OP which was eventually resolved by doing a netsh winsock reset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolyhead Posted January 14, 2017 Author Share Posted January 14, 2017 Chumpy. I have finally got both my PCs updating after using the plugable link that you gave. I'd had all sorts of problems in getting updates to work prior to using plugable's post so I'm grateful to you for sending the info. Thanks very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolyhead Posted January 14, 2017 Author Share Posted January 14, 2017 (edited) I used the following link. It worked beautifully on two computers. http://plugable.com/2016/06/08/windo...te-what-to-do/ I'd like to thank everyone who sent ideas and suggestions for making updates work but in the end this link showed me how and it worked 100%. It was given by chumpy. I love this forum. I had a few problems in using pluggable:- (i) I had no flash memory or discs for recording my data prior to applying plugable' solution but as I had very little data worth preserving I went ahead and applied it anyway. Nothing got lost. (ii) My Windows service pack SP1 wasn't the same date as plugable showed. In the event this didn't seem to matter (iii) the Microsoft Update Catalog was the easiest way to get the specific updates that plugable referred to as one option except that on two occasions the catalog seemed to be closed. I ignored this and went on with the next update listed by plugable. It all worked despite the missing update (v) I had a problem in deciding which version of any given update I needed. Several versions were on offer. In the end this didn't matter because when I chose the wrong one the software told me so and I tried another until it worked. The format used by these updates is not consistent for all of them. After downloading, some of them ask you if you want to install, others ask if you want to open and others just start installing as soon as the update is downloaded. When you select "open" the software checks your PC to see if you already have the update and if not and if it's suitable for your PC it installs it. It all takes time because there's a lot of preparing to install, installing and then setting things up after. Then you restart. Then it does more setting up. It all takes time but it worked for me. Once you start updating there appears below the horizontal green window a changing look at how it's all going in % terms. Prior to my using pluggable I had the green line but nothing else. So that's what you look for. Experts know all this but beginners like me may not. Now you do. Good luck with it. Edited January 14, 2017 by woolyhead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raf199 Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Link doesn't work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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