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Windows installs hidden updates
Shortly after 3 am today, I noticed my Win 7 SP1 computer was about to automatically restart in order to complete installing updates. Before I could abort this, the computer restarted. And I immediately noticed that wretched Icon to "Get Windows 10" in my notification tray, with no way to remove or disable it.
When I checked my view updates history in Control Panel>Windows update, I saw that no less than 39 "Recommended" updates had been installed on May 31 - some issued as far back as 2012. Not one of them applied to issues on my system (the ones fixing problems with Lithuanian and Russian currency spring to mind as examples). In short, they all looked like updates I had hidden.
I checked my Windows Update settings, and Automatic Updates was still disabled. I went to Windows Update, and my "Hidden Updates" folder was empty. Well, at least I knew the what and where, if not the how and why, of what had happened.
Well, it was easy enough to uninstall the update that put the "Get Windows 10" icon in my tray - I just uninstalled the KB3035583 update from Control Panel in the usual way. Only took 3-4 minutes, including a system restart. Great - one uninstalled useless update down, only 36 to go. That should only take 2-3 hours.
But KB2600217 and KB2901983 were .NET Framework updates I had hidden back in 2015. And when I check Windows Update, it is now offering me no less than 12 Important .NET security updates that have been issued since 2014, totalling some 50 Mb. I suppose those "hidden" .NETs wiped them out. So I tried installing the oldest one offered. That whole process only took 7 minutes, including a reboot. So I threw all .NET caution to the wind, and installed the 11 remaining at one go. All installed without glitches, and WU isn't offering me any more updates now.
As for those 36 "hidden" updates now installed, I think I'll ignore them for now. With luck, they might not cause any grief. And at least I won't have to worry about all my Lithuanian and Russian investments ...
RoHe
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May 31st, 2016 14:00
Did you install the recent Win 7 SP1 KB3125574 convenience rollup? Maybe they got installed via that rollup?? Or did they get automatically installed because you didn't install the roll-up?
I have Win 7Pro+SP1 (32-bit) and I've only been offered MSE updates in past few days...
Make sure you specifically cancel the upgrade to Win 10 by clicking the link in the upgrade box to Change or Cancel... Just clicking the red X to close the box does not cancel the update. Clicking that X means you accept the upgrade and it will happen without further warning.
MS has been getting way too pushy and doing things without permission recently and that needs to STOP!
joe53
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June 1st, 2016 00:00
I certainly agree!
KB3125574 is not listed in my Update History going back 6 months, and I don't recall being offered any Rollup patches recently. And I certainly would have hidden that one if it had been offered, since it seems to include every patch since sp1 was released (presumably optional, recommended, and important patches). I double-checked my Installed Updates list, and it definitely is not installed.
I just now went back to the Windows Update site, which is now offering me yet again the optional KB3035583 (the one that installs the Get Windows 10 app). Hid it, yet again. It is now listed twice in my hidden updates, as a Recommended patch. Man, MS is a pushy persistent pest!
Just to clarify, my update settings are set to neither notify me about, to download but not install, nor to automatically install any updates. I've always done everything manually at the WU site. The last time I was there was May 17, to get the important/security patches only. I've installed nothing since then, and have no idea what triggered these automatic installations last night. It certainly wasn't anything I did with the update settings. My best bet is that one of those patches I did install had a little piggy on its back. Perhaps the "May 2016 DST update for Azerbaijan, Chile, Haiti, and Morocco in Windows"?
RoHe
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June 1st, 2016 11:00
Seems there are 2 separate KB numbers that call themselves a Win 7+SP1 rollup update, KB3156417 and KB3125574. I have no idea what's different between them. So check your update history for KB3156417 too.
Maybe MS thought they'd double their odds of slipping one of them onto our systems by using different numbers.
I agree, who cares about DST in those places or about the Georgian currency sign which was another silly update.
joe53
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June 1st, 2016 19:00
Thanks Ron:
KB3156417 is not installed either. It's hidden at WU.
Meanwhile, I thought maybe running the Disk Cleanup Wizard, that supposedly uninstalls outdated Windows updates, might be worth trying.
Bad idea! Although the wizard ran easily, a restart was required. This took well over one hour, hanging after the reboot at the black screen with the message "Configuring Windows updates. 100% complete. Do not turn off your computer". I knew it was not screen-freeze, as the little green icon was still spinning. So I waited it out and eventually Windows loaded normally.
I don't know if any outdated updates were removed (this is a 5 year old system), but all the old updates dumped on me were still installed.
I was able to uninstall one of them, KB2966583 (Improvements for the System Update Readiness Tool in Windows 7) as an undesirable. I have no plans to update this system - sounds like a precursor to switching Win 7 to Win 10.
RoHe
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June 2nd, 2016 11:00
I foresee that those who don't update to Win 10 are going to need a clean install of Win 7 to get rid of all the junk that MS has been force-feeding us.