Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   Dragonlair
   Member

   This question is mainly for Mikiem2 - he's always no knowledgeable in these kinds of areas!

   I have 2 windows computers, a desktop running Windows 7 and a laptop running Windows 8.1.

   For the past 3 or 4 months I have had problems with this one update. Before that, it was just a normal part of "Patch Tuesday". Lately, though, when I include it at the same time as the rest of the updates, it seems to take FOREVER! Usually the download takes as long as 10 or 20 minutes when it should take less than a minute. The update series itself takes more than an hour at time. The laptop is not as powerful a machine and it always takes longer.

   In fact, it seems to just flat stick on one update until I have actually cancelled the update to restart later. If I do that, I find that one or two MORE updates have installed beyond what the display says. It seems like it's the display that's stuck.

   Even if I do it by itself, as I did a few minutes ago, it took about 20 minutes to download a 6.2 MB download and create the restore point! I don't know how long the actual update took but it didn't need a reboot when finished.

   It used to work fine. It hangs now on both machines. I don't know what it's for but it's always been tagged as "important" so I've always let it run.

   Is this a case of Micro$oft trying to "encourage" me to upgrade these two machines to Windows 10?

   Posted 6 years ago #
2. 

   ChrisS
   Administrator

   Is this a case of Micro$oft trying to "encourage" me to upgrade these two machines to Windows 10?

   
   Since my Windows 7 update process hasn't worked in over a year I'll have to go with "yes".

   Link for the Malicious Software Removal Tool if that's all you need. You might need a separate download for the two machines.

   Since the update process works well enough to give you a KB number then you can use the Microsoft Update Catalog (you have to use IE) and download the updates yourself.

   Posted 6 years ago #
3. 

   Dragonlair
   Member

   Chris,

   I can get the update to work and my Windows 7 Update has does work - I just don't get much real updates. It's just that if I do this one update with all the others, it seems to hang the entire process.

   This month's update had a MSE definition (not part of Patch Tuesday but normal), 2 for .NET, the Malicious Removal Tool and about 6 for Microsoft Office.

   I just want to know why this one update that I've done every month for years is suddenly acting this way.

   Posted 6 years ago #
4. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   For the last year & 1/2, maybe more, whenever there's a Windows Update problem Microsoft says to stop Windows Update if it's running -- myself, I just use the Control Panel -> Admin Tools -> Services app -- then rename the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder. Then when you run Windows Update everything's rebuilt, which can take a while, but Hopefully Windows Update will work normally again. Assuming Windows Update rebuilds everything successfully, you can delete the old folder you renamed.

   That's what Microsoft says anyway. I normally just delete the folder if/when Windows Update starts acting up, or every once in a while as maintenance to free up disk space, since that folder can grow to several GB over time.

   When I'm expecting problems, I try to add any updates manually before I run Windows Update, and then Windows Update runs faster & more smoothly afterwards. So if you continue having problems with the Malicious Software Removal Tool, might want to do it 1st since you know there's a new one every month on Patch Tuesday.

   I've also found better luck downloading these updates using Firefox with Microsoft's Update catalog -- catalog[.]update[.]microsoft[.]com/Search.aspx?q=Malicious%20Software%20Removal%20Tool -- because Microsoft is sometimes very slow. I *suspect* that they do lots of things to annoy people into upgrading to 10, & I've had Internet Explorer & Windows Update take an unusually long time downloading from Microsoft on Patch Tuesday [& a few days to a week later] when Firefox downloads the same files at normal speed.

   RE: the Windows Update window, particularly in win10, it does not show the Malicious Software Removal Tool is actually running its AV scan -- I normally have Task Mgr. open in 10 because Windows Update will stall, so I can see the tool running, and at the same time I can make sure my security software isn't scanning to slow things down further [the last thing I want is for security software scanning the tool doing its scanning]. With win7 I often get up from my desk while Windows Update is doing its thing, but when I'm sitting there I'll open Task Mgr. same as with 10, and can see when the tool's running. How important it is to run the Malicious Software Removal Tool is open to debate -- it's just another AV scan, & probably won't pick up anything your security software wouldn't catch, but I let it run just in case, knowing I'm probably wasting a little bit of my time.

   This month, FWIW, in win7 64 with Ofc 2007, got the update with the Meltdown/Spectre patch Sunday, then on Tuesday I got 7 Office updates, 2 for .NET, & the Malicious Software Removal Tool.

   Posted 6 years ago #
5. 

   Dragonlair
   Member

   This month, FWIW, in win7 64 with Ofc 2007, got the update with the Meltdown/Spectre patch Sunday, then on Tuesday I got 7 Office updates, 2 for .NET, & the Malicious Software Removal Tool.

   It sounds like your Win 7 updates were the same as mine. I got something the other day but didn't notice what it was. I just did a bit of googling and saw an article from CNBC that Microsoft has pulled that patch for AMD machines as it was slowing them down too much.

   I have taken to running the Malicious Software Removal Tool last. It doesn't require a reboot afterward (but it will give you a notice of updates installed the next time you boot) so you can go on your merry way afterward.

   It downloaded pretty quickly on my laptop today but still seemed to take forever to run. That was OK -- I just plugged in the device to charge while it was updating and was off doing something else. When it was finished, I just shut down the machine.

   Thanks for the info.

   About that Software Distribution folder. I just looked at mine. My machine has been running fine with just daily shutdowns at night (I've done that with ALL my machines since 1987) since late October of 2012. That particular folder has 7925 files and 314 folders. The sizes tagged are: 1.66 GB (used) and 1.68 GB (allocated). I fully understand the difference because of allocation blocks. At least this is better than FAT32 where the blocking got up to 32 KB. This machine is 4 KB. Should I clear it and if so, just what procedure and what are the ramifications of doing anything?

   Posted 6 years ago #
6. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   The sizes tagged are: 1.66 GB ...

   Because of the way I copy my VMs from one disk to another to restore them, I try to keep their VHD files as small as possible, and will usually delete that SoftwareDistribution folder when it gets around 1GB. The copy of win7 on this PC is installed to a somewhat smaller SSD [240GB] so I have to watch disk space there so I don't fill it up -- I'll usually delete that folder at about the 1.5 GB mark. Windows 10 on this PC is on a regular hard drive with plenty of space, so unless there's a problem with Windows Update, I ignore it. It really depends on how much you need the space it takes up, or how much having mostly useless stuff on your hard drive bothers you.

   The only effects I've seen from deleting that folder is that it takes longer the next time Windows Update runs because it rebuilds its list of what updates have been applied.

   Posted 6 years ago #
7. 

   Dragonlair
   Member

   Thanks for the info. I don't like garbage but it doesn't seem to be hurting anything. The PC is just over 5 years old with a 1 TB hard drive that's still less than half full. I think I'll play it safe and just continue to ignore it.

   Posted 6 years ago #

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