Problem with installing updates

[BillG]

First of all, let me say that I love Vista and have not had any problems
with it in the past. I have it running on two machines, a desktop running
Vista Business Edition and a laptop running Vista Home Premium. I wouldn't
go back to XP for anything. I have one problem now with my laptop (Toshiba
Satellite) 2 GB Ram. I rebooted the computer tonight at about 6 pm est. It
said that it was installing updates and not to turn it off. It is still
running and it's 3 am est. Its still at installing updates 2 of 8. The
hard drive light is flashing every couple of seconds and the .. are moving
back and forth, so I am guessing that it's not frozen. Every little the
hard drive flashes for several minutes and then it goes back to every couple
of seconds. What is it installing that should take this long, SP1?????
Should I be worried? Should I reboot? If I do, is my system hosed? I am
going to let it run the rest of the night and see what happens.


Bill

 

[John Barnes]

And use 'last known good' for rebooting after the hard shutdown.

First of all, let me say that I love Vista and have not had any problems
with it in the past. I have it running on two machines, a desktop
running
Vista Business Edition and a laptop running Vista Home Premium. I
wouldn't
go back to XP for anything. I have one problem now with my laptop
(Toshiba
Satellite) 2 GB Ram. I rebooted the computer tonight at about 6 pm est.
It
said that it was installing updates and not to turn it off. It is still
running and it's 3 am est. Its still at installing updates 2 of 8. The
hard drive light is flashing every couple of seconds and the .. are
moving
back and forth, so I am guessing that it's not frozen. Every little the
hard drive flashes for several minutes and then it goes back to every
couple
of seconds. What is it installing that should take this long, SP1?????
Should I be worried? Should I reboot? If I do, is my system hosed? I am
going to let it run the rest of the night and see what happens.


Bill

Bill:

I fairly sure it's not SP1. The public release isn't until 3-18-08. And
normal updates shouldn't take that long. SP1 does take a while to
install, but there are several reboots that take place during
installation which is normal for SP1.

I would have suggested what you are already going to do. Check it in
the morning. If it's still not completed, abort the install and try
again. So far, at least with my system, updates have not given me any
trouble.

Let us know how things work out for you.


--
Joe

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[MLD]

I think that it is a mistake to install a whole package of updates in one
big swoop. I do one or two at a time depending on what it's for, the size
and importance. One advantage is that you get a System Restore point prior
to each of the installs giving you the option of trying out your system
after each one and getting rid of it if it is a troublemaker. Takes a bit
more time but I think that's it worth the effort.
MLD

 

[BillG]

Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to tell it to update or not to
update. It just does it after rebooting. I learned my lesson thuough. I
have turned off automatic updates. I am going to control it now and decide
when to update. I rebooted and it looks like everything is fine. I a not
not sure what happened. But nothing was hosed.

Bill

 

[MLD]

Lesson learned <g> No need to repeat all the trauma.
MLD

 

[Arlene]

How do you turn off automatic updates in Vista? It seems that after Vista
installed some updates n 3/14/08, it messed up how some files display in IE.
I have a PowerPoint presentation saved as an html file and all the screen
shots are so grainy now, I can hardly see them.

I did a system restore to 3/12/08 to undo those updates, but it seems like
Vista just takes over anyhow after the restore is finished and installs the
udates again without asking if I want them. So if anyone can tell me how to
turn of Automatic Updates in Vista, I would greatly appreciate it.

Arlene

 

[John Barnes]

Go to control panel /security and one of the options is turn off automatic
updates

 

[Arlene]

Thanks! If I check "Never check for updates" and use a restore point previous
to the last instalalled updates, should that remove them?

 

[John Barnes]

That does remove their registry entries, but your best approach is to
physically uninstall them. Look in your control panel/programs/view
installed updates Information to uninstall them is on the top and the dates
you installed them are there on the right.

 

[Arlene]

When I click the link to uninstall, the list on the uninstall page is
different and many items are missing. What is going on?

 

[John Barnes]

You go to the installed updates page. There you select an update and then
left click your mouse. It asks if you are sure you want to uninstall the
update. You don't link to any other page. It would appear you got to your
installed applications (programs) page instead of the installed updates
page.

 

[Arlene]

I'm sure I'm on the right pages. The path to the first page is Control Panel,
Windows Update, View update history. At the top of that page is a link to go
to Installed Updates and the two pages definitely show some differences. I'll
post this as a separate question to the newsgroup and see what they say.
Thank you for your help.

 

[John Barnes]

I'll just post a follow up here. One shows all update attempts and is by
default shown in date order. Installed updates is in name order and you
probably have to add the 'installed on date' so you can sort on it so you
can easily uninstall the ones you need to. Good luck. Goodbye.