A bunch of new optional patches

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Those of you running Windows 7 and 8.1 will no doubt discover a handful of new patches waiting for you. KB 2952664 our old “compatibility update” for
[See the full post at: A bunch of new optional patches]

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2952664! My old acquaintance! Someday our differences will be forgot and no one else will understand what it was all about!

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…that’s because if we are still using Windows leading up to and after 2020 we will all be using 10! 🙂

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Hi Woody,
this is my first time on your site. I am pretty amused about the MS-DEFCON. Thank´s a lot and greetings from Germany

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Glad to have you here!

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ever time it automatically updates – the network sharing gets turned off and won’t reingage. have to restore again and again

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Or 10.1, or 11, or 11.1, etc., etc., etc. Personally, there’s a very good probability I’ll be using Linux.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Hey Woody, what about 3101183 for 8.1? Thanks as always.

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It’s an old patch, superseded by KB3132080

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What’s the deal with all these monthly updates to the Windows update client? A new flavor every month, seriously? Anyone with any insights as to why MS is releasing all these update client patches, please chime in as I would be interested in an explanation if one is available.

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They’re re-jiggering the Windows Update client to make it simpler to upgrade from Win7 or 8.1 to Win10. As for details… I haven’t a clue.

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Thanks for the reminder on KB 3138612 (running W7). For sometime now it seems updates were taking 45+ minutes to figure out what to offer which is ridiculous when I consider how fast my connection is. Ran GWX Control Panel afterwards and computer is still clean. Just one of many examples of why I’ve been following your update advice for years. Thank you sir, we appreciate what you do!

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I did a test recently by installing a clean Windows 7 SP1 Enterprise and patching it in full with a combination of primarily WSUS and checking if anything was missed on the Microsoft Update site on the Internet.
At the beginning of the patching process, the process svchost.exe under which Windows Update service is running in Windows 7 was taking over 50% of 2 CPUs and many hours to complete, supposedly due to the high load on the CPUs and also due to many patches queuing to be installed. Or maybe as some sites suggest due to an older version of Windows Update which now cannot cope with the current number of patches, although it was good enough in the early days. Eventually the system got fully patched, however by the end of the process, Windows Update had become very fast and it is not clear if this is due to the latest Windows Update components or just because there were not so many patches left. The patching involved everything including Optional Updates, only the actual Windows 10 Upgrade was left out. This was a test system without any other final utility than to test Windows Update and best options to fully patch a clean system.
So it is possible that the latest Windows Update updates to be actually useful, at least they did not prove harmful, unless someone can prove that they contain adware for Windows 10 which I don’t think is the case.

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I haven’t seen any indication that the new Windows Update patches contain advertising or malware.

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Updates KB3138612 for Win7 SP1 & KB3138615 for Win8.1 will become “Important” updates when March 8 (this month’s Patch Tuesday) comes along instead of being “Optional” updates, which is so predictable of Microsoft.

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The update contains the Wu.upgrade.ps.dll file. That lone is a strong hint that it’s just another malware push.

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Hey EP, how did you know that? What the update is about? Why it was predictable of Microsoft?
Thanks!

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