Anyone had problems since October updates?

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I’ve always had updates set to inform only, but was surprised to see on shutdown (early hours of Oct 13th) that there were updates being installed!
Sure enough, when I checked next morning, the setting was on automatic! I’ve re-set it to inform only.

Since then, I’ve had problems with Outlook (2010) and IE 8:
With Outlook, especially first thing when a number of new emails have arrived, I sometimes get ‘not responding’ happen a few times. It clears after 1-2 minutes.
With IE, some sites are taking a long time to open/load, as are links to other pages/objects within sites. WindowsSecrets is one of those sites which is working very slowly for me. (It took a while to open the site, then a good few minutes to load the ‘post a reply’ page. This happens on a number of sites, but not every time. Other sites work normally.

I also found only yesterday after seeing the disk usage going down gradually, that system restore has re-set itself back to my old setting of 18%. I changed it to 12% a month ago and regained 4GB of space. I’ve now re-set it again.

Basically, has anyone else had these problems which seem to have manifested since the October updates last week?

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After seeing your post I tried to load a CD and the drive wouldn’t recognize it. I had the same problem when I installed SP-1. Both times I just had to uninstall the device in Device Manager and re-boot and everything was fine again. :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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No problems so far, but as I wrote in another thread, the dot net updates would not download correctly using Windows Update. When I went to the KB number at MS direct, the download was fast and smooth….. much better that through Windows Updates, and installed correctly on two machines. I will probably use that method in the future.

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No problems here either

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Thanks for the replies!
I’m at a loss now to understand why I’m getting these problems at times.
Just as concerned that settings such as no automatic updates and restore point volume can be re-set!

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Automatic updates can be reset by such things as Microsoft’s Security Essentials installs and Some of the Windows Live Essentials installs, maybe even by the application of some windows updates…I’ve had it happen several times after such installs but never noticed if restore point volume was reset.

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Thanks – at least the updates issue is ‘explainable’ 🙂

I’d never had need to look at the restore settings with XP, but I was seeing bits of drive space disappearing regularly with W7, so changed the setting last month from 18% to 12% – I’m not even sure if that still isn’t a bit too much, nor what the best percentage is to set it at, but it gave me back 4GB.
Having the OS on a SSD has made me keep an eye on such things.
Now I’m aware of things getting re-set at times, I can watch out for it happening.

So my main problem now is the intermittent slowness in IE8 and ‘not responding’ in Outlook! Perhaps just a coincidence that they started after the updates last week.

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Am I reading this right? 18% or 12% is a lot of space. Mine is set at 1%. So what is a good number??

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I’ve never seemed able to find a firm instruction on that – perhaps I should reduce it further. Just loooking, the restore points at the current setting go back to Sept 17th.

Another thing I’ve wondered – is it necessary to have restore set on the other two 1TB drives? One has only images and image software on it, the other has various stuff including some programmes.

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It’s a little more complicated now with Windows 7 because of shadow copies, previous versions of files that are kept and are tied to system restore points. Even in Home and Pro versions these shadow copies are made though there is no way of directly accessing them without using a program like Shadow Explorer to access them. So if one wants to preserve these shadow copies, its going to require more room. That’s why the percentage setting has remained so high even though drives have become so much more capacious.

So I would say, if you want to have those shadow copies and the possibility of accessing them, keep it high but if you need the room and are mainly interested in the traditional use of restore points to reset system settings via older copies of the registry which don’t need much room, I would say reduce it, say 2% of 500 gigs would still be 10 gigs reserved for restore points in that case.

I turn off monitoring for system restore on external and other data drives, there are no system settings to keep track of there. However, it might possibly be valuable, again for the shadow copy access, but if these data drives are being properly backed up, it should not be necessary or relied on as much as a good backup is.

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… there is no way of directly accessing them without using a program like Shadow Explorer to access them.

That may not be quite right Infinicore, my understanding is that in Win7 you can access earlier versions of files, if you’re generating them that is.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/11130/restore-previous-versions-of-files-in-every-edition-of-windows-7/

that said, I doubt VSS has anything to do with Pictors original issues.

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Thanks – I’ve always only regarded system restore as a way to put the computer back to how it was before something caused a problem & wasn’t really aware of the shadow copy process in Windows 7.
I did wonder if the SSD (90GB) with the OS on it is the one to have system restore set for, but not the others. I’m 99% sure I didn’t have restore set on the drive with all my images & Photoshop etc on it, but it is now so I thought I’d check first to see if my assumption was correct. It’s not set on the drive with just programmes & some documents on it. I’ll re-set the ‘C’ SSD to around 5 or 6 % and disable it on the other.

(I do normally do a weekly back up, but haven’t got around to it yet with this computer – I must see how to use the Macrium Reflect I downloaded!) 🙂

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Hello All,

I discovered a program called System Restore Explorer which lists the System Restore Points and allows you to mount most of the the restore points as a virtual drive which you can explore and restore files individually from. It has a simple user interface and when you click on a restore point the Mount option is highlighted if that particular restore point is mountable.(Why some aren’t I don’t know). Obviously it also has the option to unmount the restore point when you are done.

I hope this program is found useful by fellow Loungers.

Regards,Roy

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Many years ago some large eneterprise networks crashed because Updates ignored the “notify” choice and forced through an update before I.T. had opportunity to validate on test machines.
ALL ESSENTIAL BUSINESS WAS SHUT DOWN.
Systems had to be rebuilt.
Microsoft said it was for their own good – the patch was to ensure the ability for an upcoming update to install something that might otherwise fail.

Since then I set to never install and never even notify – total disable of updates.
I now wait for a week after updates to see the effect on the general population,
and then I switch to “Notify Only” and carefully select what to permit one at a time.

I recognise that I have only set a flag and Microsoft can and will ignore my choice whenever they like,
therefore I always ensure I have good partition image backups.
Twice this year their updates have blasted through and trashed the system and I had to use my Recovery Boot CD.

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I’m going to have to try either system restore to before the recent updates or uninstalling those updates – which is the better option ?

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Pictor,

Personally, I’d use System Restore, after turning off automatic updates, then apply them 1 by 1 and test each before doing the next. YMMV. :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Thanks RetiredGeek – I was going to do that, but our son called in and un-hid some updates, checked for more and then did a new update download/install.
So far, no Outlook ‘not responding’ etc, and web pages are moving faster. Some sites still seem a bit slow, but do open. When I click the link to this thread in email notifications, it can take 20 seconds to open the page.

So, seems improved if not perfect, and I’ll see how things go in the coming few days.

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I had a problem with Vista last week – Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Vista (KB2586448) managed to make my computer ‘hang’ on restart at the point where it was updating ‘3 of 3 – 0%’.

The machine would start in safe mode after a forced shut-down (AKA switch off) from where I could use system restore – successfully.

After several tries to install, (having to use system restore each time to get back to the start point) I went to the Microsoft help site (more in hope than anticipation) and was directed to ‘Fix It’ – surprise surprise this worked, telling me that Windows Update had corrupted, and then restoring it.

The update then downloaded and installed appropriately.

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After seeing your post I checked and found that Windows Update had been reset to update everything and yes it happened on the 13th (not a Friday either)! So far no other problems I don’t use the programs you mentioned. Have reset Update to only inform me but I’ll certainly keep a very close watch on that. Thanks for the tip off.

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Like retiredgeek, my dvd drive stopped working, though whether as a result of the October updates, I don’t know. On a Toshiba 655 with Win7. I did a restore to before the updates and it is now working fine. During this process Firefox became unbootable and had to be reinstalled.

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i gave had 2 machines freeze up using outlook 2010 or Firefox so badly i had to roll back to before the updates. This corrected the issues.

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There are two separate issues with the October updates. System Restore works just fine in most cases where regular MS Updates mess things up. This we see in this thread.

But for .NET updates, things are a bit trickier. The recommended approach to a bad .NET update experience is to uninstall all versions of .NET Framework, and then reinstall them in numeric sequence. Essentially performing a clean reinstall of the whole .NET Framework.

I like to follow Woody Leonhard’s blog about Windows updates (http://www.askwoody.com). He is currently taking a “wait and see” approach to all the October MS Updates, including .NET Framework. Susan Bradley here at Windows Secrets Newsletter also is skeptical of the current (and some older) .NET updates, and recommends not applying them just yet.

Set Windows Updates on your computers to “Notify but Do Not Download” to avoid future nasty surprises. And keep tuned to Windows Secrets and AskWoody for signals as to when and what to apply. That’s what I do anyway, and I am currently having no bad updates experiences, since Windows 7 SP-1.

-- rc primak

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No problems with Win7 updates, and settings remain unchanged at “notify”.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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System runs slow,but updates installed smoothly. Have been getting message ” security settings do not allow downloading this file ” ,but e-mail downloads anyway.

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Subject: Quicken Suddenly will not Launch

Supposedly, because of NET 4, Quicken 2011 and other versions will not launch. I spent a whole day run-around with Quicken Tech support – uninstall NET 4 – no – re-install NET 4 yada yada. Something is really screwed up. And, if you were to Google “Quicken Launcher has stopped working” you will find pages and pages of frustrated users with insane fixes that don’t fixit. It appears that there is “suddenly” a compatibility issue and I nor many others cannot resolve it. I am using Win 7 = 64bit. I am seething over the incredibly inept tech support who are using me as a testing guinea pig because they don’t have a clue how to fix it. When I saw them heading towards an unistall of Windows, I ran like a rabbit. Do you have any clues? Please help.

Just joined pardon the intrusion please.

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Resolved – Revo Uninstaller deleted sensapi.dll in my Windows System folder (64 bit)

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I haven’t got around to making any changes like system restore etc yet, but have noticed something odd in the past few days:

I suddenly realised there was a picture of Ted on his posts, and thought nothing more of it until next time I was on the site, realised I couldn’t see any such pictures.
Today, I saw photos beside peoples names again, tried to answer a thread and wasn’t logged in. As soon as I logged in, there were no pictures! further more, the site was moving pretty quickly until I logged in: navigating, I had to stop and try again on page loads!

Is this a clue to why some sites are behaving oddly for me and loading slowly? (Not all slow loading sites need me to be logged in) The slowness only began ealier this month.

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Revo Uninstaller deleted sensapi.dll from my Windows System folder – 64 bit.

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