Windows Update

If your update program is not working, stuck, or simply hanging with an error, then this trouble-shooter article might help. Windows update is an automated system, which by default starts when the user chooses to shutdown the computer. The updates are extremely important as they consist of improvements to software and security patches. The process starts with the message, "Please do not power off or unplug your machine. Installing update 1 of 511"

Starting an update session when the user is switching off the computer, and making ready to leave the office is annoying, as this is something they do not want to see at that time. Since many firms expect employees to switch off their computers after use, they will not hang around for three hours for the update to complete. Many of them will switch off the machine at the mains, and even pull the plug, which of course means corruptions, and more work for the support staff the next day.

If you have a freshly installed machine, then you could be looking at hundreds of files downloading, and update number 3 usually takes the longest to download and install.

Trouble-shooter

If it is not broken, do not fix it! All sorts of strange things can happen after an update. Parts of the system that were working fine for years can suddenly stop working. I came across computers where the video drivers stopped loading inexplicably, or the sound stops working, or the system loses its activation status! Simply applying all the updates without checking may cause more problems, and all of this equates to time and money trying to trace precisely which update caused the problem.

Stuck Installing Update

The update system can sometimes appear stuck installing a particular update. If you have a slow broadband, or perhaps used up your download quota, then the system will remain stuck for hours, which is annoying. You could be hanging around waiting to start work; however, the machine wants to do something else.

Not working - Error

If your update process has been stuck for hours, and even days, then you have very little choice, and the only option available to you is to interrupt it by stopping it. If the mouse pointer is no longer responsive, and the keyboard "Caps Lock" light no longer works then you have a frozen system probably caused by hardware interrupt conflicts or driver conflicts. In this situation, a reset is usually the only thing that works.

If the keyboard and mouse are responsive, the system may be hanging in a process. Pressing the cancel button may not work, and therefore the old three-finger salute consisting of Ctrl-Alt-Del is usually required. You can then use "Task Manager" to end each task associated with the update process. However, sometimes even that will not work and you have to perform an emergency shutdown. For a laptop or desktop, a long duration press of the power button usually achieves this goal.

If your computer does not have this feature, then you have one final option left, and that is to pull the mains plug out. For a laptop, you may have to remove the battery!

Once you choose the option of interrupting the update service, you then have to restore the system back to how it was before the update began. There are two types of restores available to you depending upon the condition of the system left behind by the update process.

When you start the computer again, you might see a boot option menu, in which case you can choose to boot in Safe Mode. If it boots fine in Safe Mode, then you can rollback to a restore point before the update process started. However, if windows no longer boots, then you have to use your restore CDs to restore the system back to factory settings as it was when new.

As you can see, even if you interrupt the update process, you could still lose a couple of hours running the system restore.

Choose How Windows Installs Updates

Control Panel is where the "Windows Update" settings are configured, which is where you can set how and when updates take place. This is the place to change the setting to the following.

"Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them. If you have a slow broadband connection, or a limited broadband system then this is a useful option. It is surprising how few people know about this setting. I remember visiting one place where the user had a special mains switch installed just to switch off the computer in case the update started.

Update Icon

Click on the "Windows Update" icon.

Change Settings Option

Click on the "Change Settings" option.

Manual Update Option

Choose the following option. "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them"