Checking for Windows updates
 

I have a good quality computer using Windows 7. I check for windows updates about once a week. I find that the computer can take between one and three hours simply checking for updates and that is before I finally get around to download the updates once they appear. While the green progress line is still moving as checking for updates is still happening, every five minutes on same page I keep on getting a message offering me to update to Windows 10 which I decline every time.

Question: Is it my computer being exceedingly slow in checking for Windows updates? Is between 1 and 3 hours normal of the message "checking for updates" continued hunting when the last updates were completed only one week ago?

Google 'windows 7 checking for updates forever'. You are not alone!!!

Yeh, I wondered what they're doing. It's almost as thought they're having a poke round all those folk that either don't upgrade and those that run Steve Gibson's Never 10.

My laptop with 7, and post Never 10 being run, has now settled after days of 'updates'. (about 14 hours in all). But I'm aware this could be only for the time being.

Being somewhat disillusioned with the human race, I'm now thinking they may wait until Ten is chargeable, and then do something even nastier than pester. It's kind of strange thinking of Microsoft as an enemy.

I've noticed that Windows update is slow on some of my 4 home PCs, all Win 7 Pro x64 - it's particularly slow on the two wifi-connected PCs, fairly normal on the 2 wired PCs.

It seems to take hours to get through the download, which sits on 0% for ages. Patience is definitely a virtue! Network activity is suspiciously low and sporadic during the download phase of Windows update, but I don't know why and haven't investigated.

I don't know if the slow updating is related to Win 10 / GWX, but I have taken a machete to GWX and eradicated all traces of it in the registry and system files and the wifi connected PCs are still slow.

One still has to be very careful to not be on automatic updates and to read the details for the optional updates to make sure they are not related to GWX.

SD

Common fault with W7 - Windows update takes up 100% of CPUs (or of one core on a multiple core cpu). Takes ages to run. Allegedly there is an update that fixes it but it didn't work for me.
Think only safe way is offline update such as WSUS but can't be bothered with the faff, so have just disabled updates and the Windows update service completely, installed GWX control panel and I'll take my chances thanks, Firefox + ublock-origin + NoScript get regular updates anyway.

Well, Saab described the oddity in a few words - somewhat more efficiently than my multiple cries of despair. :p

That's as may be, but it is not my experience: WU doesn't consume ANY resources - at least CPU is at or near 0% and so is network utilisation - while download can take a couple of hours or more (over a 50Mb broadband connection, with 35-40Mb average download speeds).

SD

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed something on my Windows 7 PC was using 100% of a core all the time. I finally tracked it down to Windows Update the other day. It can't finish 'checking for updates', either automatically or manually.

So I just turned auto updates off. That PC is really only used for games and video editing anyway, it rarely touches the Internet. I'm guessing they're trying to screw Windows 7 users to try to convince them to downgrade to Windows 10.

But supposedly Microsoft have some tool you can download to reset Windows Update and get it to maybe work for a while again.

Yes..... then you can have the fun of wading through them to avoid the W10 upgrade ones (if you can identify them) and blocking them, and re-blocking them when they come back next time..... grrrr.
I've turned update off and it's staying that way, how Microsoft hasn't had some sort of class action brought against it for this I don't know.

MSFT is just trying hard to push users to W10 - for whatever reason.
Chiners are trying to put up class action, but well.

Wonder when Apple will follow suite, for now I can suppress El-break-Captain..

The reason being that people aren't buying PCs any more as the ones they have are perfectly adequate (or they're using phones/tablets instead) , which means no new Windows sales...... so they want you to rent it in the future. No company ever gave anything away free without expecting payback later, and Microsoft is no exception. They've already started a Surface rental scheme in the US and monthly subscription for W10 (or at least the bits of it that make any useful things work, the basic free version will be hobbled to the point of useless) won't be far away, along with Office 365.

Yes, I'm expecting them to switch to subscriptions for Windows soon after they get all but the diehard Windows 7 users onto Windows 10. Nothing else makes sense about their current plan.

Of course, given the number of complaints I've seen about Windows 10 updates breaking PCs, many people may decide they're better off not paying a subscription, and continuing to use a version that works.

MS is trying emulate Apple and Google - make their money from apps and services.

Think about it. Why would people want to buy a Windows based device that will stop working in 12 months unless they pay more? Particularly when they can buy an Apple device or an Android based device that will continue working. Not to mention the backlash from current users.

Yes, it appears to have caused mine to fail. On boot up all it gets to is a black screen and a few icons, none of which work. I'm now in the process of trying to rebuild it using another hard drive and my windows 7 installation disc.

There is still that unequivocal statement from a VP of MS that people that get W10 now will never pay for it.

How strange. My 5 year old pc just does the Updates as quick as ever. (Intel 4 core, and 20 +mbps). I have "never 10" on this pc, so the dreaded 10 does not show up. I tried to delete 505... update, but it kept coming back, so never 10 seems to fix that.
Maybe something else going on?

Get Acronis True Image. I run a backup at 1900 each night (first one full, subsequent incremental, taking about 5 minutes while I'm watching the news). Full rollback/System Restore at any time at the cost of a few clicks (with options for restoring individual files). Can't go wrong. :ok:

A few possibilities:

1. As soon as you switch too much hardware, your machine is no longer licensed for the 'free' copy. So you'd keep your 'free' Windows for a year or two, then be forced into subscriptions.
2. 'New, better, faster, more secure!' Windows 11 will be released in a few months, and Windows 10 will no longer be supported.
3. Maybe they're lying.

The funny part is that the one Windows machine I'd actually upgrade to Windows 10--our ancient XP machine that we pretty much only use for iTunes--is the only one that doesn't bug us to upgrade.

If you're so convinced MS is going to screw you over why do you bother to use their products?

1. It's been ever thus for OEM versions.

2. Really? There's precisely zero evidence for that.

3. Maybe you're paranoid.

Why would it bug you to upgrade? It's running WinXP.

Microsoft aren't giving away Windows 10, and even forcing it on people who don't want it, from the goodness of their hearts. They're giving it away to lock people into Windows 10 so they can make money, be it from their app store or subscriptions, or some other kind of rent-seeking behaviour. They know Windows is rapidly losing its relevance in the modern world, and need some kind of lock-in to keep people paying them.

And, like I said, I'd happily upgrade the XP machine if it was free. But I'm not paying $120 to do so.