Msoft Win Updates VERY out of date Pls Advise

Hi

I have searched online for sutable answers about what to do when your autoupdates are way out of date, but could not find anything to help me. Surely I can't be the only person to have found themselves in this position?

Yes I know this shouldn't have happened unfortunately due to very serious illness my updates ( which were set to notify me, as opposed to auto update) have really fallen behind.

Having been stung before by an auto update messing up an old PC ( cant recall the exact details but remember many people were caught out by this issue and various forums were flooded with reports and how to fix the propbs etc, it caused a fair few probs and was a bit of a nightmare to resolve...do as I dont't want to get caught out liek that again, I now only use notify me of new updates .

That way I can take the time to research the update and find out if there are any reported probs & the relevant fixes. Then I install them one at a time, yes I know this takes time ( often taken sev hours, espec when reboots are prompted for for certain updates ) and yes I may seem paranoid but doing so has kept me problem free evers since.

I am VERY embarrassed to say I currently have 95 Important Updates waiting to be addressed eek.

(74) - Win Vista

(2)- Silverlight

(1) Visual Studio 2005

(1) Visual Studio 2008

(18) Office 2009


I know a LOT these updates date right back to April 2011 and my Laptop has not even switched on for a number of months between then and now. Also a large number are vista security updates too..

I am still ill and to be honest due to the size of this task I am a bit overwhelmed and anxious more about having to deal with the issues/impact caused by potentially majorly problematic updates.

I am assuming the best way to tackle this would be to do the same as I used to do ie:- a) go through them all & organise into date order , b) taking a month at a time C) research those , d) depending on outcome research , either install one at a time starting with the oldest , and to do more research for those potentially problematic ones.

Is this correct ? if not please can someone advise me

I am particularly concerned about the SP2 updates, as I have seen/heard lots of hubbub about the update causing various issues.. and mine is waiting to be updated

I have a Toshiba Satellite A300 _109, am running Win Vista Home Premium SP 2 (32bit), with 150 GB HD, 2 GB RAM,

Thanks in advance for your time

TamT

So far as I am aware there's no real problem with any updates, but always beware .NET ones, as they seems to cause more aggravation than any others.

The best way to do this number of updates is to separate them insto sections (as you've done above) - leave the .NET and Visual Studio ones until very last, and do the Vista ones first.
You should be able to further subdivide the Vista ones without any problem - even if only into Critical and non-critical.
There's no need to sort them - if one is required before another will install, that will refuse to install.
Just start at the top of the Vista Criticals list, taking about 10 at a time, and install them (one or two may refuse, so just take the top 10 each time) - rinse and repeat until they are all in, then do the Vista non-criticals, then the IE ones, and then Silverlight, and inally .NET and Visual Studio.

Thanks v much for your reply

Great News about not HAVING to do one vistsa install at a time, I thought Id have probs if I did it that way for sure..

I AM still concerned & unsure about the SP2 update though any tips/suggestions for that.

Thanks Again
TamT

Hello . Once you install the SP2, it will then have its updates. do as you did all the SP1's .

HI Yard dog

Thanks for your reply, just to clarify I am already on SP2.

One of the updates awaiting installation is the update for SP2, and I had heard it was causing people grief and messing up their systems and that is why I was getting concerned re "SP2 updates "

Any suggestions/advice re avoiding problems with SP2 update woudl be welcomed

Many Thanks
TamT

Hmmm, my mistake, i thought you meant the actual SP2 update package, you mean an update you have received recently .
I have all mine and suffered no ill effects at all, how many are left to install as of now ?

Hi Yard dog -"I have all mine and suffered no ill effects at all," thats very encouragaing to hear . so there's hope for me yet lol

But seriously due to my illness and seeing if there were any more posts to this thread I have not done ANY of the outstanding updates yet. I was planning on leaving the SP2 update till more or less last ( especially as its dated December) or do you think I shoudl do differently?

NoelDp suggested the order to install the 90 odd updates and when I have a good day ( health wise) I will sit down and tackle this task, and if needbe do a handful a day or something .. As christmas is a few days away it's is likely to be put on hold till after christmas now ..

HOPEFULLY the installs will go smoothly and my anxiety is making me think it could be a nightmare, but you know the saying once bitten ..... and that earlier msupdate "bite" was a real challenge, though got there in the end.. and with the added help from helpful tips/advice from some other experts online.. But I am just too ill to want to even consider going down that windy road at the mo.. whiihc is why Im being cautious.

Thanks for your time and I welcome any suggestions you may have

Happy Christmas to you and yours

Tamt

Welcome
Problems encountered by updates have been limited to rebooting and remaing at a certain percentage of completion.
Although some disagree, I, and others have found, that the best way to avoid problems with updating, where there are many updates is to do a few at a time. If the size of the update is small, you can do a few extra ones, for the larger sized upadates limit the number. The problems with the upadates are usually caused by the computer having to boot. When there are many upadates requireing the reboot conflicts occur and problems are the result. Good luck.

tamtee said:

NoelDp suggested the order to install the 90 odd updates and when I have a good day ( health wise) I will sit down and tackle this task, and if needbe do a handful a day or something .. As christmas is a few days away it's is likely to be put on hold till after christmas now ..


Thanks for your time and I welcome any suggestions you may have

Happy Christmas to you and yours

Tamt

Click to expand...

There's no point in delaying - the list will only get longer.
Just do a few each day, set the lot to download but not install, and then you can pick a few to install at shutdown when you pack up for the night.
When you wake up, the install will complete, and you can work on the rest when you have time/inclination

I'd agree with Noel in that, don't leave it too long especially with critical updates as your machine is vulnerable without them. Good luck and if you take your time there should be no problems but if you do have any hiccoughs there is always someone here to get you out of trouble.