"Please do not power off or unplug your machine ..."

[ChrisGreaves]

The last of my hair has been torn out of my scalp.
That's it; no more left.

The Win7 Home Premium Notebook was strangely lsuggish around 11 a.m., so I decided to shut it down (as in power-off) then power it back on again. A cold boot.

Part of the shutdown process makes me wait to install updates, but I'm not sure to what.
"Please do not power off or unplug your machine. Installing Update 1 of 4 ..."

I have automatic updates turned OFF.
Has any other lounger experienced this back-door behaviour?
It frustrates the heck out of me, because a reboot in the middle of the day usually means something has gone wrong with a job I'm working on, and I need to get back to that job, not lean on the door jamb for ten minutes while Win7 does its thing ...

Thanks for any clues.

1.png

[StuartR]

Do you run Microsoft Security Essentials?

[Don Wells]

Hi Chris
    I have encountered the same situation on my HP laptop with Win7 OEM -- probably Home Essentials. I believe that the updates are HP updates (unconfirmed at this point).

[agibsonsw]

Isn't there an option in the drop-down to "not install"? Then you could continue to boot the computer and turn off Automatic Updates (again). Then you could run Windows Update to see what they are, or discover them when you start a relevant application.

But I have noticed Windows Update kicking in of its own accord (on my Vista), but not for quite a while.

[JoeP]

Hi Chris
    I have encountered the same situation on my HP laptop with Win7 OEM -- probably Home Essentials. I believe that the updates are HP updates (unconfirmed at this point).

HP has an automatic update mechanism that is separate and distinct from Windows Update. Microsoft does NOT distribute HP updates with its current update mechanism.

Joe

[DaveA]

This is one of the BEST reasons for NOT using the "$%^&*($@@" Suspend when closing the lid. One needs to really power OFF and ON their machine daily or at least on Tuesday morning BEFORE doing any real work.

We have our laptops and NetBooks set to never power down or hibernate or suspend, when the lid is closed it it set to do NOTHING.

[ChrisGreaves]

Do you run Microsoft Security Essentials?

Yes, Stuart, but why do you ask? Do you suspect this is MSE doing its own thing, rather than MSWindows?
The screen message (on a pale-blue screen background) gave no indication of who/what was doing the updating.
I assumed it was MSWindows.

[ChrisGreaves]

...HP laptop with Win7 OEM -- probably Home Essentials. I believe that the updates are HP updates

Hi Don, thanks for the suggestion/clue.

this page is about "HP Photosmart essentials", which I don't have, but i went looking (Start, All programs) for likely candidates in HP and found that my updates are turned OFF.

5.png

[ChrisGreaves]

Isn't there an option in the drop-down to "not install"?

Hi AgibsonSW.
By "a drop down" do you man the area in my screenshot (1st post this thread) that says "Download but do not install"?.

To all & general: I should point out that I'm not against installing updates (for just about everything), but I'd rather do them at a time convenient to me, e.g. once the client is off the phone.
(Any excuse to walk away from the machine for 20 minutes ...)

[ChrisGreaves]

HP has an automatic update mechanism that is separate and distinct from Windows Update.

Hi, Joe and thanks for the confirmation.
FWIW There's a stack of HP stuff on the hard drive. I made a cursory examination, trying to execute those applications that looked as if they might be an "update" scheduler of some sort.

6.png

Only "HP Software Update" responded, and it threw up the screen i identified abound three posts back, that is, these HP updates are uptodate and turned OFF.

[ChrisGreaves]

... NOT using the "$%^&*($@@" Suspend when closing the lid.

Hi Dave.
I can assure you that the lid on the notebook is closed but once a month, at most. The Notebook sits on a plinth, almost out of reach. I use a regular keyboard/mouse/monitor for work, hooked through a KVM switch.

As for reboot/shutdown, almost-always done through the Shutdown.exe program (preceded by an automatic time sheet log off entry!).
About once every two weeks I lean over and hold down the power switch on the notebook, when shutdown.exe is taking longer than 30 seconds with no action.

Code: Select all

REM C:\BATLap\ShutDown.bat
REM Monday, September 17, 2007
:: 7:46 AM 6/24/2009 Included a call to spybot
if "%debug%"=="" set debug=off
@echo %debug%
call "%userprofile%\application data\Greaves\billt"\BillT.bat

ShutDown.exe -s -f -t 00
REM end of C:\BATLap\ShutDown.bat

[StuartR]

Do you run Microsoft Security Essentials?

Yes, Stuart, but why do you ask? ...

Because MSE uses the Windows Update engine, but doesn't pay attention to the Windows Update settings.

[ChrisGreaves]

... MSE uses the Windows Update engine, but doesn't pay attention to the Windows Update settings.

Ahaha!
Thanks Stuart.
So the "rogue update" was possibly MSE, then.

[StuartR]

Possibly

[ChrisGreaves]

Possibly

So, Stuart, as I understand it we are about to move to the realms of Quantum Malware Detection, where I should possibly un-install MSE and then spend the remainder of my brief time on this world wondering whether Schrodinger's Bug has been deaded?