What can I do during a Windows Update?

arachnaut

New Member
Power User
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282
Location
Sunnyvale, CA USA
I volunteer at a place where we repair people's computers for free.


Often we have to restore things and run Windows Update - with many
updates occurring because these may be old systems (like Win XP).


The question comes up that what should we do during this time? It may
take hours for the Windows Update to download and finish.


I claim that Windows Update is designed to work around you - you can do
whatever you want during the update process. Files in use are marked for
change after a restart - so anything you do is prevented from having a
problem.


Others feel that you should do nothing and wait for the full update to
continue and then do work.


I've search for answers but found nothing conclusive. What do people
think?


While Windows Update runs in these situations, I often would download
things like CCleaner and LibreOffice and make customizations on the
system. Some folk say that is not wise - I claim that's the way it
should work.


It's what I do on my own system and I have not encountered problems. Of
course, when problems do occur it is blamed on this attitude and not on
the system at fault.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center (64-bit)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom-build
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-2600K @ 4.3 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0
    Memory
    16 GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (4 banks 4GB DIMM DDR3 8-8-8-24 5-32-12-7 1T 1.5V)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 440
    Sound Card
    Firewire Focusrite Saffire Pro 14
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG W2353V
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 of Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS (2TB ea.);
    1 of Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 (2TB);
    1 of Hitachi Deskstar HDS722020ALA330 (2TB);
    2 of Seagate Desktop ST4000DM000-1F2168 (4TB)
    PSU
    Corsair AX850 Gold
    Case
    Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced
    Cooling
    ThermalTake Silent 1156
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520
    Mouse
    Logitech M310
    Internet Speed
    7Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky
    Other Info
    Event Studio Precision 6 powered audio monitors;
    Boston Acoustics CS Sub 10 Powered Subwoofer;
    NI Kore controller;
    NI Maschine controller;
    M-Audio Axiom 61 keyboard controller; expression pedal; sustain pedal;

    ... and tons of audio software ...

    I also keep two USB 3 thumb drives (A: and B:) attached with boot recovery and security stuff that I can boot into from BIOS in case of emergency
You can do anything that you want. I wouldn't do any system-related tasks such as defragmenting, but you can use the internet, edit a document, take a picture, or play a game (updating during a full screened game may slow down a computer a tad). Full screened games/movies may or may not pause windows update. I haven't tested this portion yet, as I leave win update set to auto (even xp has this). You do not need to wait for updates, just let them do themselves.

*sources - tested myself
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3820 CPU OC @ 3.80GHz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte G1.Assassin2
    Memory
    Corsair Dominator 16GB Quad Channel DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia by EVGA - GeForce GTX 670 4GB
    Sound Card
    On board Creative SB X-Fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    acer 24" H243H
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    Main 500GB Hybrid Drive @ 7,200RPM
    Secondary OCZ SSD Vertex 3 Max IOPS
    PSU
    Silent Pro 1000w gold 80+
    Case
    Azza Hurrican 2000
    Cooling
    Liquid CPU cooler & fans
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000
    Mouse
    Tek Republic Wired Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    5ms Ping 5.15Mb/s Download .64Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
I don't see any harm in working to customize the system whilst updating, but I would not use Internet Explorer 8 or earlier to access third party downloads, but rather either Firefox or Chrome. It's fine for IE to contact Microsoft for Automatic Microsoft Updates though.

I'd download the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyser and/or Belarc Advisor to ensure all updates were successful and that nothing important had failed. I would stick with Microsoft Security Essentials as Antivirus and Malwarebyte's Anti Malware as a reinforcement to the Windows Malicious Software removal and monitoring utilities - at least as long as MS continue to keep them current on XP - after that, I'd probably use Avast.

Wherever possible, device drivers should come from the OEMs, and Microsoft updates, and not some Driver emporium, which are nearly all scam sites nowadays. Always make driver backups.

I would now avoid many of the software download sites like CNET and Softpedia, because of their aggressive monetized downloads that splatter their pages with green Download Now!! buttons that have squat to do with the utility or driver you really wanted, and went there for. Beware browser toolbars in free program setup routines, including Oracle Java, Adobe Flash and numerous perfectly decent, in themselves, third party utilities.

I'd probably get as much future-proofing from Microsoft as possible - in the form of Dotnet versions and Visual C-redistributables, and their security updates, even if they weren't required immediately.

Windows XP will not be supported for much longer, and the updates will stop. Microsoft will not be encouraging continued use of XP by supplying a final update rollup simply because XP creates no revenue any more. If used after support has ended, it will be at the users own risk. Microsoft will also continue to challenge sites that offer rollups of updates issued by Microsoft since SP3 as software pirates to protect their Intellectual Property and future profits until there is a very small XP user base left.

I would create virtual machine XP images, on cross-platform Virtual Machine engines, like VMWare or VirtualBox, now, for all systems that may be critical in the future, and update them as required, to future-proof the systems against future hardware that will not run these legacy systems.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP COMPAQ Presario CQ57
    CPU
    AMD E- 300 APU with Radion HD Graphics 1.30GHz
    Motherboard
    inbuilt
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI
    Sound Card
    High Definition Audio on-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    notebook
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST9500325AS
    Google drive 15GB
    Skydrive 25GB
    BT Cloud
    PSU
    external 20v
    Case
    Laptop
    Cooling
    pretty good
    Keyboard
    inbuilt
    Mouse
    touchpad
    Internet Speed
    BT Infinity Unlimited - 80 up 20 down =70/16 really
    Browser
    Chrome Canary usually
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes
    Other Info
    no Start menu modifications
    Upgraded with no issues to 8.0 and to 8.1
Thanks for the advice.

This is mostly what we advise people to do as well.

We usually remove lots of toolbars and BHO's, install Security Essentials, get things clean and up-to-date, then do a backup. Based on the damages we observe we try to give advice on how to prevent future problems.

Our last computer club talk was on the death of Windows XP and what can be done before it's too late.

Sometimes we need to boot a Linux disk and run a malware scan. There's no general rule; each system is different.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center (64-bit)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom-build
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-2600K @ 4.3 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0
    Memory
    16 GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (4 banks 4GB DIMM DDR3 8-8-8-24 5-32-12-7 1T 1.5V)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 440
    Sound Card
    Firewire Focusrite Saffire Pro 14
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG W2353V
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 of Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS (2TB ea.);
    1 of Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 (2TB);
    1 of Hitachi Deskstar HDS722020ALA330 (2TB);
    2 of Seagate Desktop ST4000DM000-1F2168 (4TB)
    PSU
    Corsair AX850 Gold
    Case
    Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced
    Cooling
    ThermalTake Silent 1156
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520
    Mouse
    Logitech M310
    Internet Speed
    7Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky
    Other Info
    Event Studio Precision 6 powered audio monitors;
    Boston Acoustics CS Sub 10 Powered Subwoofer;
    NI Kore controller;
    NI Maschine controller;
    M-Audio Axiom 61 keyboard controller; expression pedal; sustain pedal;

    ... and tons of audio software ...

    I also keep two USB 3 thumb drives (A: and B:) attached with boot recovery and security stuff that I can boot into from BIOS in case of emergency
A few rollups of XP updates are available on the web, which may save you download time. I googled

nlite rollup updates

and found this, among others:

Contents - XP SP3 Update Pack - xable.net

It may save time, if you can get a nlite (slipstreamed with post SP3 updates) installation disk - Let me know if you do this how you get on.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP COMPAQ Presario CQ57
    CPU
    AMD E- 300 APU with Radion HD Graphics 1.30GHz
    Motherboard
    inbuilt
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI
    Sound Card
    High Definition Audio on-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    notebook
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST9500325AS
    Google drive 15GB
    Skydrive 25GB
    BT Cloud
    PSU
    external 20v
    Case
    Laptop
    Cooling
    pretty good
    Keyboard
    inbuilt
    Mouse
    touchpad
    Internet Speed
    BT Infinity Unlimited - 80 up 20 down =70/16 really
    Browser
    Chrome Canary usually
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes
    Other Info
    no Start menu modifications
    Upgraded with no issues to 8.0 and to 8.1
To save you time, literally hours of waiting, I have on hand windows XP OS discs, with just the OS, OS SP1 and OS SP2 and then I have an ISO of SP3. It makes for re-installing much easier then waiting for the download through what ever internet speed one may have. Then all the reboots and more updates.....just crazy.

Just contact the PC vendor an order the Discs. The ones I have are from Dell and HP and cost me around $20

As for you question; I personally just update with out doing anything...but that's just me.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X 4 965 BE
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4
    Memory
    G-Skill 8 GB PC 8500
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD XFX HD Radeon 6790D
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2l Samsung SyncMaster S20B300
    Screen Resolution
    1600 X 900
    Hard Drives
    Seagate Barracuda 320 GB w/OS
    Seagate Barracuda 1 TB data storage
    PSU
    Ultra X4 750 watt fully modular
    Case
    Thermaltake OverSeer RX 1 fulltower
    Cooling
    Cooler Master Hyper212 120mm
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Razor DeathAdder 3.5
Even with a fresh XP Sp3 installation (from an iso on my hard drive) last week on VMWare, there were additionally 75 security updates and 3 rollup updates waiting to be installed when Windows Update got going.

Once they had been downloaded and installed, there were further updates during the day as some software was installed, resulting in nearly 200 updates in all over that day.

I might get the WindowsUpdate.log loaded into XP and document the lot if I get time.

I have a fairly constant 40mbps achieved download speed, so the downloads came as fast as MS sent them.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP COMPAQ Presario CQ57
    CPU
    AMD E- 300 APU with Radion HD Graphics 1.30GHz
    Motherboard
    inbuilt
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI
    Sound Card
    High Definition Audio on-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    notebook
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST9500325AS
    Google drive 15GB
    Skydrive 25GB
    BT Cloud
    PSU
    external 20v
    Case
    Laptop
    Cooling
    pretty good
    Keyboard
    inbuilt
    Mouse
    touchpad
    Internet Speed
    BT Infinity Unlimited - 80 up 20 down =70/16 really
    Browser
    Chrome Canary usually
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes
    Other Info
    no Start menu modifications
    Upgraded with no issues to 8.0 and to 8.1
In most cases, the people who bring us the PCs have a vendor recovery partition and no XP install disks so we have to start from there. We try to change as little as possible.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center (64-bit)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom-build
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-2600K @ 4.3 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0
    Memory
    16 GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (4 banks 4GB DIMM DDR3 8-8-8-24 5-32-12-7 1T 1.5V)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 440
    Sound Card
    Firewire Focusrite Saffire Pro 14
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG W2353V
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 of Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS (2TB ea.);
    1 of Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 (2TB);
    1 of Hitachi Deskstar HDS722020ALA330 (2TB);
    2 of Seagate Desktop ST4000DM000-1F2168 (4TB)
    PSU
    Corsair AX850 Gold
    Case
    Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced
    Cooling
    ThermalTake Silent 1156
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520
    Mouse
    Logitech M310
    Internet Speed
    7Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky
    Other Info
    Event Studio Precision 6 powered audio monitors;
    Boston Acoustics CS Sub 10 Powered Subwoofer;
    NI Kore controller;
    NI Maschine controller;
    M-Audio Axiom 61 keyboard controller; expression pedal; sustain pedal;

    ... and tons of audio software ...

    I also keep two USB 3 thumb drives (A: and B:) attached with boot recovery and security stuff that I can boot into from BIOS in case of emergency
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