Hi @Dave-H, I don't know whether you've already tried my fix or not, but just to clarify it, my recommended fix is meant to solve the disappearance of AU notification shield in systray. In my system the fix did its job perfectly. AU notification shield didn't disappear anymore. Additionally I had the hope it would solve the error message with Event ID 16 too. But that does not seem to be the case. It had disappeared in my log, but after two days it came back as in yours. After a bit deeper examination the reason for this error message is totally clear.
Case 1:
System is set to "No proxy". AU tries to download a file called wuident.cab from link https://fe2.update.microsoft.com/v11/3/win7sp1/windowsupdate/selfupdate/wuident.cab. But without ProxHTTPSProxy or HTTPSProxy, no chance. This leads to the error 0x80072efe and, after two days of trying, to Event ID 16.
Case 2:
System is set to use ProxHTTPSProxy or HTTPSProxy "system-wide". Now AU is able to download file wuident.cab, but due to its invalid signature AU can't verify this file which leads to the error 0x80096010 and, after two days of trying, to another Event ID. BTW It would be the wrong version anyway. Unfortunately the address of a matching version is http://download.windowsupdate.com/v11/3/legacy/windowsupdate/selfupdate/wuident.cab or http://www.update.microsoft.com/v11/3/legacy/windowsupdate/selfupdate/wuident.cab
We, you and me, are using the method of patch in combination with one of our proxies. The patch in combination with all additional steps restores successfully access to MU web site using IE8. But the creator of this patch didn't take account of AU's malfunction.
Case 3:
Same proxy settings as in case 2. Due to download of wrong file version I modified the patch i.e. I changed some registry keys the patch had created. After these changes, AU could download and verify wuident.cab successfully, but wasn't able to download the next file, called wsus3setup.cab. Microsoft had deleted the file on the server which AU wanted to download from, therefore it leads to error 0x80190194.
Conclusion:
Either the patch will be modified to restore AU's functionality in online searching, or AU will only be able to find updates offline after a successful and cached search of MU. Provided that we use patch plus proxy method, AU notification pop-up shield can only remind us to download and install the updates MU has found in its search before. If you want to get rid of these errors in your system event log in any case, you have to turn off Automatic Updates in AU applet located in control panel. And one thing we know for a long time: What shall AU still find today? In a fully updated system, simply nothing.
In other systems where updates are still missing, AU's notification pop-up shield can be taken as a reminder. And installation of updates by using AU is working fine as usual.
Kind regards, AstroSkipper
PS: In logical consequence, I turned off AU (via applet in control panel) in my fully updated system, as I used to do it before. I don't need AU trying to download a wrong file in background without any success. So bye, bye AU!