glnz

All - In my wife's mini-office with two Win 7 Pro 64-bit machines, I've been fairly vigilant the last few months about NOT installing recent non-security updates. However, both machines have the following updates from a while back, and I'm concerned that if I UNinstall them now I'll cause issues: 2952664 (listed four times in the View Updates list in each machine) 3075851 3065987 3068708 3022345 One more fact - the machines do NOT have GWX folders, thanks to my other UNinstalls. In your experience, if I UNinstall the above five now, after many months have passed, what might happen? Thanks.

Well, gang, no one has posted any warnings about this past Tuesday's updates. All OK? (Although I suppose if anyone's XP machine had exploded with gears and watch-springs flying everywhere, he wouldn't be able to post.)

dencorso - in your continuation of THIS thread about POS and other security updates for XP, maybe start it with the very useful summary of all steps that you posted above at this link: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/171814-posready-2009-updates-ported-to-windows-xp-sp3-enu/?p=1115639 That one summarizes everything and was very useful for my catch-up six weeks ago. Also ask you edit it from time to time to add new lines. Many thanks.

OK gang - it's Patch Tuesday, and my Win 7 machine says there are 15 important updates. Any advice which ones to Hide? Thanks.

dencorso - thanks for valuable resource! May I suggest that you add a "last edit date" to the first post? I didn't see it. Also, just now, per your first post, checking everything on your list with wusa /uninstall /kb:xxxxxxx, I UNinstalled KB 2990214, 2999226 and 3065987. However, afterwards, that caused my Windows Update to lose its "View update history" list. And, of course, in a number of new iterations, WU tried to re-install a whole bunch of the updates on your first-post list, so I had to re-hide them. At one point, WU started throwing the red-cross error message, but a reboot fixed that. Although today is patch Tuesday, I haven't seen any new new ones yet.

I installed .NET 4.6.1 on my Win 7 Pro 64-bit eleven days ago, and today a search in C:\ does NOT find GWX on my system (other than a GWX log file from last July before I UNinstalled so many of the Win 10 upgrade updates). (Is GWX still the tell-tale? Or should I now also search for something else? Ironically, I'm dual-booting Win 7 Pro 64-bit and Win 10 Pro 64-bit on my machine, so I'd obviously like to keep both.) Just FYI - The only other .NET I might have in my Win 7 is 3.5.1. In "Turn Windows features on or off", its checkbox is a solid blue, not a checkmark and not empty. But when I open its sub-list, the two sub-items have empty checkboxes, none checked, so why do I have the solid blue at the main level? My list of installed Windows updates mentions numerous updates for 3.5.1 (and also updates for 4.5 and 4.5.2, which I imagine are now superseded by 4.6.1). Am I supposed to have other .NETs? And I don't know what .NET does anyway ... is it like a hair dryer?

Folks - many thanks for the detailed and interesting info on the Forbes website constraints. Certainly hope Forbes doesn't set a new standard. However, this time, I received a copy of the article from a different source. With apologies to the OP here, let's save the Forbes discussion until next time and then open a new thread. Happy to keep reading here about tying MS's left and right shoelaces together when it pushes Win 10.

pcalvert and dencorso -- I'd like to read that article about the cost of Win 10, but Forbes blocks me since I'm not a subscriber. Is it available anywhere else? Thanks.

Bersaglio - thanks, but no luck. I even found and ran Windows Custom Uninstall Cleanup Utility, but Silverlight wasn't listed. Not to worry - not important.

dencorso and Dave-H - no luck. My aristocratic Dell Optiplex 755 XP continues to turn up its nose at this bounder of a program. "Silverlight" - sounds like a disco queen. Yes - the 32-bit installer "41212.00\Silverlight.exe", not the 64-bit. I even "Unblocked" it in the install .exe file's Properties. And put in an Exception for my Avast AV. Should I try to install in Safe Mode? I think it won't help, as my XP has been rejecting the latest Silverlights for some months now. And reminder I no longer have .NET 1 or 1.1. Have you hinted yet at a rapprochement with hmuellers? I know it's hard to make those types of outreach - but that's why they invented the UN. Should I drop a line to Ban Ki-moon?

Dave-H -- How did you install that latest version of Silverlight? I get an "installation failed" message and a link to a page that says: Message ID: generic You reached this page since you encountered problems with the installation of Microsoft Silverlight. In many cases these problems are due to incompatible browser and operating system or due to an old pre-release version of Silverlight. Please follow the Uninstall Instructions to remove any previous versions from your system and then visit the Silverlight Web site and install the latest version. And, yes, I had uninstalled first from Add-Remove Programs. Not so important - I don't care so much about Silverlight, but I was curious about that Virtual Microsoft Academy mentioned above. How else will I ever catch up to you guys?

roytam - as I removed .NET 1.0 and 1.1 on advice here and haven't yet seen a problem, what types of programs need it? Could you give some common examples? I have Office 2003, Outlook Express 6, very old Acrobat 5, and very old Adobe Photoshop 1.0.1. (The others are unimportant and seem to run anyway, like imgburn.)

dencorso - you wrote two above: Oh, no! I'm sure you have good reason for your ban, but hmuellers's updated post aggregated everything needed by those of us not on your technical level. He distilled your wisdom and that of heinoganda, jaclaz and many others here. If the US and Iran can reach some kind of treaty (dubious though it may be), may I ask you to offer hmuellers an opportunity to redeem himself? On condition that he keeps his post (the one you copied two above) updated. If not, does anyone else at your level of expertise want to take on the burden? Just a note that to us tourists, hmuellers's post layout and formatting was very concise and usable. Sorry, and thanks.

hmuellers's execellent list of .NET updates that used to be provided here is now blank. I was going to check to see if there was anything new. Wha' happened?

Friends -- I just realized these forums remind me of sending "pen-pal" letters when I was 9 or 10 years old to other grade-school kids around the world -- Dave-H is in England, heinoganda in Germany, dencorso in Brazil (sempre saudades do Brasil!), Mcinwwl in Portugal (tenho tambem boas lembrancas da Algarve), pao8804 in Italy (planning a trip to Sardenia or Panarea ?), blackwingcat from Japan, etc. But we don't send each other exotic postage stamps any more. Anyway, how go yesterday's updates? No crash-and-burns? No hard drives getting offended, pulling off their aprons and walking out? ("How dare you treat me like a cash register!") Thanks, as always.

dencorso - if we have IE 8, should we try to install the IE6 version of KB3124275 anyway? (And, sorry, but could you re-post the link for MS Update Catalog?) Thanks again.

Thanks, heinoganda. I'll leave NET 3.5 there for now.

hmuellers - again helpful - you prompted me to check and so I just uninstalled NET 1.1. In add/remove programs, the lead entry for NET 3.5 says "Used rarely -- Last used on 2/1/2009", but I wonder how accurate that is. [For Mozilla Firefox 42, it says "Used occasionally -- Last used on 11/7/2015", and that ain't accurate. It should say "Used too much (get some exercise) -- Last used this instant."] But I've left NET 3.5 in for the moment. What is everyone's experience after removing NET 3.5? Finally, does EMET play nice with Avast AV Free, and does EMET use too many resources or slow things down? Thanks again.

Agreed - together with the other savants here, hmuellers rocks. My XP machine is now INVULNERABLE !

hmuellers - just downloaded and tried to install exFAT file system driver (KB955704): https://www.microsof...s.aspx?id=19364 but both attempts got error messages that file is corrupt. (Yes I picked the one for XP SP3.) EDIT - RE-DOWNLOAD SEEMS TO BE OK, BUT I STOPPED TO DO A BACKUP FIRST. Thanks.

Well, just installed all the Net 2, 3 and 4 updates from hmuellers's list provided here that I didn't have already (per Belarc Advisor). (With XP, I'm not supposed to have Net 4.5 or 8 or 27 am I?) Basic question: I have XP SP3 32-bit in US English. If I've installed all "normal" updates that come from Microsoft Update with the POS hack (including Dec 8, 2015), and if I've installed everything on hmuellers's list, am I totally up to date? Is there another thing I should do (besides have a Scotch)? Many thanks.

E6850 @ 3.00GHz = a TV dinner.

Question re hmuellers's list to find all .NET 2, 3 and 4 security updates provided here: Is that list at that location updated currently? Seems to be, but thought I'd check. Also, I am guessing I should use Belarc Advisor to see which of hmueller's list I have already installed, yes, and then just do the remaining? Or should I just redo his entire list in order anyway? Thanks.

Big thanks to dencorso, jaclaz, heinoganda and other experts here. I'm just a noob, but this thread is great. So is this entire msfn.org. However, for awed tourists such as myself, I do urge Mcinwwl to try his hand at a centralized blog. In my case, I've NOT kept up with the .Net stuff, and I'm way too non-tech to try anything that requires altering files. And yesterday, for the first time, I actually saw an XP POS terminal, at Gracious Home hardware at 67th and Broadway in NYC, where I bought a simple flat-coiled 3/4" key-card ring for 20 cents. I almost blurted out "Hey, I know that system," but restrained myself just in time. (Mcinwwl, please hurry - I'm starting to go gaga.)

SD73 - thanks. Just ran the updates and I'm still alive. But I've noticed now and last month that MS Microsoft Update is not as smooth as before. Half the updates Fail and I have to retry. Maybe I also have to suspend Avast for the 10 mins or so - not entirely clear. And today the MS Update window switched to the non-functioning display again for the first time in months. Had to keep stabbing at it, including using a wuauclt command in cmd. This COULD be because I've replaced the original good Western Digital Velociraptor hard drive (WD1600HLFS @ 10,000 RPM) that recently showed bad SMART signs with a leftover, little-used hybrid HD-SSD, a Seagate 500GB Momentus XT ST95005620AS. It's a little erratic in what it's prioritizing. Thoughts? Thanks.