WalksInSilence
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Yes but we're past Win7 EOL and MS Support. That was supposed to end on 14th January with the final rollup.
The black wallpaper problem some people have experienced, apparently caused by something in that final rollup forced MS to issue a patch, post support cut off date. You could get the patch as an optional download but at some point they started offering a new rollup Preview instead with the support pages stating:-
"This non-security update includes improvements and fixes that were a part of KB4534310* (released January 14, 2020) and also includes these new quality improvements as a preview of the next Monthly Rollup update."
What next Monthly Rollup update? I'm not signed up for the Win7 ESR so why am I being offered a Preview of something I'm not going to get?
* I installed that almost a month ago, and it had issues for me but not the black wallpaper one so I did not install the later patch when it was first offered as an optional update.
The Preview makes it appear they may actually be going to issue a post EOL Monthly Rollup for (all?) WIn7 machines.
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Yes, that is one of my pet general forum use dislikes: when somebody asks a question, gets help and then later posts some variation on:-
Thanks for the solutions. I got it to work in the end.
without actually explaining exactly how they resolved the problem.
So many times you look for answer to a particular question online and find a thread in some long dead or now barely used forum which is about just what you wanted to know and the thread is abruptly ended by a post like that. Frustrating and a wee bit selfish.
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I think driver support on more recent systems won't be an issue at present but if somebody comes here in the not too distant future wanting to do the same thing on a then contemporary PC it could be.
I had problems with Windows XP in 2016 which I originally wanted to work in dual boot with Win7. It was actually the lack of a specific MB driver required to use XP with SATA HDDs, the SATA Controller driver, that caused the biggest trouble.
When I bought the MB the listing said it was XP compatible. However when I finally started building the PC I discovered too late the version I had only supported Win7 and 8. By luck I guess all the other important drivers did still work with XP, it was just that SATA Controller one that did not.
I eventually found a generic XP SATA Controller driver for the MB and managed to install it without a full XP re-install. Under XP the Device Manager says it is working but it is not. I still have to swap to legacy IDE mode in the BIOS/UEFI then reboot and choose the XP OS boot drive to get it to launch and go through the reverse process to get back to Win7. Utter pain and why I now use XP on a VM instead.
That sort of thing and the undoubted inexorable increase in the ending of important software support for Win7 will, slowly, reduce its use as a primary OS and its overall viability.
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Interestingly there is an "Optional" MS provided update for Win7 users this month: apparently the final Monthly Rollup introduced an annoying bug on some systems which renders the wallpaper you're using as all black.
Hasn't affected either of my two Win7 PCs; one uses a custom wallpaper and the other a MS wallpaper that came included with Win7 so no point in installing the update.
Anyone here experienced this bug?
EDIT
A bit weird, I'm now being offered as an optional update:-
2020-01 Preview of Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB4539601)
Download size: 314.4 MB
You may need to restart your computer for this update to take effect.
Update type: Optional
This apparently includes the stuff that was in the 14th January KB4534310 'final' Win7 monthly rollup which I do have installed but also includes the black wallpaper fix too.
Whether MS are going to release the whole Preview content as an additional post EOL update or revert back to just providing the optional wallpaper fix will be interesting to see.
But why offer the full Preview to those without the extended licence who have KB4534310 installed if they are only going to get the wall paper fix?
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Google and you'll find find plenty of advice for such circumstances.
Apparently if you have not set an Administrator password you can start in Safe Mode and try logging on with the Administration password field blank. Safe Mode with Command Prompt offers another route too.
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RE: my niche issue with the January updates mentioned on one Win 7 64bit PC.
Put in a restore point and re-downloaded each update separately and tested the system after each with a second reboot.
All now seems good - the encrypted volume type affected is still opening normally now with all three updates installed. What caused the problem? No idea but it is the first Windows update that has caused trouble with other programs which I've had in years. "Telemetry gathering" annoyances excluded.
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Oh oh!
Niche, very niche issue has appeared on one of my two Win7 64bit PCs since the January MS update installs.
I did not notice it until yesterday when I tried to open an encrypted volume made by a particular free encrypted volume program. In fact I have such volumes each on the three main drives SDD/2xHDDs I use. They open with a password and I found that when I opened any one of those, on whatever drive, I had an error message I'd not seen before about a "General problem opening the volume". When I closed it and re-entered the password it opened perfectly. Likewise the other volumes too.
But restart or from cold boot this behaviour persists first time the first volume is opened. Utterly consistent but it should not be happening.
Initial thought was a SSD/HDD issue but when I found the behaviour was system wide I ran CHKDSK on every drive and they all came through perfectly. System File Checker found no problem on the primary drive either. Full system scans with AV/Anti-Spyware/Malware/Adware produced nothing amiss.
I tried:-
1). Creating new encrypted volumes - same problem.
2). Thorough uninstall of the encryption program using Revo and then clean re-install - same problem.
Eventually I decided to use a pre-Windows January update Restore Point (11.01.20) to roll the system back. A number of other programs I'd updated since then were shown as likely to be affected along with the Windows update but I took the risk. All went perfectly apparently, took some time but it eventually rebooted OK.
Ran several tests on the encrypted volumes, restarting the PC again twice just to confirm it and everything back to normal.
Now I've updated all those other programs, about a dozen, updated since the Restore Point date. Restarted the PC at various points and the encrypt volume behaviour opening is still back to normal.
So not any of those other programs can be the culprit. All that is left now are those three MS January updates mentioned earlier:-
KB4534310: Windows January Rollup.
KB4536952: Service stack update.
KB4535102: 2020-01 Security and Quality Rollup for .NET Framework 3.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8 for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 for x64
It has to be one of them that caused the problem and my money is on the .NET Framework KB4535102. I'm going to try each one in order but wait and see if anyone else reports anything peculiar.
However here's the thing I do not understand: my other Win7 64bit PC was updated exactly the same way earlier, in fact I'd updated that first, and has experienced no similar problem. I've tested and restarted it multiple times.
I almost wished it had produced the same result because now I'm wondering what is on this PC that has made this minor but unwanted behaviour unique to it.
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Has anyone here in this thread actually mentioned it? I've been back over the posts and if someone did it passed me by.
That ^ actually does more to advertise the tool than anything else I've seen here. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting the intended purpose of the post.
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18 hours ago, Mathwiz said:
That seems suspicious to me. Why do we need a servicing stack update at end of service?
The vagueness of that description doesn't exactly quell my paranoia. For now, I think I'll pass.
I've been suspicious of all MS updates for years
but...................................
Just because Win7 OS updates are no longer being provided by MS you will still likely have other MS programs/tools on your PC that can be updated, most notably MS .NET Framework. Those will or at least should still be provided by the MS update service for as long as they're compatible.
When MS decided to pull the plug completely on MSE support for Windows XP I had to install a new AV on the virtual machine I was using running XP. All went well installing it at first but then it stalled saying it needed the most up to date version of MS .NET Framework. I went to the XP MS updates page expecting to be told it is no longer supported and there were about half a dozen 'important' downloads available including MS .NET Framework and a similar number of optional ones.
I updated MS .NET framework on the XP VM without any trouble and the new AV installed perfectly. I've updated my XP VM a few times since then too with new .NET Framework ones and a couple of others I think.
Stack updates will likely still be relevant for Win7 for the same purposes.
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Had a nag from MS today just after boot with a warning blue screen about Win7 being out of support. Thankfully an option provided not to be reminded again.
Checked my scheduled tasks and nothing new there, all customer experience options disabled and then I noticed in the task tray that there are updates available (I'm set to auto-check for updates but choose if/when to install). So I guess they added the message to the update tasks. Hate the fact the message could just override everything else I was doing at the time and was not just made a discrete addition to the Windows updates.
Interestingly, presumably the final monthly Win7 Quality Rollup, KB4534310 is one of the updates. The other two are a .NET Framework update and the usual Malicious Software Removal Tool.
Checked the main update at MS and they have added an IMPORTANT message about the EOL:-
"IMPORTANT Starting on January 15, 2020, a full-screen notification will appear that describes the risk of continuing to use Windows 7 Service Pack 1 after it reaches end of support on January 14, 2020. The notification will remain on the screen until you interact with it. This notification will only appear on the following editions of Windows 7 Service Pack 1:
Starter.
Home Basic.
Home Premium.
Professional. If you have purchased the Extended Security Update (ESU), the notification will not appear. For more information, see How to get Extended Security Updates for eligible Windows devices and Lifecycle FAQ-Extended Security Updates.
Ultimate.
Note The notification will not appear on domain-joined machines or machines in kiosk mode."
EDIT
Had a later update offered too: another servicing stack update:-
2020-01 Servicing Stack Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems KB4536952.
Like the earlier two it downloaded and installed without any issues, so far.
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The fact you call it an app suggests you're posting in the wrong forum. This is the Windows 7 forum, sounds as if you're using Windows 10.
You tried uninstalling Facebook?
Exactly how did you do this? I would not trust the Windows uninstall tool to make a good job of it whatever the OS. Always use a purposed designed uninstaller like Revo Uninstaller or BCUninstaller.
If you try Revo now you might get lucky if enough of the program remains but BCUninstaller is sometimes better if you've already partially uninstalled a program.
TIP: before uninstalling/installing anything always put in a restore point. Revo does this by default.
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I really just mentioned the Process Hacker 2 issue as an aside. I did not think that the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool possibly deleting PH2 is directly or otherwise related to the OP's problem. I still don't but, apparently, WMSRT itself maybe involved..........................................................
Mcinwwl ^^ link is not about the December updates but a report about a problem with last month's (November) stack update KB 4523206 which seems to have caused problem for some users as well. If you follow the links from AskWoody the WMSRT (MSRT = Malicious Software Removal Tool) is being blamed for some of the November update issues. Not for Win7 users specifically but still possibly relevant.
The solution for that problem if encountered seems to be booting into Safe Mode then rebooting normally.
Maybe I dodged a bullet by not installing WMSRT this and last month as I've just checked and for some reason the last WMSRT shown installed on either of my Win7 PCs is the October one. Could be I've been freakishly lucky.
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I've not had any problem with the December updates on either of my two Win7 64bit machines.
I was offered three 'important' updates initially: KB4530734 (Monthly QR), KB4533095 (.NET Framework) and the usual Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (WMSR Tool). I only installed the first two late on the 11th December 2019. It made two PC restarts as is fairly normal for any updates that include .NET Framework ones. That was the only thing of note.
The WMSR Tool I normally install without thinking about it but this month I've had a run in with MS over the anti-virus definitions used by MSE and Defender which out of the blue started reporting the third party system monitoring tool: Process Hacker 2 (PH2) as a high threat. I guessed the WMSR Tool might take it upon itself to try to remove PH2 too so I hid the update and won't use it ever again.
After I'd installed the first two updates successfully I was surprised to get an immediate, small additional 'important' update offered: KB4531786 (Stack Update). That installed successfully* without a required restart but I noticed next day on cold boot that I had a "...configuring your system..." message, usually present when Windows updates are being installed, before the PC booted to the login screen.
Also soon after the boot my system fans spun up and, ironically using PH2, it reported as I expected high CPU use caused by a Windows Trusted Module Installer process running. That is typical after any Windows updates and it stopped, as usual, after a few minutes. However I was suspicious so I checked all the usual places for MS having sneaked a telemetry gathering scheduled task onto my PC but nothing was found and I've had no indications of anything amiss since.
BTW I did check before those Windows monthly updates installs, as I've done for years now, for reports of problems. After waiting over 24hrs there were none so I was happy to go ahead and do it. However this report of trouble here is not the first I've come across since:-
https://appuals.com/kb4530734-causes-reboot-loop/
I should mention that long ago I'd opted out of the MS "....experience...." reporting and disabled three MS telemetry gathering tasks they still tried to foist on me. As a result I've not had prompts about the Win7 EOS since. Whether there is any connection between this and the problems reported by other I have no idea but I thought I should add this information in case it is relevant.
* I should have checked before install but assumed the stack update was a normal part of the monthly updates and therefore safe but only later did I look for information about it. I was surprised it suggested installing it prior to any of the cumulative monthly updates! It was not being offered before I installed those other two so there was something odd going on.
Could it have been a quick release fix for these reported problems?
Why my two Win7 PCs have had no problem with KB4530734 I won't guess, but I provide the information I have in the hope it might help identify the cause of the problem.
My thought is that if the stack update was a quick fix it might be worth trying installing that first manually before trying to install the KB4530734 Monthly QR again.
EDIT
Found this later which suggests you should have two other updates installed first apart from KB4530734: KB4490628 and KB4474419. I've just checked and I have both of these too.
So if you do not have them, again, install all three first.
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Thanks for that.
BTW I've corrected my original post for a typo I noticed. Of course it should have said ".....does not exactly....." rather than "That article does exactly say that - the assumption is it will but until MS unequivocally say that I won't believe it..."
I've also corrected the grammar slightly.
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That article does not say that exactly - the assumption is it will but until MS unequivocally say that I won't believe it and even then I bet there will be a time limit.
With XP MSE worked fine long after official support had ended but then out of the blue users suddenly found they could not update MSE automatically or through MSE itself when installed on an XP machine (that included VMs too). It all had to be done manually. Then that ended, again without warning, and we had to rely on the helpful people here and elsewhere who came up with a way installing the new MSE definition updates which wouldn't have otherwise been possible.
But within a few months even that was torpedoed by MS and we were stuck with finding a decent alternative AV to replace MSE that worked with XP.
It'll be the same thing with Win7 eventually.
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Windows 7 64bit on its own is missing a number of DLLs that often came with previous MS OS like XP. Tools such as Windows Media Player and Word were often bundled with some versions of earlier OS and when that stopped nobody apparently considered that other software you might install required the DLLs that came with them but not included in Windows 7 itself.
I've had to find and install at least three 'missing' DLLs over the years I've used Windows 7 to get other software working.
There is at least one reliable source online:-
Use the hash MD5/SHA1 hash info provided to ensure the veracity of your downloaded DLL.
Alternatively if you have an old PC with things like Word, Excel or Windows Media Player the missing DLL might be on that but it is likely to be just the 32bit version.
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......................or the OP is not using a registered Windows 7 installation.
Not casting any aspersions on Raheem Jamali but it is a possibility.
There is, or should be, no trouble using the Win 7 Convenience Rollup Package with a genuine Win7 SP1 installation. I've used it without problems to update two different newly set up Windows 7 PCs but after that still had to install all the updates since then. There are a great deal.
It is 4 months since I last used the Convenience Rollup Package. I think I may have even slip-streamed the rollup into the OS installer using a tool I found - installed via USB flash drive. I know I did something fancy thanks to information from here and elsewhere. But once done and only done once you tend to forget what it is you did or maybe it is just my age.
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Hmmm, I wonder why someone would want to install the Win 7 Convenience Rollup Package, sometimes described as: that essentially functions as Windows 7 Service Pack 2, without the official MSI?
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I do not understand the reason why the OP wants to do this but a different approach might be to use WSCC (Windows System Control Centre). It is an organizational program that can run program suites like MS Sysinternals and multiple NIRSoft utilities, including RegDLLView, under a single umbrella.
There are currently almost 400 free to use tools/programs it supports and chances are you won't use 95% of them ever but having this huge toolbox all neatly arranged in one place can be very useful.
There are a few issue in that some of the tools/programs do not like being run, initially, from WSCC because the creator wants you to register them first. In those few cases you need to launch them directly from their .exe and afterwards they should launch from WSCC perfectly. Other tools require specific admin permissions so it is probably a good idea to set up WSCC to always run as administrator ie. create a desktop shortcut and then use right mouse click > context menu > Shortcut tab > Properties > Advanced button and tick that option.
I've had WSCC on all my machines for as long as I can remember and even if it doesn't do whatever the OP wants or doesn't want that NIRSoft program to do I thought it worth mentioning this useful program.
It comes in both portable and installed versions:-
https://www.kls-soft.com/wscc/downloads.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed2yFM37qNg
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Found this which seems to be about the same thing.
Not sure what it all means and what exactly is relevant ie. blaming any unusual behaviour on a virus or malware is always suspect advice. The last post there does suggest this is just part of Windows cleanup processes to recover free space and nothing to be concerned about.
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I'm no expert on this (understatement
) but as I understand it those GAC (Global Assembly Cache) files are shared by other programs so should not be messed with. You need specific administrator permission not just admin rights to delete/add/edit those system files so it is best to leave them well alone.
If they're not doing any harm then forget about them.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/app-domains/gac
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According to the information I've just found it does have an uninstaller:-
C:\Windows\dxsdkuninst.exe
The MS pages on this are especially unhelpful as I've found others who've reported the same thing ie. that it does not appear in the installed Programs list yet the 'advice' given is simply to use the standard uninstall method:-
Uninstall Microsoft DirectX SDK June 2010 with default uninstaller
Windows 7 Users
Click on Start at the bottom left of the screen
Select Control Panel → Uninstall a program link.
Search for Microsoft DirectX SDK June 2010 in the list, right-click it and select Uninstall.
Follow the instruction to finish the removal.
Restart your computer.
Why programs do not appear in the Windows list of installed programs I do not know but some just don't. Other may not have an uninstaller and so can leave stuff behind which can and does interfere with reinstalls or even other programs if you attempt to get rid of it by any means other than by using a restore point.
Restore points are often forgotten about my contemporary PC users and how useful they can be in cases like this, particularly if you've put one in yourself before installing such significant software.
However first check in the Start Up menu and see if DXSDK (DX Software Development Kit) listed there and maybe its uninstaller too.
Otherwise my suggestion would be to use something like BCUninstaller which may list things like this and what it calls orphan files missing from the main installed Programs listings. It will, or should, run the default uninstaller when present then search for any other related files and registry keys etc. BCUninstaller does not have the most friendly GUI but it does work and, up to the last time I updated it, does not and has not ever come with any other unwanted 'extras' unlike some other tools you can find which claim to do the same thing.
Always put in a restore point before using any uninstaller unless it does that itself. Not all do and I'm not sure without checking that BCUninstaller does.
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What I found surprising is that the OP apparently detected ".......some viruses here and there........." but did not think to do anything about that as a priority.
Whether it would have fixed the problem who knows?
First thing I would have done after sorting that out would have been to do a System File Check (run > "sfc /scannow") and chkdsk afterwards too. The former would very likely have fixed or at least identified any system errors and avoided the need to re-install the whole OS.
My feeling is that the problem may have been the RAM.
I've checked and the laptop apparently only comes with 2GB (DDR2?) memory. That is the minimum required for Win7 64bit, 4GB is recommended for best performance. Win7 32bit has a minimum requirement of just 1GB with 2GB recommended.
So if the RAM being use with Win7 64bit was only the factory fitted 2GB and the laptop had a lot of installed programs and other stuff you may well have an explanation for why installing Win7 32bit has made it run "lightening fast" (sic).
Has that had all the MS updates applied yet? If not, expect that performance to drop when you do.
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I suppose it is better than having the nag surreptitiously installed as a scheduled task which is what happened with XP (Pro 32bit).
I have other Win7 Pro installations and not, at least not yet, been prompted to install the "Important" nag update on them. This made made me suspicious so I've checked all scheduled tasks and Customer/Windows Experience opt out settings and am pleased to report found nothing.
But just the fact the update nag has been presented as "Important" is going to make me even more careful with my update checks from now on.
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Win7 End Of Support - KB4524752 MS Nagging Has Started
in Windows 7
Posted
So it is possible to update Win7 itself using the MS catalogue - I did not realise that could still be done.
I've never used automatic updates with Win7 and I'd assumed all I'd get from now on was notifications about non-system updates like MS Net Framework etc.