Windows is weird.

Ah yes, but I don't want to.

The upgrade tool will work on any Win 7 or 8.1 platform that is currently activated without needing to enter or specify a key. It also seems to accept any real Win 7 or Win 8 / 8.1 key entered during a fresh install.

Windows 7 is great OS and if you don't need any special drivers, then keep it running.

I have an installed image of Win7 that I run sometimes and like it's simplicity. I run Win10 1903 Server Workstation as a virtual system without any updates at all. I have all the Microsoft servhost files blocked from the internet and have had no problems.

Microsoft appear to make an assessment something like: Would the impact of NOT patching/providing an update cause wide-ranging and severe issues to the rest of the internet or allow major criminal activity? Apple have recently sent out updates that fixed security issues in IOS phones which were well out of support.

Imagine a security hole which allowed all computers running Windows 7 (or older!) to be taken over and used to implement a distributed denial of service attack. Especially if it was able to do so without the owners/users actually doing anything like downloading software.

I agree with those who suggest that Windows 7 really is a security liability - even if you prefer it. Because only these extreme issues will get fixed.

Thank you for that.

That's interesting, thanks. I'll switch the update option to "Notify me and let me decide what to install".

Well you need to look at the messages that you get. It keeps a list normally. It might be stuck on a Microsoft security essentials update, and also I noticed this message when Adobe updated its pdf reader though the windows update system.

If you know when this started then take the machine back to the day before.

Have you uninstalled anything of late that might have upset the registry?

Brian

It does seem odd, and I had a similar issue with windows media player. Indeed it does not now function at all. No real issue as Winamp is far superior to it. Also you can now download edge for Windows 7, and I did note that windows also did an update, yes even on 7 to make this browser work more reliably, so just turning off updates might not be such a good idea. Remember that there are certain entities who have paid for windows 7 support and hence any general fixes needed will occasionally appear for other people.

What you won't see are the big updates for security that we used to get.

I don't know how long msse is going to be supported, it has now stopped for xp but did used to work up to the middle of last year when the technology in the engine was updated but not of course on xp. Brian

Not knowingly. I've changed the update option to "notify me and let me decide what to install" so I'll see if that solves the problem.

Thanks for your thoughts.

I'd really rather not, thank you. Whoever designed the UI for Win10 was clearly on drugs at the time.

Little of it means anything to me. I normally allow the system to install recommended updates.

These two are just sitting in the optional updates file.

This machine is a recon. from Chelmsford College so I suppose they might have some support agreement.

"Windows for Weirdos".

The odd thing is that my utterly computer illiterate friend/neighbour of

- ahem - Asian origin , has Linux I installed for him, on the basis that

- I could support it

- He was less likely to catch a virus

- since he had no clue how to even operate a toaster, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Now all the issues that I have to sort out are in the main because he believes the spam mail that says his BTinternet account is compromised, phones up BT changes half his passwords, but not the other half, and ends up in a complete mess. Which would happen whatever system he was on.I have told him to ditch BTinternet mail because I have set up an alternative for him, which has never showed any signs of being a problem but in some strange logic that I do not understand, he says he must continue with it because *he has paid for it*. Oddly he doesn't feel the same compulsion to watch BBC TV in preference to any other channel.

He has never failed however to fill in a simple password to keep the Linux up to date.

Apart from the fact that you need to install it, Linux Mint is actually far EASIER to manage than my old windows 98 setups used to be.

Unless you wander off the Mint reservation, when its just as hard, but no harder, and there is more info online.

I even managed to get a 120 format negative scanner working on it.

Really if all you need is browser/word processor/email/ Linux is way better and easier and less of a target than Win10, and if you liked the XP look and feel you will be instantly at home with the MATE desktop on linux mint.Sadly firefox chews up the best part of a gigabyte of RAM so you need at least 2, better 4 of that...but apart from that, old machines work well.

Even the Windows key works as expected!

In message <rrsk7n$uuv$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, The Natural Philosopher snipped-for-privacy@invalid.invalid writes

Still only 32 bit though I do have a full set of RAM. I use an Epson printer/scanner. My vague plan was to replace the machine with something up to date once W10 had settled down...

Meanwhile this does all I need.

Can you run anything useful on it ?

So he is easy to bullshit to then ? Or is he actually cleverer than you, but is being polite to keep quiet.

I've just tried my Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 on Win 10. First time I have used it for a few years and it works and scans fine using the supplied Nikon scan application.

It's probably worth double what I paid for it in 2008.

Everything since year 2000 shipped with IE on it.

Look for "iexplore.exe".

Use your Agent Ransack for example, and see how many copies you've got and in which folders.

Some will be in WinSXS and those don't count (that's a cache area of sorts, used for maintenance - do not delete that folder!).

Doing Properties on the EXE, will give a release number, and there's at least one web site with a list of values.

One of the files in the folder, is an "HTML engine", and is used for functions such as .chm (help) files.

This is why Microsoft used to claim that IE was "essential" to the OS. Because they managed to use the engine for stuff. When you "remove" IE using various means, the folder stays and so does the engine, because the engine is "essential" :-) Uninstalling iexplore.exe means removing access to that executable and that is all. Most of the rest stays put.

When you go to activate Windows XP, IE is used as part of the activation procedure. And in recent years (2012 or newer), the activation will not complete unless the user installs a later IE version (need support for https or so). The height of foolishness. Later Windows are not hobbled like that.

Some day, in Windows 10, IE might just disappear. As there are other engines about. (Metro applications are made from Javascript and HTML, that sort of thing.) Metro applications have a "fake EXE", which is a container for a manifest, a list of components that need to be loaded. When you spot a Metro EXE, and double click it, the screen blinks... and that's all that happens. It's because the EXE part of the EXE is a stub, and it "exits immediately" if clicked. Metro ones only start if "launched" - like a boat ramp, they have to slide down the cradle to be started.

The 64-bit version of Windows 10, has both a 64-bit iexplore.exe and a 32-bit iexplore.exe. It was a demo carried out by Microsoft, to show developers how you can have both (each in a separate folder, not together). There may be some limitation on ActiveX that requires the 32-bit one. I don't use IE, so can't say for sure what the various versions are good for.

Paul

But so much slower than Win8/8.1 and 10 when run on the same hardware.

ChromEdge ("MSEdge for Windows 7") has its own updater. Switching off Windows Update would not help.

Microsoft Edge Elevation Service = elevation_service.exe Microsoft Edge Update Service (edgeupdate) = microsoftedgeupdate.exe Microsoft Edge Update Service (edgeupdatem) = microsoftedgeupdate.exe

Using Sysinternals Autoruns, the Chrome mechanism is:

Google Chrome Elevation Service = elevation_service.exe Google Chrome Update Service (gupdate) = googleupdate.exe Google Chrome Update Service (gupdatem) = googleupdate.exe

Many of the mechanisms used by the two, are the same. One difference is, in Programs and Features, Google Update is no longer visible as an uninstallable feature. I think a few years back, it may have had a separate entry.

These do not exactly rely on Windows Update, either of them.

The googleupdate service, was supposed to have the logic, that it would only "remove itself" if all Google products were uninstalled. I was unable to get it to do that (remove itself). By not having a Programs and Features entry, this is intended to make it (almost) impossible to remove. by the usual naive means.

Paul