Several Apps Automatically Updated Without My Knowledge

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I was reading over a post by TonyC from a few days ago about their photo app being updated without their knowledge. Most of the replies focused on getting the old photo app back.

However, I had several apps on the morning of Nov 2 auto update without my knowledge. The only reason I noticed was because I always have to do a repair on one of my programs so go into the list of installed programs and sort descending by date installed to find it. Imagine my surprise to see 10 other programs installed that morning. I have never, ever had that happen.

Some were Microsoft apps: Edge, Teams, and Visual C++ redistributable.

Others were not MS apps: VLC player, Calibre, Audacity, Zoom, Handbreak, Apple Software Updater, and Bonjour were all updated.

I’ve been using this laptop for over six years and never have had any apps update like this. Initially a search on Reddit seemed to blame an AVG tool (which I don’t have installed) but AVG says it was the Microsoft Store doing the update.

I’ve never logged into Microsoft Store and I don’t use an MS account to log in to my laptop. The apps I use are all downloaded from the vendors directly. My windows update is controlled by a group policy set at my workplace to get updates from them. I don’t necessarily mind being told my apps have updates, but I want to make the choice of updating them myself. The update to Calibre corrupted my library. I was able to uninstall and reinstall the version I use and copy over my library from a backup. But I want to be sure that it doesn’t update again – or any of my other programs. The only answers I get to disabling the app updates is to log into the Microsoft Store and turn off auto updates there – but I don’t have an account and I don’t want to create one.

I’m not even sure the fault is the Microsoft Store. I always turn off ‘check for updates’ in any app that has the option. I also have a firewall to let me know whenever any of these programs try and update if I’ve forgotten to turn the check off. The firewall did not block any of these updates.

I looked in Even Viewer Application Log and there are a bunch of MSInstaller entries for these apps, but I can’t tell how the installs were kicked off.

What do the experts here think would update these apps? If they are from the Microsoft Store, can I block access to it somehow?

Sorry for seeming to ramble. I wanted to try and provide as much detail as I could. Thanks for any advice.

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I have a Local ID only.
You don’t have to log on to the MS Store to stop MS App updates. This is from Win11, but the settings are in the same place in Win10.
Open the MS Store App. Go to settings. Turn off updates. Without logging in.

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Thank you – I will give that a try. Something is up with that app. When I open it and try and go to settings, the app immediately closes. I tried to open it and leave it alone, and within a few seconds it closes. There are some event entries showing an application fault and it trying to send out to error reporting. So maybe I need to repair the app – I’ll tackle that tomorrow. I am definitely not a W10 OS person. Windows 7 was my last OS that I really knew how to use well. This laptop is just so I can do my work. Thank you so much for your help and the screen shot.

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slanskye wrote:

…So maybe I need to repair the app – I’ll tackle that tomorrow.

To repair the Microsoft Store app, you’ll need to go to a slightly different location than Settings>Apps, although that’s where you begin the process. Once you’re at Settings>Apps, in the upper right area of the window, you’ll see a heading of “Related settings”. Below that, there’s a blue-colored listing that says “System Components”. Click that link and you’ll be looking at a listing of the system component apps on the machine.

One of those apps should be listed as “Microsoft Store”. Click that listing and then click on the item below it that says “Advanced options”. Now, on this screen, scroll down until you see the heading of “Reset”. There are two buttons below that which say “Repair” and “Reset”. Read the description above each and choose the one that you think will help you get the copy of the Microsoft Store back up and running again.

Not quite like brain surgery, but surely not as easy as things were in Windows 7! 

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windbg

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Thank you for the suggestions. I tried both the repair and the reset but neither helped. I can start the MS Store app but it just closes down as soon as I click on settings.

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I have that MS Store setting turned off, but my apps updated anyway. Win10 Home 22H2, local account only.

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Same here, it’s several weeks now that I’ve noticed several Microsoft Store apps updating without my consent on my Windows 10 Home system, while it seems this does not happen on my Windows 11 Pro system. I only use a local account on both systems, both have automatic Store updates set to off in MS Store and I have even enabled the toggle in WUMgr to disable automatic updates for store apps, but I keep noticing some of these are somehow auto-updating on W10. No “updater” software is enabled on either system either.

Any ideas how to stop this automatic updating behavior? At this stage I’m going to remove all Store apps that are on my machine: most are the junk that comes with any regular Windows installation and I never install new apps from the MS Store anyway, but I’d prefer to avoid a total purge of the MS Store apps (at the very least Notepad and Calculator come in handy from time to time).

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slanskye wrote:

I’ve been using this laptop for over six years and never have had any apps update like this. Initially a search on Reddit seemed to blame an AVG tool (which I don’t have installed) but AVG says it was the Microsoft Store doing the update.

Hi slanskye:

Do you use the built-in Microsoft Defender or a third-party antivirus?

Any chance you use an antivirus or third-party utility like CCleaner Professional (now part of the Gen Digital family that includes Norton, Avast, AVG, Avira, Piriform, CCleaner, etc.) that includes a software updater and/or performance optimizer that will suspend programs to reduce CPU usage and save battery power? If so see FFG’s 30-Oct-2024 topic CCleaner stops all Microsoft 365, Adobe, Nitro programs in the CCleaner forum.
———–
Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5011 * Firefox v132.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24090.11-1.1.24090.11 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.1.144-1.0.5088 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * CCleaner Free Portable v6.29.11342

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I’m using AVG, two programs – anti-track and anti-virus. Even though my subscription allows for some of the other programs, I don’t have them installed. I think there is an AVG Toolkit or something like that, that can keep programs updated but I don’t use them. I don’t have CCleaner or anything else like that.

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So today, I just checked programs on my laptop and Edge, Audacity, and Chrome all updated behind my back this morning with no intervention from me. I haven’t had a chance to repair my Microsoft Store app, but it seems like a few others are also having their programs update with out their permission even with the autoupdate feature turned off in MS Store. At least Calibre didn’t get updated this time. I don’t use Edge and I manually update Chrome whenever I’m notified there’s an update. I use Audacity but not often. I’m uninstalling the update and reinstalling the version I use. I’m not happy about this at all.

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Edge updates on it’s own – not Windows Update, not MS Store.
Chrome and Audacity are not Microsoft Store Apps, they are third-party.
Check if AVG updater is doing the updating behind your back. (or some other program you have installed)

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Thank you. Chrome is definitely not in the MS Store. Audacity is there (looking at the MS Store website since I can’t get the app to work on my laptop), and at one time Calibre was being sold there but it seems it’s no longer there. Handbreak is not there but it was updated Nov 2. I have never downloaded anything from the MS Store, only directly from the vendors sites.

I’m wondering more now if it isn’t some sort of stealth AVG service running in the background even though I’m not using their Tuneup app. This all started happening after I updated my AVG Internet Security app on Oct 23 to the Oct 8 version.

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slanskye wrote:

So today, I just checked programs on my laptop and Edge, Audacity, and Chrome all updated behind my back this morning with no intervention from me. I

Hi slanskye:

In MS Edge v130, go to Settings | System & Performance | System (or enter edge://settings/system in the address bar) and turn off both settings for Startup Boost and Run Background Apps on Exit to prevent automatic background updating.

———–
Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5011 * Firefox v132.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24090.11-1.1.24090.11 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.1.144-1.0.5088 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Microsoft Edge v130.0.2849.80

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Thank you for the information. I checked and these two setting are already off.

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Have those two options disabled since ages, but Edge always autoupdated itself…

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To stop Edge auto-updates you need to disable the following scheduled tasks:

MicrosoftEdgeUpdateBrowserReplacementTask
MicrosoftEdgeUpdateTaskMachineCore{62DE03B8-A31A-4B9F-8A51-104A4FC62268}
MicrosoftEdgeUpdateTaskMachineUA{EA6D7328-C8A6-4A90-A6EA-098DBAA472F6}

Note: do not delete them! If you do, Windows update will recreated and reschedule them to run but, if they already exist, that won’t happen.

Then set these Microsoft Edge services as follows:

Startup Type: Manual

Microsoft Edge Elevation Service (MicrosoftEdgeElevationService)
Microsoft Edge Update Service (edgeupdatem)

Startup Type: Disabled

Microsoft Edge Update Service (edgeupdate)

These settings will prevent Edge from auto-updating but it can still be manually update by opening Edge and going to About Microsoft Edge.

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
FYI, the same settings, using Goggle Chrome in place of Microsoft Edge, can be used to prevent Chrome from auto-updating while also leaving the manual option available.

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slanskye, Berserker79

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Excellent! Thank you so much.

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Thanks, this seems to be what I need to finally manage updates to Edge manually!

Now we only need to figure out what’s causing certain MS Store apps to auto-update even when the relevant setting in Store app is turned off…

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slanskye wrote:

Edge, Audacity, and Chrome all updated behind my back this morning

Browsers like Edge, Chrome.. update automatically in the background and there are no update notifications.

There is a Microsoft Edge Update app which you can uninstall.

How to Disable Chrome Automatic Update in Windows?

It is recommended to always run the latest browser version.

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CWheeler wrote:

I have that MS Store setting turned off, but my apps updated anyway. Win10 Home 22H2, local account only.

I also have those MS store auto update settings disabled BUT I also turn on “metered” internet connections. store apps never auto update with metered connections enabled on my win10 PCs

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slanskye, lmacri

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I also have metered connections turned on; it’s the only way to control updates in Home edition.

And just to be clear, I’m not talking about Edge updates; I have that controlled in Edge itself. I particularly noticed that the Photos app updated without my consent.

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slanskye

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CWheeler wrote:

I also have metered connections turned on; it’s the only way to control updates in Home edition.

And just to be clear, I’m not talking about Edge updates; I have that controlled in Edge itself. I particularly noticed that the Photos app updated without my consent.

I’ve just checked and I find that they’ve done the same thing to me too, installed a new version of the Photos app without asking

However, it’s possible to download the previous version (now called “Photos Legacy”) from the MS Store for free. You’ll have to manually reset all your file associations though

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slanskye

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I still have not found a solution to this problem. Yesterday around 11:45am, apps updated again: Zoom, Calibre, Chrome, Edge, and Visual C++ redistributable. I had every update service that I could find turned off. I was finally able to get the MS Store app to work and turned off app updates. I can see in the event viewer where there are MSInstaller entries for these apps but I can’t tell what is kicking off the installer. This is quite frustrating.

Google and Edge Services got turned back on after their update – I can see Event viewer system entries where they got turned back on. I turned them off again but I don’t expect that it will help. It seems there is an outside process running once a week on Saturdays (not sure that Saturdays is important, but it is every 7 days) that is initiating these updates.

I’m still searching for an answer. I don’t necessarily mind some of the updates – I watch Cert alerts for browser updates and prefer to do those manually after checking what is in the update. Visual C++ is fine too, but I do NOT want Calibre, Audacity, VLC, or any of my manually installed programs updated.

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Chrome and Edge have their own auto-update processes – as internet facing apps should have.

VC++ redistributable does not update, it’s a once off install that comes with apps. Windows Update may patch it.

I’ve never had VLC auto-update. It does have an “updates notifier” option, but it’s off on mine and I assume it is off by default because I didn’t turn it off.

 

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slanskye wrote:

I still have not found a solution to this problem. Yesterday around 11:45am, apps updated again: Zoom, Calibre, Chrome, Edge, and Visual C++ redistributable. I had every update service that I could find turned off.

Do you run UCheck app in the background ?

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Well if it ran I didn’t do it by manually starting it. Is it something that runs in the background, or a scheduled task? It looks to be something that needs to be downloaded and installed, correct? I have never installed that program.

 

 

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Maybe this can give a clue. Here are the names of some software that have updaters associated with them. Check Control Panel\Programs & Features, Setting App\Apps, and the Program folders under C: drive.

PatchMyPC, UniGetUI, IObit softeare, UCheck, Hemidal, Software Informer, UpdateHub, Glary, Avira & Avast (probably AVG too since its associated), SUMo, Ninite, CCleaner.

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slanskye

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Thank you for the list. The only thing I have is AVG but I don’t have their software checker/updater/tools (whatever the program is called) installed, only the AVG Internet and Antitracker components. That doesn’t mean some other process didn’t get installed with the AVG Internet program update I did Oct 28. I never had this issue before then and I’ve been using the laptop for a few years now.

I’ll just have to keep an eye on things next Saturday, maybe disable Internet access and see what event log entries get made when the ‘updates’ try and start. I can’t imagine there isn’t some sort of log file somewhere that gets created when these updates are made. Again, thank you for your help.

 

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New AVG TuneUp probably got installed with an update. They’re advertising it on their website.

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slanskye

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I feel the same way as PK, you either got AVG TuneUp installed during your last update of AVG Internet Security or you got a small piece of it installed during the update somehow.

Because of this, it might be a good idea for you to log in to your AVG account on their website and see if AVG PC TuneUp has been somehow added to the software you’re paying for.

I found references to a free trial of PC TuneUp, but it was only for a one week period of time, and it’s been nearly three weeks since you updated your copy of AVG Internet.

Also, open up the settings area of AVG Internet and carefully go through each one of them to make sure that a software updater for non-AVG software hasn’t been quietly added to AVG Internet’s capabilities. On AVG’s site, there’s NO mention (that I found, anyway) of AVG Internet being able to update your other programs.

 

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slanskye

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Thanks PK, Bob – my AVG subscription lets me have access to the TuneUp module which I did install on my husband’s laptop (because I don’t really have time to do maintenance on his laptop), but I don’t have it installed on this one I’m using. I thought that maybe in the AVG Internet program update that a setting might have been added, so I looked though everything but no luck.

I’ve been trying to look at services or scheduled tasks so see if maybe TuneUp was running somewhere but so far I don’t see anything there either.

I did look at Reliability History on the dates of the updates and can see where the software was updated, all within about 2 minutes of each other, but I don’t see any clues to tell me why.

I hate to try and uninstall AVG if it turns out to be something else, so I’ll see if I can find a service or task that kicks off next Saturday when I log in.

 

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Bob99

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slanskye wrote:

…so I’ll see if I can find a service or task…

If you can put the two laptops side by side, perhaps you can do a comparison of their running services to see if their AVG-related services match each other exactly. Your husband’s laptop may have one or two AVG-related services running that your laptop doesn’t since it has PC TuneUp installed and yours doesn’t.

It would also be a good idea to look through, as you say, the scheduled tasks of each one side by side to see if there are any differences in AVG-related scheduled tasks, which there might be.

Feel free to post back here if you’re unsure about anything you see or find. Screenshots can be a BIG help!

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slanskye

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I never did find how this was happening, but I disabled some AVG tasks and have started doing virus definition updates manually. So far, I have not had anymore unwanted updates to programs/apps, so I am guessing it was something to do with AVG.  Thanks for everyone’s help. If I ever get time, I’ll try and get back to this and do more testing to see if I can find a definitive answer.

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Bob99, Cybertooth

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slanskye wrote:

I disabled some AVG tasks and have started doing virus definition updates manually. So far, I have not had anymore unwanted updates to programs/apps, so I am guessing it was something to do with AVG.

Hi slanskye:

See Andrzej Kr’s 03-Nov-2024 Avg Internet Security started to update software automaticly in the AVG Support Community which states in part:

On my PC I don’t have paid version of AVG Tune Up (I got it on laptop), but I’ve AVG Internet Security. I’ve notice that since late October AVG Internet Security is automaticly installing new version of apps (like keepass, 7-zip and etc) without permission or my actions …

… I do have a proof, that AVG Internet Security is making those updates. 2 days ago I had again updated software Filezilla (in the background), then I found a file from 10.11.2024 in directory: C:\ProgramData\AVG\Antivirus\Software Updater called state_cache.json

And there is a log…

———–
Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5247 * Firefox v134.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24090.11-1.1.24090.11 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.4.157-1.0.5116 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783

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slanskye, satrow

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slanskye wrote:

I disabled some AVG tasks and have started doing virus definition updates manually

Wouldn’t it be better to dump AVG ? You have Microsoft Defender and can add an A/V like Malwarebytes for second opinion..

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slanskye

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Probably, but I pay one low price for 10 devices, and the other devices belong to family members who aren’t computer literate and I am not going to try and make sure their stuff is up to date. I just set AVG to automatic update for everything on their devices and let it go. If their apps get updated, it’s probably a good thing.

I just wanted to update this thread with my ‘non-solution’ solution to my issue. If I hadn’t found a way to stop the apps from updating on my laptop, I would have dumped it and gone the way you suggest.

 

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Alex5723

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