The clock is ticking down on free Win10

Topic

New Reply

---

Patch Watch

The clock is ticking down on free Win10

By Susan Bradley May’s updates should be familiar, with important browser fixes, a few kernel updates, .NET Framework patching, plus the usual pile of Office enhancements and repairs. Also, a patch reminds us that there’s only two more months before the free upgrade to Windows 10 expires.

---

The full text of this column is posted at windowssecrets.com/patch-watch/the-clock-is-ticking-down-on-free-win10/ (opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.

Reply | Quote

Replies

You may want to edit this before the newsletter goes out. Both numbers are the same:
“…are KBs 3156387 and 3156387”

Reply | Quote

Thanks as always Susan.

I’ve also been re-offered one of last month’s .Net Framework updates, KB313600. The information page reports:-

“May 10, 2016 This security update has been re-released and contains updated files. This re-release is intended for LDR (limited distribution release) content customers only. We determined that there were some issues in certain printing scenarios because of a missing dependency. If you use LDR content, we recommend that you apply this updated security update. There are no changes in this re-release for GDR (general distribution release) content customers.”

How do I know whether I’m a LDR customer or a GDR customer? I’m running W7 Home 64 on a couple of home computers. I installed the original version last month without any issues. I assume I’m a GDR customer and don’t therefore need this updated version but these are terms I haven’t come across before.

Reply | Quote

Thanks as always Susan.

I’ve also been re-offered one of last month’s .Net Framework updates, KB313600. The information page reports:-

“May 10, 2016 This security update has been re-released and contains updated files. This re-release is intended for LDR (limited distribution release) content customers only. We determined that there were some issues in certain printing scenarios because of a missing dependency. If you use LDR content, we recommend that you apply this updated security update. There are no changes in this re-release for GDR (general distribution release) content customers.”

How do I know whether I’m a LDR customer or a GDR customer? I’m running W7 Home 64 on a couple of home computers. I installed the original version last month without any issues. I assume I’m a GDR customer and don’t therefore need this updated version but these are terms I haven’t come across before.

I was hoping that someone would reply to this post as I have the same question.

Reply | Quote

I was hoping that someone would reply to this post as I have the same question.

Let Windows Update determine it. If it is offered install it. If not don’t worry about it.

--Joe

Reply | Quote

Let Windows Update determine it. If it is offered install it. If not don’t worry about it.

Thanks, but I’m afraid that the advice “if it’s offered install it” ignores the whole basis on which we read Patch Watch! It’s simply too complacent these days to install everything that is thrown at us by MS.

I have done a bit more research in the absence of any answer to my question, and it seems that I am a GDR customer and this particular update does not provide any changes over the version already installed and can therefore safely be ignored. It’s not my practice these days to install any update that I don’t need, it simply isn’t worth the risk any more.

Reply | Quote

Thanks, but I’m afraid that the advice “if it’s offered install it” ignores the whole basis on which we read Patch Watch! It’s simply too complacent these days to install everything that is thrown at us by MS.

I have done a bit more research in the absence of any answer to my question, and it seems that I am a GDR customer and this particular update does not provide any changes over the version already installed and can therefore safely be ignored. It’s not my practice these days to install any update that I don’t need, it simply isn’t worth the risk any more.

Too complacent based on what?? Have you personally had a problem with an update recently? Did you determine why? I’ve installed updates on a variety of systems and versions of Windows since XP and can count on one hand the number of times (4) I’ve had a problem with an update. All but one of those was a .NET update on XP. Particularly since I don’t support any XP systems any more, I routinely install updates within a day or two of when they are offered.

--Joe

Reply | Quote

Too complacent based on what?? Have you personally had a problem with an update recently? Did you determine why? I’ve installed updates on a variety of systems and versions of Windows since XP and can count on one hand the number of times (4) I’ve had a problem with an update. All but one of those was a .NET update on XP. Particularly since I don’t support any XP systems any more, I routinely install updates within a day or two of when they are offered.

I’ve not personally had a problem since I’ve been taking advice on which updates to install and when, from both Susan Bradley and Woody Leonhard. Prior to that I did have a complete computer breakdown which my local technician thought was almost certainly due to a faulty Windows update.

That’s just in relation to stability, then there’s the whole issue of MS using updates in an attempt to force us into upgrading which is another story altogether. I’m not remotely interested in installing those updates which have been shown to “facilitate” upgrading.

All I’m saying is that these days it merits serious consideration before installing updates, and simply doing so because they’ve been offered isn’t – in the light of the advice given constantly on this site through its newsletter – particularly sensible in my view.

Reply | Quote

I have an 8 month old Win10 laptop that has not been used yet. With all the updates and update corrections to updates your column has provided, I am almost afraid to just download all of them. Are there certain ones I should download instead of all of them?

Reply | Quote

I have an 8 month old Win10 laptop that has not been used yet. With all the updates and update corrections to updates your column has provided, I am almost afraid to just download all of them. Are there certain ones I should download instead of all of them?

Windows 10 isn’t like previous versions where you had a choice of what OS updates to download/install. With Windows 10 you get whatever MS ‘offers’, no choice. I haven’t heard any rumours that this mandatory update policy is ever going to change.

PS – The licence to use Windows 10 on your new laptop is probably not yet activated. Before July 29th, make sure you power it on, log in (it doesn’t matter whether you use a local or MS account) and connect to the internet. This will allow your laptop to register its ‘digital entitlement’ (a unique hardware ID) with MS’ activation servers.

Hope this helps…

Reply | Quote

Hi Rick
Thank you for that prompt response. You have cleared my questions about the laptop.
I am quite happy with my Win8.1 desktop however all I hear are horror stories about the forced upgrade from 8.1 to 10.
I think I’ll go back to my abacus and typewriter.

Reply | Quote

Hi Rick
Thank you for that prompt response. You have cleared my questions about the laptop.
I am quite happy with my Win8.1 desktop however all I hear are horror stories about the forced upgrade from 8.1 to 10.
I think I’ll go back to my abacus and typewriter.

You don’t hear about the millions of uneventful upgrades. It is always the case that the failures get the most publicity because those are the people looking for help to resolve the problem.

If you are happy with Windows 8.1 stick with it. If your desktop is of relatively recent vintage you should have a successful upgrade if you to decide to go that route. I successfully upgraded a desktop machine from 2009 from 8.1 to one of the earliest public test versions of Windows 10. The stumbling block you may have is if you have older peripherals. Often OEMs don’t issue upgraded drivers.

--Joe

Reply | Quote

PS – The licence to use Windows 10 on your new laptop is probably not yet activated. Before July 29th, make sure you power it on, log in (it doesn’t matter whether you use a local or MS account) and connect to the internet. This will allow your laptop to register its ‘digital entitlement’ (a unique hardware ID) with MS’ activation servers.

That one doesn’t sound like a free upgrade. If the laptop came with Windows 10 there’s no reason it should time out on July 29th.

Reply | Quote

That one doesn’t sound like a free upgrade. If the laptop came with Windows 10 there’s no reason it should time out on July 29th.

I agree… but haven’t yet seen any MS info re: ‘time-out’ differences between ‘upgrade’ and OEM pre-installed, hence my ‘just in case’ suggestion.

Reply | Quote

Hey Joe
Thanks. I am far from being a techie. For me the computer is a tool that I depend upon. I just want it to work – period.
You are probably correct about hearing just those complaining.
Thanks

Reply | Quote

“Also, I’m still seeing more reports of long Windows Update scan times on Win7 systems. I’ll review this problem in the next Patch Watch column.”

Me to! My Tosh Sat A500 Win 7 64 has been running for three hours just looking for updates – issue started a few days ago (poss tuesday) when the CPU went into overdrive and Windows Update service was the culprit. I also had problems last month – and the fix that you found for Fred Langa also fixed it for me.

Looking fwd to a solution

Reply | Quote

When I installed KB3156017 (by itself) on a Win 7 x64 laptop, I ended up with a black screen which wouldn’t resolve. I rebooted to safe mode and uninstalled that update and the computer was restarted and came up fine. Susan Bradley had noted in this article that this was an unrated kernel update. Has anyone else had any problems with it? I’m not going to install it at this point on any of our other computers.

Reply | Quote

I installed KB3156017 as part of MS16-062 on a Win 7 x64 SP1 system and had no problems with it.

Maybe you should install both parts of MS16-062.

Reply | Quote

I installed KB3156017 as part of MS16-062 on a Win 7 x64 SP1 system and had no problems with it.

Maybe you should install both parts of MS16-062.

Same here

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

Reply | Quote

I did install KB3153199 too, I just didn’t do the two of them together. I did KB3153199 first, then did KB3156017 after that. Doing them separately is how I knew which update caused the problem. I did not have to remove KB3153199, it caused no problems.

Maybe you should install both parts of MS16-062.

Reply | Quote

Perhaps I’ve missed something; however, I’m unable to find information in WS about kb 3114883 and kb 3127220. Online, there are reports of problems with these.

Susan, I would greatly appreciate your advice on these two updates. Thank you in advance.

Charles:confused:

Win 7 Pro, 4 GB RAM, Office 2010 SP2, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHz

Reply | Quote

Now we have branches and rings, I’m surprised we need GDR and LDR too; but perhaps it’s still significant at a file level?: GDR, QFE, LDR… WTH?

Reply | Quote

Hi Folks,

This is no doubt a difficult time for many of us who want to run a relatively secure and stable PC with as much convenience as our own model will allow for. It is always a balance but sometimes our selection choices come around to bit us months later. As I have said here before, if one is going to accomplish this, one MUST become their own IT/DEVOPS Professional. Here are some Links to help in this endeavor. One should never rely on just one source but I realize it is difficult sometimes to parse through the information:

http://patchmanagement.org/ http://www.patchchart.com/

One of the Moderators and constructed by Susan Bradley.

Look for Michael.Niehaus@microsoft.com and other “Softies” commenting on both the Patch and WSUS LISTs.
There is a recent Email from Michael on the WSUS LIST that speaks to one of the burning subjects on “When, What and Type” of patches to Patch. You will be able to find it in the archive.

Some of you may know these, as well as about Susan’s Blog: http://blogs.msmvps.com/bradley/

On her Blog she posted on Friday this poignant and gut wrenching article: http://blogs.msmvps.com/bradley/2016/05/20/windows-10-and-the-forced-release/
“Windows 10 and the forced release”
Even if you have no use for Windows 10, I recommend that you read the post and the comments.

I always use a Test partition(Bar Metal is always best for a good test) and it gets all of the patch all most immediately. 70 GB or less(no more than 35 GB are usually used by the Image itself) is a good size and gives plenty of flexibility.
Image Backups are a necessity to roll back to if things go really wrong with Updates or Upgrades. I use Pargon(I have very bad luck with MS in this area). It is the best US$50.00 (1/2 off sale) I spend all year. They are out of Denmark.

Hopefully this helps somebody to further their own knowledge along with the plethora of information that one can search for. I really do hope I am “Preaching to the Choir” here……

Best Regards,

Crysta

PS. This will probably will be my last post here since I am not going to renew in June. As far as I am concerned, Penton has striped most of the value out of Windows Secrets that I was willing to pay for, for years.

--------------------------------------

1. Tower Totals: 2xSSD ~512GB, 2xHHD 20 TB, Memory 32GB

SSDs: 6xOS Partitions, 2xW8.1 Main & Test, 2x10.0 Test, Pro, x64

CPU i7 2600 K, SandyBridge/CougarPoint, 4 cores, 8 Threads, 3.4 GHz
Graphics Radeon RX 580, RX 580 ONLY Over Clocked
More perishable

2xMonitors Asus DVI, Sony 55" UHD TV HDMI

1. NUC 5i7 2cores, 4 Thread, Memory 8GB, 3.1 GHz, M2SSD 140GB
1xOS W8.1 Pro, NAS Dependent, Same Sony above.

-----------------

Reply | Quote

PS. This will probably will be my last post here since I am not going to renew in June. As far as I am concerned, Penton has striped most of the value out of Windows Secrets that I was willing to pay for, for years.

Crysta, the paid for newsletter and the lounge are completely different beasts – you don’t need the former to be able to post here

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

Reply | Quote

Another update I couldn’t find in WS is kb 3153731, but there are no reports of problems with it. This update is for the time in Chile, Azerbaijan, and other places.

Charles:)

Reply | Quote

Another update I couldn’t find in WS is kb 3153731, but there are no reports of problems with it. This update is for the time in Chile, Azerbaijan, and other places.

Charles:)

I didn’t update kb 3153731 because I don’t really care what time it is in those other country’s.
As to kb 3127220 .net update, I installed it with no problems so far.
HTH

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

Reply | Quote

I wasn’t offered KB3114883 which is for Outlook 2010, but I installed KB3127220 ok in February. Although not specifically mentioned in Patch Watch it’s from the same batch of .Net Framework updates that were approved by Susan Bradley so I assumed it was ok to install and have had no problems since.

Reply | Quote