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I’ve been a longtime user of WinPatrol. It works well and I see no reason not to continue using it.

It found that BITS was set to Manual start. I’ve changed it to Automatic. I’ll wait to see if that fixes the problem. In the meantime, thanks for your help.

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I have a fast connection over fibre.

I initially followed Microsoft’s advice (run the troubleshooter, re-install Office, etc), but the issue remained. When Outlook halts, I kill the process, restart it, and it runs fine until the problem comes back, usually after a day or so. So I don’t think it’s an OST issue. Somehow the connection is interrupted and left hanging. I don’t have that problem with other programs.

BTW, this is a new PC and has been running for three months. I think the issue has been there most of the time.

There’s bags of room on C:. The OST is 4Mb, which shouldn’t be too large. I get the impression, though, that it never goes lower than its highwater mark.

I’ve had the problem for at least two months.

It seems to be a connection issue. I’m wondering if somehow the handshake gets lost and the server is waiting for my PC while my PC  is waiting for the Outlook server.

MS can’t be responsible for vendors not continuing support for their products.

How am I to know a driver may need updating? I’d no idea how major this upgrade was supposed to be. What is it? Windows 11?

All I know is the upgrade didn’t succeed. I have no evidence to say why it didn’t, and I’ve no intention of risking it again. I’m a techie but I also have a business to run, and I can’t afford to waste time sorting out undeserved problems MS has given me.

There has been a problem posted on the forum regarding a HP component causing problems with the upgrade, but I had the same problem of black screen and busy and nailed it down to a wireless driver.

My workaround was to upgrade using the latest ISO on a disk created from the MCT after updating the wireless adapter to the latest driver in the Driver Store as well as wiring up to disable wifi.

It still stuck initially on the restart at 75% but with the disk in, it recovered itself.

Previously when using the Upgrade now buttons, when it hung on the black screen with the busy, I power shutdown then restarted to be met with the message Windows is attempting to recover the installation but it was unable to, so I ended up restoring with a system image I’d created before embarking upon the upgrade.

At which point in the installation are you getting the black screen and busy ?

I wasn’t following the progress of the update, so I don’t know how far it had gone. I did reboot, but there was no message, just a blank screen and a blinking cursor.

The driver issue is another reason why Microsoft shouldn’t be so cavalier with these significant upgrades. If they knew that this could cause hardware problems, they should have given a warning about the risk.

That is your choice but Microsoft is unlikely to change the update pattern for Windows 10. It has been well publicized that you don’t have a choice about what updates to install with Windows 10.

Sometimes with other updates you needed to wait for a very long time for the installation to complete. How long did you wait?

Without you examining the update log file it is difficult to tell what the problem may be.

When I first noticed the blinking cursor on the blank screen, I thought it might be waiting on a process to complete. I gave it at least another hour, but nothing changed. I rebooted and got the same screen. That’s when I realised it was stuffed. When I was able to get back to 1511 with the aid of the rescue disk, I checked the update log and there was no mention of 1607.

I understand Microsoft’s reasoning with forced updates as they relate to security issues. However, 1607 is a significant functional upgrade and could have been made discretionary for a while, allowing users to back up systems and/or wait for feedback on its stability before proceeding with the install.

The site in question uses VBScript, which is deprecated by Microsoft as it’s insecure. I found a setting in MBAE that allowed me to circumvent the restriction temporarily.

Finally sorted it out. I recently installed Malwarebyte’s Anti-Exploit Premium to prevent ransomware and other browser malware from infecting my system. It’s worked without incident until this event and I’d forgotten all about it. I’ve just stopped the process and now I can log in.

I’ve been holding off KB 2859537 on both my main PC and laptop, despite constant prompting. Somehow, this week it’s installed itself on both without my selecting it. I can’t be sure if I mistakenly installed it or whether Windows Update got fed up with my procrastination and did it anyway.

I received no BSODs, but on one machine Malwarebytes Pro came up with error messages, even after I reinstalled it. When I rebooted, I discovered the update was taking effect and Malwarebytes ran okay after that.

I won’t use subscription services for software, and I’m not exactly ecstatic about either Office 2013 or Windows 8. It seems to me that sticking with what I have for the foreseeable future makes a lot of sense.

Further investigation suggests it should work.

I switched to MSE after using ZoneAlarm for years. I’ve found it unobtrusive and effective, and I’m glad to be free of ZA.

Sounds promising. Thanks for the replies.

Whenever I see this type of message come up, I’m thankful I have MW working full-time. They nearly always occur when I’ve strayed onto a less than reputable site.