Replug
Despite the tech media having shrieked confidently and loudly about the death of Windows 7, Microsoft continues to update it and I continue to use it.
Last week, an update alert appeared in the operating system's taskbar, and so I installed it. I think the update had to do with that 20-year-old hole in the print spooler software that could let a malicious actor (bad guy) wreck your computing experience.
I installed it, and after rebooting the computing, Windows Update stalled at 35%. I let it sit there for a long time before manually restarting the computer. I won't describe all the details of my attempts to fix the problem, but it took four hours to get my computer running again.
I was the cause of the problem.
My desktop computer's CD drive no longer works, but the computer dutifully checks for it during boot-ups. That slows the booting process, as the near-broken drive grinds away for a half-minute of so. I figured I'd be smart and disable the CD drive through the BIOS.
Solving that problem mixed up Windows, causing it to not complete the update. When I clued into what the problem was, I re-enabled the CD drive, and Windows gratefully completed its appointed task.
During the Windows update process, make no changes to the hardware!
I think the recent update is an outlier due to the severity of the recent Print Spooler exploit - Windows 7 is not supported or updated by MS since Jan 2020. Obviously it's your perogative to use whatever versions of software you choose at your own risk but just wanted to clarify for anyone reading.
Personally, particlarly in a commercial environment, I'd be advising people to be using properly supported software.
Posted by: Alex H | Jul 19, 2021 at 09:15 AM