windows downloading & installing update(s) without asking?

A couple of days ago my pc restarted by itself and after restarting a message popped up on the screen that 'windows had downloaded and installed an important update and that an immediate restart was prompted'. No explanation of what it was, or why it was. This has never happened before and I have been running windows for about 7 years. I have automatic updating active, but not to install automatically. At the time I thought I had accidently deleted a file when running av, spyware checker etc. On Saturday I reinstalled windows. I also installed any updates from microsoft website after installing windows. When I turned the pc on this morning it restarted again, with the same message coming up after restart. Later I thought about this 'conficker' worm that's going about and wonder if it has anything to do with this? Can anyone shed any light? Thanks for reading and in advance for any help offered. hedley

Hi hedley93

Try check your event-viewer.

Start, Run, type: Eventvwr.msc

Look under the "Program" logs. If it was Windows Update performing this update,
you should see a entry under Source, with the name Crypt32 around the time it
started updating.

Right-click the crypt32, select properties, see if it is indeed Windows Update which
performed this action.

Regards

Thanks for the reply. The log read as 'Source - Windows Update Agent' and it gives a list of updates installed. On checking in the security centre it states that downloads and installs happen at (day - time). Until now updates were downloaded and I was notified by the shield in the notification area and I installed them myself. If they install automatically does this mean that SP3 will be installed without my knowledge until after the fact? I put SP3 on my pc on Saturday when I reinstalled and I ran into all sorts of problems. After uninstalling it and installing SP2 again everything was ok. Thanks for the help. hedley

You can still customize how your machine handles updates. I set mine the same as how you mention - Auto download, but I decide which ones to install. If your Security Center has been reverted to default automatic settings, you can change them back. Here's a graphic: 📎Security_Center.jpg

Hi Doug, thanks for the reply. I have set my updates as you have shown in your pic and some that have come in today are shown as downloaded and ready to be installed. This way I'll see what's installing. Thanks for the help. Much appreciated. hedley

One thing to be careful of if you have Windows Update set to download but not install is that the updates will be installed if you shutdown your computer, unless you click on the words under the normal Standby / Turnoff / Restart buttons: Windows Install Updates and Shutdown Option

I always click the option to turn off without installing the updates. Then I check them later to see what's being installed by clicking on the custom option. Thankyou for the help. Always appreciated. hedley

Apologies for asking a dumb question, but this has got me really baffled…

I am trying to practice the same method as hedley:

I always click the option to turn off without installing the updates. Then I check them later to see what's being installed by clicking on the custom option.


but I cannot figure out HOW to install the updates manually! Windows downloads updates (to where I do not know) and then the little yellow shield disappears. The only time I have an option to install the updates is on shutdown (as mentioned here). But this, I believe, neuters my attempt to choose which updates I install.

So here's my question:

How do I manually install the updates that Windows has downloaded? Must I find them in Windows Explorer? Or if I choose to shut down and install, will I get to choose which updates to install?

Please help…

That's one of the reasons I have updates set to Notify but not download. That way I get to choose which ones get downloaded, so even if I install them during shutdown, I will only get the ones I allowed to download. The way you are doing it now, you will get all of them. I believe there is a way to disable this in Group Policy (XP Pro, not Home) but I can't seem to find it now.

edge65, just read your post. I also choose to turn off without installing the updates. Then the next day when I turn on the pc, the yellow shield is there and says updates are ready to be installed. I click on the shield which brings up the box giving the choice of express or custom. I then click on custom, next screen brings up the updates available. After unticking the ones I don't want, I click on install. As they are already downloaded the next screen installs them to my pc. Is this not the same on your pc. hth hedley

Thanks ZTrucker–your solution turns out to be my best bet. Periodically the yellow shield comes up as a notification, tells me that updates are available for download, lets me choose which I will download, and then installs them.

Re: hedley–That's the strange thing…my OS doesn't seem to be operating as you suggest. In the time frame I was testing it (i.e. it is possible that I was too impatient to let Windows do its thing fully) I found that the only option I had for installing updates was to install, previous to shutdown, those updates Windows had already downloaded when earlier settings prevailed. These downloads were sitting somewhere (in the WINDOWS folder?) waiting to install after I interrupted the auto-install once I saw what was being done.


Anyway…my own system's idiosyncrasies notwithstanding, ZTrucker's advice solved my problem. Thanks!