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For the love of god.. can I use MY hard drive PLEASE????

7up
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Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: For the love of god.. can I use MY hard drive PLEASE????


@ReedRichards wrote:

About a year ago Microsoft introduced a bug into Windows Update.  This affects a significant minority of Windows 7 machines and all those I have seen running Vista.  An entire processor core is consumed by an svchost process that spends its time looking in vain for Windows updates.


 But the processors are fine - there's 2 quad cores in there and none of the cores are working hard. It's the HDD that seems to be flat out when it happens.

I need a new signature... i'm bored of the old one!
7up
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Re: For the love of god.. can I use MY hard drive PLEASE????


@dfunked wrote:

Sounds like it could be one of the malicious software removal windows updates, they tend to do a thorough scan of your disk which on older hardware can seriously bog it down. I wouldn't really recommend switching Windows updates or AV off, so would just try leaving it to do its thing whenever you're out of the house.


Thats of no help really. It may well be what you suggest but the hardware while around a decade old isn't exactly lacking power - 8 cores, 16GB ram... it's the HDD which is the bottleneck.

If you re-read the opening post I clearly state this is happening on startup.. so how am I supposed to leave it to do it whenever i'm not around? (and yes that setting was ticked in MSE). It was taking 15 minutes approx just to get into the thing...

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ReedRichards
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Re: For the love of god.. can I use MY hard drive PLEASE????


@7up wrote:

the hardware while around a decade old isn't exactly lacking power - 8 cores, 16GB ram... it's the HDD which is the bottleneck.

.


Time to swap out the old HDD for an SSD?.  

bmc
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Re: For the love of god.. can I use MY hard drive PLEASE????

Interesting information about the Vista update problem. I spent about 4 hours yesterday trying to install the latest security patches on a friends seldom used old Vista laptop. It stuck at "Searching for Updates" - now I know why.

 

Anyone found an answer to this problem.

 

Brian

NorthPole
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Re: For the love of god.. can I use MY hard drive PLEASE????

bmc, take a look here.

7up
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Re: For the love of god.. can I use MY hard drive PLEASE????


@ReedRichards wrote:

@7up wrote:

the hardware while around a decade old isn't exactly lacking power - 8 cores, 16GB ram... it's the HDD which is the bottleneck.

.


Time to swap out the old HDD for an SSD?.  


That would not solve the problem. Mse was taking the mick. While spinning drives are certainly slower the machine is not normally problematic so in reality there isn't much point. Not that I could afford one anyway.. 

I need a new signature... i'm bored of the old one!
ReedRichards
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Re: For the love of god.. can I use MY hard drive PLEASE????


@bmc wrote:

Interesting information about the Vista update problem. I spent about 4 hours yesterday trying to install the latest security patches on a friends seldom used old Vista laptop. It stuck at "Searching for Updates" - now I know why.

 

Anyone found an answer to this problem.

 

Brian


  • Disconnect from the internet
  • Restart the computer
  • Install the patch or patches
  • Restart the computer
  • Reconnect to the internet

You might also want to consider installing some of these http://wu.krelay.de/en/Vista.htm because if you view the update history you will see there have been no Windows updates since mid 2016.

ReedRichards
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Re: For the love of god.. can I use MY hard drive PLEASE????


@7up wrote:


That would not solve the problem. Mse was taking the mick. While spinning drives are certainly slower the machine is not normally problematic so in reality there isn't much point. Not that I could afford one anyway.. 


I think the speed of the hard drive is more often the bottleneck than anything else on a modern computer

There was a time when you could shop around and buy a ~250 GB SSD for £50 to £60 but the price has gone up a lot since then.  Fall in the value of the pound?  Increased use of SSDs in off-the-shelf computers stimulating demand?

7up
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Re: For the love of god.. can I use MY hard drive PLEASE????

Without doubt what you say is correct however on some machines such as this one it's an acceptable flaw - there will always be a bottleneck somewhere anyway.

I don't have a spare fifty quid anyway and if I did I have other priorities over a ssd drive. Spinning disk has worked well enough for me for many years and will continue to do so for a few more. 

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bmc
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Re: For the love of god.. can I use MY hard drive PLEASE????

Thanks for the replies on how to install the Vista security updates.

 

I downloaded them on my PC to a flash drive. Then started the laptop, switched off the internet connection and re-booted. The updates then installed from the flash drive. Took a while as each need a re-boot and, given the age of the machine and the fact that MS was running an update this was not a fast process.

 

Brian