Getting help from Microsoft when Windows Update won’t finish

We all know that there are lots of things to update with a PC – the three most important things to update are:

1. your operating system – this means Windows Updates
2. your Antivirus software – should be the latest version – with a valid subscription for udpates
3. your software – 3rd party software, such as Java, Browsers, Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader – can all let in malware if not kept up to date

The last two are important – and relatively straight-forward – and you probably think Windows Update is doing it’s job – but you could be wrong. Certain updates can cause Windows Update to stop – or hang – we recommend running windows update at least once a month manually – checking what critical, important and optional updates are available – you never know when improved software is available that might help you – and you don’t know if an “optional” update really should be applied – an example is “root certificate updates” – Microsoft considers these options – we suggest that you need them – and do not call them optional.

So running windows update is important – but what do you do if updates fail?

The first thing we recommend is do the updates one at a time – go to the oldest one first – run that and then if needed, restart the computer and repeat – there are definitely problems with multiple .NET updates being run together – so running those one at a time can help.

If you have tried the oldest update and it keeps failing – now what?

Well look at the KB number – that’s the Microsoft KnowledgeBase article – google “KBXXXXXX won’t install” – where KBXXXXXX is the kb number that failed – you might find a fix.

But if that still fails – or you need expert help – if you are a home user – and the update is a security related update – you can get Microsoft to help – FOR FREE.

How?

Call them… the number is:

A couple of things to note – call them during business hours – or the early evening – be prepared for the phone to get answered “off-shore” – somewhere that english is not their first language. Also make sure you tell them that this is a HOME MACHINE – that WINDOWS UPDATE HAS FAILED – and give them the KB number.

Chances are, they’ll do a remote login and help you – this support call should be FREE – they will not charge you for a support call on a current operating system. If you have Windows XP – you might be out of luck – that operating system is past expired – you cannot get help on XP any more.