Windows Update destroys my internet connection

Question

I'm having major problems with a new Windows update. On the latests update, my internet connection becomes broken in Vista. This is very abstract. The only way that I can fix it is to obviously do a system restore to before the update, but the problem is that when I reboot, it will automatically install the remaining files of the update and cause the same issue.

I'm out of ideas. I've ran McAfee, Bitdefender, Ad-aware and Spybot and no results. I must be something different.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

The first step is find out which update is causing the problem.

Go to Control Panel > Automatic Updates and select the option "Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them". Then when the update is initiated you'll get a dialog asking if you want "Express" or "Custom".

Choose "Custom" and then uncheck all but one of the updates (make a note of which one you leave) and then allow the update to proceed. If your internet connection remains working then proceed to the next one in the list. If your internet connection fails you've found the culprit.

Apply all the updates apart from this one. Then try and find out why this update is causing the problem.

Answer 2

Go to Control panel>Programs and Features>View Installed Updates, then remove the problem update, if your not sure which one it is, remove all that have the same latest date. Then follow ChrisF's advice on changing automatic updates setting and method to determine which one is causing the issue.

Answer 3

There are utilities that can compare the current state of the system to an earlier one. Common ones are for registry.

You should be able to compare two restore points with a third part program. Restore points are simply block of text. The Difference between the restore points will point you to specific issues.

If you restore to a previous point and the program is already installed. You should run a batch script through all your files to see your newest updates.

A few security programs manufacturers sell free utilities that would allow you to do this automatically.

If a driver is broken, there's a Management Tool for Drivers in Windows. It allows you to see conflicting drivers.

Windows reports problems silently through logs when it encounters a crash, hang or other issues. Consulting your logs each morning after reading the daily news should become an habit.